Yahoo blocks adblock users

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joby_toss
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Yahoo blocks adblock users

#1 Post by joby_toss »

Today this happened to me:
http://fortune.com/2015/11/23/yahoo-ad-block/
They didn't only announce me about the change in their policy, they simply BLOCKED entirely my access to my emails!
:evil:
Did I mention I hate giants?

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webfork
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Re: Yahoo blocks adblock users

#2 Post by webfork »

This is going to backfire. The only way that Yahoo can detect an adblocker is if they notice some elements aren't downloaded during a session. As a result, the next step for adblockers is to essentially go back to downloading all that garbage and then either cover it or simply not render it in the browser. Everyone loses in this exchange because both Yahoo and users' bandwidth usage goes up with no more people seeing ads than before. Adblocking tools can advertise this new "undetectable" mode and, in the long run, may draw still more users than were adblocking in the first place.

Worst of all, users with security software that happens to block one of the advertisers' websites will simply be unable to access Yahoo Mail.

There's definitely a better way to handle this.

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smaragdus
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Re: Yahoo blocks adblock users

#3 Post by smaragdus »

Did I mention I hate giants?
Yahoo was a giant long time ago, now it is a red (in fact purple) dwarf. I never liked its mail but I subscribed to it in order to play chess (but they closed Parlour Games!) and test Yahoo messenger service with some external messengers (Yahoo was blocking them too!). Once I tried to integrate Yahoo mail to my mail client (Thunderbird) via POP3 and it never worked properly- the sent messages were never to be found on server. For me Yahoo sucks hard and it seems that it is desperate to disappear from the internet- this company never learns anything. Once Yahoo offered a 25 MB (Yes!) 'briefcase' but in stead of developing it using their user base they closed it too and thus lost the chance to enter the cloud business. More- Yahoo usually ruins every service it acquires. In short- Yahoo is terrible and backward, just like AOL.

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webfork
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Re: Yahoo blocks adblock users

#4 Post by webfork »

smaragdus wrote:Yahoo sucks hard and it seems that it is desperate to disappear from the internet- this company never learns anything
Probably. If you've been following the news about this, they're not doing well and likely to fail or get bought (like AOL was) in the coming years.

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joby_toss
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Re: Yahoo blocks adblock users

#5 Post by joby_toss »

So, do you guys think I should slowly transition away from their service? I was spreading my mailing needs between 4 free providers and a paid one, just in case one of them suddenly dies (so I won't end up losing everything).

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Craunch
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Re: Yahoo blocks adblock users

#6 Post by Craunch »

I would give up on Yahoo now. This ad-blocking mail-blocking stunt is obviously something that they are considering, and if it doesn't go ahead in its current form, something similar is likely to appear in its place.

What might be worth doing is to set up your free mail accounts so that they forward copies of any mail that they receive to your paid account. That way if one of them blocks web interface access you still get to the mail

dot
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Re: Yahoo blocks adblock users

#7 Post by dot »

I never liked Yahoo's overladen websites, but their POP and SMTP still works perfectly for me in Thunderbird (though I rarely use their service simply because you never know what will happen next with that company).

@ Joby, there are quite a lot of reliable free email providers out there and I wouldn't pay for one. Here's the best list of "privacy conscious" free email providers (with special security features) that I found on the Net so far: http://thesimplecomputer.info/free-webm ... er-privacy Those often remove the IP or even the user agent header, or they use special encryption, or overwrite deleted data, etc. I picked OpenMailBox from the list (French service) because of its many advanced features. But others on the list are also quite interesting (some of those, though, don't use POP and SMTP, or they offer only 1 Alias).

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Midas
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Re: Yahoo blocks adblock users

#8 Post by Midas »

I'll have to join the chorus here regarding Yahoo! since I always did find its practices ham-handed and unpalatable, so I just tried to steer clear of their services -- the latest stickup in my book was how they handled the Flickr acquisition.

Regarding free Mail service alternatives, I have come to hold a good opinion of Zoho.com.

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joby_toss
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Re: Yahoo blocks adblock users

#9 Post by joby_toss »

Thank's guys for your answers!
The painful thing is that I have some accounts (like Steam and PSN) that don't take it lightly when trying to change the original email address used for account creation, especially when trying to recover a lost password/hacked account...
Bottom of line, I shall try to transition.

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smaragdus
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Re: Yahoo blocks adblock users

#10 Post by smaragdus »

Regarding free Mail service alternatives, I have come to hold a good opinion of Zoho.com.
I fully agree- Zoho Mail look great and works great with Thunderbird via POP3. I would also like to suggest ProtonMail:
https://protonmail.com/ - ProtonMail
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ProtonMail - ProtonMail at Wikipedia

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joby_toss
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Re: Yahoo blocks adblock users

#11 Post by joby_toss »

WTF! Yahoo was hacked in 2014, it took them 2 years to acknowledge it and I only found out about this today? :evil:
http://fortune.com/2016/09/23/yahoo-cus ... ta-breach/

I'm slowly moving away from this company (Verizon owned now, sister to AOL)...


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joby_toss
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Re: Yahoo blocks adblock users

#13 Post by joby_toss »

Well, the spying stuff...I kinda' knew about it... :twisted:

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webfork
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Re: Yahoo blocks adblock users

#14 Post by webfork »

joby_toss wrote:I'm slowly moving away from this company (Verizon owned now, sister to AOL)...
I suspect there are more than a few books on their way describing the fall of Yahoo as a cautionary tale to other tech companies, similar to this book on Netscape.

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Re: Yahoo blocks adblock users

#15 Post by smaragdus »

I suspect there are more than a few books on their way describing the fall of Yahoo as a cautionary tale to other tech companies, similar to this book on Netscape.
I have expressed my attitude towards Yahoo on several occasion here in the forum. Yahoo is a kind of Anti-Midas- everything it touches turns to ashes. Yahoo's acts have always been so perplexingly ludicrous that I have wondered many times what motivates these acts- death drive or sheer viciousness. Perhaps Yahoo's raison d'être is harassing the users. I suppose it is no coincidence that Steve Ballmer Still Loves Yahoo. ;)

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