Moving Forward
Happy February, everyone!
Five months ago, you were introduced to your new profile on Yahoo!, and since the launch, thousands of you have used this blog as a great channel for communicating your interests and frustrations with the new profiles product. We’re so grateful for your open and honest feedback and are using this feedback to shape our next steps with profiles.
As a user, you’re an important part of the Yahoo! community, and we want to know what you think. We’d like to keep the dialogue open through this blog. I’ll still post “Tips and Tricks” as they come along (and things that make using your profile easier,) but I’ll also be using this blog to gather your feedback on current features and other general topics.
What this means is you’ll have an opportunity to provide feedback on critical topics (either by leaving a comment, or by answering a poll question, when available) that are currently under consideration by our product team. We’ll use this to refine our plans where possible.
I know you’ve heard me say this before, and I’ll probably say it again in the future, but we’re here, and we’re listening. My role as a Community Manager is to be an advocate for you, and to make sure that your voice is being heard as we develop product enhancements and fixes. I can’t promise that all of your suggestions will be implemented, but I can promise that they’ll be heard.
One last thing: I know; we know, you’ve been patient, and we appreciate it. I appreciate it. Your commitment to this product shows, and is something we here at Yahoo!, love to see. Thanks for being such a dedicated crowd, and here’s to creating great products together.
Melissa Daniels
Yahoo! Community Manager
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- 72 Comments
February 10th, 2009 at 6:02 am
Melissa, you say that yahoo feels that the users are important and that feedback is appreciated. We, the users also appreciate feedback. While we understand that individual replies are not possible, some sort of timely group reply would be nice. I see alot of issues being raised by the users, but no answers/replies from yahoo with the exception of the “login” issue. Thanks for at least telling us that the users are important, though I doubt many feel that yahoo appreciates us.
Here is my suggestion: Make the new profiles more like the old ones. yahoo should be able to format the new profiles to be as easy to setup and look like the old ones. Make the “social” part an option. Most users just used their profiles as a way to ID themselves for others in chatrooms. Speaking of chatrooms. Is yahoo ever going to do anything about them besides letting them continue to fall apart?
February 10th, 2009 at 8:51 am
Hi GS,
) but I will do my best to respond to as many as I possibly can.
I know. You raise a valid point, and although there are some issues we cannot address, I will do my best to comment on the requests. I do appreciate the fact that each of you are taking the time to comment and address issues and leave your concerns, and I will do my best to respond to them. I can’t however, promise that I’ll respond to every single comment (sometimes there are a lot!
And in response to your comment about Yahoo not valuing it’s users/appreciating you– we do– Yahoo does.
As far as chat rooms go, chat does fall under the umbrella of Messenger, but I will be sure to also pass along your feedback to them as well.
However, in regards to your profile suggestion, I’ll be sure to pass it on. Thanks for commenting.
-Melissa
February 10th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
chat does fall under the umbrella of messenger but you will be sure to pass our feedback along to them as well?
did you mean,,, chat does NOT fall under the umbrella of messenger?
for me, chatting is the main reason for using messenger.
in fact, chatting is the main reason i come to yahoo at all.
is there a different blog for chat room issues?
where do we go to discuss chat room issues?
February 10th, 2009 at 7:38 pm
Hi John,
Nope, I meant it does fall under Messenger umbrella.
There’s not a blog for chat, but I will share your thoughts with the chat team.
The best way to notify Yahoo’s of chat room bugs is to report them to customer care as this will open a bug/ticket, bringing it to the attention of Yahoo! team members. For all Yahoo! products, this is the best and only channel to file a bug/report a bug/issue.
In the meantime, you’re welcome to provide your constructive feedback surrounding chat rooms here, and I’ll talk to the team about setting up an email address or something that they can moderate/that you can send your feedback/suggestions to.
Thanks for your patience and for understanding!
-Melissa
February 14th, 2009 at 7:42 am
Well i have been a regular user of services since around 2005.
i joined groups like chetna,bijli and religionin general.
This is providing excellent choice to voice problems of community,raise issues of national and international importance and to make friends.
My problem is i do not know how to add my photo to my profile.
I am using Apple 24inch desk top and is having LEPPORD operating system which is lynix based.
Could any body help me?
February 10th, 2009 at 7:21 am
The new profiles have not been fully implemented and don’t currently offer the content and information previously provided. As a Yahoo group owner, the biggest problem is the lack of information regarding when a profile was created. This is important when trying to reduce SPAM and scammers who create a profile simply to join a group and SPAM it. We used to be able to tell at a glance whether someone had been around for a while, or not. Now, more often than not profiles are blank and don’t even have “member since” info. This is a real problem for group owners/moderators that needs to be addressed!
February 10th, 2009 at 9:03 am
Hi Brian,
We’re aware of this need and are working to remedy this problem. In the meantime there’s a workaround you can use to verify a member’s “member since” date– using this URL: http://manage.members.yahoo.com/yprofileblog you can see a member’s old profile card, including their “member since” date. Just substitute in the member you wish to research’s ID in for mine (yprofileblog).
If you have any trouble, feel free to shoot me an email at yprofileblog [at] yahoo [dot] com.
-Melissa
February 10th, 2009 at 7:47 am
1. A few weeks ago, I was shown a non-Yahoo blog where “Melissa Daniels” was no longer employed by Yahoo and was in a job search. Has Ms. Daniels been rehired?
2. Functionality when using the Firefox browser continues to deteriorate, not improve. Nothing on the “Contacts” page works with Firefox now.
3. Other than that, I’m content… just impatient. So thanks.
February 10th, 2009 at 10:30 am
Hi Cassandra,
It’s me, I’m back, and I’m here to listen.
As far as your Firefox browser issue goes– please do report that to customer care so they can file a bug, and I’ll pass along your issue to our team here as well.
Thanks.
-Melissa
February 10th, 2009 at 10:45 am
1. WB:)
2. Reported twice already.
3. Thanks.
C.
February 10th, 2009 at 7:59 am
I don’t know if it’s planned, but when are we going to be able to blog in our profile?
February 10th, 2009 at 10:37 am
Hi Frank,
Thanks for your comment. Blogging is one of the features we’re looking at including in your profile. Currently, if you use a third party blogging service like Blogger, Xanga, or many others, you can integrate these into your profile as an update so your connections are aware of new posts.
Additionally, if you use a service that is not currently available in the “Share More” tab of your profile, you can always set up a MyBlogLog profile (it’s also a Yahoo! property) and link your third party blog to it. MyBlogLog will then publish your updates from your blog in your feed to your connections (if you have this preference set).
I know this isn’t the same as having a blog in your profile, but for the time being, these are a few features/options that enable you to blog and share your updates/thoughts with your Yahoo! connections.
Hope this helps.
-Melissa
February 10th, 2009 at 8:31 am
Welcome back Melissa. Are we still unable to get Aliases re-implemented, or is one of the biggest features of Yahoo lost forever?
Is there any thought being given towards users who have no interest at all in the “Open and Social” changes being made, such that there will be ways to opt-out of these changes?
February 10th, 2009 at 10:41 am
Hi Bruiser,
Unfortunately, aliases are not returning. However, we are looking at ways of doing just what you suggested– making the “open and social” options more configurable. Thanks for your comment (and for welcoming me back!
-Melissa
April 20th, 2009 at 9:06 am
I have been a member of Yahoo since 1997. I think it is worse than ever. Wanna know why? Spending so much time on Yahoo robs PC users of valuable time that can be used for living life. You and many others just contribute to the dumbing-down of Americans. Thanks for contributing to the coming downfall of our country.
February 10th, 2009 at 10:34 am
Hi Melissa,
The only thing that myself and a LOT of other people I know are waiting for is the ability to blog and import our already existing 360 blogs. This was said to be a plan for the new profiles. Is this still the plan and any timeline on when we can expect this. Many, many, people have moved away from Yahoo! because they want to blog and 360 has basically been abandoned by Yahoo! and doesn’t work right anymore.
Thanks,
Chevy
February 10th, 2009 at 10:43 am
Hi Chevy (Karen),
Yep, we’re definitely looking at ways of incorporating blogging features into your profile. In the meantime there are a few workarounds. (I mentioned a few in my comment to Frank above, which I’ll copy/paste below).
Currently, if you use a third party blogging service like Blogger, Xanga, or many others, you can integrate these into your profile as an update so your connections are aware of new posts.
Additionally, if you use a service that is not currently available in the “Share More” tab of your profile, you can always set up a MyBlogLog profile (it’s also a Yahoo! property) and link your third party blog to it. MyBlogLog will then publish your updates from your blog in your feed to your connections (if you have this preference set).
I know this isn’t the same as having a blog in your profile, but for the time being, these are a few features/options that enable you to blog and share your updates/thoughts with your Yahoo! connections.
Hope this helps.
-Melissa
February 12th, 2009 at 5:17 am
Melissa, what *is* the status of Yahoo360 vis-a-vis the new profiles then? It was repeatedly promised (over the course of the past two or so years…!) that the new profiles would retain such things as the 360 blogs and the 360 friend lists, connections, guestbooks, favorites and such (as can certainly be expected), non of which has obviously transpired so far. I mean, Yahoo360 lies in shambles and few people still hang on to using it, while most simply wait for a transition to the new profiles to happen. At what point are we with regard to this, and what’s to come?
Thanks.
February 18th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
Hi Mandy,
I’m sorry to say, but at this time I’m not able to communicate any new information to you regarding 360. Though I promise, as soon as I’m able to share something new, this will be the first place I post. (Well, here and the 360 blog!)
But with all sincerity, thank you for your patience.
-Melissa
February 11th, 2009 at 11:03 pm
Without a blogging feature, I have no use for the profile system. You’ve destroyed 360, which was a great community. The new “smarter” in box seems to duplicate efforts with the profile system. Face it…Yahoo came to the social networking party just a little too late. You cannot and never will be Facebook. Give us a blog and wow us with innovation. Stop imitating other Yahoo products (i.e. MyBlogLog) and show us something new and fresh. All of this updating stuff…Friendfeed and Facebook already do all of this.
February 13th, 2009 at 3:27 am
“Unfortunately, aliases are not returning.”
WHY NOT????
That alone makes the new Profile system undesireable to me. Many others have complained about this as well, how it’s no longer possible to be signed in with one ID and simultaneously present different personas for chat, IM, and Groups. I don’t want people to see my main ID when they click an Alias! This is how the new system is TOO “open.”
On the other hand, the system is LESS open than claimed. I’ve yet to see a response about the absurdity of being unable to Search for like-minded people unless you know their ID. Or the further absurdity of being unable to learn anything about someone who wants to Connect until you allow the connection!
As far as I can tell, Yahoo has been as responsive concering Profiles as they’ve been about chatroom errors, not to mention all the bots! Which brings up the point about why there’s no Chat Blog: they know the servers would be overloaded by all the complaints! Customer “care”– what a joke — has never responded in a meaningful way about ANYTHING.
February 13th, 2009 at 9:42 am
Hi mal_igned,
Glad to see you back.
I understand your frustration regarding aliases. Believe me– I’ve read all of the comments from all of the users regarding aliases and I hear the frustration, but that’s the decision that has been made. In regards to having people see your main ID when people click on your alias, you can prevent this by not linking your alias to your main ID, or by creating a separate ID all together.
As far as search goes, we’re aware of the need and desire for member search– we know that this is a feature you all want to see come back, and the team is evaluating this. We know that as it stands, it is hard to connect with people you both know, and people you don’t know. We want to make this easier– that’s why we’re asking for your feedback, and are honestly listening.
But part of this process is patience, and understanding that sometimes change takes time. I’m not trying to be difficult or feed you a line– not by any means, because I know that you all have been patient, and you all have been understanding, and have worked amazingly well with all of this– but there are a lot of things that go into creating a product that is used by millions of people every day. So, sometimes, these things take time. So, thank you.
In regards to the chat blog: chat is a subset of Messenger, and is not a standalone product or service. That’s why it doesn’t have it’s own blog. Not because the servers would be overloaded– but because it’s not a product. It’s a feature.
As far as your Customer Care comment goes, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Customer Care agents are amazing people, and work incredibly hard to meet all of the inquiries that are sent in each day by users. If you have an issue that you have already sent to customer care and has not been accurately addressed (and is in regards to Profiles) feel free to send me an email (please forward me the Customer Care response in the email) at yprofileblog [at] yahoo [dot] com and I will try to help.
-Melissa
February 13th, 2009 at 11:07 am
I don’t know if this has been said here before Melissa but I am willing to bet that you already know exactly what I am going to say. Make the ’social’ aspect optional, take out those different ‘interests’ sections unless we choose to put them in with a tab and most of all give us our alias profiles back. I know you have said before it is not in the plan, but it would not be that hard to do and frankly the number of people that would be willing to stay or even come back from a simple change like this would be phenomenal.
Personally I see a good ‘new profile system’ looking exactly like the old profile system on the surface with a tab at the side you can use to add in the various nick nacks and brickabrack that your team is designing. That way its simple enough for teh mass majority who don’t want to deal with thins while at the same time they can go ahead and say ‘hay, -blank- sounds like it might be cool… lets see what it does’. If you keep things closer to the old way while offering people a chance to mix the new in with it I promise they will be more apt to pick up on some features that they might enjoy rather than fleeing Yahoo all together which many people have.
Finally, and this is key, I think that from the looks of it you guys need much better communication between the messenger and profile teams. I can garentee you that if you ask a user who does not know nine out of ten would guess that the Profile team and the Messenger team were the same team, and perhaps they should be jointed together. However several comments you have made seem to indicate that transparency between the two groups is not what it should be and when most of your users who use profiles extensively do so for the sake of chat rooms that sets a bad precedent. Perhaps we don’t see the interworking because we are on the outside but I think that needs to be a high priority.
However Melissa I am glad to see you back and I do hope that progress can be made.
-Terra
February 18th, 2009 at 1:43 pm
Terra,
I think you misunderstood my comments about Messenger. I was merely stating that chatrooms are a Messenger property. I’m happy to share feedback regarding chatrooms with the Messenger team and will do so. I agree that perhaps you don’t see the communication or transparency between the teams because you are on the outside, but I assure you, it’s there.
As I mentioned before, Terra, at this time, aliases are not returning. We are, however, looking at ways to make your social experience on Yahoo! better, and do appreciate your suggestion regarding tabs and the privacy controls.
-Melissa
February 19th, 2009 at 3:54 am
Then you will have to accept that what your team is calling ’social’ is not what many of your customers want. Our socialization depends on the Alias profiles working properly.I hate getting back into this but until the team decides to do the right thing and re-implement them there are no changes you can make that will satisfy this specific sector of your user base. As I have said many times before Dropping this function makes no logical sense and only hurts Yahoo as a whole. It hurts messenger which is one of the key reasons many people use profiles in the first place, almost to the point where Messenger becomes unusable. Adding in tabs so that people can rent netflix and check on information they are too lazy to just look up themselves is all well and good but it is not something that first requires your team getting rid of what was perhaps the main thing keeping many of your users on Yahoo.
I am sorry Melissa but I absolutely refuse to accept Alias profiles staying gone as an option, and I am not the only one. Until things change back to the way they should be I will be here rallying for the needed change. If your team thinks its unimportant they really should try frequenting a few of the rooms that are still somewhat alive, almost all of the profiles are completely blank and everyone is upset. The lack of Alias profiles is hurting messenger.
February 13th, 2009 at 2:40 pm
Chat may be a feature of Messenger, but its never truly addressed by the Messenger Blog Team. I faithfully read both blogs….and the YMail blog too. I USED to read the Y360 Blog, but that died.
The way it seems to be going, all of the above are working on the same team..or shortly will be under the “same umbrella” and if I am lucky…each feature/product will be located in my Yahoo Mail account.
Hey, I’m not complaining…I’d probably be the only one who will like it all in one spot anyway!
Lacie~
February 18th, 2009 at 1:46 pm
Hi Lacie,
I know Sarah over on the Messenger blog does a great job of communicating everything that she possibly can about chat, Messenger, and anything else she’s able to.
Thanks for reading all the blogs!
We’re all working together, across all of the properties, to make sure that your experience on Yahoo! is what you’d hope it to be. I’m happy to see that you’re enjoying the new social inbox aspect of Y! Mail– there are lots of users just like you, who’d like all of their Y! experiences to take place in one location.
I know the Mail team and I would love to hear your feedback on the integration of Connections into your inbox, so feel free to share your thoughts on that as well! Thanks for commenting.
-Melissa
February 14th, 2009 at 7:47 am
now since i have id on yahoo as well as on gmail, is it possible to transfer all contacts in gmail but must also remain in yahoo address book.
Due to my age, i feel inferiority complex in inviting other persons to chat.
i have constant fear of rejection.
February 15th, 2009 at 2:15 am
i jus wanted to know how can i get the old profile forum back and hte way those lookd .. i cant cahnge my nicknames on the profile i have under this name or any of the others.. ive been qw away from yahoo for a while and i jus dont get this new stuff can you please help
February 18th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
Rachel,
If you’re missing data from your old profile, you can still access it (but not edit it) by going to: http://manage.members.yahoo.com/YOURID (replace YOURID with your YahooID)
However, this is only for reference and data retrieval (though this shouldn’t be necessary as all of your data should have been migrated over into your new profile)– your new profile will remain at http://profiles.yahoo.com.
Thanks.
-Melissa
February 15th, 2009 at 10:14 am
Quite frankly, I think the changes implemented by yahoo sucks. I don’t see where they were an improvement. Furthermore, the fact that the member directory has been disabled is a double suck. I loved being able to look around a contact people with similar interests in your area.
February 18th, 2009 at 1:49 pm
Hi Matt,
Sorry you think the changes “suck” and “double suck”– aside from the member directory, what other changes made your experience on Y! a negative one? How can we improve it?
-Melissa
February 18th, 2009 at 4:25 pm
So do you mean you aren’t going to even address his issue and our issue with no member directory? We want an answer to that so give us a straight up answer.
February 18th, 2009 at 6:22 pm
Tommy,
My apologies– Matt’s comment was just that– a comment, not a question, so that’s why I didn’t answer anything or address his issue. I’ve addressed it in other comments, and I’d be happy to repost my answer (below). However, I’m not able to give you what I think you’re looking for: a firm commitment regarding the return of member directory. What I can tell you is:
We are currently exploring new ways to help users connect with each other, and recognize that many users would like to see member search return.
Thanks for your comment (and your patience), it’s been passed on to the team.
-Melissa
February 15th, 2009 at 10:50 pm
What I do not like about it is it that if you sign up for a Yahoo! account with an alias name – say JohnDoe2009 or something, but use your real name when signing up it automatically displays your First name and Last name initial in the display name.
There is no notice of this, and I don’t think there is any option to review what your public profile will state before using any Yahoo! services.
So, by DEFAULT, our real first names and last name initials are automatically placed in the Display Name feature of the profile.
And you don’t even know this unless you happen to look at your profile, when not logged in.
This opens all kinds of privacy issues, as far as I am concerned, and allows anyone who clicks on your profile to know a person’s real first name and initial, even if they want to keep that private.
Again, you don’t realize this until AFTER you’ve signed up and are using Yahoo services, and I’m sure there are a lot more people than me who don’t want their first and last initial in their profile.
Very disappointing and kinda scary actually.
February 18th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
Hi Pete,
Your full name is only shared with your connections– if you still feel uncomfortable with this, you’re more than welcome to substitute in your initials instead.
You are, however, notified of this when you edit your profile– above your name it says “Your basic information will be visible to the public. Your full name will only be shared with your connections.”
I agree that privacy is a major concern, and I want to make sure that your needs are met. I’ll let the team know about your concern. Thanks for commenting.
-Melissa
February 21st, 2009 at 10:29 am
>>I agree that privacy is a major concern, and I want to make sure that your needs are met. I’ll let the team know about your concern. Thanks for commenting.
The problem is that when you migrated ALL profiles over to the beta format, the “display name” became the real first and last initial of people who signed up for Yahoo under an alias using their REAL names.
Imagine my surprise when posting on Yahoo!’s stock boards, etc. when people started calling me by my real name and first letter of my last name.
So…. let’s face it, there are people out there who collect this kind of info in order to try and figure out who you are in real life so that they can cyberbully you online, etc. Now, thanks to the migration you guys did – users who never bother to check their own profiles are all exposed to this. Although I never made a secret of where I lived, and that always showed in my profile, now those sorts of bad guys out there have my real first name and real initial.
All of the migrated old-style profiles should have been set to private. This really sucks.
Thanks for your concern and response.
February 16th, 2009 at 1:01 am
Here something that needs attention. Your profile was deactivated by an administrator. Is this ever going to get fixed? I can’t update or access my 2 profiles with that message right now. It has been this way since the new profile system launched.
February 18th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
hearts,
I’ve emailed you regarding your accounts. As soon as you reply to my email I can better assist you.
-Melissa
February 18th, 2009 at 3:53 pm
As a heads up, if anyone else is experiencing this issue or seeing this message “Your profile was deactivated by an administrator” please file a bug (report it) to Customer Care, and send me an email at yprofileblog [at] yahoo [dot] com.
Thanks!
-Melissa
February 16th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
good
February 17th, 2009 at 1:23 am
Please give users at least the option to show a link to the messenger ID and to show the online status. Give users at least a few html- formmating options. Give users a search option to find other profiles. And please please please throw away all the axtive-x-stuff, which you build into the new profiles (and email). make profiles usable without java-script and without active-x.
a very frustrated user here.
February 18th, 2009 at 2:04 pm
Hi Peter,
Right now, you can sneak in some HTML in your Guestbook (I think I posted about this a while back– http://www.yprofileblog.com/blog/2008/11/26/using-the-guestbook/ ) but you’re right– aside from that, there should be more HTML options.
There are some customization options as far as look and feel (you can grab, drag, and drop the modules within the current profiles service, to give your profile a little more of a personal touch– it’s a start!).
I’ll pass along your thoughts on search, active-x, and java-script.
Sorry you’re so frustrated. Hopefully we can find a way to make you a little less frustrated!
-Melissa
February 17th, 2009 at 6:28 pm
who in goddess green earth gave you permission to start a profile page on me? it wasnt me I dont have any ” hey every one here I am” profiles any where I dont believe in them and I think I shut down the one that some IDIOT started for me I have noticed of late that yahoo is doing a lot of funny things that I dont like and I will continue to opt-out of any and all public information that goes into cyper space it is not your business to keep track of all the people I write to or to give my information to those who buy the sucker lists from you your are an email provider that I use period keep your nose out of my business
February 18th, 2009 at 2:05 pm
Barbara,
For as long as you’ve had an account on Yahoo!, you’ve had a profile on Yahoo!. Whether you’ve used your profile (accessed it or contributed more information to it) is entirely up to you, but this whole “profile thing” is definitely not a new invention.
-Melissa
February 19th, 2009 at 4:00 am
But Melissa thats just it, many of your users WANT to be ANTI-social. Barbara wanted to keep everything off of the profile proper, she wanted to avoid people ‘connecting’ for whatever that does. She like so many of us want the option to display what we want, or nothing at all. The design teams seem to think that we want to be social and tell everyone and their phishing friends everything we can about ourselves, but the reason most of us come to yahoo is to avoid that from other sites. We want to go on messenger and do our thing be it talk or RP and that requires a profile more akin to the old model. Now granted you can shut it all off, but most of us don’t want to shut it all off. We want the freedom to display what we had before for each of our profiles, we used more than one for a reason, and for those of us who used none they should be informed that something is being displayed putting up info they don’t want and leaving them open for annoying pests at best and phishers at worst. This is why we all get so upset Melissa and its the key change that HAS to be made.
February 18th, 2009 at 4:41 pm
How about this, how about we just all, look at our own profiles seeing how we don’t even have a way to search others, see what ads are on them, contact the companies, tell them what you’ve done, and how hardly anyone is seeing the ad’s because you can no longer browse profiles. And that they are wasting their money and should try spending their advertising dollars elsewhere like myspace. The same thing for chat, where there is nobody viewing the ads because of the bots, I’ll just be sure to look for all these companies and contact them and let them know they might want to log into your chat and see how many users are actually seeing their ads.
February 20th, 2009 at 10:39 am
So way back in 2007 users of Yahoo! 360 were told they would be
getting a new service early in 2008. Following that 360 and its associated Yahoo! Answers have gradually fallen apart. It is now
early 2009 and no service has appeared. All blogs from UK support
staff have stopped. We’ve been abandoned.
People have left to take their blogs and networks of friends and
contacts to other sites such as Multiply and Facebook. The
community that existed and thrived has gradually been replaced by
reporters and trolls on Yahoo Answers. 360 – well, just where is the replacement that I can move my content to?
This saddens me. I was a keen user of those services. But what is my
incentive to use them now? Why switch to yahoo mail when my access
could be terminated with my Yahoo Answers account? Why blog when it could all just disappear tomorrow? Why stick with a company that seems to have no direction, no interest in communicating with its customers and no ability to support its services? There isn’t
even an easy way to contact you about 360. Why?
February 20th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
That I believe was by far the best comment I think I’ve seen.
February 27th, 2009 at 5:54 pm
Wood Uncut,
All blogs from support staff for 360 have stopped, for the most part, internationally. It’s not just the UK.
Answers still has a dedicated team of CM’s and team members working to enrich your experience– I work with them regularly and they’re fantastic. They’re sprinkled across the globe, just like our users, and there are several product blogs for each region that cover Answers alone. Trolls and spam are a byproduct of a huge service, like Yahoo!. We’re actively working on combating these issues, and are making headway, but unfortunately, I don’t think there will ever be a way for any company to completely eradicate or eliminate spam on a product of that size. I won’t tell you about the report spam/abuse button, because I’m sure you’re already very familiar with it, but it is the best way to combat this issue. If every user reported all of the legitimate spammers and trolls they saw, it would make CC’s job of eliminating them much easier. If you’re our eyes and ears, we can work together to get rid of them, but otherwise, it’s impossible for us to be absolutely everywhere all the time.
As far as 360 goes, we are all well aware of how frustrated the 360 user base is with how things have been handled. For that, I’m sorry. I can assure you that we are working to improve profiles so that it is an acceptable option for 360 users, which is why there has been a delay. (In all honesty, wouldn’t you rather we take time and do things right, than rush them just “because?”)
As far as sticking with a company that has no interest in communicating with it’s customers, I completely disagree with you on that one– I think this blog, and many other product blogs like it prove that sentiment wrong. We’re here, we’re listening, AND, we’re responding. That’s communication at it’s finest, as it’s a collaborative process instead of the traditional one-way model you’re used to seeing.
-Melissa
February 20th, 2009 at 12:01 pm
And before Melissa answers, I may as well add that I’ve never used or added anything to my profile (I couldn’t see any use for it since I used my 360 as my “identity”, I don’t use chat, have no idea what this ‘Messenger’ is and only use Yahoo! mail for contact with 360 friends so have no interest in using it as a ‘hub’ for my activities.
All I actually want is to be able to link to people I find interesting on Yahoo Answers through my 360 page, read their blogs and occasionally send them a message. It used to be a great community.
So I guess my question is this. What does Yahoo offer that I might like?
February 21st, 2009 at 1:30 pm
Melissa, as owner of a Yahoo group where new members require approval, the Yahoo profile was an important tool in learning what little we could about our applicants. Knowing when the ID was created was extremely important. We’d like to have a name and location and learn about his hobbies, favorite links, web page, blog, etc. All that is gone because Yahoo made a business decision that we all needed to be more social-minded.
You asked what features we want: just the old ones. Please leave our old profiles alone and stop imposing on us. You’re wanting to turn the Yahoo Profile into a public My Yahoo page. There’s the mistake – leave the old profile alone and create a “YooHoo” or “Our Yahoo” page of shared info, blogs, photos, links, videos, as many modules as you can develop to excite your social networking users as you can think of.
If getting the old profiles back is a non-starter, please consider giving group owners the ability to ask specific questions of applicants AT THE POINT WHERE HE ASKS TO JOIN THE GROUP (not via an email he will probably never see).
February 26th, 2009 at 11:58 am
Melissa, please clarify this for me. What you’re saying seems to be against all the correspondences Ive been getting to date from yahoo help You can search my correspondence reference: My Yahoo! – Other (KMM142346109V35135L0KM). I noticed my picture gone from my alias profile. I followed all the instructions to put it back on yet the only alias box I could check off to view is my main yahoo account. the other aliases were missing. I had repeated correspondences and was told that tech support was familiar with my error aand that it was in Beta format and would be rectified eventually. Yet it still remains the same. I even said I dont care if people can view my actual profile as long as I could have it appear on the alias as well. Are you saying I was lied to repeatedly? if you need further details I’ll be glad to supply them. If you check the case number I sent you it will have all my correspondences. Thanks,
February 26th, 2009 at 3:06 pm
Hi jabadoobie,
You weren’t lied to– there is a known bug that affects a few users, where their aliases do not show up in their profiles. I’ll follow up with the CC team and then get back to you via email as soon as I know more.
yprofileblog [at] yahoo [dot] com
-Melissa
February 26th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
Melissa…is there a CORRECT fix to the problem of not being able to creat an alias for brodband users? I’ve followed the steps that I have read and still get the ‘oops, nothing here’ page. I do not want my email shown to all in IM or chat!!! waiting to use a Yahoo function till you do, Tom
February 26th, 2009 at 2:11 pm
Tom,
Please contact customer care– there’s an open bug for this issue, and they can add your ID to the case log to test the problem. (http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/profiles/forms_index.html)
I’m sorry I can’t be of more help right now… I’ll forward your email address on to the team so they’re on the look out for your CC ticket though, so as to expedite the process as best I can.
-Melissa
February 26th, 2009 at 1:56 pm
Oh yeah…thanks for all the spam I get because of this everytime I enter a chat room!!!
February 26th, 2009 at 6:17 pm
Melissa…I’ve been to that page a million times and clicked on everything there….NO HELP!!!!! just sends you in a long circle back to the ‘oops nothing here page’
February 26th, 2009 at 6:26 pm
Tom,
Hm, try this link instead
– it should redirect you to a help form, which will ask you to fill out a bit of info and then you can submit it to an agent.
If for some reason you’re still not being directed to the right page (you should be taken directly to a form) just click into any help topic in the profiles pages, and then towards the right you’ll see a “contact customer care” link in a blue box. Click on it. Scroll to the bottom and click “Yahoo! Profiles Help Form” which should take you to this same form page.
If you’re still in an eternal loop email me yprofileblog [at] yahoo [dot] com and we’ll figure something out, as you might have a different problem if you can’t even get to the right help pages…
-Melissa
February 27th, 2009 at 1:26 am
hai ra h r u? iam baburao u know
na mobile no: 9989855690
February 27th, 2009 at 12:01 pm
melissa, I sent a help form. I figured out on my own how to change to a nickname for IM purposes…but when I still enter a chat room from messenger, still signed in under nickname(not email addy), my email addy still shows to everyone but everyone else in the room has a nickname…very frustrating..can’t get rid of email showing to all.
February 27th, 2009 at 3:06 pm
Thomas,
I totally understand your frustration, and you’re right. Being able to add/delete an alias would curtail this issue. I’ve talked to the teams and there is a bug open for this issue and they’re working on it. Unfortunately, I don’t have a better idea on timing for when this will be solved.
If you plan on visiting chat rooms frequently, in the interim you might want to try just creating a basic yahoo email address and using that to chat with (you will probably be able to access the edit/delete alias screen for that– the issue is because you’re a broadband user… it’s silly). I know it’s not an ideal situation, but it would prevent you from getting a ton of spammy messages in your real inbox.
I’m sorry I can’t be of more help right now.
-Melissa
February 27th, 2009 at 3:31 pm
Thats what I did…created a yahoo email.and was signed in under that when I visited a chat room and my other email addy came up in the room instead…guess I’ll just wait and try back later.
February 28th, 2009 at 8:04 am
I am totally new at this, so I have no idea for suggestions at this point. I am not very proficient on the computer, There are lots of things that I don’t know how to do and I have no one to help men when I need it. I have to call a friend to come over and show me, in spite of the ” Absolute Beginners Guide to windows XP
March 14th, 2009 at 4:17 am
Hey again Melissa. I have just a few final comments on here. Final because I can’t see much point for me in these threads but thought I’d give my views before I go.
Firstly I should mention that UK 360 still links to a message from 17 October 2007 (!). Unless I had found these threads, which are near impossible to find from the UK site, I would still know nothing about all this social control panel stuff. I really think someone should have updated the local 360 Team Blogs by now with a link to here, don’t you?
Secondly, I received in my mail today a short (3 minute) video about WIndows Live. In that short time it told me all about a social control ‘hub’. What it does, why I might want one. It also showed me how, in a click, I could add any content I wanted to make the page personalised. Really simple.
My point being that I got more from that short video than all these threads. All the 18 months of rumours, blogs and stuff I’ve had from Yahoo. I think if I was the CEO of Yahoo and I saw that, knowing what I do about all the discussion here, I would be looking for heads to roll.
I have thought long and hard about what I might like from a social control panel. And I guess what I really want is 360 back. The 360 with all my friends on it that linked to Yahoo Answers and worked brilliantly. Unfortunately you can’t do that for me because all my friends have either joined me on a social network site or have left for Multiply.
So I shall continue to frequent Yahoo Answers while it amuses me. Maybe I will blog again, but really I’m not sure I’m bothered any more. It all seems a waste of time, particularly on 360.
I appreciate the time you’ve spent here, getting people’s views and trying to pull it all together. But honestly, for me, it was a lost battle from the moment Yahoo ran down 360 and left us all high and dry.
I apologise if this sounds like a whinge. It’s just I’m disappointed. And a little bemused a company can get it so wrong.
Good luck with profiles. But for me, if I wanted such a thing, which I’m pretty sure I don’t, I’d go for WIndows Live. I can see exactly what it does and what I’d get from that video without all this talk about stuff that doesn’t relate to me.
Thanks again, Wood
March 17th, 2009 at 4:15 pm
I am so fed up with the new Yahoo profiles. I *HATE* them. I finally had to create entirely separate accounts to get the functionality that I wanted, and that use to be offered.
Unfortunately, it STILL doesn’t work right. I’ve went through the hassle of linking the profile and making sure the checkboxes beside the alias in settings/search are checked. I also made sure Anyone could view the About me page. Unfortunately, it can no longer be viewed by typing profiles.yahoo.com/name. I have to type profiles.yahoo.com/name@yahoo.com. And this is true of my older aliases/account as well. WHY?!?!?!? You should just be able to type the name by itself, especially if I’m not coming from anywhere other than a Yahoo website/account.
I understand wanting to increase your user base, but this isn’t the way to do it. You do NOT accomplish that by mutilating the features your users have come to know and enjoy. If I wanted to blog, I’d use 360, or a real blogging site like livejournal. If I wanted to socially network, I’d use facebook. But I don’t want to do ANY of those things. I just want the simple, easy to use and understand profiles you use to offer.
It’s not like I’m an idiot when it comes to computers either. I have a BS in Computer Science, have hacked MS Word to function the way I want, and fearlessly edit the Windows Registry to tweak the OS the way I want. But none of that compares to the hassle of the new Yahoo profiles.
If Coke can bring back their classic formula after the new one flopped, so can Yahoo. If Coke wants to experiment with new flavors, they introduce a new drink; they don’t change the one that works, and people love. Yahoo needs to learn from this mistake and move on.
March 18th, 2009 at 4:42 pm
Hi Richard,
)
You’re right– things shouldn’t be so complicated, but I’m a bit confused as to why you’re having to enter your whole @yahoo address to pull up your profile. I just pulled up your account, grabbed your ID and aliases and was able to pull up your profile (as a regular user– without any special “Yahoo! magic”) by entering your alias or core ID at the end of http://profiles.yahoo.com/YOURID (I won’t put it here to keep your ID safe and to prevent you from being attacked by spammers!
However, I also noticed that you have an email associated with your main ID that isn’t a Yahoo email address– if this is the address you’re trying to enter in (and are running into trouble with) this could be the trouble. Give it a try again and let me know if you still have trouble. If you do, shoot me an email at yprofileblog [at] yahoo [dot] com and I’d be happy to help any way I can.
-Melissa
BTW, we are learning from all of you– however, learning from our users doesn’t always mean reverting back to the old way. Sometimes it means making a compromise and integrating in user feedback in to meet user’s needs as well as the company’s needs/goals.
April 8th, 2009 at 10:14 am
halo can you help me how can i know this id i like to know from were she are and i like to know what is her real name you can help me this sberog @yahoo.com i like to know this ide or you can help me to block this because she is abuser with someone
April 8th, 2009 at 10:35 am
Kate,
You need to report this user/incident to Customer Care so they can file the appropriate report. To do this, please go here: http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/profiles/abuse.html
-Melissa
April 13th, 2009 at 1:31 am
My blogger friends are convincing me to move my blogs some place else because Yahoo 360, for something that doesn’t offer that much “goodies” compared to other sites (blog spot, hifive, facebook… what have you) is friggin’ slow–and I agree! I’ve been on Yahoo for many years because that’s my email and i believe in keeping everything in one place, but I can’t even get a quick link from my mail to my 360, and there are so many things crappy about Yahoo that I and many others have been complaining about for many years which have all just fallen on deaf ears. I hope one day you guys could get your act together.
April 29th, 2009 at 7:56 pm
I agree with Charlie–does anyone have an answer for him? I started out with an email account with Yahoo, joined several Yahoo groups, joined Flickr and 360, and enjoyed having everything I wanted at one site. Now it seems like Yahoo has defaulted on a number of promises, and I’m more scattered over the Internet to get what I want. Is Yahoo going to come through, or is this just the way things are now–different site for different functions?
April 13th, 2009 at 5:29 pm
dear melissa,
i think you should make the profiles so that we can add backgrounds and like animations and things to our profiles just like myspace where you can decorate your profile