Now for something completely OT. (merger news)

[Denise R]

No: HPFGUIDX 9899

I am copying this for those of use who are interested in the merger, and what it means to our group here, as well as other egroups we moderate.

I have already used this to convert myself to "yahoo" btw.

Here's the copy of the letter they sent out this weekend:

Hope it helps!

Dear "Merger" and "Yahoo Clubs" group members,

We want you to be among the first to try out our new beta site for 
Yahoo! Groups. As you know, we've been working hard to integrate 
eGroups into Yahoo! to form Yahoo! Groups.  

We've completed a beta version of this new service, and are asking
a limited number of users to try it out and provide us with feedback.
As part of the Merger and Yahoo Clubs groups, we invite you to go 
to the following link to try out the beta site:

http://beta.groups.yahoo.com

Note: Since this is in beta form and a limited release, we'e created 
access for only a select number of users, and we ask that you not 
pass along this URL and login to others.   

login: egroups
password: onelist

NOTES ABOUT THE BETA:

- There are still items that require improvements (see below).

- There is limited hardware devoted to this beta, so some functions
  may be much slower than the actual service when it goes live.

- From time to time, we will be updating the beta release with fixes.
  The beta may be unavailable while we make these updates.

REGISTRATION/SIGN IN

- In order to use the site, you will need to login to the Yahoo!
  Network. This requires Yahoo! registration and a "conversion" of
  your eGroups account into a Yahoo! account. To convert your eGroups
  account, click on the "Convert your account here" button in the upper
  left corner of the Yahoo! Groups home page. You can convert multiple
  email addresses connected to one Yahoo! ID.

MY PROFILE / PREFERENCES

- My Preferences: Here you can edit your global settings across 
  the entire site for things such as posting aliases, text vs.
  html email, account status (bouncing, normal, etc.). This used
  to be part of My Profile, but now is on its own page.

- Profiles: Display and Editing your profile is now done through 
  the Yahoo! Profiles page. This is where you can share information
  about yourself with others:  
  
  http://profiles.yahoo.com

- Using the Yahoo! Profiles system, you can now specify which profile 
  you'd like to use to subscribe to a group.  You can now show 
  different personal information for different types of groups. For 
  instance, you can set up a professional profile, a family profile, 
  a silly profile, etc.

- "Do not disturb" function: From your My Preferences page, you can 
   now keep anyone from using member add/invite function to add/invite
   you to their group.

- New directory structure: We've converted from the Open Directory
  Project to the Yahoo! Directory, staffed with lots of people who
  maintain the directory and keep groups well categorized for users
  like you.

URLS

- Most URLs have changed to support future integration with other
  properties in the Yahoo! network. Don't worry though, old URLs 
  should correctly redirect.

SETTINGS

- You can switch your membership type to Closed, which means only
  people you invite or add can join. Once a group is Closed, it can 
  not be switched back.

- You can now choose a color theme for all the pages of your group.
  Choose from one of those we've provided, or choose your own unique
  colors!

- You can now specify a URL for a group Photo to show on a group home
  page, rather than having to know HTML to do so. (You can still use 
  HTML in your description if you want, but this just makes it easier
  for those who don't.)
  
CHAT

- Your groups will now use Yahoo! Chat (much improved over eGroups).

MEMBERS

- Online presence: You will now be able to see which members of your
  group are running Yahoo! Messenger, so you can communicate instantly.

OTHER

- There is a download limit on the Files section.  Most of you won't 
  ever run into this, but each group now has a bandwidth limit every 
  24 hours. This limit goes into affect for larger files, and is 
  dependent on a number of factors about the group.  This change was 
  required by the recent abuse of the shared file system.

MESSAGES:

- Message display now handle text/enriched messages.

- Message archives pages are faster!

KNOWN ISSUES:

- URLs in automated email messages are still for the old system

- Web promotion boxes aren't operational yet.

- We are working on creating access to the member detail page from the 
  members bounce page.

- The directory says all groups have under 5 members, and this affects the 
  sorting of those pages. We will update this page to include accurate
  member counts.

- Some help pages aren't available yet

- Some HTML email won't display correctly in the message archives.

- Some parts of My Preferences need clarification and are being resolved.

- Chat room names are a little strange currently. We're working on getting
  simpler, clearer names generated.


Thanks in advance for your feedback. Feel free to share it in this group.


The Yahoo! Groups Team



To unsubscribe: Merger-unsubscribe at egroups.com

Merger Help Center: 
http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/groups/info


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