What is a Yahoo Group and How Does it Work?
Yahoo Groups are simply a way to communicate with folks, usually with the same interests. Whatever your interests or hobbies may be, there is probably a Yahoo Group for you. If you can't find a Group that suits your needs, you can make a Group that will!
A Yahoo Group is not the same thing as chat. After you join a group, you then 'post' messages. If the Group is moderated, once the message is approved it will show on the board and will download to those members that receive the posts in their email.
Most Groups have some rules. Some of the rules may appear to be quite restrictive, but generally the rules are not going to be changed if you don't like them. The owner of the Group can set the rules to be anything he or she wants and if the members don't like the rules they are free to leave the Group.
You can join a Yahoo Group two ways. The preferred method is to first create a Yahoo ID and join the Group from the Group's website. Using this method you have access to all of the features provided by the Group, including the ability to browse previous posts.
If the during the joining process you are asked to enter the reason why you want to join the Group, it is a very good idea to enter the reason and not a lot of random characters. Not all Groups ask for comments during the join process, but most do. At this stage you can choose which method you want to use for receiving posts.
People usually have some expectations of what the Group will provide. You should be aware that each Group is different, although at first look they may seem to be similar. The Group generally has a character defined by the owner, moderators and members. If the Group is well maintained it generally will serve the members well.
However some Groups have been abandoned by the owner and may have no moderators so in essence have become a spammer's Group where the only people posting are spammers as the original members have long since left.
Some terms that will help explain Yahoo:
- Post, another term for a message.
- Flaming, harrassing another member.
- Banned, a banned member is no longer a member of the Group and cannot rejoin. Usually a member is banned for spamming, but banning may be caused by flagrant disobeying the rules or other reasons.
- Moderated Some groups put all members on a moderated status. This means the messages must be approved before posting to the list. Ususlly to keep spammers from spamming the Group, but can also keep flaming, bad language, subjects not allowed like religous or political issues from appearing on the Group.
- Individual Mail A member who recieves each post in his or her email program.
- Daily Digests A number of posts all in one email message. An active Group may generate more than one Daily Digest every day.
- Special Notices Generally no email.
- Web Only No email, read everything on the Group's web site.
- Fully Featured HTML (and really not good for text only Yahoo Groups.)
- Traditional This makes it easier to trim a post when replying.