Does Yahoo care if "neo" works? or how we feel about it?

I asked how to get RID of Yahoo "neo" on my groups. It is not intuitive. Items are not placed where a normal human being who has joined Yahoo Groups would look for them. The functionality of the group is degraded under the /neo/ version.

One Yahoo staff member responded and tried to help me locate some of the items I could not find. I appreciate that greatly. This staff member also told me that Yahoo might delete my question on "How do I get RID of Yahoo /neo/ version of my group. If they do this, do you think they care about any of us? Is it fair to kill a post because they don't like what I have to say?

How do we get across to Yahoo management that they do have a good number of competent owners and moderators who would be willing to beta test before these changes are sprung on members of Yahoo. I have joined 2 excellent Yahoo groups of owners and moderators who try to help each other every time changes are sprung on us. Many of our group members are not techie types and a moderator beta test group could help Yahoo prevent damage to the reputation of Yahoo that occurs when they suddenly spring changes on the membership, because these changes are NOT functioning well. The classic group format was finally working pretty well. Don't they understand that "if it ain't broke, don't try to 'fix' it" ??? Yahoo has not put the /neo/ version of groups on large numbers of members, YET, but it is not in working condition and the 'help' files don't help, and we need the Yahoo staff member who responded to me to get across to Yahoo management that they need to use beta testers and they need to NOT force changes on us that do NOT work.

Can anyone help get the attention of top Yahoo Management?
How can we get their attention?
How can we get them to learn what we liked?
How can we get them to care and give us what we want, not what they mistakenly think we want?
Do they listen?
Or will they simply kill my message instead of being constructive?
I have copies of my messages archived, so please help me learn how to contact Yahoo management.

2013-08-12T06:23:00Z

Thank you for your fine reply, Shalf! So far my question and her reply stil both exist. Possibly you are right that she thought her comment would be removed, not my question.

I'm trying to figure out how to get Marissa Mayer's attention on this problem. That might not get what we want, but it's worth a try to attempt to get her attention. The main thing is to be courteous. As with flaming in group, any argument must not try to flame, but to present our concerns and our distress and ask for relief. The trick is to get her to stand in our shoes and feel what we feel.... the loss of functionality and user friendliness.

2013-08-12T10:08:40Z

Gelsey, follow all the links Shal has given me. That gives you places where you can post your problems and hopefully Yahoo will see and respond in constructive fashion. If you are on Twitter, tweet your concerns - Marissa Mayer is on Twitter, I think, so if you can add her to your recipient list somehow, that might help.

2013-08-12T12:26:19Z

Nana B - You are having the same difficulties I have, except I don't have a database. But I could not add myself to the database at YGOG.

Click on Shal's links above, and also click on me and look at my other questions on these issues. You'll find links to owner/moderator groups you can join where we are discussing all this.

So far, no way to revert to classic has been found or offered by Yahoo. So, using the links Shal and others have provided to report on this is one of your best options, plus joining the groups Shal recommended gives you the best way to learn.

OH ... you can create a different ID and use it to join your own group, and give it moderator privileges. I suspect that new ID would be shown the Classic view and you could login under that ID to maintain your group. It the changeover is assigened to ALL owners and moderators or on ALL members, you'd lose that ability, but at the moment, it might work.

shalf2013-08-11T16:15:44Z

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One would have to assume that they do care, because ultimately their jobs depend on us. But that's an "aggregate" sort of thing, it doesn't mean they care what any one of us, or even any group of us have to say.

To be fair to the staff member, I think she meant that her answer might be deleted, not your question. The issue there wasn't whether anyone at Yahoo liked or disliked your message, but purely a matter of her work rules conflicting with the unannounced status of neo.

But Yahoo, seriously?

The fact that neo hasn't been officially announced, or even mentioned, is one of the big gripes that people have -- given that Yahoo has subjected unsuspecting users to the new interface. A large enough base of users that "neo" has become a significant buzz here in the Yahoo! Groups sub-category at Answers, in the Groups Suggestion board, in the Groups Feedback forum, in the moderator help groups -- anywhere users have a voice. That's a de facto public announcement, period.

I'm not sure if it is possible to "get them" to learn or care about what we like, what we use, and what we need from Yahoo Groups as a product. But it would be very easy for them to take the initiative to find out. There was a time, a few years back, when the then Groups Product Manager actually commented in the Suggestion board, replied in the moderator groups, posted in Moderator Central and the Groups Blog. Now, the Groups team is so isolated from the user community that we don't know who the Product manager is, or even if there is one.

That's just wrong. The door is open, has always been open, for Groups Team members to participate, or even just lurk, in the moderator groups and see first-hand what concerns the community of users.

Nana B2013-08-12T18:02:37Z

I have also been involuntarily assigned to the new NEO format and have not been able to perform administrative duties that I could easily perform on the old version, including updating our group's database. Attempts to follow help lines have been unsuccessful. Any suggestions on how I can revert to the classic format or resolve the issues I'm now experiencing would be helpful.

?2013-08-12T15:28:14Z

it seems they dont care at all. If it works so well, why cant they simply tell me how to get my new topics and replies to post, and not come back as undeliverable mail. Btw, they blamed that on the mail systems I was using, which was YAHOO mail.
So????????