[quote]Yahoo's been struggling for some time under the leadership of Marissa Mayer to become as relevant in the advertising and content space as contemporaries like Google and Facebook. By and large these efforts have not been going particularly well, with the mood inside the company supposedly "grim and contentious," employees frustrated with a lack of direction, heavy often-senseless micromanagement, and a "lack of a coherent strategy." A growing movement from both inside and outside of Yahoo to replace Mayer has gained momentum.
So as the company struggles for relevance this week in the face of users, employees and investors, somebody at the company apparently thought it would be a great idea to annoy a huge swath of the company's userbase. According to a growing number of Ad Block users, Yahooers this week were met with a message scolding them for using ad blocking technology and preventing them from accessing their mail through the website:
[img]https://i.imgur.com/C84HYeV.jpg[/img]
When I asked the company to confirm that this was indeed a new, ingenious business strategy, I was told it was part of a "test" for the company:
[I]"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."[/I]
[/quote]
[url]https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20151120/09402532872/clinging-to-relevance-yahoo-prevents-ad-block-users-checking-yahoo-mail.shtml[/url]
oh fuck off. Here's hoping no one else follows their example
Well, I'm glad I stopped using Yahoo when GMail became a thing.
that's disgusting.
i've been a loyal ymail user over a decade and it's a real kick in the teeth to try push ads on me like that
Can't wait for people to update AdBlock with a workaround the following day. Big deal.
Scolding? Where's the scold?
[editline]25th November 2015[/editline]
[QUOTE=lintz;49184250]that's disgusting.
i've been a loyal ymail user over a decade and it's a real kick in the teeth to try push ads on me like that[/QUOTE]
I don't know. They gotta get money somehow for giving you free services, and if not for advertising to you it's gotta be something else.
[editline]25th November 2015[/editline]
Translation: I've been using Yahoo for over a decade while not giving them any money at all, paid myself or through ads, and now that they asked for something in return it's unfair that I don't get to use their free service while they continue to make 0 money from me for the next ten years.
I recognize that ads are a serious security risk but they run a business and if this is unreasonable somehow that you can't continue using free services while this company gets nothing you have a skewed view of what business is.
Unless you're somehow a paid user then yeah they shouldn't advertise to you.
And bye bye to Yahoo's userbase.
Hell it isn't even a big deal.. If every other major provider follows their example, some small company will come and make a free service and that'll be that.
Ahahahah, that's just hilarious.
It's like if they have no idea how competition works, so they thought they could pull some shit like that and expect it to work, when there are about a dozens better alternatives.
Shit's on them, they're going to lose what meager userbase they had left.
[QUOTE=Tools;49184375]And bye bye to Yahoo's userbase.
Hell it isn't even a big deal.. If every other major provider follows their example, some small company will come and make a free service and that'll be that.[/QUOTE]
Pretty much, that's the other side of the coin. There's a thousand other places like this.
[QUOTE=SGTNAPALM;49184294]Scolding? Where's the scold?
[editline]25th November 2015[/editline]
I don't know. They gotta get money somehow for giving you free services, and if not for advertising to you it's gotta be something else.
[editline]25th November 2015[/editline]
Translation: I've been using Yahoo for over a decade while not giving them any money at all, paid myself or through ads, and now that they asked for something in return it's unfair that I don't get to use their free service while they continue to make 0 money from me for the next ten years.
I recognize that ads are a serious security risk but they run a business and if this is unreasonable somehow that you can't continue using free services while this company gets nothing you have a skewed view of what business is.
Unless you're somehow a paid user then yeah they shouldn't advertise to you.[/QUOTE]
The problem is that when you're in a terribly competitive industry, you have to either stand out or die out. Google's massive, and they can just dump some of their budget for e-mail servers, since it's convenient for their users, for an example.
You don't remove features/attack your users when they have plenty other alternatives. You need to make dedicated users who vow on your product.
Do you think Google could get away with all the youtube layout changes if there was any alternatives as good as it?
Ah fuck.. I guess I should switch to another service. Got any advice?
[QUOTE=AhoyMate;49184416]Ah fuck.. I guess I should switch to another service. Got any advice?[/QUOTE]
Outlook is pretty good, in my opinion.
i can still access my emails with uBlock Origin.
[QUOTE=AhoyMate;49184416]Ah fuck.. I guess I should switch to another service. Got any advice?[/QUOTE]
GMail or Hotmail.
This is more putting your business in life support than any sound business strategy, even the article states that they're pretty much dying because they can't compete and apparently have a retarded leader that's doing shit like this that isn't going to make them any more competitive, quite the opposite, it's just going to kill them faster by scaring people off into Gmail or any other e-mail service that doesn't do this.
Businesses also use ad-blockers and I'm sure they'd rather move to a different service than risk vulnerabilities through ads.
I just tried my yahoo mail with Ublock origin and I didn't have a single problem. I guess Ublock is already one step ahead of them.
You guys are using ad blockers and are seriously trying to make [I]them[/I] out to be the bad guy?
I mean, ad blockers are so common nowadays that they actually put quite a dent in revenue, you really can't blame them
[QUOTE=BFG9000;49184475]You guys are using ad blockers and are seriously trying to make [I]them[/I] out to be the bad guy?[/QUOTE]
Ads are really dangerous on the internet. Most of the time my antivirus flared anything, it was because malicious ads were inserting junk shit into my computer. Some of them you don't even need to click before they start doing their shady shits.
Adblock's been a god send for internet security. Once you have that, you really have to be a dumbass to catch anything on the internet.
Not only that, but I find some ads to be ridiculously intrusive. 30 seconds unskippable before a video? Come the fuck on. The internet's no longer a place where you just make massive wall of ads for revenue. Marketing departments have to be smarter and appeal to the interest of the consumers, not just brute force their products on every website.
Have you seen youtube without adblock recently? It's like a ugly minefield full of trash.
[QUOTE=phyton92;49184442]I just tried my yahoo mail with Ublock origin and I didn't have a single problem. I guess Ublock is already one step ahead of them.[/QUOTE]
Ublock usually is immune to adblock blockers, likely because it has a lower userbase so they don't target it.
Adblock Plus on Firefox here, can still access my emails and there's no ads.
[QUOTE=AhoyMate;49184416]Ah fuck.. I guess I should switch to another service. Got any advice?[/QUOTE]
Gmail is the new standard.
[QUOTE=BFG9000;49184475]You guys are using ad blockers and are seriously trying to make [I]them[/I] out to be the bad guy?
I mean, ad blockers are so common nowadays that they actually put quite a dent in revenue, you really can't blame them[/QUOTE]
This is what I'm saying. The reaction shouldn't be this is unfair, it should be this sucks but this is a long time coming.
I've got Adblock installed on Chrome and I can still access it.
The hell? I have adblock on chrome and I can access my mail just fine?
Maybe it's a US thing?
[editline]25th November 2015[/editline]
[QUOTE=Snickerdoodle;49184531]I've got Adblock installed on Chrome and I can still access it.[/QUOTE]
Guess not. Either they backed down super hard or this news is bull.
[QUOTE=Wormy;49184492]People use ad blockers for good reasons. People doesn't use it just because "ads are annoying", but because ads these days are cluttering up websites a ridiculously high amount, and let's not forget all of the malware a bunch of ads contain these days.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=Feuver;49184494]Ads are really dangerous on the internet. Most of the time my antivirus flared anything, it was because malicious ads were inserting junk shit into my computer. Some of them you don't even need to click before they start doing their shady shits.
Adblock's been a god send for internet security. Once you have that, you really have to be a dumbass to catch anything on the internet.
Not only that, but I find some ads to be ridiculously intrusive. 30 seconds unskippable before a video? Come the fuck on. The internet's no longer a place where you just make massive wall of ads for revenue. Marketing departments have to be smarter and appeal to the interest of the consumers, not just brute force their products on every website.
Have you seen youtube without adblock recently? It's like a ugly minefield full of trash.[/QUOTE]
I can't help but feel like "malware!" is a convenient excuse to justify this. I mean seriously, what kind of sites are you browsing where you'd run into those ads anyways? If you're talking about ads like on PirateBay and other shady file sharing sites (to name a few) then block them all you want if it gives you a sense of security (or gets rid of those annoying lewd ads). But I can't see how you can justify blocking anything else, especially since most sites use Google AdSense or whatever and typically shouldn't have malware. These ads are what lets us browse most of the internet for free, and I would be very sad if a large part of the once-free internet switches over to subscription based payment systems just because a lot of people are blocking ads.
yahoo further pushing their irrelevance outside of tumblr
[QUOTE=BFG9000;49184475]You guys are using ad blockers and are seriously trying to make [I]them[/I] out to be the bad guy?
I mean, ad blockers are so common nowadays that they actually put quite a dent in revenue, you really can't blame them[/QUOTE]
Yeah, no, like I totally understand this but if you've got alternative mail systems that allow you to use adblock while browsing them, then why wouldn't you want to go use those instead
[QUOTE=NiandraLades;49184567]Yeah, no, like I totally understand this but if you've got alternative mail systems that allow you to use adblock while browsing them, then why wouldn't you want to go use those instead[/QUOTE]
Maybe they're trying to set an example. It seems pretty ineffective so far but I feel like it's only ethical for other companies to follow suit. Companies like Google, Yahoo, FB etc are doing something I take for granted most of the time by giving me free services, and if you think about it it's pretty incredible. My Google mailbox has never filled up once, and has stayed at a constant 15 percent full for the past 8 years, because despite how I don't delete that much mail Google is constantly adding more space. And I even use it for on-the-go file hosting sometimes! Facebook connects me to so many people I'd otherwise be out of contact with for the past 5 years, and Yahoo lets me browse websites from the fucking 90's. As far as I'm concerned they can shove all the advertising they want up my ass, I don't even notice most of the time.
[QUOTE=BFG9000;49184552]I can't help but feel like "malware!" is a convenient excuse to justify this. I mean seriously, what kind of sites are you browsing where you'd run into those ads anyways? If you're talking about ads like on PirateBay and other shady file sharing sites (to name a few) then block them all you want if it gives you a sense of security (or gets rid of those annoying lewd ads). But I can't see how you can justify blocking anything else, especially since most sites use Google AdSense or whatever and typically shouldn't have malware. These ads are what lets us browse most of the internet for free, and I would be very sad if a large part of the once-free internet switches over to subscription based payment systems just because a lot of people are blocking ads.[/QUOTE]
It's not like I actively seek to install Adblock as soon as I install my browser. After installing Windows and then Firefox on my new rig the other day, just trying to read many news sites and modding guides were actually impossible without me eventually having to install an ad blocker of some sort.
It went from ads on the left, right, top, bottom, those horrific scrolling ads, pop-up windows (all on the same page, mind you) to browsable sites. I wish these types of sites were less common.
[QUOTE=NiandraLades;49184567]Yeah, no, like I totally understand this but if you've got alternative mail systems that allow you to use adblock while browsing them, then why wouldn't you want to go use those instead[/QUOTE]
Someone might be stuck with Yahoo because they don't want to change their email or set up forwarding after using it for a very long time. Especially if they're business people with a lot of contacts.
[editline]25th November 2015[/editline]
[QUOTE=Amiga OS;49184579]Its a limited trial, not all users are getting this.
IMO fuck webmail, just connect with a mail client of your choice via IMAP.[/QUOTE]
Counterpoint: why should I install another app to do what my web browser can do? It's like having to install an app on a phone for every website ever when I can just use the default web browser.
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