To fix it, be sure you’re logged into the Yahoo! network (e.g. you see your name up at the top of a Yahoo! page) and then click the link below. Hitting that link will toggle your online presence back to “on”. Your Pingbox will then show you as being available when you’re online in Yahoo! Messenger. Note that you’ll only show as online in your Pingbox when you’re signed into Yahoo! Messenger 9.0, Yahoo! Messenger for Mac, or Yahoo! Messenegr for the Web. Signing in on a mobile device or to IM in Yahoo! Mail will not show you as available on your Pingbox.

IMPORTANT: Changing your Yahoo! network presence to online also means that you will be shown as online within other Yahoo! sites such as Yahoo! Groups, message boards etc. – anywhere the online presence indicator ( / ) appears within different Yahoo! products.

http://edit.presence.msg.yahoo.com/edit/config/edit_identity?.set=1&.opi=0

Note: After you click the above link, you’ll be taken to a blank, white page. That is by design. You won’t see any visual confirmation of the change. We also recommend logging out and back into Yahoo! Messenger after you click the link.

Sarah Bacon
Product Manager

To add a Pingbox to your page, visit the Yahoo! Messenger Pingbox application page on Facebook. The same customization tools are available in the Facebook version, so you can personalize your online and offline greeting, choose from dozens of designs, and if you wish, require your visitors to give themselves a nickname before they can IM you.

With the Pingbox app, your friends can IM you from your profile page even when you’re not on Facebook.

Sarah Bacon
Product Manager

Click a category below and once on the page, click the Yahoo! Messenger listing to vote (you’ll also see current results after you vote).

1) Best Overall IM Experience

2) Best Mac IM – Yahoo! Messenger for Mac

3) Most Improved IM Client

4) Best IM Feature – Pingbox

5) Best IM (GUI) Design

Thanks!

Sarah Bacon
Product Manager

Click a category below and once on the page, click the Yahoo! Messenger listing to vote for us (you’ll also see current results after you vote).

1) Best Overall IM Experience

2) Best Mac IM – Yahoo! Messenger for Mac

3) Most Improved IM Client

4) Best IM Feature – Pingbox | (What’s Pingbox?)

5) Best IM (GUI) Design

Thanks to the About.com readers for nominating us in these categories and special thanks to those of you that cast a vote. Voting ends Sunday, March 15, 2009 at midnight EST.

Sarah Bacon
Product Manager

Flickr IMVironment: Get in the winter spirit
Put some seasonal photos into your IM background with the Flickr IMV. It will open automatically to pictures from December, full of snowy landscapes and other winter favorites. Try it now with a friend or preview it yourself. (Yahoo! Messenger 9.0 only).

Holiday audibles
We’ve brought back the “Holiday” and “Holiday Hints” audibles. Send a mistletoe kiss to your sweetie or send a not-so-gentle reminder that you want to find a MP3 player under the tree this year. (Yahoo! Messenger 9.0 only)

Emoticarolers
Pick the Yahoo! Messenger Emoticarolers for your group, customize the lyrics to a favorite tune like “Jingle Bells” or “Deck the Halls”, and then send your e-card off to the digital doorsteps of your friends and family.

Pingbox holiday themes
Check out the new background themes in the Pingbox studio. If you’re already hosting a Pingbox on your website or social network profile, just edit its settings in the studio and your Pingbox will automatically get updated.

Elf your Avatar (or a friend’s)
Dress up your Avatar with holiday cheer for Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or New Year’s. Or install the Yahoo! Avatars Makeover plug-in to create a new Avatar for your friends (plug-in for Yahoo! Messenger 9.0 only).

Happy Holidays!

Sarah Bacon
Product Manager

P.S. – In addition to all these Messenger holiday goodies, there’s also a Yahoo! holiday e-card called “Frosty’s Scrapbook”. Choose a background (or upload your own photo) and then drag and drop fun objects into your card to create your holiday scrapbook greeting.

New themes
We’ve added 24 new background themes including some professional and seasonal ones that you can use to style your Pingbox.

Required nickname
for visitors
As a Pingbox owner, you now have the option to require your visitors to enter a nickname before they can begin chatting with you.

If you already have a Pingbox in use but want to update it to take advantage of the new nickname feature or themes, just return to the Pingbox studio to edit your Pingbox. You can also turn off or delete Pingboxes that you’ve created in the studio.

To create a new Pingbox for your social network page, blog or website, head over to the Yahoo! Messenger website. After creating your Pingbox, you’ll get the code you need to drop into your page.

Sarah Bacon
Product Manager

P.S. – If you’re having issues with your Pingbox always showing you as offline even when you’re online, please contact customer care for assistance. This is a known issue affecting some of our users.

To get your own Pingbox, go to the Yahoo! Messenger website and click on “Pingbox”. As you create your Pingbox, you can choose a background theme and size, customize the greeting your visitors will see when you’re online or offline, and enter a custom display name for your Pingbox. So even if your real name is Harold, you may choose to name your Pingbox to better match the content on your webpage, profile etc (e.g. Dirty Harry).

Once you’re done creating your Pingbox, click the Next button and you’ll be given the code that you need to copy and paste into your web page. Note that the code can differ slightly across the social networks, so be sure to select a service from the menu before you copy and paste (or just choose “Code only” if you’re putting it into your blog or web page). Even if you don’t see your favorite social network listed, you should try using the “code only” option as it will work on most sites.

Here’s how Pingbox works for you and your visitor during a conversation. Let’s say you put a Pingbox on your MySpace page. When a visitor comes to your page, they’ll see your Pingbox with your custom invitation message. Your visitor can then type a message into the Pingbox and hit “Send” (and include an emoticon if they want). You’ll receive the IM while you’re in Yahoo! Messenger. Depending on whether the visitor gives themselves a nickname or not in the Pingbox, you may or may not know who is contacting you.

You can create up to ten Pingboxes. Create one for each social network you’re on, or create one and put it on many pages. For each Pingbox you create, a new group will appear in your Yahoo! Messenger 9.0 contact list, with the group name matching your Pingbox name. As visitors arrive on your web page, you’ll begin to see contacts appear within that group. And even if a visitor to your site is not IM’ing you, you can IM them and they’ll see the message in Pingbox (assuming they’re paying attention). To send all your visitors to that Pingbox a message, right click on the Pingbox group name in your contact list and choose “Broadcast an IM to these Pingbox visitors”.

If you have a lot of visitors to your page and find you’re getting more IM’s than you can handle, don’t worry! It’s easy to control your Pingbox from Yahoo! Messenger 9.0 and the website. When you’re in Messenger, you can right click on the Pingbox group name in your list and choose “Pingbox is Off”. The Pingbox will still be on your webpage but you’ll appear offline to any visitors. It’s basically the stealth setting for your Pingbox.

For further controls such as editing your Pingbox design or removing it altogether, just visit the Yahoo! Messenger website and click on the “Pingbox” button near the top of the site. You can also get there by right clicking on your Pingbox group in Yahoo! Messenger 9.0 and choosing “Edit” or “Manage my Pingboxes”. Note that deleting a Pingbox will remove it from your webpage without you even having to remove the code you placed there earlier.

You can receive Pingbox IMs while in most versions of Yahoo! Messenger but not when using Yahoo! Messenger in Mail or Yahoo! Messenger applications on your mobile phone. But if you want to be able to see the Pingbox groups and visitors in your contact list, you need to be on the latest version of Yahoo! Messenger 9.0 (version 9.0.0.912 or later). This means if you’re a Mac user for example, you can still use Pingbox and receive IMs from your site visitors, but you won’t be able to see the visitors appear in your contact list.

So what are you waiting for? Head over to the Pingbox page on our site to create yours. We’ll be adding support for more social networks over time. If there’s a favorite network you’d like to see included, let us know in the comments (we’re working on Facebook already!). And if you want to show off your Pingbox, leave your site address in the comments so we can check it out.

Sarah Bacon
Product Manager