Yahoo Groups – changing moderators
Jul 6th, 2008 | By Eileen | Category: Networking
Do you need to change a Yahoo Group moderator or owner? Here are step-by-step instructions.
I’ve started around 20 (or more?) Yahoo Groups, including AJmarketing, wildartdolls, and ArtistsJournals2 (AJ2, now WAJ2). When they become too popular for me to manage, I generally turn them over to new owners and moderators.
So, when people need to change Yahoo Groups moderators or ownership, they often ask me how to do this.
Here’s how to switch moderators/owners at any Yahoo group:
1. The current moderator/owner goes into the list of members. That’s accessed by clicking “Members” in the left column at the Yahoo Groups page. See the long, tall graphic at right.
2. Click on “Edit membership” under the name of the person who will be the new moderator/owner. (See the second illustration, below.)
3. Click on “Change to owner” … or “Change to moderator” if that’s more appropriate.
4. If the person is simply being appointed as a moderator, the owner will assign privileges in the next screen… how much the new moderator is allowed to do, that affects the entire group. (For example, unless the moderator is trusted, the owner might not want to give him or her permission to delete the entire group.)
5. Click “Make moderator” or “Make owner” at the foot of the page. At the next screen, if you’re back at the individual’s membership screen, click “Save changes”. (That’s important.)
6. The new moderator/owner will receive notice of the change, and may have to reply that it’s okay.
7. If the old moderator/owner is leaving, he or she will go to his (or her) own membership page in that group, and select “Make member.” Be sure to save the changes similarly to what you did in step 5, above.
8. If the old moderator/owner is leaving the group, he or she will then choose “Leave group” at the group’s homepage. (There may be a similar option at the membership page. Either one will work.)
That should do it!
Thank-you – great description – just searching for that answer!!
Thanks. Have two to change right now.
THANKS FOR THE INFO…
HOW WE WILL MANAGE A GROUP IF WE DO NOT KNOW THE NEW MODERATOR WHO HIDES HIMSELF FROM GROUP? NO ONE KNOWS HIM…THIS CRATES PROBLEM IN THE GROUP..
REGARDS
Hi,
What if the moderator has lost the access to his ID……so we now have a moderator ID with no moderator …
How can we assign a new moderator without the intervention from the old moderator ID?
thanks & regards,
Rai
Hi Rai,
I have no idea what to do, and I’ve been in that same situation myself. Until Yahoo actually responds to support requests with more than a form letter… I have no idea what to do!
Sorry, I wish I had a better answer.
Sincerely,
Ais
Hi Kazim,
I suggest starting a new group. I’m assuming that you’ve contacted the moderator and asked to be appointed as an assistant moderator or co-moderator…?
A group with no visible moderator and problems in the group… it’s time to take the active and contributing members to a new group.
Good luck!
Sincerely, Ais
hi. how are you.
i need one yahoo account securety administrator if you can help me pleas contact to mee
mamad.gabriel@gmail.com
Mamad,
I have no special access to Yahoo, and definitely not to a security admin. You’ll need to see what you can find at the Yahoo site, in their Help section.
I wish I could offer you encouragement, but I’ve been dealing with Yahoo since they first bought GeoCities, and — even when I was an “insider” — I couldn’t get the kind of help you’re looking for.
Sorry!
– Aisling
I am the owner of a yahoo group and would like to add another owner. If I do that, can the new owner eliminate me as the owner?
Hi,
Simply… yes. The new owner can eliminate you, remove you altogether, ban you, shut down the group, and so on. So, never promote someone to “Owner” unless you’re confident that nothing bad will result, ever… or you’d be okay no matter what he or she does.
You can give the person a lesser role, such as Moderator. Even then, there are risks.
(I once added a Moderator, and after she told the list how bad I was, I discovered she’d been banning people without saying anything about it. It made me look awful, and — to this day — some people think I was every bit as bad as she said I was. I’ve chosen the higher road by not telling the list exactly what happened, but… well, it’s still a sore subject for me.)
The bottom line is: Unless you’re willing to walk away from the group and let the other owner do or say absolutely anything, don’t make anyone else an Owner.
In your private files, leave notes about how to login to Yahoo to take charge of the group. That’s a good way to be responsible, and be sure the list will continue, hopefully in good hands. I’ve seen groups fade away when the owner ran away with the pool boy, etc., and no one on the list knew how to login and handle Moderator responsibilities.
But, choose Owners carefully if you’re going to add them. Most people are great Owners. I’ve made some very good choices when I’ve turned my groups over to new Owners.
For example, when Red Dog Scott took over AJ2 for me, she did a tremendous job. I’m very grateful to her! (I’m now in charge of AJ2 again, but that’s because Red’s schedule and mine both changed, so we could comfortably switch roles. I’d give her AJ2 again in a blink, she was that good as the Owner.)
If you have any doubts at all, I’d make the person Moderator and see how it goes. When you make someone Owner, you’re giving them absolute control. Though that’s usually okay, you need to be willing for anything to happen… anything at all.
I hope that helps!
Cheerfully,
Aisling
Thanks you so much for the help and the extra comments about what really could happen. After your thoughts, I am on the path that it is not so important that I could walk away if I needed to. It gave me some closure and now I realize where things can go. MANY thanks for your help!!!!
Can you advise me. In April I lost my cat, he went out through an open front door in 1 min. In the course of seekng him, I made contact with a yahoo group MissingCat Assistance. It was runing fine. Then we had a lot of spam. The owners could not or would not be found. Then two members said they were the “moderators”. One criticises what I am saying which is even more pitiful as she does not understand what I am saying. 3 weeks ago another member set up an alternative site so that we would not have spam. The two “moderatos” decided they would stay with yahoogroups. Today they announced that the new members one of whom has been spamming have refused to be “moderated” by the two and the two “m’s” are now having to say they can post without moderation!….I have it in mind to either set up a new group myself or a web site whichever gets best to the people I wish to communicate with wihout all the infighting and bitching, to put it crudely. What is the point of having a total input which is “moderated” by someone who has failed in the aims of the group and who appears to have little formal education? Who seems more involved with the members than the aims….
I am not interested in the group as now “working” with at least one of the two, so I would prefer to set up my own group, or a site. Can one peron just decide that an owner has gone away and she can take over?
Your comment/s would be appreciated. It appears too that there is an amount of UK/USA tension which I would attempt to avoid by concentrating perhaps on UK comment/views? myself in UK comment. I write briefly as my cat wants my attention. He is the recovered cat. I wished to further the aims of that group by including vets and their services and costs and that seemed to put the proverbial cat amongst the piigeons.
They even suggested that Yahoo was responsible for the spamming at one stage….Do yahoogroups get automatic spamming and how is it avoided, or is one bound to set up a web site to avoid spam? Thus one would check ev eryone out but even so spam could not be ruled out surely?
Valerie
Hello Valerie,
First of all, I’m so relieved to hear that you recovered your cat! I have owned several cats — including one that’s currently 10 years old and he’s a wonderful, valued member of our family — so I understand your concerns. I also think it’s important for people to have a resource when a cat goes missing.
The problems you’re describing sound like the Owner of the list has gone missing from Yahoo Groups, and others have become self-declared “moderators” without authority and without having actual access to the group’s Control Panel.
This happens. There is no “safety net” at Yahoo Groups, to replace an Owner who’s abandoned the group or install Moderators to resume control of the group. Unless someone with access to the Control Panel appoints new Owners or Moderators, there are none. So, many groups are currently running wild with no actual checks, balances or actual moderation.
Yahoo Groups offers automated spam filtering, but it has to be ticked in the Control Panel screen or it’s not functioning. That said, my experiences with Yahoo’s spam filters have been disappointing; they “catch” fine emails and often let the worst through without any deterrents.
My best advice is to create a Yahoo Group yourself (it’s easy) and give it a name similar to the group you’re in. Use hyphens in the name, or add a hyphen and UK to the name, to distinguish it. (I’m astonished to hear that there seem to be UK/USA tensions. I travel between both countries regularly, and while politics can be unattractive in any context, it’s rarely been an issue among my US and UK friends.)
Once you have the group set up and you’re the Owner, go back to the rowdy group and tell them about the new group that you’re going to run with an eye to maintaining harmony, cooperation, and motion towards your mutual goals.
I think a website is also a good idea, as the primary place where you share resources and information that will be helpful to people. (Blogger.com and WordPress.com both offer good, free websites.) Yours can be supplemented by the Yahoo Group for individual discussions.
Walking away from the madness — rather than trying to reconcile things within the existing Yahoo Group — is probably your best option at this point. Setting up your own Yahoo Group and website would be a truly kind thing to do, to help others.
If you have other questions, or if there’s any way that I can help, feel free to ask.
Sincerely,
Aisling
Two yahoo groups, FPHS57Forum and fphsclassof57 were created and monitored by a classmate who is now deceased. As far as I know he was the only monderator. How do I become the moderator of these two groups? I estimate about 50-100 classmates participate in these two groups; therefore, we want to keep them intact. Your help would be greatly appreciated.
I am the oderator/owner of a group of 336 people in a homeowners association. I clicked on my group from my Favorites about 9 days ago and discovered Yahoo seems to have lost track of me as a moderator/owner. The only page I get is one that anyone can access and the “long, tall graphic” you mention above is gone. There is no way for me to access the membership list. Worse, from the page I get, it appears that now anyone can use the email address that sends to the entire membership, a big no-no. And worse yet, when I log into Yahoo and go to My Yahoo and then groups, the 3 listed there are groups I belong to but MY group is not listed. I emailed them for help on 7/9 and got 2 or 3 responses asking me a bunch of questions but I am no closer to a solution than I was 9 days ago. I am very frustrated. Any suggestions? Thanks!
Judy,
I wish I could offer help or encouragement, but these things happen at Yahoo, and I’ve never received a personal reply when I’ve asked for help.
The good news is, I can see Yahoo adjusting settings (or changing software) at Yahoo Groups. Even this week, I saw some weird changes that were corrected a few hours later.
So, don’t give up. I just can’t offer any helpful suggestions.
However, I routinely appoint myself as a Moderator (or even an Owner) of each of my groups, using different usernames and email addresses. That way, if one stops working, I can still access the group through one of the others. It’s sneaky, but it’s been helpful at times.
Sympathetically,
Aisling
Hi,
I’m sorry, Jerry, but the best solution is to start an entirely new group at Yahoo, and invite everyone to join you there. (Also read my earlier comments for additional tips.)
Expecting help from Yahoo is, unfortunately, likely to be frustrating. I’ve never heard of anyone receiving a personal reply from them.
Sympathetically,
Aisling
Hello,
I got lost in #3… i cant find anywhere the “change to moderator” option after clicking edit membership
Linger,
I’ve added a screenshot at #5, showing exactly what you’re looking for. In Members, you’re looking for the person’s username on the list. Then, you click on “Edit Membership.” The screen that opens should have that info, as shown in the screenshot, for you to select.
Cheerfully,
Aisling
Thanks for that.
It turns out, only the owner can change those settings. I’m just the moderator so those options aren’t available to me.
Thanks again! (: