Ever wonder what privacy controls you have on Yahoo! Groups? Well, there are three settings that control who can join your group, who can find your group, and who can see your group messages that I wanted to highlight.

Membership Options
The first decision you need to make when starting a new group is what type of Membership settings (who can join your group), you want to enable. You can choose one of the following two settings:

• Open group – anyone can join
• Restricted group - new members need approval to join

Membership settings is found under: Management > Group Settings > Membership > Membership Type and Welcome Message. Click edit and choose the membership top at the top of the page and then click save changes.

Listing Options
You then need to choose whether or not you want your group listed in the Groups Directory (who can find your group).

• If you choose to have your group listed in the directory, then your group can be found by users searching or browsing through the Groups Directory.
• If, on the other hand, you choose to make your group unlisted, it will not be found in the Groups Directory.

Listings settings can be found under: Management > Group Settings > Description. Click edit and scroll down and you’ll see “listing type”, once you choose, click save changes.

Message Options
You also have three options for who can see your group messages:

• Anyone on the web can view them
• Only members can view them
• Only moderators can view them

Message option settings can be found under: Management > Group Settings > Messages > Posting and Archives. Click edit and choose the archive option you desire and then click save changes.

Please note that only group owners and moderators (if they have been given permission to change group settings) can change these group settings.

Best,
Jami
Groups Community Manager