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eGroup Frequently Asked Questions

Can someone be enrolled in one of these groups without first getting a name and a password from Yahoo and will that cause me to get more junk mail?

No, you do not have to get a Yahoo name and password set up in order to be a member of the group mailing list.  But, you have to get a Yahoo name and password set up before you can log into the group to get e-mail archives and any files that may be stored there.  But ... it's not listed in any public directory unless you deliberately go in and create an entry for the People Search directory. AND ... you don't get lots of junk mail (spam) directly as a result of having a Yahoo ID.  In return for their free service, you get the occasional advertising message from Yahoo, but they are so infrequent as to be relatively non-intrusive.

Investigation shows that junk mail is not related to setting up Yahoo Groups or a Yahoo ID but has more to do with what e-mail provider you are using (AOL, Earthlink, etc.) and whether or not your email ID contains common names (a Joe Smith will get more junk mail than a Jedediah Penobscot or a "k826s7".

You could get some junk mail if you join an open-membership group that is not well-moderated.  That junk mail would come from someone sending to the group list.  However, they should be unable to see individual e-mail addresses, and if you report the problem to the group moderator(s), they should deal with the offending member, by restricting their access or banning them from the group.  Yahoo also takes a lot of anti-spam measures, and if a problem is reported to them, they will respond.

How do I know what a member's real name is?  All I see is a partial e-mail ID or Yahoo ID?

When each person sets up the profile for their Yahoo ID, they should list what their real name is.   That's not listed publicly anywhere. You only get to see the list of group members if the group is configured to group members to see it (the other choice is that the group may be configured so that only the moderator can see the list).  If you are not a moderator of the group, you only see the partial e-mail address of a group member in the member directory.  See a sample screen shot.

If you do not have a Yahoo profile, no one will able to see your full name, unless it's obvious from your partial e-mail address.  This also means, however, that if membership in a group is restricted, the group moderator needs some other way of verifying your identity before your group membership can be approved.  The moderator may request that you set up a profile after you join, so that he/she does not need to maintain a separate list of who belongs to which e-mail address.

The list of members is not visible to non-members.

It is possible for members of discussion groups to see the e-mail address of someone who posts a message.  This is why it is recommended that groups keep the visibility of their e-mail archives restricted to group members.

Will my name and e-mail address be visible to the public?

It's not listed in any public directory unless you deliberately go in and create an entry for the Yahoo People Search directory.

How can I tell what a group's attributes are?

If a group is not listed in the public directory, you can still go to the URL for that group if you know what it is.  Then, in the lower right hand-corner of the screen, you will see the group's attributes.  See a sample screen shot.

What can non-members of a group see?

Not much.  They can't see a list of members.  They can't see an archive of the e-mail list unless the group is configured to make that public.  But, even if the e-mail archive is public, if a non-member tries to send to the group e-mail address, it will be rejected.  See a sample screen shot of what a non-member sees.