In order to participate in a group and receive messages, you have to subscribe to the service. 

Please follow these instructions carefully. You must complete all the steps otherwise your Yahoo account may not be set up correctly.

1) Go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/insertgroupnamehere using your web browser.  Don't click the 'Join This Group' button just yet!

2) If you already have a Yahoo ID, click 'Sign In' and fill in your details.  This will bring you back to the main page of the group.   Now complete steps 4) and 5) and 6).

3) If you don't have a Yahoo ID, click 'Register'. You will need to choose a new ID and password. For your ID, you may need to be inventive. A combination of letters and numbers often works best.  Fill in all the boxes, making sure that you fill in your email address in the box that says 'Alternate email'. Keep going through the screens, and you will get back to the group's main page again. Near the top left, it will say Welcome, with your new Yahoo ID. A registration confirmation message will be sent to your email address.

4) Next... click 'My Preferences' just above 'Join This Group'. On the right of the screen it will have your email address listed. If it says 'Not Verified', click the 'Edit' button, then on the next screen, click 'Verify'. Stay online and check your email for the verification message. Follow the instructions in the email - either reply to it, or click on the link provided.  You may have received 2 emails, so make sure you reply to the right one!! It's important to verify your email address - without this verification you may not receive the group's messages.

5) If the email address listed is NOT the one you want to use to receive the group's mail, go to 'Account Info' at the top of the screen, and click the 'Edit' button in the Member Information box. Fill in the email address you would like to use in the 'Alternate Email 1' box, and click the 'Finished' button. Go back and complete step 4), then go to step 6).

6) Go back to the main group page, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/insertgroupnamehere.  Now you can click 'Join This Group', and choose the email delivery options, either daily digest or individual emails, and then click the 'Join' button. As long as you completed all the previous steps correctly, this should then send a notification that you applied to join the group.

Additional information:
Once you are approved as a member of the group, you can at any time change the email address that the group's mail is sent to by going to the group's homepage and signing in with your Yahoo ID. There is no need to get a new ID, as you can link as many email address as you like to the same ID. Click on 'Edit my Membership' and then the 'Add Email' link. Follow the instructions carefully, making sure you click 'Finished' or 'Done' each time you update your information. You will also need to verify the new address you added. See step 4) above.

You can also temporarily suspend delivery of mail (for instance if you are going away on holiday) by again going to the main group page, signing in with your Yahoo ID, and then clicking on 'Edit my Membership'. This saves you having to unsubscribe and resubscribe to the group.

When you start viewing messages to the group, you may see that some have attachments which may be sent directly to you, if you receive individual emails, or if you view the messages from the main group page, you may see links to attachments.  If you click on this link, your web browser will show a new address at the top of the window.  Instead of http://groups.yahoo.com/group/insertgroupnamehere, it will have an address that looks much more complicated.  This is the link (URL) to the attachment itself.