Info about Yahoo! Groups in Beta
<http://feedback.yahoo.com/homepage/?prop=groupsbeta>
Worth a look ... offer a suggestion or two
As you may have already noticed, we just rolled out a release today that
contains the much
anticipated "Library" feature. This feature is the photos, files, and links
solution that we've
been working on.
Key improvements over the files, photos, and links features on Classic Groups
include:
- MODERATION: You're now able to moderate all types of content posted to the
Library,
not just photos as in Classic Groups.
However, in this release moderation is a bit like pregnancy. It's either all
the way on (for all
three types of content and for everyone in the group) or all the way off. We're
not yet able
to offer the ability to moderate (or unmoderate) specific members the way we do
with
messages.
The setting to turn moderation on, as well as default settings for the Library,
can be
found, not surprisingly, in Management.
- FOLDER PERMISSIONS: You now have the option to make any folder public (so
that
anyone can see what's inside, including non-members), member only, or moderator
only
(But note, you can't put a folder with less restrictive permissions inside one
that is more
restrictive).
And you can separately decide who can contribute to a folder: members or
moderators
only.
- NESTED FOLDERS: You can now nest folders within folders for photos as well as
links and
files ( happy Frank? :) ).
- MIXED MEDIA FOLDERS: No more segregation of photos in one place, files in
another,
and links in a third. Now you have the option to mix different types of media
about a
subject in a single folder.
- SORT: You can now sort items in a folder by file type, title, name, file
size, and date
posted.
- INTEGRATED MESSAGE ATTACHMENTS: Attachments posted in messages (using the web
interface) are now stored in a "Media from Messages" folder bringing all these
attachments
together in a single place and enabling copying from one folder to another.
- IMPROVED UPLOADER & SLIDE SLOW: It's now faster and easier to upload files
and
photos, and it's easier and more fun to view the photos once they're online.
- DRAG & DROP: You now have the option to move files from one folder to another
(or to
copy from the "Media from Messages" folder) through a desktop like drag and
drop
interface.
But along with these improvements, there are also some features that are not
yet
implemented. They include:
- The ability to automatically notify members when you add an item to the
Library.
- The ability to create "private" folders that only one person can contribute
to.
- The option to give members the ability to create folders.
- The option to copy files from one folder to another.
A big thank you to the all Groups team members who have been have been hard at
work
on this one! It's a biggie.
But that's not all that is happening today: the release also includes a number
of other
important bug fixes and changes including:
- Restoring the ability to send attachments via email in the same way you can
on Classic
Groups (although these attachments will not (yet) be stored on the site, in the
way they are
on the Beta if you post via the web).
- Fixing the bug that has been causing multi-word message searches not to work
(though
searching by email address still doesn't work, even for moderators).
- Enabling members to update the display of their age, gender, and location (as
well as
profile image and name) directly from the Preferences page.
- Fixing the Customization bug that causes the page to hang when you try to
edit new
modules without first publishing them.
- Restoring the masking of email addresses in the message archive in the same
way it is
done today on Classic Groups.
- Further tightening the Messages section to get more content onto the page.
- The return of the ability to view messages headers ("view source" on Classic).
- Making the link for promoting a member to moderator or owner status more
visible.
- Some renaming for clarity including "conversations" back to "messages" and
"Moderator
Actions" to "Approve-Ban-Promote-Fix".
