I’ve been involved in several different groups where we have needed a simple email distribution list. While having members create “groups” of email addresses in their own address books is possible, it’s not ideal. First, everyone must somehow manage to create their initial list of contacts in their email client. This can be done by having each person manually input names and email lists from a roster or by providing your fellow group members with a list in a comma separated value (.CSV) format and having them import the list into their email client’s address book.
Let’s be serious for a minute here - do you really think that you can get the entire PTA, soccer league, church group, or service organization to do either of these steps? You’ll be lucky if ten percent of your group’s members do so. Now, let’s assume that by some miracle, you’ve managed to get the entire group on board and everyone has an identical email group. What happens when a member leaves the group? Will everyone in your organization remember to delete the departing member from their distribution lists? I doubt it. Same with when new members join - will everyone add the new member to their lists?
Yahoo Groups solves this dilemma and offers a variety of extra features that are sure to enrich your group’s communications. By creating a group, you can assign members, delete members, add new members and much more. All the rest of the group needs to do is remember a single email address. Whenever anyone emails the group, only current members receive the message. Now, no one (except for the group’s moderator) has to manage a membership roster.
However, when you first establish a Yahoo Group, you might be concerned about privacy. Who can join? Who can view the group’s membership directory? Who can read the group’s messages or view files posted? In some cases, groups are open to the general public and all are welcome. In other cases, privacy is essential.
Fortunately, you can make your Yahoo Group private. For example, let’s say you are creating a Yahoo Group for communicating with your son’s Boy Scout Troop. You don’t want the general public viewing your event dates or private emails, right? You really only want to invite the parents of each Boy Scout along with any troop leaders who need to be involved.
To do this, you must first create a Yahoo Group. This is done by following the prompts at the Yahoo Groups page. When you first create the group, the sign up process is extremely limited and privacy is not addressed. Because of this, you cannot start using the group until you have taken the next step and have made your group private.
If you have just now created your Group, you will be prompted to customize the Group in which case you will be able to privatize it during this step. However, I’m assuming that you missed this step which is why you are wondering how to make the Group private in the first place. You can do so after the fact by logging into your group (assuming you’re the group owner) and clicking the Management link (on the left side).
In the Management pane, find Group Settings (toward the upper right) and click Membership. Click Edit. Now, you can change your Group’s settings! Change it to Restricted or Closed. Closed provides the highest level of privacy (invitation only). Keep in mind that once you choose this option, you can’t go back - but then, why would you want to?
Celeste Stewart | June 12th, 2008
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