Life means change... BUT
FIRST, let me correct your author. This rollout started on or about AUGUST 4. The change was not done by group, but by individuals. On August 4 ALL my groups appeared to me in Neo format and none of my group was changed, so they didn't respond to my asking if they needed help in trying to navigate the change.
The first ones changed to Neo were group owners. Each day, more beta (really alpha) test victims were added to the group. I didn't get response from Yahoo to inquiries as to what had happened, so I asked on Yahoo Answers where I was fortunate enough to have my question read by a very knowledgeable man who runs some groups for moderators to help them with problems experienced with Yahoo Groups.
Asking Yahoo to roll back to the Classic version of Groups is a knee jerk response. In the fast changing world of the internet innovation and change are considered vital to a company's survival. So, Neo will not roll back. Yahoo email went Neo about 2 years ago. I hear rumors that they've already started on a New Neo version of Yahoo Answers!
The problems rest on three major points:
1) Neo Groups was NOT ready for release. It had not been fully alpha tested in-house
2) Neo Groups was NEVER offered to knowledgeable beta testers and computer techs at Yahoo as a beta test. Instead, random owners were unceremoniously dumped unasked for, with no notice into the Neo Version which came as a shock. Some thought Groups had contracted a virus!
3) Yahoo failed to answer initial questions from the first groups initiated unexpectedly into Neo Groups. Their silence continued for about 2-3 weeks. Finally they began obviously responding to feedback and fixing bugs.
4) Yahoo never allowed experienced group owners and moderators to switch back and forth between Neo and Classic formats so they could give a good evaluation of the comparative functionality of each component in the groups. Another option they ignored was to allow group owners to have two ID's... one in Neo Groups and one in Classic Groups.
The result was a lot of knee-jerking screaming and wailing, with a lot of hate an discontent. Improvements are impatiently waited for by some who threaten to leave. Some will leave. Other's will find the patience to stick around and factually report the bugs in hopes all will be corrected.
Lots of damage has been done to the Group experience of Senior Citizens most of whom are not computer savy, and handicapped people who don't do well with these extreme changes. The bartering groups (can't recall the right name for them) are badly hurt by the changes. So are users accessing Groups on iPhones and iPads.
Yahoo needs to remember that they can run their company into the ground by not doing proper beta testing FIRST before rolling out new versions. Experienced beta testers and computer techs and programmers in the moderators' groups are amazed at this mistake. But we are willing to help them fix their problems by reporting them clearly and accurately without ranting and raving. Just remember, this has been going on a MONTH... since August 4 !!!!