(More) Feedback Needed: Member Search
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.
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March 23rd, 2009 at 4:20 pm
No, I wouldn’t like that at all. If a person doesn’t want to be public then no one should have a right to be seeing anything. I’m afraid you would stir up a whole lot of mad people if you try to pull that on us. People use “private” for many reasons, but it does mean Private, so leave it alone. Also some ppl may be private for a time and then decide to go public and at that time would be searchable. It’s not as if everyone is going to be private and these poor souls will have no one to find. That is just absurd. I find it hard to believe your even suggesting it for us to comment on.
March 23rd, 2009 at 5:06 pm
Hi Joy,
To clarify, this information wouldn’t be revealed unless a user explicitly searched for that exact term/phrase/location/information (so the user wouldn’t see your full profile) you’d just come up in search results for that term. Though this does mean that if you put “broccoli” in your profile and didn’t want people to know that you were interested in broccoli, then that would indirectly be revealed as you’d show up in search results. (BUT your profile would not be shared– users wouldn’t be able to see anything more than what you already decide to share– so, if you only want to share your contact card, then that’s all they’d see. If you want to share all your information, then they’d see all of that. Your initial settings would remain– this would not change).
However, I’m not sure as to why you’re finding it “hard to believe” that we’re suggesting it for you to comment on– privacy is a relative term for many users. Obviously many users don’t want their first name and last name revealed, but they might be ok with sharing their interests because that’s something that is about them that’s more abstract. So, even if it’s private and doesn’t list out their full list of interests and doesn’t reveal more information about them (i.e. location and first name/last name, etc.) they might be inclined to share that little bit as it’s something that’s considered personal but not private.
That’s why we’re asking.
Just want to get input before we make any more decisions. Also, keep in mind, nothing has been decided– we’re still looking at all of the options and exploring the possibilities. We just wanted to ensure that your (the user) perspective was brought to the table as opposed to just assuming we knew what you wanted.
-Melissa
March 24th, 2009 at 11:03 am
Mainly because you don’t seem to understand what private means. I think it’s stupid you would think of it. You don’t sound like you have the concept of how the whole network experience works. I’m not trying to be rude or put you down in any way, but these are some true facts and I say it like I see it.
March 25th, 2009 at 9:07 pm
Maybe I don’t understand the question or maybe I do and I’m just puzzled that it was asked. I agree with Joy that if a profile is set to private then that profile and all the information in it should not be searchable. What would be the point in setting it up as private if literally anyone could look you up?
March 27th, 2009 at 3:16 pm
Hi Joy,
I updated the post to clarify– if a user sets their profile to private it would be just that– private. What I’m talking about is the information you’d have viewable by “My Connections” only.
Additionally, we were also interested in if users would suggest/like different permutations of this feature (i.e. making some fields searchable, some not, etc.) as other users have suggested.
I assure you, I do, and we do, understand what the word “private” means.
-Melissa
April 3rd, 2009 at 6:36 pm
Private to me means you don’t create a profile at all and stay off sites like yahoo. Who would join if you didn’t want to communicate? Unfortunately yahoo ’s default new user configuration is..
No user ID displayed
No Blog
No Mail me button
No Chat button
Then it takes hours that few take to enable anything.
It’s like buying a car without tires wheels or ignition.
Jonathan (inferno603)
March 30th, 2009 at 7:56 pm
What do you not understand about the word PRIVATE ????????
This HAS to be an American asking such a stupid question surely. WHY is it that you people so often want to turn BLACK & WHITE into GREY????? Or is this just another variant of SPIN??? PRIVATE is PRIVATE is PRIVATE!!!!!! No other !!!
April 9th, 2009 at 8:24 am
Clearly, you have never been *in* the United States, nor ever bothered talking to Americans extensively. The only reason we seem to want to turn everything “grey” is that we are a very large, diverse population and everybody is not going to have the same opinion about everything (i.e., there are cultural differences). But I think you’d find quite a few of us have black and white opinions about various topics.
June 16th, 2009 at 3:22 pm
Melissa (and Yahoo staff)
With all due respect, many who are on yahoo or create yahoo profile do want to be discoverable, either by keywords, or location, or demographics, for there are many who want to invite others who share similarities or common interests to connect and build a network, in the same fashion as it has been for years on Yahoo. I understand why many want to stay private and connect only with those who know explicitly their screen names or links. It is their prerogative hence the choice to make it private or not. But that is the key word: choice. If a user chooses not to be private, it goes simply to say they do want to be found. Writing a blog and sharing with others becomes null if no one can read it besides those who know me already, well I’d simply have a newsletter that I’d email with a distribution list or build a Blog in a professional website. But if I am a loyal Yahoo user and wish to stay here I’m constrained and restricted to stay hidden, for not being able to be found by keywords or any other search criteria is indeed the same as being gagged, censored.
Let others search amongst those who don’t mind being discovered. And protect those who wish to be hidden.
Simple as that. The ball in in your court (too bad you just cannot figure out how to handle such privilege)
Too bad. You pushed the term privacy the wrong way.
March 25th, 2009 at 12:11 am
I liked your views both ways.whole existance is alive yet it hides some secrets of its surviveness.A curtain is always there,even if you open secrets of all secrets.so privacy is a must,and should be maintained….thanks
April 9th, 2009 at 8:20 am
Being a bit less confrontational, I’m against this too, but mostly because it doesn’t make sense. Why bother having someone come up in the search results if you can’t then click through to their profile? The only way I think your idea would be useful is if there was then some way for the searcher to contact you and go, “Hey! We’re both interested in baseball! Wanna chat?” But someone who keeps their profile private is likely to also filter out strangers in Yahoo! Messenger… so it becomes a crap shoot. It’s more… efficient, I guess?… if only people who *want* to be public and *want* to be contacted turn up in search results. Hope that helps.
April 23rd, 2009 at 7:22 am
i think its not right coz a person needs privacy.I don’t need to think everything im doing im being watched or people are going to find out
March 23rd, 2009 at 5:27 pm
If I had my profile set to private, I wouldn’t want my ID coming up in a search that may match key words to what I have in my profile. Private should mean just that, simple. People who set themselves to private could then be found by ID (not by viewing your profile contents) and then be possibly IM’d by some unknown person/ spammer. It doesn’t take a genious to figure out from ID only how to add @yahoo.com.
If you’re not sure what people mean by private, add a description explanation in the area’s of the profile settings, and allow for there to be two choices: private means private, semi private means some one can locate your ID by a word search.
March 23rd, 2009 at 6:11 pm
perhaps a compromise.
just like you allow a selection between who can access parts of a profile
you could have a decision upon who can find you in a search
SEARCH
associate
standard
if someone selects associate then people will see their profile with information that is for connections as well as anyone.
if someone selects standard then people will see their profile only with information for anyone.
I think it would be best to add on the permissions tab on the settings page
The ability to search for a profile can have security layers just like the ability to view content content on a profile
March 23rd, 2009 at 6:14 pm
I did not word that too well did I
if someone selects associate then people will search their profile by way of information that is for connections as well as anyone.
if someone selects standard then people will search their profile by way of information that is for anyone only.
March 24th, 2009 at 10:31 am
Crazy_mom,
Great points– but what if in search results, your ID didn’t come up?
What if, instead, it just showed whatever you had entered as your display name (which for most people is NOT their yahoo ID), their status message, and their member since date? (Just like the current contact card)
I don’t have a mock, but if you have your profile set to private, only your contact card information would show up in search results.
Since only your display name would show, users wouldn’t have a way to figure out your yahoo ID (remember that long icky URL that so many people complained about that was so hard to remember? That protects users from being “phished” because their yahoo ID isn’t immediately revealed to people they don’t know and they aren’t connected to) so you’d cut down on people figuring out your actual Yahoo! ID.
Just wanted to clarify that little bit.
-Melissa
March 25th, 2009 at 9:18 pm
And what would be the point of having only a display name come up? Most people I know that do “member” searches do so in the hope of contacting, in some way, others with similar interests. Those that have their profiles set to private, generally do not want anyone and everyone to contact them.
March 27th, 2009 at 3:19 pm
GS,
Currently this is how search works– only a user’s display name comes up to protect users from spammers and identity theft.
Users may want to be found, but may also want to protect themselves from having their ID phished.
-Melissa
March 28th, 2009 at 4:53 am
If I set it to private I would rather have nothing about my profile being searchable, to me setting it to private means opting out of that, if I want to connect with other users using profiles then I wouldn’t have set it to private at all, my only intention is to use it to display a custom avatar on answers, and not to use the my profile area for anything else, then private should mean a complete opt out IMO.
April 9th, 2009 at 8:21 am
This is good too. Have different grades of “private” and “public.” But if you’re going to do this, please make it very easy to find, understand, and change. Otherwise there will be some annoyed people out there.
March 23rd, 2009 at 5:50 pm
I liked what Melissa said. I Agree.
March 23rd, 2009 at 5:55 pm
Well, I would not mind it , because none of my settings are being rearranged, but, I think it goes against the point of protected or private info to come up in searches. Especially, since people think when things are connections or no one, that it is not public. people put all kinds of content in the about me, sometimes.
I think it is best to not allow searches that display users who have the info in their profile but don’t have it public. People think of privacy and public in the simplest terms so don’t confuse them or open up a can of worms with invites. You know some would use the search you are inquirying us about to find people with common traits and start asking for invites. It is best to keep private info outside of search.
Perhaps you could allow connections to end up in the search.
Okay, how about giving search two levels or buttons, connections and then non connections. So, it would allow users to query their connections solely or the public solely.
In all earnest, most people know so little about their connections, in terms of social networking, it would be good to allow a socially closer search within your profile. It is like respecting the existence of your connections by inquiring about what they allow public and what they allow connections to see.
so, make two searches.
one for connections only, where public and connections info is searchable.
and
two like the one now, excluding connections, only for public information provided throughout profiles.
March 23rd, 2009 at 7:07 pm
If any of my stuff is made public without my express consent I will close my account.
March 23rd, 2009 at 7:16 pm
I personally don’t see a problem in it and wouldn’t mind it. It’s not like the person would get your user name just from searching for interests or things like that. All they would get is what is shown on your profile with no way to contact you unless they sent an Invite to Connect which can be easily denied. I think it,in a way,should be like myspace where when you search for something,peoples profiles will come up but if they are private,they stay private. Which is what I think you were getting at.
So yeah,I see no problem with this! I mean personally if I wanted to find someone on profile search just to see if they have a profile,it’d be nice. Like say one of my long lost friends I was searching for their name or whatever and their profile came up. It’d be neat to know they had a profile on here! I could send them an invite to connect,and if they denied it then go about my life.
And I really don’t see what the problem is with interests being shown if like you searched for Basketball and someone’s profile came up that was private that had that interest. I mean what is that going to take away from them? It’s not like you know them or their life,you just know they must like basketball. ;p
I dunno,that’s just my opinion on the matter.
March 23rd, 2009 at 8:41 pm
I Don’t even have a proifle up and people apparently find me with search. Its annoying. I don’t want these people IMing me, I would be happier pretending the unwashed masses simply did not exist. If I can’t avoid it when I’m not even participating in this poorly designed profile Debacle. How are people supposed to feel safe form this social networking stuff if people like myself can’t even avoid it by refusing to put information? I don’t come to yahoo to get pestered by annoying people, I don’t come here to get flack from people who apparently can’t figure out that other people don’t want to talk to them. You already know that the lack of Alias profiles puts me this close to the edge of leaving but seriously things need to change if I can still be IMed by undesirables when I refuse to use your new system in favor of the old.
That is simply a sign that something is very very wrong with the system.
March 24th, 2009 at 10:13 am
Terra,
Are you visiting chat rooms? Commenting on message boards? Buzzing up articles? A member of a Yahoo! Group? Basically, are you doing anything on the network with your ID? Whether you have a profile or not, doing “something” on the network makes you susceptible to being “found” as it reveals your ID to at least some people on the network. This was the case before the new profiles service launched, and is the case after. Doing something somewhere makes you visible to someone at some point in time.
In honesty, the only way that you could really be invisible online is to set everything to private and not do anything but email people you already know. (Though even then, I’m sure there’s a way that you’d still get spam email, or something).
-Melissa
March 25th, 2009 at 1:04 am
And that is WRONG. That is not ok. When I go into a chat room, Ok I get it I am sadly visible to the people I don’t want bothering me for a short while, and because of glitches that keep your name in the room for half an hour after you go some might see me, but that should NOT make you search able. Why is it that Yahoo seems to think its ok to force this idiotic internet socialization down our throat? why can’t we have the OPTION to be safe? Why is it that when I am trying to simply sit down and find a few people to RP with and relax after a hard day I am forced to deal with the dregs of humanity even hours after I have left a room? Should I really have to give up the one hobby that keeps me going simply because I don’t want to deal with annoying jerks and potential stalkers?
Do you see why I said before that the new system is bad? Not only have you taken away our Alias profiles but it seems like Yahoos plans will take away any sense of safety or anonymity that they used to provide. People NEED the option to be anonymous online Melissa. People need to be able to avoid other people finding them or finding things out about them, be it because the people will just be annoying and not go away or because of the potential for seriously disturbed individuals to track them down and do things because some interest happens to match that of a dangerously disturbed persons MO.
Please Melissa, at least tell me you can understand why being search able for doing things is not ok.
March 25th, 2009 at 9:58 am
Terra,
You misunderstood what I said. Doing these things doesn’t make you searchable– it makes you visible. It means you leave a footprint on the network. Someone somewhere actually physically SEES you there (either in a chat room, on a message board, or in a group) and decides to contact you by either messaging you directly (while in a chat room) or, by selecting your screen name from the message board (if you didn’t opt to have a display name shown instead) and THEN they physically opt to message you.
It’s not a “search” thing, it’s a footprint– your actions on the network are visible to others if you do something on the network that’s visible (i.e. post a message on a group, comment on a news story on an article, etc.)
You still have the option of being safe– you can hide your profile (which you have not done) but whether you’ve hidden your profile or not, we can’t stop YOU from doing things on the network that make yourself visible. I don’t know how much more clear I can be. If you want to be anonymous, then don’t use your real name, or do anything on the network– it’s really quite simple. YOU are the one in control here.
Though you may enjoy the few people you talk to whist being in your “RP room” the “dregs of society” are lurking in the midst and THOSE are the people who message you.
-Melissa
March 26th, 2009 at 9:45 pm
Then why is it that many of them claim to have found me though the search function? I admit I have not set myself to private, I have not done anything to the new profile since finding out it was inadiquit, and I refuse to until such a time that the people making design decisions realize the mistakes they are making and give us back proper functionality or I find a service that allows me to do what yahoo used to. However that does not mean I should feel put at risk of, if nothing else, being pestered by people who by their own account found me on search. I get it that some bots and annoying people are going to pester me when I go into a room, Yahoo can’t do anything about that. But unless we specifically consent to it in an option and choose to be searchable then we should not be. It just makes no sense to work things that way. I’m sorry but its simply bad design and for some people could be dangerous.
March 23rd, 2009 at 11:25 pm
It seems it would defeat the purpose of “private” would it not?
If “private” isn’t enough to leave you unsearchable then only not inputting information would be enough…then why have a profile?
The only solution to an either/or dilemma is to make it optional, but this becomes confusing for the new user with this model of ‘private but searchable’, unless you make it all granular.
Firstly, make your profile either (1) Public (everything searchable) (2) Selective (I can set my interests to searchable) (3) Private (never searchable).
Secondly allow people to share only what they want to. Each field or entry can be set to Private (always hidden to non-contacts, even to searchers who find them other ways), or Searchable (shows to non-contact searchers, and others who stumble upon your profile via a search).
No other way to do it, really. Then users have control, searchability stays in the user’s hands, and the whole point of a profile stays intact, as does privacy. If “private” isn’t private, then the only privacy is non-presence which is the opposite of what you want as a user.
Those who don’t want to be discovered stay that way.
Those who only want limited discoverability can have it.
Those who don’t care stay wide open.
Who loses?
March 24th, 2009 at 11:17 am
I agree with Floyd, very nicely put.
March 25th, 2009 at 8:10 am
I agree with Floyd as well. There has to be a way to for users to remain hidden, if they wish.
Why can’t some people just have a Yahoo email account, without all of this other crap you’re trying to force on everyone?
April 23rd, 2009 at 7:24 am
i agree with Floyd
March 23rd, 2009 at 11:45 pm
I dunno…the more I hear about this system, the less I like it. I just want to use a couple Yahoo products, not share my life with people. I don’t even *want* a profile at all. The only way out is to nuke all things linked to me by Yahoo from a high orbit? Some fundamental assumptions about users seem to be flawed here….I know we can set everything to private, yadda yadda yadda…I shouldn’t have to go through all the hoop jumping though. I’m strongly considering nuking all my Yahoo ID “stuff” and start over, now knowing your new structure, just to be sure I know where my data is. Geh!
One day I will be asked to do all this before using any yahoo service. I’ll react to that the same way I react to the MSN passport nonsense. Gritted teeth and a muttered curse. Give me the old days where a simple e-mail address sufficed to enroll you, and an e-mail really was just e-mail not e-mail plus chat plus monkeys plus avocados plus the price of cobalt in Uganda.
Maybe this makes me a grumpy old internet Luddite, but I say “New Yahoo? No thanks!” I’m just one guy, and all that, but I’m already watchin’ the traffic go by and cursin’ at the “kids these days” already…
Can doesn’t mean should. One day someone will figure that out.
March 24th, 2009 at 5:30 am
You could ask a question when they create the profile: “Allow your interests to be searched? This allows people with similar interests to find you.”
If they say “yes”, index the interests in the profile. If they say “no”, then do not index the interests in the profile.
On MySpace, people create more than one profile for different purposes.
For example, a celebrity has a public profile for fans and networking and they have a private profile for friends and family.
On Yahoo, people who want to socialize (outside of their existing social network) can create a profile that allows their interests to be searched. People who want a profile for something else can create a Yahoo profile that cannot be searched.
People who want to do both can create more than one profile.
If you include the people who do not want to meet new people in the search results, people who do want to socialize are going to have an unpleasant experience.
Another way people on MySpace with similar interests find each other is through the daily “top blogs” directory organized by interest.
Google added interests to their blog search so they have something similar.
It would be like Yahoo Buzz but for blogs associated with Yahoo profiles and with the added feature of being able to contact the author through their Yahoo profile.
March 27th, 2009 at 3:29 pm
Hi Rene S.,
Great suggestion– currently we do ask if you want to be searchable, but if we were to implement something like this we’d definitley revise the language to ensure that it was clear to users.
Thanks for commenting!
-Melissa
March 24th, 2009 at 10:57 am
The whole idea of searching for someone is to find ppl you may wish to connect with. Why would I want to find someone using a search word if that person doesn’t really want to be found? If it’s only to see that they have a profile. What is the point? I think it’s a stupid idea. The way things are today. We get invites from ppl all the time both on 360 and Y messenger from total strangers. ( they have seen our profile by some search method) and while it’s easy to put them on ignore or deny the request. It can be a real pain in the neck. I still say NO search for key words on a private profile..
March 24th, 2009 at 11:45 am
Melissa:
I think it’s a great idea. Seems like it’s a bit of a shock initially but once you clarify how it works it’s pretty cool. I know it’s against our Yahoo religion to mention Facebook and My Space but we should peak at what they are up to on this issue. I think it’s fairly similar
Mike
March 24th, 2009 at 12:05 pm
smalersize
March 24th, 2009 at 1:38 pm
We already have most of these abilitys on Yahoo 360, at least we did when it worked. I can set the ability to see my age, city, messanger id, my blogs, my comments, my photostream, groups, my blast, interests, etc…. I can set it to viewable by public, friends of friends, friends only, or private (viewable by me only).
So tell me why again this has to be so complicated?
You give us a system where we dont have the ability to blog, change backgrounds, change photos not just avatars, etc… in favor of a system where we can do nothing but leave comments for friends that were lucky if we can find them but yet manage to connect with those we dont even know. Not to mention when you leave a comment it leaves a copy on your page ( I never understood that feature by the way). Then Yahoo wonders why people are so frustrated.
The only feature I have found so far that is even remotly desent is the ability to chat in mail. But even that is cavemanish at best, wheres the ability to drag and drop files, photos, webcam, you want it to be like messanger then make it like messanger. You want your profiles to be more like Mash or 360 then do it, or simply fix what we already have.
March 24th, 2009 at 2:12 pm
If someone opted for a Private profile, keep it private. When I seached for other members whom I would them IM to chat with, I hadno interest in discovering members who weren’t interested in getting contacted by strangers. They usually never responded to my IM anyway which I found frustrating, not knowing if they were away from the PC or just not interested.
March 24th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
I would not be offended, but that is because I have had no trouble yet with any nasty thing that could happen. On Twitter people are finding me by seeing what people are following me and also who I am following, and then they want to follow me too. But there is no way to know what interests they are interested in, but it is easy to block or to drop them if I do not like them. On Twitter you can also find people by their name. I will adapt to what ever you decide and it does seem that everything is always in flux and will always be . So I guess if it can be made it can also be changed and made better later. I do like to find other people with interests like mine, and I did use this feature as it was in the old 360. I also got used to the way it was done there, and it would be pleasing to have it that way again if possible. I also found friends because they were in the same Yahoo group that I was in. I am always learning and trying to keep up with the new way of things.
Thanks for asking my opinion!
March 25th, 2009 at 1:57 am
i liked your views,nice presentation,thanks .
March 24th, 2009 at 8:36 pm
Due to the slapdash way the new profiles were introduced, very few users have their profiles turned on anyway. So when anyone searches, very few results will be returned
March 24th, 2009 at 9:51 pm
Private means just that “not open or accessible to the general public”.
I like the idea we have (or had) in Y360, viewing by public, friends, friends of friends or just myself, which is in effect…private). Why can’t we have the same selections on our Profile for member search?
I think this is something Yahoo should not even have to ask us…private means private..period.
Lacie
March 24th, 2009 at 10:33 pm
How would you feel about coming up in search results for information that isn’t publicly displayed? There is no way I would like that.
Is this something you’d want? NO WAY.
You gave us a system,we don’t have the ability to blog, change backgrounds ( to show our personalities), or add photos…For a system where we can do nothing but leave comments on a friends profile just to find it leaves a copy on your own profile. What is the purpose of that?
Or see every move someone makes all those updates ( they changed there avatar, added interest, said something new on there profile ) we do have eyes and can see that when we go to there profile, we don’t need to be told every move someone makes. Again it makes no since are you gearing up to be like Facebook?
I see no purpose in these new profiles
March 24th, 2009 at 10:37 pm
Firstly… MELISSA? You’re back at Yahoo?! That’s awesome!
Secondly, If people are trying to find me and using my full name brings up too many options (unlikely), but John Smiths tend to be plentiful, for them to end up with the right result, it makes sense to have non-visible information still accessible to search. Just still hidden. Things like age or school or workplace will make it all easier to make the right connection.
March 27th, 2009 at 3:37 pm
Hi Andrew,
Ha, thanks!
I’ll be sure to pass on your thoughts. Thanks for commenting!
-Melissa
March 24th, 2009 at 11:13 pm
seriously i am wondering how it is exactly i asked a question on yahoo answers…which by the way never knew existed…i only have a yahoo account for the purpose of emailing from & mobile…obviously im highly confused…how can someone use my user name, and wat else are they using it for.. plz explain
March 26th, 2009 at 11:22 am
I would like an answer to this question too. How can someone use my user name? My family has been getting fake IM’s from someone using my username, and in turn I have received fake IMs from someone using my brother’s username. I know for a fact they are fake because the last one I received, my brother was standing right in front of me as we were in the middle of a discussion when my computer alerted me I had a message. Each time it is someone advertising the acai pills. How is this possible????
March 27th, 2009 at 3:41 pm
Jami & michelle g,
If you feel as though someone has stolen your ID, please report this issue to Customer Care.
http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/profiles/abuse.html
-Melissa
March 25th, 2009 at 12:10 am
If I understand the question here I am okay with allowing my contact card info which is already seen even though I’ve got my settings set to private found under a search of interests. No biggie in my book since all my private info remains private.
I’m not clear on what one would be able to do if my contact card came up in their search, I did read through several comments but didn’t quite get the full picture there, never the less I’ll assume it’ll be left up to me to accept or deny any add request or communiqué from their search results.
So again, if I’ve got my finger on the pulse of things here, I say why not… no harm no foul.
March 25th, 2009 at 2:12 am
it is wonderful and impartial,we get all answers before the question arise.it offers choice either do or don’t do it……….. thanks…
March 25th, 2009 at 8:02 am
I had been in the process of moving my email to Google because of this whole “Open and Social” debacle, but have not completed the task, so I can see where this thing is going, and whether or not I will be able to completely opt out. I can tell you for an absolute fact though, I will delete my Yahoo account without finishing my transition to GMail if you force me to be a part of your Facebook clone, including by making my private profile searchable.
If my profile is set to private, I DO NOT want anything about me to be displayed on someone’s search results. AT ALL!!
March 26th, 2009 at 12:15 am
Amen to that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
March 25th, 2009 at 8:05 am
Seems like another good reason to bring back the old alias functionality. You people at Yahoo are absolutely clueless.
Yeah, yeah, I know. Aliases are not coming back. We would rather force you to create an entirely separate account, and have to go through the trouble of jumping back and forth between those accounts than bring back the code that handled that functionality for you.
Lame!!!
March 25th, 2009 at 9:28 am
Thank you. I know Yahoo is cash strapped but if its some attempt to get more user names I am telling you now it won’t work. It won’t look like more people will subscribe, it will just be that more people will continue to leave. We don’t like or want this system and now it feels horribly unsafe. This is the perfect reason to at least give us back our aliases even if your not going to do the right thing and make sure that unsearchable means unsearchable.
March 25th, 2009 at 7:15 pm
Melissa
What would be the point of just the display name or locating any info of the profile other than the ID if you cant then contact that person(s) which came up in the search result? Wouldn’t you think that would annoy the person doing a member search? Why then make any of that come up visible in a member search?
Goes back to those permission settings: those who select private is private, those which choose otherwise can be found, ID and all.
March 25th, 2009 at 8:37 pm
Crazy_mom,
You can– right now, if you search for someone, you’re given the option of “Invite to connect” (you can see it in the bottom left corner of that screenshot I pasted in my last comment to you)– this is a feature that’s currently available in profiles and would remain.
Whether you have your profile set to be viewable by “My connections” or “Anyone” this option remains in the contact card.
-Melissa
March 25th, 2009 at 9:38 pm
Alot of people see the “Invite to connect” thing as being just another way for individuals to reach out and annoy those that don’t want to be annoyed. Thats why they set their profiles to private.
March 26th, 2009 at 4:42 pm
GS,
That feature shows up unless you completely hide your profile (there’s an option to do this on the settings page http://profiles.yahoo.com/settings/ at the bottom) but this means that you end up with NO profile at all– even when you want to share some information with people you actually do know.
The “invite to connect” feature shows up on profiles even if you have your “About Me” set to be viewable only by “My Connections”
Just wanted to clarify.
-Melissa
March 27th, 2009 at 5:44 am
Then I submit that “invite to connect” be disabled until it can be changed to a feature that has to be specifically enabled by the owner of the profile. There are alot of people, me included, that would like to post just enough information about ourselves to allow others to figure out that we are not bots. That doesn’t mean we want to “connect” with anyone and everyone out there. I think it is silly that yahoo only offers two options concerning “connecting”. Requiring a profile that is completely invisible/empty or completely open. To me this is another great reason to bring back the old profile format.
By the way, is yahoo aware that it seems bots are now able to send “add to friends” requests? I’ve only had this occur a few times while in a chatroom, but I think the issue will get worse as time goes on.
March 26th, 2009 at 12:12 am
No, I would not like that! Actually, I don’t like what Yahoo has done with this Profile thing. It’s so much like Mash was and Facebook, etc. I think most Yahoo users would have preferred that Yahoo just kept 360 and fixed the bugs!!!!!!! Yahoo ruined a good thing and replaced it with something ugly and stupid.
I’m disgusted with Yahoo and I know many others are, too. Shame on Yaphooie!!!!! 
March 26th, 2009 at 12:28 am
Its All Bull S__T!!!!!!!.
March 26th, 2009 at 9:06 am
Profile Private should mean Profile Private with no loopholes. There should also be an option to be searchable by one or more aliases only. At present you cannot do this without also making your first and last names public, although you are not obliged to use your real name.
March 26th, 2009 at 9:23 am
Melissa,
I am paying for MAIL PLUS. I DON’T WANT ANYTHING on MY EMAIL PAGES BUT EMAIL! How do I get this profile thing off of my log in EMAIL page? I don’t want to see it, I don’t want any part of it! I don’t want to be searchable. I want it turned off! I want OUT!
I am a PISSED OFF Paying customer with this forced down my throat!
How do I get this Off of my email page???????
March 30th, 2009 at 4:23 pm
@jo,
Go to your e-mail options, then general preferences and uncheck the “connections” feature. If you are talking about what I think you are, that should do it. Worked for me…
March 26th, 2009 at 10:45 am
Melissa,
PS: “With over a hundred comments (to date), it’s easy to see this is an issue that many of you are invested in.”
Over One hundred responses? How many hundreds of thousands or millions of people do you have signed up on Yahoo? How many of those are paying customers (not to put down the non-paying customers)? With just over a hundred responses you chose to implement this into our email pages?
You didn’t need one hundred responses… it was planned whether we wanted it or not!
And can you explain why you TRICKED people into signing up for this by keeping a pull down menu open for us to curriously click on? Then we were unable to opt out by closing the window… we were forced into filling in the info! Then poof, there it was on our email pages! Why was there no OPT OUT option offered. Why was it automatically set so people could search for you??????
Please tell me why this profile should be connected to EMAIL when it is NOT EMAIL? It should be an option to select to use like 360, auctions, web, singles, chat…? Oh wait, you did add chat to our email page, didn’t you. Why is Profile automatically connected to our email pages when it has nothing to do with email?
Are you planning to connect everything to our email pages?????
As I’ve said repeatedly (sorry fellow readers, I’m pissed off), I am paying for Mail Plus and now I have a blank space on the right of my email page where advertisements used to be! Melissa, can you tell me why I am getting blank advertisement space on my email page when I didn’t before and shouldn’t have it???????????
Oh, I am so mad a being tricked into signing up, at being forced to sign up once I clicked on the dropdown menu, having it connected to my email account, and having to say “no I don’t want to add these two people to my Profile page” every time I sign into Yahoo Email Plus. I HAVE 96 CONTACTS! Profiles have nothing to do with EMAIL! Make it it’s own option like 360, PLEASE!
March 26th, 2009 at 4:25 pm
Jo,
For starters, I’m sorry you felt “tricked” by the process, I’m sure that’s not what the mail team meant to do, and that’s certainly not how we want any of our users to feel, so I’m sorry.
As for the chat and connections features, you can actually disable these features in your inbox if you want, but first I’ll answer your question of “why.” I posted about this back in December, but Yahoo! is moving towards an “Open and Social” strategy where all of your connections are in one place, and socializing is easier. Chat was introduced in “All New Mail” a while back (I think when it launched) and was popular with users, so it was implemented in Classic as well, which is what you seem to use. Profiles is also part of a broader strategy in which the Yahoo user experience is streamlined and it becomes easier to share information with people you know/care about (Updates and connecting with people let you do this now) and update your own information across the network with a universal profile.
Now, for disabling those features you’re talking about. If you want to turn off chat, the Mail team posted a quick how-to on their blog, which you can find here: http://www.ymailblog.com/blog/2009/03/not-up-for-a-chat/ but the short answer is, click on the drop down where it says “I am” and click “sign out of chat”
To disable connections in 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.
Hopefully this helps cut down on at least some of the frustration. I’ll talk to the mail team and see if I can’t find out why you’re seeing the blank ad space… that does seem a bit odd.
-Melissa
March 26th, 2009 at 11:16 am
NO!! I would not be okay with this. When I don’t want my info open for public view, that includes searches.
March 26th, 2009 at 11:55 am
It is time DUMP Yahoo since they do NOT seem to Get it and head to other places like Multiply!
March 26th, 2009 at 2:24 pm
Hey Scott~ Dump Yahoo??? They’re asking for feed back, who else would bother asking to begin with?? I appreciate Yahoo asking for input.
Melissa~ if I have my profile now set as private, is any part of my profile found in a search to where some one can click ‘invite to connect’? I go to many profiles and checked, I do not see the ‘invite to connect’ tab.
March 26th, 2009 at 4:08 pm
Hi again, Crazy_mom,
Right now, search only looks for your First Name, Last Name, and email address, so none of your content is currently being searched, which is why we’re asking if you’d be ok with it.
However, if you want to check and see what other people see when they come across your profile, the easiest way to do this is to log out of Yahoo! all together, and then go to http://profiles.yahoo.com/YourID (I noticed you’ve been using a yahoo email address to comment here– so you’d just enter the first part of your email address– everything before the @yahoo.com — in places of the “YourID” to see what is publicly viewable). If you don’t like what is being shared, you can change your settings by going to http://profiles.yahoo.com/settings/ and change your “About Me” to be viewable by your connections only, etc.
Hope this helps clear things up.
-Melissa
March 26th, 2009 at 6:47 pm
“Right now, search only looks for your First Name, Last Name, and email address, so none of your content is currently being searched, which is why we’re asking if you’d be ok with it.”
Will this effect those who choose to Hide My Profile?
March 27th, 2009 at 1:38 pm
That’s what we’re looking at, and why we’re asking all of you– but more than likely, the answer would be no.
If you choose to be hidden, you’d be totally hidden and not come up in search results at all. But if you’re partially hidden (meaning your info is visible only to your connections) then we potentially could search that information. (Before anyone gets worried, as I said, this isn’t how things are done now, no decision has been made, and that’s why we’re asking– we want to know your thoughts on things before we make decisions that would or could negatively affect you).
-Melissa
March 26th, 2009 at 4:37 pm
Crazy_Mom
They have implemented this profile thing AND THEN ASKED FOR INPUT! I have a big problem with that and you should too since you don’t know, quote from you, “if I have my profile now set as private, is any part of my profile found in a search to where some one can click ‘invite to connect”
Why did yahoo implement and then ask for input?
PRIVATE MEANS PRIVATE AND I DON’T WANT IT ON MY EMAIL PAGE! I DON’T WANT IT PERIOD!
March 26th, 2009 at 4:46 pm
Jo,
I understand– in my comment to you above, I outlined the steps you can take to remove these features from your pages. You can also hide your profile all together and be completely private by going to http://profiles.yahoo.com/settings/ and clicking on the “Hide my profile” link at the bottom of the page.
What we’re asking for here isn’t about mail, it’s about search. While I do understand that the two do overlap with integration, it’s also important to note that we are addressing a different portion of the product that people DO actually want (for proof, check out this post http://www.yprofileblog.com/blog/2009/02/26/feedback-needed-member-search/ and this post http://www.yprofileblog.com/blog/2009/02/19/feedback-needed-your-profiles-priorities/)
-Melissa
March 26th, 2009 at 9:37 pm
Melissa why don’t you just set up a seperate yahoo application that you have to activate to participate in search rather than making yourself ‘mostly private’ by default. Most of us to NOT want to be searched or deal with those who feel that an internet search is a viable way to meet people. If that is how they choose to live their lives that is fine, but they should have their own little corner of yahoo, not some function that dominates all profiles and leaves open anyone who does not realize they can be searched. Few people read this blog, and fewer even know its around. Wouldn’t it make sense to just let all the people who want search have to activate it, and then just make it so that the other profiles don’t appear? Maybe that way we won’t have such an annoying and potentially dangerous loophole.
March 27th, 2009 at 5:52 am
Why can’t yahoo just admit they made a mistake with profiles and go back to the older format(Note that I said “format” and not “system”) and make all of their “open and social” stuff something that a user would have to specifically opt into?
March 26th, 2009 at 6:50 pm
I agree with you, private means private. I have enough issues with snerts and I don’t need any more being able tolocate me in any search feature.
March 26th, 2009 at 4:49 pm
Melissa, Can you please answer my question!
How do I undo this Profile thing? I want it deleted from my email page. I want my email to be like it was.
Can you also answer this, Melissa?
I have Mail plus but since being tricked into the profile thing, I now have spaces on my email page where advertisements should be an account without Mail Plus. When will this be fixed?
I just want Yahoo to put my Mail Plus email back to it’s prior state before the profile was added. Can Yahoo remove my profile and all references to it that are showing up on email page?
And why am I always reminded to approve of two people each time I go into email? Very, Very irritating.
PLEASE RESPOND TO MY QUESTIONS. YOU SEEM TO BE SELECTIVELY RESPONDING TO ONLY CERTAIN QUESTIONS.
March 26th, 2009 at 5:12 pm
Melissa, when I wrote the above messages, in anger, I read through the messages looking for a response from you. I didn’t see one… until now.
Thank you for responding. But to clarrify, I do not use chat. I disabled that right away.
So, back to profile… The first thing I did when I was in profile was “Hide” it. Now I have followed your instructions above, thank you, and my email is back to it’s previous state.
Thank you so much, Melissa.
PS Please tell Yahoo not to clutter up our email pages with stuff that doesn’t pertain to email like chat and profile. Email should be email and that’s it. Put all those other features on your Yahoo page http://www.yahoo.com/?fr=fptb-dyc where it should be.
That’s my opinion. I’m happy now. No one can do searches on me. And my page is back to the way it was.
Thanks again for your instructions. And I apologize for the previous emails, evidently the Yahoo site didn’t update fast enough for me to read your emails to me.
March 26th, 2009 at 5:15 pm
I have not had my profile directly connected to my e-mail, maybe that’s part pf Mail Plus which I don’t use. Your Yahoo Account/ ID generally also is your Yahoo Mail as well.
Mail Blog
http://ymailupdates.com/blog/
March 26th, 2009 at 5:46 pm
Thanks Crazy_mom
I didn’t know about the Yahoo Blogs.
March 27th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
Jo,
In the right hand column in this blog (beneath the MyBlogLog community widget) there’s a section that links to several more official Yahoo! blogs. There are lots more across the network (most properties have them) as well as Twitter streams (if you are on Twitter) so those also might be things you’d like to check out.
-Melissa
March 26th, 2009 at 8:40 pm
my last idea for this member search,
what if members had a tag cloud? All aspects of the profile have either anyone, my connections, or no one as the viewing/interacting settings. I think you would like to advance searching. What if you, you kept things the way they are [it seems many people are confused with your question and/or angry at yahoo's service ] to risk changing what exists/works right now. But, if you added a searchable tag cloud to profiles, specifically for searching, it would allow everybody to be happy.
The tag cloud would start for all members empty.
for those that are confused or angry, they would not add anything thus their search situation would not change from now to then. But, for those that use it. If someone puts a word in their “search tag cloud” then a link to their profile would come up with the other links in the return.
If the link is clicked the settings as the user has now apply to viewing the profile.
doing it this way, if a user doesn’t want a part of it, then they don’t have to add a tag into the searchable cloud, but otherwise, you can explain it, and because the clouds start off empty, it will not change anything for any user initially, which keeps confusion down
March 27th, 2009 at 11:24 am
No, it would not be ok. Private means private.
I do NOT want to be searchable – unless I clearly specify the search parameters that I want to make public.
But thanks for asking.
March 27th, 2009 at 11:47 am
“How would you feel about coming up in search results for information that isn’t publicly displayed? ”
Information that comes up in searches isn’t “information that isn’t publicly displayed” anymore. Your statement contradicts itself.
March 27th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
Are you referring to the 360° product? If so, people closed everything to private when they moved away to other sites. When you (Yahoo) quit fixing the bugs and refused to take it from Beta, we all packed up our bags and left.
Private is private. End of discussion.
March 27th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
Hi Slim,
Nope, I’m talking about profiles– http://profiles.yahoo.com
-Melissa
March 27th, 2009 at 2:49 pm
I’m new to this whole Yahoo! thing and confused by this topic/question. Why would I want anyone/everyone on the planet to be able to search my profile, whether it’s set to private or public? Maybe the searchers should send me an invitation requesting permission to search my profile and state honestly (in a way I can verify for free) who they are and what they want the information for. Also, maybe Yahoo could add a feature making certain line items on our profiles searchable and certain ones not.
March 27th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
Thank you Melissa for verifying that part. However, my position on privacy is still the same. If I set it to private, it’s private.
March 27th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
Hi Slim,
Duly noted. Thanks!
-Melissa
March 27th, 2009 at 4:22 pm
Melissa, why do you people at Yahoo! have to be so complicated when you don’t have to be.
Simply put in a checkbox option in the users settings that says this “Allow my profile to be searched in the member database.” Problem solved.
March 27th, 2009 at 4:38 pm
Hi Tommy,
Actually, that option already exists. This thread was targeted more towards whether or not users would be ok with being found if their profile was set to be viewable only by their connections.
Currently, this depth/option is not available.
-Melissa
March 27th, 2009 at 5:46 pm
No.Private is private .Why would we want to set our profile to private and then be searchable?
March 27th, 2009 at 11:48 pm
I feel If U Don’t want your page to be looked at or talked about do not have a page simple as that have a good day or night I should say and stay safe……love lots mary ward
March 28th, 2009 at 7:10 am
I’m sure many people are only using it for avatars on answers, and have no intention of using it for any other purpose, if I could have chosen a custom avatar within answers itself, then I would never have opened a my profile account at all, I hope that by setting it to private that means my profile is not searchable, I have no intention of adding anything to my profile at all, so hopefully that should mean being exempt from any search function you intend to use for those that want to use it for sharing and connecting.
March 28th, 2009 at 7:36 am
Melissa,
I think there are two urgent priorities with the new Profile. Both were features of 360° and if implemented in Profiles could do wonders to stop the rising tide of paranoia as misinformation and rumors spread throughout Yahoo (the Y! Answers Suggestion Board is a perfect example).
First, add Connections categories and allow them different permissions. There are different types of Connections such as family, business, internet freinds, etc… all of which may require different settings. Just because you choose to show your full name to your family doesn’t mean you’ll want to share it with someone you met playing a game of gin in Y! Games.
Second, add the “View profile as…” option to allow the user to view their profile as all categories of Connections or the public would see it. Then they’d see exactly what information is being shown and to whom.
March 28th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
We didn’t all abandon 360 as some people claim. A lot of us are hanging in there for as long as it stays with us. I hesitated to use 360 because I was ignorant of how it worked. Then I got brave and went full speed ahead. Okay I’m leery of this new system as well. However I’m using it and learning more about it. I know I’ve made a few comments earlier here about what I want and what I don’t want. But I think if you can make this system work more like 360 with the options we have for privacy there, we could all learn to accept it. We’re always going to get invites from strangers and we need to deal with them ourselves. I have decided to that I also like to search for people by some of these other means, so what ever you decide to do. I’m going to accept period and no more protests.
March 28th, 2009 at 5:15 pm
Just what does connected mean? ( really- please define, I can’t find this in a tutorial & I can’t ask someone I E-mail with to connect cause I don’t know what it means) I wonder why people are getting paranoid, even I know you can block anybody, you ain’t posed to tell your s.s.#, your writing your own stuff peole, and ya don’t “have” to write a profile so enough paranoia.
April 2nd, 2009 at 10:28 am
Hi clevelandjoey,
Great question– connected is basically a handshake with another user– you say you know them, they acknowledge that they know you, and by doing so, you grant each other access to your “About Me” section and “Updates” section of your profile.
They’re not given any information that you personally don’t write down or share. If you don’t want them to know it, don’t share it!
-Melissa
March 29th, 2009 at 3:37 pm
Melissa,
The FIRST thing I’d like to see improved is where you first SIGN UP for a new Profile.
* It suggests a Name and Display name. This should make it clear you can choose later who will see which of these.
* There are two messages at the bottom, one about what names you can be searched on, and what your connections may share with third parties. These are both ticked ON by default. This is WRONG. They should be OFF by default, in case people don’t find or understand the privacy settings.
In fact these should not be tickable. They should just be informational, saying “these search and share facilities EXIST, so be sure to look for them under Settings”
The Search page should also have search OFF by default, not ON as it is.
In other words, you are running Default Search, Opt Out. You should be running Default Private, Opt Out.
>>>>>>>>
There are some issues with the Profile over-riding existing settings in Answers and on the Suggestions Board. These only occur at set up or when changing the Display Name.
These are an issue mostly for those who no longer use SB but whose old posts thus become associated with their Answers name. Perhaps a warning could be added to the first Create Profile page that these other places have to be checked and re-set.
KK
March 30th, 2009 at 10:09 am
They don’t truly want searchable to be turned off for users, otherwise the vast majority of the profiles will be unsearchable, defeating the “Open and Social” changes being made.
Not that it’s going to matter, in the long run their “Open and Social” experiment will fail, and they’ll be kicking themselves for not devoting their resources to other more user important tasks.
April 1st, 2009 at 2:25 pm
Please…let me go back to before all this started. I don’t want contact unless I initiate it, or it is in reply. I don’t want to keep deleting all the double contacts that keep appearing before I can get to my e-mail.
I just want it to be like before. I just want to be left alone. Please.
I don’t want to be a part of this new stuff.
Thanks,
Carol
April 2nd, 2009 at 10:24 am
Hi Carol,
From the sounds of it, it seems like you want to turn off the connections feature in your inbox, which is easy to do!
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.
-Melissa
April 2nd, 2009 at 9:55 pm
Why isn’t this “feature” disabled as the default?
April 3rd, 2009 at 5:40 am
I don’t understand. Why would someone who’s already a Connection have to Search for me?
This, like other aspects of this Open and Social jive, doesn’t make sense.
April 6th, 2009 at 1:32 pm
I like ReneS’s suggestion. However, if that becomes technically difficult,
there is a very common practice to allow names to appear in the returned
list for a search but clicking on the link causes a redirection to a page
with a “This profile is set to private” message. I actually like that method
(even if it is annoying) because it is then possible to send an e-mail to
ask the person the question I am searching. They usually respond, but
everyone has a delete button.
April 8th, 2009 at 6:05 am
Melissa,
I’m sure you’ve seen my opinion of all this already on the Suggestion Board, so you already know my thoughts on this.
I have no problem with any of this but:
1) You should have asked all of this BEFORE and not after setting all profiles to OPEN by DEFAULT.
2) The default setting should be private or hidden unless WE decide to change it to open. Same for sharing our information with 3rd parties. Yahoo had no right to make that decision for us.
3) You never told us this was going to happen. Nothing was ever mentioned here, on the SB, nor anywhere else. Not until some of us made the discovery by accident and announced it for you. Then we were left to find the glitches, work things out, and supply a tutorial on how to work this thing properly and still have privacy.
You even thanked those who made and announced the tutorial, yet you’ve still made no effort to let anyone know that it exists.
I’m sure once all the bugs and glitches are taken care of, this will be a great asset, but what Yahoo has done is wrong. You’ve pulled up the window shades while we were undressed without warning. Now we are scambling to hide ourselves while you fuss with the color of the curtains.
April 14th, 2009 at 6:04 pm
on the old profiles the “member since” date could be kept private so it did not display. i would like this feature back, or else a way to put in a fake date.
April 19th, 2009 at 4:06 am
i think what we all are saying is that if we want our profile private then it should be private. but there are those including me that want our profiles open and searchable and able to search those other searchable profiles by location or interests..
so why can we not have a private button and a open searchable button so we can set our profiles the way we want.
April 23rd, 2009 at 7:58 am
It should be that default settings allow the public to see you and then in settings you can opt out. Like a phone is in the phone book by default and you can opt for unpublished? What is every phone defaulted to unpublished and only those who opted in were in the phone book? The phone networks world wide would be useless. It would be bad for the customer, the phone company and for the advertisers and you’d find the phone system rotting on the vine instead of growing.
April 25th, 2009 at 10:15 pm
I really liked the old profiles. I had my picture on it (my choice) and whatever information I wished. It had people’s interests, so, for instance, someone clicked on my interest of Hawaii and sent me an instant message. It again was my choice to chat with this person or not. Or I could have put the person on ignore if I wished. I liked the option of searching a yahoo name even if that person wasn’t on my friend list. But most of all, it is now hard to search a profile, hard to edit and update and I miss finding new friends with similar interests. I really don’t like this idea of a guess pass either. If you could block the spam messages from bots, that would be great.
April 29th, 2009 at 11:19 pm
hellow well then guss what theres anuther opshon you can put into the profiles along with share no updates if a pirson that wants to be private then put a dot up above with sevral pull down tabs saying private or availible or deny all if u see the tagged profile you will see all opshons in the tagged settings it will leave it up to the profile handiler to deside and your privacy opshons are fine keep it that way all thow i have notised some profiles do not have the report abuse shown this should always be shown no exseptions we should have the report right at all times now if u like just email me and ill fill u in with snap shots on how tagged has there profile its nice well i have lots of ideas but if u like to hear them well shoot me a email ty good work keep it up
April 29th, 2009 at 11:28 pm
oww ps you should now that you should only alow the user to acsess there email with 1 acsess only and so u now nobody can singhn into your email only if you are singhned into messenger is when u can get into it to make it availible by yahoo messenger notepad i notised if some 1 figures out your password thay can get in also u should stop this and make it asesible by yahoo messenger only so u now who is vilating toss by locashon just think our email should remain private its all and cookies it should by password protected to see cookies that will limit all the snoopers ty
May 6th, 2009 at 2:57 am
when are you going to bring back the member directory, you know the searchable data base where you can make connections with people by searching similar interests, location, schools, work… etc…?
May 9th, 2009 at 8:34 pm
I agree with many who stand against this… If a person wishes to remain private, and sets their profile as such, then their profiles should remain unviewable, and they shouldn’t be coming up on searches. But in all honesty people, let’s face it… Yahoo! isn’t the least bit interested in what their customers want… If they were, they wouldn’t have forced this new profile system down our throats, user-created chat rooms would still be around, and all the problems with spammers and BOTs would be non-existant. For Yahoo! it’s easier to just go with their own asinine beliefs on what their customers want, or take whatever ideas customers throw at them and twist them into really bad ideas. I’m sure this post will be deleted soon, but hey… I’m just saying it like it is.
May 10th, 2009 at 10:44 pm
I did not think there was anything wrong with the previous profiles or searching by interest. It seems Yahoo is just like AOL on this one…fixing something that wasnt broken. Privacy is great and should be respected, however there are alot of us who would not mind if someone knew we loved cooking or fishing, etc. If someone searched my interest and sent me an instant message it was my choice to chat with them. I could have put the person on ignore if I wished. I liked the option of searching by interest even if that person wasn’t on my friend list. Yahoo if you want a problem to fix lets start with spamming from bots…not something that helps create friendships and bring people together, which btw is why most of us use Yahoo in the first place. Please bring back the search by interest.
May 13th, 2009 at 3:58 am
Search by interest was among the best options yahoo could offer. And very rare too. I could connect with lots of likeminded people with it, so it makes me sad to see it gone. I can’t see why it would be so difficult to make it available again so that people who want to keep their privacy would be able to do so?
May 15th, 2009 at 9:27 am
I do not like what you have done to the profiles. I liked the old profiles. The new way sucks
May 26th, 2009 at 10:46 pm
Bring back the old style advance member search
May 27th, 2009 at 4:39 am
now more than ever, with all the people wanting you to add them to your Contacts list, we really need to be able to find out who is asking before accepting or declining. just trying to find a way to search profiles now took too much time.
June 7th, 2009 at 9:37 am
How are we supposed to find new contacts, if we cannot search for common interests? I liked the way it was on Yahoo360°.
Will we be able to personalize our pages ? At the moment it looks very sterile. If this new Yahoo won’t improve, I’ll wove elswhere… it’s a shame.
June 19th, 2009 at 5:13 pm
I read that all this has to do with Yahoo personals. That advanced search was shut down because Yahoo felt they were giving away the same service under Yahoo advanced search. Obviously all the hits you could get from a basic ID search have not been reduced a thousand fold because of members settting thier profiles to private. Certainly technology has not taken a giant leap backwards. If Yahoo has decided it needs to make money on this just have some fee for advanced search but please dont take us for fools. The people that want to use Yahoo personals are not the same as the ones in games and other areas that want to connect but not “date”.
July 7th, 2009 at 3:23 pm
Hi Melissa and everyone. I apologize I only read until April and picked back up in June, so this may have already been addressed. Yahoo gave their users the “Private” option. Still, there is some, possibly variable at times, information on that “Private Profile” page. Why could the search not just be stopped at the front door, so to speak? In other words, if the profile is open, then the search engine can parse it. If it hits “Private profile,” it only parses the information on that page. Nobody’s feelings would be hurt and the privacy of those concerned would be respected.