This FAQ is a companion to the members FAQ, and
focuses on questions and answers for owners and
moderators. As stated before, this is accurate
so far as I know as of March 11, 2004.
1: Am I required to have my members fill out a
profile or have an adult profile to join an
adult group? As stated in the previous FAQ
this isn't necessary. Doing so is
discriminatory. Many of Yahoo's foreign
services do not include adult profiles, or
profiles at all. Plus a great many people
don't know they have profiles, or how to edit
them. By doing this you exclude millions of
people from potential membership.
2: Where are all my members going? I haven't
received any unsubscribe notices, yet my
group membership is steadily shrinking.
Click on "Members", and then click on
"Bouncing". Odds are all the missing
members are on bouncing status, and can
be found here. Bouncing members aren't
included in your groups membership total.
3: How to I reset bouncing members? Click on
"Members", click on "Bouncing", and then
click the "Edit" button next to the members
name. Click "View Bounce History", and you
should see a button saying "Send Reactivation
Request" (you may have to scroll down). If
Yahoo has already sent a reactivation request
for the day (there's a max of 1 request every
24 hours) you'll get a message saying so instead
of the button. Once a reactivation request goes
through without bouncing, you will see the
"Send…" button replaced with one saying
"Reactivate Now". Click this link to reactivate
the members account.
4: Can too many bouncing members get my group
deleted? No. This is a rumor.
5: Are bouncing members something I should be
concerned with? Depends on your point of view.
Part of the criteria used to set the daily
download limit in your groups is based on your
groups total membership, and bouncing members
don't count towards that total. But even if
they can't send/receive e-mail, they can use the
groups other features (i.e. Files, Photos,
etc.). So if you have 1000 members, and 500
bouncers, you get assigned bandwidth based on
1000 members shared among 1500. These numbers
are a bit misleading. It's rare that a groups
membership is highly active and most have a
high percentage of lurkers. So unless your
new, have a really small group, or your members
are particularly dedicated, this isn't ever
really going to be an issue. Personally I
wouldn't worry about it.
6: Spamguard has become overzealous and is tagging
a lot of the members mail as Spam. Is there a
way to turn it off? Yahoo has discontinued
using Spamguard in the groups. If it's still
tagging members mail as spam you need to contact
Yahoo and tell them about the glitch.
7: What are LAUNCH groups? Why has my group become
one? Does this change my address or anything?
All groups in the music category are now LAUNCH
groups, the same as all groups in the health
category are now Health groups. It's just a way
of reinforcing categorization, and doesn't
affect you in any way.
8: How do I download my Membership List? Click on
"Members". At the top you'll see a row of links
saying: Invite Members, Add Members, Remove,
Ban, Download List, and Export List. If you
click on Download List you'll get a list of all
your members e-mail addresses. If you click on
Export List you'll also get their Yahoo ID, what
e-mail setting they're using, any special status
they may have, and the date they joined. Copy
and Paste this list into Microsoft Word or a
similar program and save it to your PC. You can
save the list as an HTML file, but that won't
do you any good if the group gets deleted. And
the only reason to download the list is to be
able to get ahold of the members again in case
something happens to the group. Once copied,
do NOT keep it on your PC. If you get a virus
it can copy and spoof all those addresses.
Save it on a floppy or CD.
9: What is ygcache-(insert your groups name here)_at_
gawab.com? No other e-mail address I know of
is responsible for more paranoia than this one.
Rumors and innuendo fly about it constantly.
So here's the truth, or at least what I'm told
is the truth. Gawab caters heavily to an Arab
(i.e. conservative Muslim) crowd. Whenever
one of their users joins a Yahoo group, and
decides to use his Gawab.com address to handle
all the group mail, Gawab sends a bot (the
ygcache address) to join the group. All group
mail is then blocked from their clients, and
sent via the bot to a cache instead. They
claim this helps cut down on bandwidth use, as
they can send the message to all pertinent
members from the cache, and only 1 e-mail gets
sent to the cache from the groups at Yahoo.
It's also to "protect" their clients from porn
sites (Yahoo's adult groups among them) since
their religion doesn't allow adult material.
So if you join adult groups, you don't get the
e-mails from the cache because they're filtered
out. This is a problem for 2 reasons. The
first is that if the person joined an adult
they obviously wanted to see the material, and
are now effectively crippled from participating
in the group unless they change their address.
The second is that due to the wording of the TOS
you might get your group deleted for harassment
if Gawab sends complaints about your "unwanted"
and "abusive" e-mails.
11: Some of my members have no profile (it says
Request Profile instead). What is this?
This means they joined your groups mailing
list only. They can send and receive e-mail
but can't use any of the groups other features.
Since they're e-mail only they don't need to
have a Yahoo ID or account, and so they have no
Profile.
12: I have a restricted membership. Usually
pending members have some profile info (age,
location, gender) listed next to their name
in the pending members list. But it's not
showing up lately. What's happening? A while
back Yahoo glitched real bad while server work
was being done, and all this info disappeared
temporarily from the pending members list. In
some cases it hasn't come back, so you will now
have to click on every profile to see their
profile info.
13: I've just gotten an e-mail from Yahoo saying I
need to make some guy a co-owner or be deleted
within 24 hours. IS this legit? No, it's a
scam. Contact Yahoo's abuse department and
send them the e-mail with the Full Headers (see
the Members FAQ for details). If you make this
guy a co-owner, he deletes the group. Make
sure you turn him into Yahoo. He's deleted a
few groups this way, and if he's a hacker or
spammer he probably harvests the members list
for e-mail addresses before doing so.
14: It says in the Group Guidelines that if you
consistently post off-topic you may be in
violation of Yahoo's rules. Who decides
what's on topic? You do. Not the members,
not the moderators, just you. If your
group moderates it's messages, and you allow
one through, it's on topic, even if the group
isn't about the subject of the e-mail. The
same goes for Spam. If you allow it, and it
doesn't violate Yahoo's Spam Policy (it can't
be a chain letter, pyramid scheme, junk mail,
or advertisement for a paid service or asking
for money) it's not Spam.
15: How do I moderate a member's posts? Click
"Members", click the "Edit" button next to
their Yahoo ID, click "Edit" next to
"Posting Messages", click the option you now
want their message delivery set to, and click
"Save Changes". Do the same if you want to
unmoderate their posts.
16: How do I change a members mail settings?
Click "Members", click the "Edit" button next
to their Yahoo ID, and click the downward
pointing arrow by "Message Delivery". Click
on the setting you want to change them to, and
click "Save Changes".
17: How do I unsubscribe a member? Click "Members"
click "Remove", type in the Yahoo ID of anyone
you want removed, click "Remove Members". You
can also do it if you click "Members", click
the "Edit" button next to their name, click
"Remove, and then click "Remove Members". If
you moderate posts there is a "Remove Author"
option in the post when you click on "Pending
Messages". There is a link to "Pending
Messages on the groups homepage, next to the
groups name on your mygroups page, and in the
"Management" section of the group. If you
click "View All Messages" on the groups home
page, and then click on a specific message,
it also has a "Remove Author" link.
18: How do I ban a member? Click "Members", click
"Ban", type in the Yahoo ID of anyone you want
to ban, click "Ban Members". You can also
click "Members", click the "Edit" button next
to their Yahoo ID, click "Ban", click "Ban
Members". If you moderate posts, there is a
"Ban Author" option in the post when you click
on "Pending Messages". If you click "View all
Messages" on the groups home page, and then
click on a specific message, it also has a "Ban
Author" Link.
19: Does banning or unsubscribing troublesome
members actually help? Depends on how much
they know, and how persistent they are. If
you ban or unsub a member, switch membership
to Restricted, and moderate posts, at least
for a while. Odds are they may rejoin under
a different name. To combat this click on
"View All Messages" on the groups home page.
Click on a message sent by the troublesome
member, and click "View Source". It will
show their IP address, location, etc. If
they create a new account, the odds favor
they'll still be using the same PC to set it
up. So have everyone mail in a message saying
hi as a requirement to join. Click "View
Source" for each one. If they have the same
Info as your banned member, you can just
reject them.
20: How do I unban a member? Click on "Members",
click on "Banned", click on the box saying
"Remove Ban" next to the members name, and
click "Save Changes". However, they will
be unsubscribed when you do this, and will need
to rejoin the group.
21: How do I delete a group? Click on "Management"
and then click "Delete Group".
22: How do I leave a group if I'm the owner? You
will have to promote someone else to owner.
All groups have to have an owner or they're
deleted (eventually). So until there's another
owner it won't let you unsubscribe.
23: Someone's been posting spam or viruses. How do
I found out who did it? Click on "Management"
and look at the links under "Group Activity".
Clicking on "Membership" will show who has
Joined or left your group, or if they've
changed they're profile or e-mail address. If
you have a Restricted Membership it will also
show who approved their membership. Clicking
on "Web Features" will show when a File or Link
was posted and by whom. Clicking on "Email
Commands" shows unsubscription requests, and
changes members make to their mail settings.
Clicking on "moderator Activity" will show
every action performed by the groups owners and
moderators.
24: How do I promote or demote a member? Click on
"Members", click on the "Edit" button next to
the members name, and click "Change to
Moderator" or "Change to Owner". Do the same
to demote them, but click on "Change to
Member".
25: What's the difference between a moderator and
an owner? An owner has all the same powers and
privileges you do. They can delete the group,
and ban members (including you and any other
owners). It is not wise to make someone a
co-owner. If your personal relationship ever
degrades they can destroy the group, or erase
you from it. Moderators only have the
abilities you give them. The options are
"Approve Pending Messages", "Approve Pending
Members", "Invite and Add Members", "Remove
Members and Reset Bouncing Members", "Ban
Members", "Add, Remove, and Change Moderator
Privileges", "Set Auto-send Options for Files",
"Change Group Settings", and "Delete Group".
You also get to decide if they are notified
whenever there are pending messages/members,
or whenever a member joins/leaves/uploads
files. The two problem areas here are "Delete
Group", and "Add, Remove, and Change Moderator
Privileges". Never let them be able to delete
the group. If they can create and alter
moderators, they can set the new mods to be
able to delete the group. The other abilities
are a matter of personal taste, but I don't
personally like having mods. Unless your group
is really busy, or your personal life won't
let you give it the attention it deserves, you
don't really need them. An owner/moderator
relationship going sour is almost as bad as
two owners. It can destroy a group.
26: I can't see my groups home page picture, just
a little red x. How do I fix this. When you
add a picture to the groups home page it
creates a copy of it in the Photos section in
a folder called "Yahoo Photos". If that
photo is altered, or the name changed, it won't
show up. You'll get the red x instead. You'll
have to upload the picture again to see it.
27: How do I change my groups settings? Click on
"Management", and look under "Group Settings".
Click on one of the various categories there
for your options. I have skimmed over this
as it will feature prominently in another
file I am writing titled "Making and
Maintaining a Yahoo group".
28: How do I change the category my group is in?
You have to write Yahoo and ask them to do
that for you. You can find the request form
at
http://add.yahoo.com/fast/help/us/groups/
cgi_recategorize.
Well, that's it for now. I'll update this as
needed or as I come across questions I haven't
been asked.
Received on Tue May 25 2004 - 22:52:08 CDT