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Settings for Your Yahoo! Group
After you have gotten your Yahoo ID and created a new Yahoo Group, you must set certain features of the YG. These are the settings we recommend for a good experience for your participants in EVO.
If you are not SIGNED IN (button near top of main window), the >Management link will not show up.
Note: For more help on any of these topics, visit the Yahoo Group Help files. (This address may change at any time--use your search engine at Yahoo.com.)
About the Group
THE >ABOUT tab allows you to change your group's title, address, description (see Figure 1). In category, your Group should be in Distance Learning. There is no need to change it if you are not in this group because your group should not be public.
Figure 1.
You can add or modify the website URL that is associated with your group from the >Management menu. However, you should be careful not to change the Web address of your group, as all links in the Files area and references on other Web pages linking to your group will also have to be changed by hand. Choose a good name and address for your group, or edit them before you start adding files and accepting members.
Membership
The Membership menu will allow you to change your own privileges within the YG (see Figure 2). Once the EVO session is over, you may not wish to receive daily emails anymore, for example (Figure 2, Message Delivery). If you leave the group, you will not be able to assist participants who may email you with questions, so you may wish to continue in a group for some time after the session is over.
Figure 2.
Management Settings
The >MANAGEMENT tab allows you to check pending members and manage those already in the group (Figure 3). It also allows you to configure your group to your specifications, and revise your front page. To change or modify your settings, click on the >Management tab on the right below the header to see the pull-down menu. Each item in the menu is addressed below
Figure 3. Right drop down menu on the bottom of the header.
- >Pending Approvals (in the Management tab). This feature lets you deal with Photos, Messages, and Members.
- Photos - Because of potential spam/porn problems, EVO recommends that you do not allow members to upload photos. Use your wiki instead. Or allow photos only with approval by you.
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Messages - You should set your group so that messages DO NOT need approval, so there will be no messages pending. IF you have any problems with spammers, you may wish to change this setting to control messages, after deleting the offending member.
- Members - should be admitted with your approval (Restricted group). However, if you prefer, you can have a public group where anyone can join. This will require you to be extra alert to possible spam. You may want to then set messages for approval before posting.
- >Manage Members (in the Management tab). This feature lets you see all members in your group in four different categories: all members, moderators, bouncing members, and banned members (Figure 4).
Figure 4. The Manage Members menu.
- >Control Panel (in Management tab). This feature gives you various setting choices (see Figure 5). If you click on the first tab on the left, >Group Settings will allow you to change your group settings. The other links will allow you to control access and moderate messages if you want to.
Figure 5. The Control Panel menu with recommended settings. Do not allow non-members to view messages, links, or other revealing information.
- EVO suggests a Restricted group so that you can prevent spammers from joining. However, you can also allow a public group, where you do not have to approve each member.
- Allow someone to search for the group (in case a member forgets the address), and allow non-members to view the description of the group. Do not allow non-members to read messages and see other parts of the group information system.
- >Access Control This feature allows you to control who can access your groups features and also customize each features access level.
- >Moderation This feature allows you to control photos or messages to be scrutinized, also have a check on the new-members activities. You can choose to wait and see what kinds of posts members make before giving full approval to post photos.
- >E-mail Template This feature allows you to customize automatic subject prefix and footer message, for mails sent to members.
- >Notifications In this feature you can create or modify automatic notifications sent to members. You can create an automatic welcome message for those joining the group, for example.
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The >Activity Log link in the Management menu, Figure 1, allows you to see what group members have been doing (see Figure 4). You may not use this log very much, but it can help you trouble-shoot members' potential problems with their emails.
Figure 4. The Activity Log menu.
- >Mail tells you when members were approved and by which moderator, and when they unsubscribed. This can give you an idea of the traffic through your Group.
- >Web lets you see the dates of all Web activity by group members, including uploading/deleting shared files and links, creation of polls, deletion of archived messages, calendar items added, etc.
- >Membership lets you see what members have left the group or changes they have made to their settings, e-mail addresses, and profiles.
- >Moderator Activity gives you a list of what all the owner/moderators have done (i.e., you and your mentor(s). Examples of activity recorded in this category include editing of group settings, editing of member settings, and message and member moderation, for example deleting spam or banning a spammer.
- >Email Commands tells you when members were approved and by which moderator, and when they unsubscribed. This can give you an idea of the traffic through your Group.
Using Management Settings in the Old Yahoo Groups
Next, you will see the Management screen with various setting choices (Fig. 2).
Fig. 2. The Management menu
Clicking on Management Help at the top right of this screen takes you to a group of general questions and answers.
Group Activity
This area shows you what the membership has been doing. These features may not be used much, but they can help when you trouble-shoot participants' difficulties in sending messages. (Links below are to Yahoo's help files.)
Moderator Activity - you get a list of what all the owner/moderators have done (i.e., you and your mentor(s). Examples of activity recorded in this category include editing of group settings, editing of member settings, and message and member moderation, for example deleting spam or banning a spammer.
Email Commands - tells you when members were approved and by which moderator, and when they unsubscribed. This can give you an idea of the traffic through your Group.
Web Features - you see the dates of all Web activity by group members including uploading/deleting shared files and links, creation of polls, deletion of archived messages, calendar items added, etc.
Message Posts - you get a list of all posts made to the group and shows all posts (usually spam) that were "bounced" or rejected. Be sure you have set your group so that "Members only can post messages," so that non-member posts will be rejected.
Group Settings
This function lets you make the settings for your group. Click on Edit next to the title of each page to change the settings for your group (See Fig. 2, right side of the Management window.)
Description and Appearance
These very important settings show the current address and placement of your Group and let you customize its appearance (See Fig. 3).
Fig. 3. Description and Appearance editing page
Web Address - Be careful not to change the Web address of your group, as all links in the Files area and references on other Web pages linking to your group will also have to be changed by hand. Choose a good name and address for your group, or edit them before you start adding files and accepting members.
Description - It's a good idea to put some part of the syllabus on your front page, and to change the page perhaps once a week to keep members coming back to the page for more information. The Group description can handle HTML, and we will give you some examples of how to insert colors, pretty fonts, and Web addresses into your page.
Category - Your Group should be in Distance Learning. There is no need to change it if you are not in this group because your group should not be public. (see the file Getting Started with YG).
Colors and Photo - You can choose a theme, or use a custom color combination, but be sure to have other moderators check the colors on different browsers and platforms for compatibility. A photo or graphic image--a logo--gives real "personality" to your Group. If you don't have one you like, ask the Moderators Group for help in finding or creating one.
Membership
Membership Type - open or restricted. You should check Restricted membership so that you approve each new member after reading their introductory message. The idea is to discourage people who would clutter our group sites with spam. If you are suspicious about an introductory message, write to that person individually with a query.
Email Address Display - For security purposes, you should hide email addresses of members. Remind participants that for additional security, they may also set up a Yahoo address/mailbox just for this session. You should also remind them to sign their posts, as a courtesy to others.
Welcome Message - This is the message that is sent to each person who has asked to enter your group. You can edit the generic message easily, and it should include a reminder of where your syllabus is available, a link to it, or even include the syllabus itself in your file (Fig. 4).
Note: You should also set up a message in the FILES area to go to those who are Pending Members, those who join before the opening of the sessions. The Welcome Message goes only to new members.
Additional Messages - FILES area with various designations. It would be good to include the Netiquette file for all new members, and a brief farewell and thank-you message for those leaving the group. (See Files and Folders Help file.)
Fig 4. Membership type and Welcome message editing page
Web Tools
This feature allows you to choose which Yahoo functions you want to use. All Web Tools should be available for member only use, as in Fig. 5. You may find that members will want to use tools in ways that you haven't thought of (Fig. 5). If you allow non-members to use these tools, you will be inviting spammers.
Fig. 5. Web tools editing page
Messages
Use Messages to set up your group email address, set up a subject tag and footer, send out scheduled messages, and set other message options. (Fig. 6). Again, to reduce spam, be sure only members can post messages.
Fig. 6. Messages editing page
- Don't change your address once your Group has opened and you have added members.
Subject Tag and Footer - It's a good idea to include the Subject Tag, as in the default. Your footer could include a link to the syllabus or advice about how to leave the group. You can change the footer weekly to add a notice of upcoming events, for example.
Posting and Archives - Please set these options as in Fig. 7, as explained below.
Scheduled Messages -You can set reminders to go out to the group with parts of your syllabus. This helps to keep everyone on track. You can also set syllabus reminders via the Calendar.
Posting and Archives
These settings control who can send messages to your YG and view the archives. This is an important privacy control for your YG.
Figure 7. Posting and Archive editing page
Reply to - In the Reply to section, you can decide how you want your emails addressed. In the illustration, it is set to All members. This means when you reply, all members will receive the email. This is the best option to keep your discussion going.
Who can post and Moderation - This allows you to configure who and how posting of a message is accomplished. It is suggested that you allow discussion so that only members can post messages, and that it is unmoderated. The difference between moderated and unmoderated is that if your group is moderated, you must approve every message before it is distributed.
Attachments - Since attachments are a source of viruses, We HIGHLY suggest REMOVING this possibility from the beginning and encourage participants to add larger documents to Files and smaller ones included inside the message.
Archives - If Archives is set to members, it means that ONLY members can access the links on the left side of your group home page and view previous messages sent to your group.
Delete Group - BE very careful NOT TO touch this button!
For further instructions on the use of Yahoo! Groups go to the YG Tutorial Page by EVO members or to Yahoo!'s Management Help pages.
Reviewed and updated by Dafne González, June 2005.
Updated by E. Hanson-Smith, November 2009.
Reviewed by Nina Liakos, 2013.
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