Posted on 11/21/2015 6:13:33 PM PST by Swordmaker
AdBlock Plus users in Chrome and Firefox report seeing error messages instead of their inboxes.
Yahoo may be hoping that access to your email is more important than freedom from advertisements.
Some users of AdBlock Plus have reported that they can't access Yahoo Mail in Chrome or Firefox on the desktop. Instead of seeing their inboxes, the get the following error message: "Uh oh. . . We are unable to display Yahoo Mail. Please disable Ad Blocker to continue using Yahoo Mail."
The reports, first spotted by Digiday, surfaced in the AdBlock Plus forums on Thursday. Andrei Herasimchuk, a former Yahoo designer who now works at Twitter, also claims to be blocked from his inbox.
For now, Yahoo Mail's blocking of ad blockers doesn't appear to affect everyone, as we haven't been able to duplicate it. However, changing the end of the Yahoo Mail URL to "reason=ADBLK_TRAP" does bring up the error message for us, even without AdBlock Plus installed. One possible explanation, then, is that Yahoo is just testing an ad block crackdown to see how users will respond. We've reached out to the company for clarification.
Update: Here's what Yahoo representatives had to say:
"At Yahoo, we are continually developing and testing new product experiences. This is a test we’re running for a small number of Yahoo Mail users in the U.S."
In the meantime, users may be able to circumvent the blocking by opening Yahoo Mail in a different browser, going to Settings > Viewing Mail, changing the view from "Full Featured" to "Basic," and then re-opening Yahoo Mail in the main browser.
Why this matters: Web properties have grown increasingly paranoid about ad blockers, especially now that iOS users can enable blocking in Safari. While these companies do need to pay their bills, aggressive blocking the blockers can backfire, causing users to walk away or, even worse, exposing them to malware. It'll be interesting to see if Yahoo keeps up this experiment, or if the blowback from users causes the company to retreat.
I got more security on this computer than TMI and have no problems with Yahoo.
Weird....
I quit them years ago, as I have my own URL’s and direct traffic anytime I want to any place I want and block any sender at will...
I use a little program called POP Peeper to pre-read Gmail and Yahoo Mail. It has several versions, including a free version. The developer is pretty good about keepin it updated when the mail programs are changed.
http://www.esumsoft.com/products/pop-peeper/
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
Update that to — Who blocks the blockers?
Hey there are no free lunches.
What do you expect for free? I use my ISP’s email server, and get it because I pay my bill every month.
We must not totally discount this but it was the same thing after 9/11 and after the European train and bus bombings. By running a lot of false chatter they cause economic losses and disruption in the target countries.
wrong thread.
Honestly, they go to blocking someone using Adblock, I'll just go back to downloading my mail into a mail program.
Their choice.
Great quote. Those Romans had an amazing culture, eons before their time.
Using Comodo dragon with Ghostery lets me open Yahoo mail with no problems. Blocked 2 things - I allow Scorecard for another site.
So use POP and pull your Yahoo mail down to a client, either on your laptop/desktop, or your smartphone/tablet. Don’t even touch their website.
If certain sites placed a reasonable limit on the number of ads allowed; and if they completely eliminated annoying, distracting animated Flash ads — then, perhaps most of us wouldn’t feel compelled to use an Ad Blocker.
I’m using Thunderbird with no ads.
“So use POP and pull your Yahoo mail down to a client”
Even better use IMAP, which yahoo was FINALLY forced to support.
I was a yahoo guy forever - But they seem to be purposefully reducing the usefulness of their products...
Like Yahoo Instant Messenger, which I used to have open all the time, primarily to txt to cell phones - Yes I had friends on actual Messenger too, but it was the ability to sit at a computer and txt to phones that made it invaluable.
They acted like it was something wrong server-side, and that they were moving to fix it, but after 3 or 4 months, I finally moved on. Now I don’t use it at all.
And their calendar services suck now... I have moved over to google and my calendar works across google, all my ‘droid machines, and in Thunderbird/lightning on all my computers...
But I don’t know how they can shut off mail, now that their phone apps require MAPI - I log into Yahoo Mail all the time with Thunderbird... but with nothing but a mailbox, I am soon to be rid of them... And I’ve had that mailbox since Yahoo was USA1 - I have already stopped paying for Plus, no longer use the calendar or the messenger... If a guy like me is going away, they’ve got a problem.
I have also noticed that their mail “upgrades” are almost always detrimental. They also deleted lots of my old email without warning, including many messages from my now-deceased father. It’s almost like they want people to leave.
How funny that I was thinking the very same thing...
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