Profiles News
The blog for Profiles news

Since we announced the closure of Yahoo! 360, some of you have had a few questions, and, some of you have run into a few bugs. Here’s a quick update on some of the issues.

Fixes

When I try to post blog entries on my profile I see weird characters or “?” marks throughout the post.

We’ve been able to pinpoint this issue and a fix will be pushed out for this problem on July 8th.

I downloaded my blog entries from the 360 download page but am unable to upload the file to WordPress because its too large. How do I fix this?

WordPress has adjusted their upload size to accommodate large blog uploads (they now support blog uploads up to 700mb). However, if your blog is larger than this, or, you’re still having trouble uploading your 360 entries to WordPress, please contact WordPress’ customer care team using this link: http://support.wordpress.com/contact/. The team over at WordPress will ask you for your blog file and information regarding your WordPress account. Once you send them this info you shouldn’t have any problem accessing your blog entries on WordPress.

I tried to migrate from 360 to profiles but keep seeing the error “You do not have a verified email address,” but I do. How do I fix this?
This issue has been resolved and the fix has been pushed out. If you’re still having trouble please contact Customer Care directly and let them know.

I see people in my “connections” that I don’t remember connecting with. What’s up?

If you’re seeing people you don’t remember connecting with or if you feel as though your profile has been compromised (your content has changed without you changing it, etc.) please be sure to visit this help page which will outline what you should do if your account has been changed without your permission.

To remove a connection, click on the “Contacts” tab in your profile (1) and then select “All Connections” from the dropdown. (2) From here, select the connection you’d like to remove. Then, in the contact’s details, next to “Connection” click “Remove.” (3)

Quick Tip: When viewing a list of “All Contacts,” you’ll notice that Connections have a blue “people peg” to the right of their name.

Known Issues

For a list of known issues, please be sure to visit the profiles Help Pages “Known Issues” section, found here: http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/profiles/cctop10/index.html

Features

I don’t receive an email when someone comments on my Guestbook or my blog entries in my profile. Without this how can I tell someone wrote me?

Don’t worry-this can be remedied! To fix this, go to: http://profiles.yahoo.com/settings/notifications and set your notifications setting to “Notify me when actions related to my profile occur.” This will ensure that notices are sent to your primary email address whenever something happens. (Not sure what your primary email address is? Log into your account info page and check the section called “Email Information”– here, you’ll be able  to see which address is marked as your primary email address).

Exception: A few BT Internet users have reported that they’re still not receiving notifications even after opting in. The team is currently investigating this issue and I’ll keep you posted once we know more.

UPDATE: This issue has been resolved for BT users.

In 360 I could assign my contacts categories, allowing me to “file away” my friends and family members appropriately. How do I do this within profiles?

To do this, click on the “Contacts” tab (1) and select a contact (2). When their information appears in the right pane click “Add” next to the “Categories” option. This will prompt a pop-out window that allows you to create your own categories for your contacts and connections. When you’re through, click “Done.” (3)

Not all of my blog content was migrated over from 360 to profiles-what’s the deal?

If your profile or blog (or any entries) were marked as “Mature” or “Adult” this content will not be migrated over into profiles. Profiles does not support or allow mature or adult content. If you’d like to keep your content you may download your entries. If you’re looking to share adult or mature content across Yahoo! you’re welcome to start a Yahoo! Group and publish your entries there as Groups does allow adult content.

If you don’t have any mature content or adult content within your profile or blog, please contact the Customer Care team to report the issue.

If you’re seeing an issue not listed here or on the help pages, please report the issue to Customer Care or to myself (if you haven’t done so already), and I’ll ensure that the issue is reported (if it hasn’t been already).

Melissa Daniels
Yahoo! Community Manager

Based on the feedback we received from users like you we recently introduced a new blogging module into your profile on Yahoo!.

By now, some of you may have taken the time to explore this new feature, but if you haven’t here’s a quick walk-through of the new blogging tool’s features.

Getting started

Once you’ve set up your profile on Yahoo! you’ll notice a “My Blog” module in the right column.

Composing an Entry and Permissions

Clicking on the “Compose Entry” button will take you straight to the blogging module, where you’ll be able to compose your first entry.

From here, you can edit the title of your blog (each title defaults to the current date, just like a diary), and begin your latest entry.  (1)

When composing an entry, you have the option of adding links, images, and video.  I’ll outline each of these features later on in this post. (2)

Once you’re through writing, click “Post Entry” to post your blog to your profile. (3)

After you’ve composed an entry or two, these will show up in the right column under the “Most Recent Entries” title. (4)

To easily change your blog’s permissions, click on the hyperlink in the right column (5)

This will take you to the Permissions page, where you’ll be able to select whether or not you want your blog entries to be viewable by “Anyone,” “My Connections,” or, “Me Only.”

It is important to note that if you set your blog to be viewable by “Anyone” this also permits “Anyone” to comment on your blog.

Blogging Tools

When composing an entry you have several tools at your disposal that allow you to easily inject more personality into your posts.  Below you’ll find a quick walk-through of the tools found within the blog editor.

B: This is the universal symbol for “Bold.” Use this to bold your text. Either select it prior to typing (and all subsequent text will be bolded until you deselect this option), or, highlight the text you’d like bolded and then click on the “B” icon to bold it.

I: Just like the Bold icon, this is the universal symbol for “Italic.” Use this to italicize your text. Either select it prior to typing (and all subsequent text will be italicized until you deselect this option), or, highlight the text you’d like italicized and then click on the “I” icon to bold it.

U: Just like the Bold and Italic icons, this is the universal symbol for “Underline.” Use this to underline your text. Either select it prior to typing (and all subsequent text will be underlined until you deselect this option), or, highlight the text you’d like underlined and then click on the “U” icon to bold it.

T (Font Color): This is the text color grid. To activate it, you must first select a batch of text to “colorize”. When you do this, you’ll be presented with a drop-down menu that allows you to select from an assortment of colors.

13 (Spin Button): Just like the color grid, to activate the size tool you must first select a batch of text to enlarge. All blog entries default to size 13 font. To increase the font size, use the “up” arrows. To decrease, use the “down” arrows next to the number. You can also use “Control + Shift + Up Arrow” and “Control + Shift + Down Arrow” to toggle between font sizes.

Create an Unordered List: Have a list of facts or details that you want to share? Use this feature to create a bulleted list. To use this feature, you can select the feature first, and then begin typing your list, hitting “return” (or, “enter”) to move on to the next bullet point. Or, if you already have a series of items entered and just want to bullet them, just highlight the list (each entry should be separated by a “return” or “enter”) and then click the “Unordered List” button to format your entries. Using this feature automatically activates the text color wheel and the size buttons.

Create an Ordered List: This feature works the same way as the “Unordered List” option, but instead of displaying a series of bullet points, this option will create an ordered list. (See above for formatting tips). This feature also automatically activates the text color wheel and the size buttons.

Add a Link: Want to share a link? Use this feature to insert a hyperlink into your Article. To hyperlink a word, first type the word you want hyperlinked or, just select the word within the entry you want to hyperlink, and click on the Link icon. When you do this, you’ll see a pop-up menu that says “Link Options,” which will allow you to enter the link URL and a description, if you want. You’ll also have the option of selecting whether or not the link will be opened in a new window or in the same window. By selecting the “Open in a new window” box, you’ll enable your readers to stay on your blog page, and, explore the link you’ve presented them with.

If you’ve hyperlinked too much, use the “Remove link from text” link in the bottom corner of this pop out window to remove it.

Insert an Image: Spice up your entry by adding an image from anywhere on the web. Clicking on this icon will present you with a pop-out window that will allow you to configure your image options.
Your blog within your profile does not support uploading images straight from your computer. Instead, we allow you to find an image on the web and place that image’s URL in this box. This will insert your image straight into your blog entry.

To adjust the size of your image, either manually adjust the pixels in the size window, or, once you’ve clicked “Done” you can manually resize your image by grabbing a corner and dragging it.

Adjusting the “Text Flow” will allow you to reposition your image within your blog entry.

Adding a description is optional and does not display beneath the image. Instead, when a viewer hovers over the image they’ll see your description as a yellow pop-up.

The “Link URL” option allows you to hyperlink your image to another location on the web. This can be used to send readers back to the original location of the image (like your Flickr album), or, to a relevant site that relates back to your entry.  Selecting the “Open in a new window” box will open a new browser window and will allow users to stay on your blog entry and viewing the new webpage.

Add Media: Click on this icon to embed a video from your favorite video sites into your entry. All you need to do is grab the embed code and click “Done.”

Yahoo! Video Users:  Click on the envelope icon at the bottom of the video. The Embed code will appear above.

Flickr Video Users: Click on Share This at the top right of the screen, and then click on Embed it in the box that appears.

YouTube Users: The Embed code is to the right of the video, inside the information box.

Edit HTML Code: Clicking on this icon will switch you over to “HTML Mode.” Doing this “greys out” the WYSYWIG tools to display your blog entry in HTML format. This way, if you’re an old pro at HTML, or, just prefer to edit between carrots (< >) you’re able to.

Your profile page

Once you’ve hit “Post Entry,” your entry will show up on your profile page. When you’re on your profile you’ll notice that the blogging feature defaults over to the right column. If you prefer to give your entry a little more space, just grab the entire box and drag it over to the first column.

On your profile, you’re able to rearrange the “Guestbook,” “My Blog,” “About Me” and “Updates” modules. This allows you to rearrange your content in whatever way you deem fit. The only modules within your profile that are static are: “Connections,” “Invitations to Connect,” and your contact card (this is the top portion that contains your name and display image).

That’s it! If you have questions about the blogging tool, please feel free to leave them in the comments section below, and I’ll respond to as many as I can.

Melissa Daniels
Yahoo! Community Manager

Over the past two years there has been a lot of discussion about the closure of Yahoo! 360° and the transition to our new profiles experience that we’ve had in the works.  Today, we’re able to firmly say that on July 13, 2009 Yahoo! 360° will be closing down and you’ll be asked to move into your new profile on Yahoo!, by July 12, 2009.

While we know that many of you have faithfully used this service over the past few years, our goal has been to find a way to unify your social experience and connections across all of Yahoo! and anywhere you travel across the Web. So, while we’re sad to say that we will no longer be supporting Yahoo! 360°, we’re excited about this larger plan and hope you’ll transition over and be a part of it, too.

We also want to reiterate our commitment to preserving your blog content. We have been working to make sure we put the right mechanisms in place so that you can move your content and minimize disruption. It is with this thought in mind that we’re happy to introduce a new blogging feature that has already been integrated into your profile. You can find more information on this below.

With your new profile on Yahoo! you’ll be able to connect with other people on Yahoo!, and share your updates and activity with the people you meet on the Web.

While we know many of you are frustrated by this decision, we’d like to address some of the main questions you might have. If your question has not been addressed, please see our Help pages and list of frequently asked questions for more information. You can also leave a comment below and I’ll try my best to answer as many of your questions as possible. Though I can’t promise to answer every question, I can promise to create additional posts on common issues and trends to make sure “hot topics” are addressed.

Chuyển bài viết của bạn sang Yahoo! 360plus
Nếu bạn muốn thỏa thích blog bằng tiếng Việt và gặp gỡ thêm nhiều bạn bè Việt Nam, hãy chuyển tất cả bài viết và bình luận của mình sang Yahoo! 360plus.
Chuyển bài viết của tôi về 360plus

Why is Yahoo! 360 closing?

Though 360 gained a strong core of loyal users (you) who enjoyed the service, Yahoo! has been reprioritizing some products to help us deliver the best possible experiences to consumers. The decision to close Yahoo! 360 and transition users to profiles is part of this larger strategy, but we had been waiting until we had an alternative solution that we could offer to our community of Yahoo! 360 users until we officially shut down 360.

It’s been almost two years since you first announced 360 was closing—why shut it down now?

Before we could retire 360, we had to find a sustainable and adequate solution for your personal information. We know how important your blog entries and profile information is to each of you, and we wanted to be able to maintain the integrity of this content. Rather than rushing the process and risking data loss, we worked on a broader solution across Yahoo! that would meet our future goal of providing you the best possible social experience while at the same time protecting your privacy and data. We’re happy to say that we now have a solution that satisfies all of these requirements.

What is going to happen to my blog?

We know that many of you decided to blog in 360 because you enjoyed sharing your content with the people you met on Yahoo!, which is why we’ve created two options for your blog and all of its content.

The first is: you can start blogging on your profile on Yahoo!—we’ve created an all new blogging tool that will let you post content and also allows you to integrate photos right from Flickr. Once you create an entry, your post is automatically pushed out in your updates stream to your connections, saving you the hassle of sending out links to your latest entries.

A second option that we’re providing you is the ability to export your blog and all of your content and to any of the supported blogging systems (don’t worry—they’re popular sites like WordPress, Blogger, and MoveableType).  We’ll even generate an archive with all of your entries and photos and will send you a link to download the archive. To use this option, please follow this link: http://download.360.yahoo.com/

First you shut down Mash, now you shut down 360—why should I give profiles a shot?

We understand you might have doubts—in the past few years, you’ve seen a couple of social sites come and go, and it means a lot to us that you’ve stuck around while we’ve tweaked each experience.  Know that we’re committed to having a universal profile across Yahoo!, and we’re committed to working with you to improve and evolve this profile to make sure it’s what YOU want to use. That doesn’t mean we can implement every piece of feedback you provide, but it does mean we’re listening, and we are going to do our best to make sure your interests are incorporated into future releases and versions of your profile.

What about customization and photos? On 360 I can change the look and feel and upload multiple photos—can I do this with profiles?

At this time, your new profile does not have all the features and functionality of your 360 profile. However, we are looking at incorporating new ways of expressing yourself through your profile.

In regards to uploading multiple photos, your profile on Yahoo! allows for only one primary photo for now. This is also something we’re looking at improving/expanding based on your feedback.

We know that you will have lots of questions about 360 closing and how it will affect each of you. Be sure to check out the Customer Care help pages (including the FAQ’s) to help make this transition as smooth as possible.

Thank you.

Melissa Daniels
Yahoo! Community Manager

Since the launch of profiles in October 2008, we’ve been gradually introducing new properties to the world of Updates. Last night, this feature was introduced into the Yahoo! Groups family, enabling you to share Photo updates into your Updates feed on http://profiles.yahoo.com. (In the future, Groups Updates will also include Group Messages, but this feature is not available at this time).

Just like other Yahoo! properties, you’re able to manage your settings right from your profile by visiting the http://profiles.yahoo.com/settings/updates/ page. Here, you’ll be able to select whether or not you want to  share your updates with “Anyone” “My Connections” or “No One”.

(It is important to note that the first time you try to adjust your “Share Settings” for Yahoo! Groups, you’ll have to scroll down to the bottom of the “Manage My Updates” page, and then select “Show All Yahoo! Sources” to expand a larger list of Yahoo! properties, including several Yahoo! Groups properties).

Once you’ve configured your settings, you can adjust your opt-in and opt-out preferences. These can be managed on a group-by-group basis, and are done from Yahoo! Groups, not your profile on Yahoo!.

Here’s how:

To get started, first visit your My Groups page (http://groups.yahoo.com/mygroups ). Then, click on the “Edit My Groups” tab where you’ll see a column titled “Yahoo! Updates.” From here, you’ll be able to adjust your updates settings for each group you’re a member of.

You can opt to “Share my Updates” and “Prompt me before sending updates” or, “Never prompt me before sending updates.”

Once you’ve configured your privacy settings accordingly, return to your favorite group and test it out by uploading a photo. When you’re through uploading a photo, we’ll prompt you with a pop-up window, asking you whether or not you want to share this update with your connections.

You can opt to keep this pop-up on (so that it appears each time you upload a photo), or, you can switch it off, by checking the box that reads “Don’t ask me for this group again.” Please note that by checking this box you’re granting Yahoo! permission to share all of your photo updates for THIS GROUP ONLY with your connections. You may change this setting at any time by visiting the My Groups page.

After you click “Yes” your new photo will appear on your profile page on Yahoo!, under the “Updates” section.

Please note, the update does take some time before it shows up on your profile. We have designed to system to send data to your profile in series of buckets rather than every single request.

It’s important to note that what YOU see on your Updates page is a bit different than what your connections will see.

Here’s an example of what you’ll see (if you were to upload 5 LOL cat images to your group):

As the “updater” (or “uploader”) you’ll see each image broken down into individual updates, giving you the option of deleting updates, one-by-one, should you change your mind. (To delete an update, just click on the grey “x” next to the update).

However, your connections would see a more condensed view (like what you see below):

And that’s it! If you want to completely opt out of Yahoo! Groups Updates, be sure that all of your Group settings are set to “Never” share my updates (this setting is found on the “My Groups” page) and, that on your profiles page, you have set your Yahoo! Groups settings to be viewable by “No One.”

For more details on privacy, profiles, and more, please check out this particular post that was initially written for Answers users, but covers major questions and concerns regarding profiles and privacy.

Melissa Daniels
Yahoo! Community Manager

UPDATE: Thanks to your feedback, this feature has been implemented! Now, whenever you get an invitation to connect from another user, you can preview their profile before confirming them as a connection.

Back in October when we launched profiles, several of you noticed that when you initiate a connection request with someone who has a private profile you’re unable to see the potential connection’s profile until you accept them as a connection. Based off of this, a few of you mentioned that you’d like to be able to view a person’s full profile before accepting that person as a connection as this would allow you to screen potential friends/connections.

We liked this idea and have toyed with it a bit, and would like your feedback, but first here are a few more details on how a “Guest Pass” would work:

You invite “Joe” to connect. “Joe” is then given a “Guest Pass” to view your profile while they decide whether or not they want to accept your invite. With this Guest Pass “Joe” can view your profile but cannot send you a private message, post to your guestbook (if you have it enabled), or view any Updates that are set to be viewable by “My Connections” only.

Once “Joe” decides to accept your connection request he’ll receive the same level of access as any other connection. However, if “Joe” decides to deny your request the Guest Pass will disappear.

Based off of this information, we’d love to hear what you think! Please leave your thoughts in the comments section below!

Melissa Daniels
Yahoo! Community Manager

We’re happy to announce another addition to the Updates family: Yahoo! Answers. Now, you can easily share your Yahoo! Answers activity with your connections-keeping your contacts up to date on the topics that interest you most.

Like most Yahoo! properties, Answers allows you to control your settings from both the property level (http://answers.yahoo.com) and the profile level (http://profiles.yahoo.com)

Within Yahoo! Answers, you’ll have the option of sharing your questions (or answers) with your connections each time you ask or answer a question. This option appears in the “Preview your question” stage of asking your question-here, you’ll be able to “Manage your Updates.”

This gives you total control over what information is shared with your connections, and when it is shared.

By default, Updates will be set to “Don’t share my Updates” to keep your content private unless you choose otherwise.

You’ll have the option of changing this setting any, or every, time you ask or answer a question on Answers.

Once you’ve answered a question on Answers and have decided to share your Update, you can further refine who sees your Updates by adjusting your settings on your profile.

To adjust your settings, click on the “Updates” tab in your profile, and then “Manage my Updates.“

Scroll down to “Show all Yahoo Sources.” Click, and locate “Yahoo! Answers,” and select your privacy settings (Anyone, My Connections, No One), and hit save.

After you’ve selected and saved your preferences for Yahoo! Answers from the “Show all Yahoo Sources” menu it will move up to the top updates menu, for easier access.

Once you’ve customized your settings, you can delete specific Updates (without affecting the lot) by clicking on the “x” by that Update, in your Update stream. This will delete that specific Update from your Updates stream without affecting any future Updates of that kind.

If you want to disable your Updates all together, deselect the “Share my Updates” box at the top of the “Manage my Updates” page and click “Save.”

Updates allow you to share your activity on the network with people you know and have connected with on Yahoo!. To prevent this information from being shared, be sure your settings on Answers are set to “Don’t share my updates.”

Melissa Daniels
Yahoo! Community Manager

For the regular readers of this blog, this post may seem a little redundant and may cover the basics, but for those of you just joining us (courtesy of the recent Answers migration), and the Answers Suggestion board topic on profiles, welcome.

This post addresses some of the most recent (and common) questions from Answers users about profiles, and covers topics like privacy, search, and photo cropping.

As the Community Manager for profiles, I do my best to answer as many user questions as I possibly can, and if I see a common topic/trend on the boards, I’ll post a separate thread covering that topic/issue, so please feel free to leave comments below.

Why is my first and last name showing? I don’t want this to show!

Don’t worry! This information is only revealed to people you establish as a connection. If you don’t want to share this information with anyone, you have two options:

1) Don’t put in your real first/last name
2) Don’t accept any connections.

When someone views your profile and they’re not a connection all they’ll see is your display name (Check out this post: http://www.yprofileblog.com/blog/2009/03/05/profiles-updates-member-since-and-flickr-integration/ and scroll down to the “Display Name” section to see a screen-shot of what the public view (non-connections) and the private view (you, and connections) see)

I want to: hide ALL of my profile, hide some of my profile, or hide NONE of my profile-how do I do this?

To completely hide it, go to http://profiles.yahoo.com/settings/ and down at the bottom click “Hide my Profile.”

If you just want to share your “contact card” (that’s the top portion of your profile that shows your display name, location, status message, and “member since” information) set your “About Me” and “Guestbook” to be viewable by “My Connections” on the settings menu: http://profiles.yahoo.com/settings/

If you want to share all of your information in your profile, change the “About Me” dropdown to “Anyone” in the http://profiles.yahoo.com/settings/ page

Want anyone you meet on the net to leave you comments on your page? Set your “Guestbook” to be viewable by “Anyone”

How do people find me? What’s the deal with search?

When you first set up your profile there’s a check box that asks if you want to make your profile searchable. If you checked it and want to uncheck it, or unchecked it and want to check it (or want to change your mind day by day/week by week) you can do this by visiting the Search page. http://profiles.yahoo.com/settings/peoplesearch

Check (or uncheck) the top box if you want to be searchable. This means that other users will be able to find you when they enter your first/last name in the search page http://profiles.yahoo.com/people-search/

It is important to note that making yourself searchable ALSO makes it possible for you to easily share your profile link with other users. (Users who frequent chat rooms, game rooms, etc. find this feature helpful as it enables them to easily share a “clean link” with new people) To share your profile with other users, you must be searchable (have the top box checked on this page: http://profiles.yahoo.com/settings/peoplesearch and any subsequent ID’s/aliases checked that you’d like to make “linkable” or “searchable.”

Doing this will allow you to share the url of http://profiles.yahoo.com/YOURID (replace YOURID with, your ID-if you’re a broadband partner (BT, AT&T, etc.) your core ID will include your full address including the @btinternet.com or @att.net). So, for example, to check out my demo profile for the profiles blog, my main ID is yprofileblog [at] yahoo [dot] com so my link would be http://profiles.yahoo.com/yprofileblog

What are updates?

Updates are a snapshot of your activity across the Yahoo! network. We’re gradually adding more properties/services to this catalog, so be sure to check back here for the latest information on the third party services that have been added.

My Connections is a feed of everyone you’re connected to (people you’ve actually accepted as a connection) who have “done something” on the network or to their profile.

Manage my updates lets you change what information is shared with people.  If you don’t want to share any of your updates with anyone, uncheck the “share my updates” box at the top. If you don’t mind sharing some information, go through the list and select which categories/options you’d like to share.

Don’t worry–if there’s ever something that you shared that you want to “take back” you can click on the “x” next to the update and it will delete it from your update stream.

Share more allows you to select which third party services you’d like to incorporate into your profile–this includes sites like Twitter, Picasa, and StumbleUpon, and we’re regularly adding more sites.

If you don’t see a site here that you’d like to have added, let us know! A little while back we asked for user feedback on third party sites. To see what people have already suggested, and to suggest a few sites of your own, please check out this post: http://www.yprofileblog.com/blog/2009/02/09/feedback-needed-third-party-sites/

What information do I have to provide in the “About Me” section?

We know that your profile is a personal thing and you’re welcome to share as much or as little about yourself as you’d like.  Because of this, the only required fields are your “Full name” and your “Display Name”–everything else is totally up to you. (If you still don’t want to share your “real” Full Name, feel free to make one up–just keep in mind that this is one of the categories that people use to search, so if you actually DO want to be found, make sure you don’t make it too hard!) Feel free to add, delete, and modify your profile as you please. Even gender and age are optional.

It is important to note though that if you have an alias profile and you do decide to link this alias (linking means you’ve checked it as on the search page http://profiles.yahoo.com/settings/peoplesearch your alias will direct back to your main profile. If you don’t want this to happen, don’t make your alias searchable.)  Under the new profiles service we no longer support full profiles for aliases (meaning each alias cannot have its own profile) so just a heads up that you now have one profile per set of ID’s.

Because of the crop tool in profiles, my image becomes all pixel-y (and square)-how do I get rid of this?

Unfortunately, right now you’re stuck with the square images, but I have passed on the feedback from the Answers community to the profiles team about how frustrated some of you are with your truncated images.  I can’t promise that it’s going to change, but I can promise that your voices were heard, and will continue to be heard.

Now, for the “pixel-y” thing. Sounds like you’re using (too) small of an image. Images must be at least 222 x 222 pixels in size for them to not get “pixel-y” (this is the default size for profiles images). If you’re using an image that is smaller than that, you’re going to start losing image quality and will end up with a funky looking photo.  (There are tons of free web tools that you can use to crop images and also add cool effects to your photos–check out http://www.picresize.com/ which will let you set your exact image dimensions (222 x 222) and will also convert images into new formats, which is helpful if your favorite image isn’t saved in jpg or png format).

How do I turn off the “Suggested Connections” feature?

Currently, there’s not a way to disable the “connection suggestions” feature on your profile, but if you’re wanting to turn off this feature when you’re logged into your Yahoo! Mail, this can be done.

Here’s how:

If you’re using Classic Mail, click on “Options” and then “Mail Options” in the top right corner. Then, click on “General Preferences.” From here, deselect the box that says “Enable Connection-related features (Messages, Suggestions, Updates)” Click Save.

If you’re in All-New Mail, the steps are similar. Just click on “Options,” and “Mail Options” in the right corner. Under the “General” section, deselect the option of “Enable Connection-related features (Messages, Suggestions, Updates)”

Connections should disappear from your inbox.

I know that for some of you, this transition could have been a bit smoother, and I’m sorry. Hopefully together, we can work together to make profiles the product we all want it to be.

Melissa Daniels
Yahoo! Community Manager

A little while back we asked for your feedback on the Member Search feature.  With over a hundred comments (to date), it’s easy to see this is an issue that many of you are invested in.

After looking through your comments, it’s easy to see that many of you want to be able to search for other members by interests, keywords, and location. Currently, for many users, this information is set to private/”My Connections”, which brings up a question of privacy, and “discoverability.”

Since many of the fields/categories you all want to be able to search by are currently set to private/”My Connections” (and many users opt to keep it private, or viewable only by people they connect with or know), we want to know: How would you feel about coming up in search results for information that isn’t publicly displayed? Is this something you’d want?

For example, if you lived in Sunnyvale, CA and had “shopping,” “sneakers,” and “basketball” entered as interests, but had your “About Me” section set to be viewable only by your connections, you’d still show up in search results for “Sunnyvale, CA,” “shopping,” “sneakers,” and “basketball.” Is this something you’d want (or would at least be “ok” with), or would you feel as though your privacy was violated?

Let us know in the comments section below!

Melissa Daniels
Yahoo! Community Manager

(For those of you looking for the current People Search feature, you can find it here: http://profiles.yahoo.com/people-search/)

UPDATE: To clarify, as it stands there are no options in the current profile that say “private” or “public.” Instead, there is the option of revealing portions of your profile to “Anyone” or “My Connections.” The post has been updated to reflect these distinctions. Additionally, any profile that is set to “hide” would not come up in search results.

Following last week’s announcement (both here and on the Answers blog), the transition to the new Yahoo! Profiles is now taking place on Answers. If you’re a regular user of Yahoo! Answers you’ll start to notice a change in your profile options.

From now on, instead of importing your image display from Yahoo! 360, Answers will use the image from your profile on Yahoo!. For those of you who display an Avatar on Answers - don’t worry. This won’t change. Both Avatars and nicknames will continue to remain the same on Answers.

If you haven’t already activated your profile, you can do so by going to http://profiles.yahoo.com — here, you’ll be asked to verify some information that you’ve previously shared with Yahoo!, and to select the image you’d like to share with the Answers community.

For those of you who are visiting the profiles news blog for the first time– welcome! Please feel free to poke around and review the archives for relevant topics and questions that might improve your experience with your new profile on Yahoo!. As the Community Manager, I try to answer and address as many user questions as I possibly can, so feel free to leave a comment or a question and I’ll do my best to help out.

Still can’t find what you’re looking for? Be sure to check out the FAQ’s and help guides set up by Customer Care (you can find them here) which will cover issues like “Why is my profile not viewable when I use my profile URL?” “What happened to the profile for my Alias?” and, “How do I hide my profile?”

Don’t have a question, but instead have a suggestion? Leave it as a comment! We love hearing your feedback and actively work to implement your feedback in the product.

Thanks, and enjoy your new profile!

Melissa Daniels
Yahoo! Community Manager

Attention Yahoo! Answers users: in the coming weeks, you might notice a change in the way in which your profile image is displayed within Yahoo! Answers.

Currently, the image that displays for each user in Answers is brought in from your 360 profile. In the coming weeks, Answers will start using profiles to display your image rather than 360.

If you’ve already updated your profile on http://profiles.yahoo.com you’re ready to go-the image you use on your profile on Yahoo! will now be the same image that shows up when you answer or ask questions on Yahoo! Answers.

However, if you haven’t updated/activated your profile on Yahoo! you’ll want to do that soon to confirm the display image that will be used whist on Answers. To get started, just go to http://profiles.yahoo.com . Once you’re there, you’ll be asked to confirm some information that you’ve previously shared with Yahoo! and select the image you’d like to share with the Answers community.

For those of you who display an avatar on Answers - don’t worry.  This won’t change.  Both avatars and nicknames will continue to remain the same on Answers.

The Answers team will continue to keep you updated on the change through the Answers blog, and I’ll do my best to communicate those changes here as well.

Melissa Daniels
Yahoo! Community Manager