Tutorial: Linking your aliases
For those of you with questions about linking your aliases, or just wanted a quick step-by-step guide on how to link/merge/bind your aliases, you’re in luck
Below you’ll find a quick video tutorial on how to link your alias IDs to your primary Yahoo! profile. This tutorial also shows you how to set your profile to be viewable by “anyone” as opposed to just your connections– the default setting.
The end of the video mentions checking out the “next tutorial on creating a new alias”– I’ll get this tutorial up and posted for you either later today or tomorrow, which will walk you through the steps on how to create a new alias.
Melissa Daniels
Yahoo! Community Manager
UPDATE: The tutorial on how to add and delete aliases has been posted and can be found here.
UPDATE: If you are logged in using a broadband Yahoo! account (@sbcglobal.net, @att.net, etc.) and are trying to add or delete an alias please be sure to follow the steps outlined on the “Update for Broadband Users” post.
For those of you who cannot view the video, here’s how you link your aliases:
- Log into your profile at http://profile.yahoo.com
- Click on “Settings” in the upper right hand corner
- Click on “Search” in the right hand column
- “Check” the box that reads “Allow people to find my profile by searching for my first name, last name, or display name”
- “Check” the boxes next to each of the aliases you’d like to make “searchable,” found in the list below
- Click Save
- Subscribe via RSS
- 54 Comments
November 6th, 2008 at 12:39 am
There is no point to linking, you may as well just have one profile then. I almost regret saying that though because at least nwo we can talk to people who we used to, and odds are good that somehow hurts yahoo too. Just give us our proper functionality back.
And even if you fro some reason keep refusing to, keep in mind that any system that requires tutorials for computer literate people to use properly is poorly constructed. Yahoo will never make it as a ’social network’ so just make it back into the nice IM client it used to be.
As for those of you watching the video, just skip it and sign this instead http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/Oldyahooprofiles/
November 7th, 2008 at 12:45 pm
“For those of you with questions about linking your aliases, or just wanted a quick step-by-step guide on how to link/merge/bind your aliases, you’re in luck”
No one had any questions about that and no one wants to link their aliases, that should be incredibly obvious. How condescending. Ignore that people hate losing their independent aliases at your own risk. Telling people ’sorry!’ then posting a link on how to do what they DON’T WANT TO DO, or tell them they have to go to the enormous trouble of creating multiple accounts is just smacking your customers in the face. Bye Yahoo – hello Google and/or MySpace.
November 7th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
Melissa no one asked for tutorials on linking their aliases to their main account. That is one big thing everyone is complaining about – THEY DON’T WANT THAT!
Why not post a useful tutorial that people need, like how to find the ‘Delete My Account’ link? I have been looking for that for 1/2 hour. Anyone know what it is?
November 7th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
Gillian,
If you want to delete your account you’re able to do that by going here:
https://edit.yahoo.com/config/delete_user
However, please read all of the details before confirming as this will delete ALL of your accounts and all information linked to that account and any aliases linked to that account on the Yahoo! network.
-Melissa
January 23rd, 2009 at 6:51 am
question: if I delete one of my aliases, can I use it as username (or ID) to create a new yahoo account? thanks
November 6th, 2008 at 6:08 am
[...] The full story is here:http://www.yprofileblog.com/blog/2008/11/05/tutorial-linking-your-aliases/ [...]
November 6th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
The tutorial will not work for me! I have a dial up connection and I am on Life Line in Ohio so my connection is very slow and I need another way to get important information like this, even though I will not be able to view these tutorials like this one. Can some one please help me?
November 6th, 2008 at 3:35 pm
Mary Ellen,
All of the information contained in these tutorials is readily available in the past post on managing your alias and profile.
-Melissa
November 7th, 2008 at 10:48 am
Yahoo continues along its “social networking” path, but it’s really turning into social engineering. The entire Yahoo experience continues to suck. It amazes me how people try to fix what isn’t broken yet ignore what doesn’t work in the name of “improvement” – get a clue. Your users will convert to MSN or MySpace instead of using Yahoo at all.
Fire those who are supposedly improving yahoo – at least then the share price of my yahoo stock might go up before you go out of business (which you will at this rate)
The biggest improvement you could make is to actually eliminate bots in the chat rooms. Spend every waking moment worrying about that instead of your constant tinkering with controlling how people interact.
In fact, this rant has convinced me to sell my stock in Yahoo today…even at a loss, so I hope you do go out of business (yes, I’m really that ticked off at you guys!)
December 11th, 2008 at 4:15 am
I agree totally with this user. Yahoo has not accomplished an acceptable way to eliminate bots from the chat rooms. My profile continues to somehow not get viewed by most users although I have clicked “anyone” in the box marked under permissions, as well as my I.M photo, seldom shows. Yahoo staff continually change simple proven steps more complex and introduce additions that few users want. My new Y Messenger 9.0 beta,never closes properly yet I have downloaded it several times with the same results, what gives? Is it compatible with Vista or not?
November 8th, 2008 at 5:48 am
i’ld like to say tankyou
November 8th, 2008 at 2:28 pm
I have a problem and Yahoo on-line help can’t correct it. They have never heard of not being able to access or change aliases.
I have followed your tutorial, printed pages for clarity and just about everything else humanly possible with no luck.
My pages are different that yours!
I keep getting this EDIT.CLIENT.YAHOO URL.
Change Publicly Viewable Information at the following URL (https://edit.client.yahoo.com/edit_profile;_ylt=AjymBfAQNl60CPL6twFrIqp0dQlG?stage=mc_edit_public&.scrumb=PxgjhHMj0E1) and I can’t access for change any of my aliases.
However there is an EDIT button and when I click it this comes up – Oops! Nothing to see here. Go back to your profile. My profile is in BETA – is that the problem? If so how can it be corrected?
Better yet – how can I access and change my aliases?
November 9th, 2008 at 11:03 pm
Stop deletein my our comments
November 10th, 2008 at 7:11 pm
Wow. I think Yahoo thinks we are morons. I’m pretty sure we all know how to do this and understand. I don’t think Yahoo understands they we just hate the new system since it is pretty much pointless. You might as well just delete all of your alias profiles if people are just going to be redirected to your main profile. Which pretty much removes the use of the Alias profiles. Can someone tell me what use an Alias has now that you can’t make a seperate profile for them? Yahoo is Epic Fail….
November 11th, 2008 at 7:18 am
Because if they did that we could no longer contact alot of people who were using alieses on messenger, and that would create even MORE of a backlash… which while I don’t understand considering the fact that they don’t care about us would make me for one VERY unhappy, I don’t want to lose the people i’ve gotten to know.
November 11th, 2008 at 8:41 pm
Myself I’ve went to using any service but yahoo. My groups are now on ning, I search with google, and there’s no reason to look at a yahoo profile as there most likely blank because nobody wants this or the assing around required to fill one out. If everybody will stop using yahoo as much as possable their attitude will change or they’ll go under. Which is what needs to happen rather than just complaining stop using yahoo’s services as alot of people are
November 11th, 2008 at 10:21 pm
All of this “new” stuff has me a total confused mess!! I added an alias because I am being harrasses and can’t relax while playing anymore. Thought I had the problem licked but now when I log into yahoo games it says “hi using my alias but when I get into the game it’s my regular ID!! I’m not the brightest crayon in the box but I’m not computer stupid either!
What made yahoo change things and cause such confusion? It was fine the way it was! I think I’ll be playing a lot more at Pogo instead!
November 12th, 2008 at 8:33 pm
okay..this new profile thin…it’s whack..and I’m guessing you’re getting tired of hearing this….while the new set up is nice for just one profile but just give us back the ability to have more then one……I and about a million other people liked the option of six or seven different profiles to play with….you guys were doing so well with what you had before why the change bring back the old yahoo that made MILLIONS happy to say dude lets go chat on yahoo with our friends….not hey lets go to myspace and get bugged by Tom every time we do something illegal
November 16th, 2008 at 11:39 pm
yahoo you had me going around in circle do not know what i need you offer all in one help. They made problem 2 bring us 2 getter. It do not like any thing mew .
November 21st, 2008 at 5:45 pm
jajajajajaa ves q si puedo entrar a tu corr
November 22nd, 2008 at 7:43 pm
just would like to know why i never got the help i asked for to make my profile. ive been trying for over a month with no sucess. why?
November 23rd, 2008 at 6:26 am
This is a nightmare! I am a group owner of a group which requires members to display a profile which states they are adult women. The old profile was difficult but they could usually get through it with a little guidance. Now they are filling in details on their IDs but they aren’t showing up on the profile for the group. You used to be able to give info that would be displayed with particular profiles, the profile that you used for a particular group. This whole new system doesn’t make sense to me. I guess I will probably figure it out in time through trial and error but in the meantime I am having to block bona fide members from my women’s group because, like me, they cannot figure out how to display their age and gender on their profile.
Also, when I go to edit my own profiles, there is only the delete option, no ‘edit’ even though that is what the menu says. As far as I can figure out so far, Yahoo haven’t actually finalised the system, as it keeps switching back and forth between the old one, but without the edit facility, and the new beta one, which requires this complicated linking system that no-one can figure out.
HOLY COW! What a mess!
November 23rd, 2008 at 10:55 am
even following your tutorial, I can’t link my alias to my yahoo profile. When i try this all it does is list my main profile and none of my aliases… just go back to the freakin old profile system and alleviate all this mess
November 24th, 2008 at 9:06 am
Jimmy,
Once you link your aliases it’s not going to show up as a separate profile. It’s going to link to your main profile. The only way for you to tell if it worked is if:
1. You see if the boxes are checked next to your aliases
2. You log out of the network and then go to http://profiles.yahoo.com/YOURALIAS to see if your profile comes up (please note that if you have your profile set to only be viewable by your connection this will only show your display image and your name– not all of your contact information).
-Melissa
December 26th, 2008 at 7:01 pm
This new system is pointless and useless. Moderators of groups I want to join won’t approve me because they cannot access my profile because they have to be in “My Connections” If I want to edit how other view my profile, it can’t be done be cause “My Connections”cannot be edited, the one at the very top of the list. Quit fixing what aint broke!
January 7th, 2009 at 9:12 pm
Melissa- I don[t think you understood Jimmy’s problem. I have the same problem When I go to the search tab to try and make my alias searchable, my alias is not listed there for me to click, in order to make it searchable, as shown in the video. Only my main user ID is listed there. I can’t make my alias searchable, because it isn’t listed there with a box for me to check.
January 25th, 2009 at 8:21 am
Exactly, was this question ever answered? I REALLY would like to know what the answer to this is. Yesterday, it was there, today, my aliases aren’t listed. YAHOO SUCKS ASS!
November 27th, 2008 at 9:33 pm
yahoo sucks and now u cant talk and if u loose someon acidently u cant gt them back unless ur a rocket scientist
December 4th, 2008 at 9:27 am
“Once you link your aliases it’s not going to show up as a separate profile. It’s going to link to your main profile. ” I’m curious as to why anyone will want or need aliases now, since you can’t view your individual aliases’ profiles anymore.. If all aliases just link to the one primary profile and you can’t view or edit anything about your aliases, then who needs an alias? I believe the whole point of an alias is to have a different identity (so to speak) that is still conveniently accessed from your Primary. I loved the old alias system and had so much fun until this happened, now I lost many profiles with individual themes and information that is now completely and irretrievably gone.
Melissa, surely after this many posts by users, you must see the general complaint and or confusion surrounding this… People want their multiple profiles back. Can’t you please bring that to the attention of the people in charge?
December 8th, 2008 at 4:47 pm
Reconsider your plan with respect to profiles and aliases. Do not force users to link aliases to “Real Profiles”
December 11th, 2008 at 4:28 am
Does Melissa really think the new YMessenger beta 9.0 is user friendly? It appears to be quicker but many great features with the old 6.0 upwards such as with Alias’ and “follow a chatter into another room’ have been removed , along with a variety of Adult user rooms. Although I use messenger all the time it has gotten very complex and not as much fun as in the past.
December 12th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
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December 24th, 2008 at 3:34 am
I have not been able to view my profile in over a week for some reason it just got blocked I get the message private or does not exist, I have sent yahoo support 4 requests in the last week for help with no result. still waiting for a response.
December 30th, 2008 at 7:26 am
Our alias is no longer linked to our primary Yahoo profile either, even though it was linked up until now and we haven’t changed any settings.
We’ve rechecked that our settings somehow didn’t get changed and have verified that they are still set the way the tutorial says to set them so people CAN see our primary Yahoo profile when clicking on our alias name. Help!
December 30th, 2008 at 7:52 am
We just wrote a reply that hasn’t appeared so we’ll try again …. we’ve had our two aliases set so they connected to our primary Yahoo ID profile ever since the new system got set up, but when we checked today, they are no longer linked to our primary Yahoo ID profile! Our settings are set correctly for linking them to our primary Yahoo ID profile but the link isn’t working!
Help!!
December 30th, 2008 at 7:53 am
oh, so NOW our first reply shows up
((
December 31st, 2008 at 7:18 am
Melissa, can you help us?.
December 30th, 2008 at 9:22 am
Ok, I get the part about linking aliases, but problem is my alias doesn’t even show up! I have a main profile, I created an alias after deleting an old alias and now, under the search my new alias doesn’t even show up but if I put my old one back, the old one shows up. I don’t get it! This whole profile idea is a disaster, seriously. I might as well have a million emails again…
January 6th, 2009 at 7:01 am
I have this SAME exact problem and have since the new profiles popped up. I was not aware of the profile change over when i deleted one alias and replaced it with a new one. On all but ONE screen my new alias shows up. The one screen it doesn’t show up on? The one where you LINK the alias to your main profile!
And I agree with everyone else. You’ve taken away a great deal of anonymity from many of us. Even if i could link my new alias to my profile, I wouldn’t. I don’t need psychotic losers using what they can find on there to stalk me. If Yahoo would spend more time on the bot problem (which ya’ll take care of maybe every six months for about 12 hours, if that) and spent LESS time trying to force us to be nice to one another for fear of some jerk stalking us cause they can see all of our info, you’d have happier members. If not for clients like YahElite, I would give up on yahoo ENTIRELY!
GO BACK TO SEPERATE PROFILES FOR ALIASES!!!
January 13th, 2009 at 11:51 am
… Please fix this, “newly created alias not showing up on people search page” so that us users may link an alias that we had to create due to your YMSG “1C” Exploit (which hasn’t been fixed yet) so that we can be found by our friends again, by linking that alias to our main profile!
… Do it, now!
January 12th, 2009 at 5:24 pm
I DON’T KNOW IF THE PROFILE TUTORIAL WAS HELPFUL OR INTELLIGENT OR MORE THAN I HAD FIGURED OUT FOR MYSELF. WHY ??? EVEN AT MAX. SETTING, THE VOLUME WAS TOO LOW FOR ME TO UNDERSTAND A WORD OF IT. WHAT I NEED TO KNOW IS HOW TO MAKE THE MESSENGER DISPLAY YOU GET AT LOGON JUST BEFORE INSIGHT TO USE MY PRIMARY PROFILE AND NICKNAME WHICH IS ALSO MY ALIAS. WHEN I CLICK MY AVATAR AND THEN ” MY PROFILE ” ON THE SCROLL , I GO TO MY OLD PROFILE IN WHICH MY NAME IS ” DELETE ” AND I LIVE NOWHERE AND I DISPLAY NO UPDATES TO ANYBODY, PLUS CUST. CARE FIXED IT ONCE BUT I MESSED IT UP AND ASSOCIATED WITH MY ” DELETE ” PROFILE ” IS A DISPLAY OF MY EMAIL ADD, NEXT TO MY AVATAR INSTEAD OF MY ALIAS. ON TOP OF IT , I HAVE RECEIVED AT LEAST 10 VERIFY BY CLICKING THAT DISPLAYED ADD. EMAILS AND I FINALLY SENT ONE HELL OF A REPLY. SO, NOW IT’S MORE HOURS ON THE CMPTR AND I THINK I’VE FOUND HELP BUT I CAN’T HEAR IT SO IT’ S USELESS LIKE MY ONE YEAR CONTRACT WITH VERIZON.,
January 12th, 2009 at 7:57 pm
I HAVE A DIFFENT ID TO PALY GAMEING ONE YAHOO BUT WHEN I TRY TO USE IT KEEPS BRING UP THAT I AM LOGING WITH MY MINE ID HOW CAN I BRING UP A DIFFENT ID
January 17th, 2009 at 7:28 pm
i have no idear what is going on ….that alone comment on .
January 17th, 2009 at 7:30 pm
you are very quick i’ll say that.
January 20th, 2009 at 6:34 am
I would love to find someone besides Yahoo. Any suggestions? I can NEVER get anyone to help me. They are useless, and the numbers they give you NEVER work!!! I have had it with them
January 25th, 2009 at 11:26 am
I have a question – if I delete one of my aliases, can I use it as username (or ID) to create a new yahoo account? thanks
January 25th, 2009 at 12:41 pm
how can I delete (or deactivate) my profile, ’cause I pushed the wrong button (”Continue”) in the “create profile” page, and now my e-mail account changed, too – it’s filled with new features relating to the profile (like “View All / From Connections” in Inbox etc.). I don’t like that my mail changed! I want to get rid of this new stuff! Please help!!!
January 30th, 2009 at 8:54 am
Ok I have read all this..I see my problem “asked” but never “answered”…
Under search it shows only my main id..it does not list my aliases with any boxes to check…so it is impossible to link them! Saw this asked over and over but no useful answer. Does anyone out there have an answer?? Help!? TY
February 6th, 2009 at 5:37 pm
Melissa,
I followed your instructions to a ‘t’. Unfortunately the program has changed since you made your help video. The settings screen shows ‘Permissions’, ‘Notifications’, and ‘People Search’. There is no ‘Search’ tab, which means the Aliases don’t show up, only the e-mail addresses.
There must be away to link the aliases to the main profile.
Wanting to get this to work.
Thanks in advance.
February 8th, 2009 at 11:41 pm
please tell me how to link my aliases to my id
February 12th, 2009 at 12:03 pm
yea i think dats kool
please tell me when i can put with my aliases 2 my id
February 13th, 2009 at 2:52 pm
I don’t understand
February 13th, 2009 at 2:54 pm
I totaly don’t understand but barbie whatever your real name is Do u have yahoo messenger??????????
February 14th, 2009 at 12:31 pm
I don’t know about other users, but this new system is annoying as hell for me. I role play with my Yahoo account, and with my previous aliases, I could make separate profiles for them. NOW I CAN’T ROLE PLAY PROPERLY BECAUSE I CAN’T HAVE ANY INFORMATION SAVED ON ANY OF MY CHARACTERS!!!!!!!! My personal opinion is that I hate this new system. Hell, in order for me to continue role playing properly, I have to make separate accounts for each character. HELL OF A WASTE OF TIME!