This article describes the various types of Yahoo! Groups that can be created.

Tailor your group settings around four different concepts:

• Announcement or discussion?

Is your group for distributing information, such as newsletter content or event announcements, or is it geared towards discussion? If you choose the announcement format, then only moderators can post messages. All other members participate as subscribers, but can't directly send messages to each other. Because announcement groups can have thousands of subscribers, members often don't know each other.

• Moderated or un-moderated?

If you've chosen to set up a discussion group, then you need to decide if it should be un-moderated (all messages get posted directly) or moderated (all messages require approval). Moderated discussions tend to stay more focused, but require more work on the part of the moderators.

• Open, closed, or restricted membership?

Open membership means that anyone can join and leave your group as they please. Restricted means that you must approve all membership requests. Closed means that only people you directly invite to your group can belong.

• Which features?

Yahoo! Groups offers many advanced group communication features at our web site. You can choose to make these available to members. If it makes sense for your group to have a calendar, then make sure it’s enabled and add relevant events.