Yahoo Mail blocks users who install ad blockers in their browsers as part of a test

[didymus]

Yahoo!:

Yahoo Mail blocks users who install ad blockers in their browsers as part of a test

Yahoo is taking a stand against people who employ ad blockers in their browsers by testing a feature that locks out Yahoo Mail users from accessing their accounts. The company says it’s testing the feature with a small set of U.S. users.

Users with an ad blocker installed in their browser who were included in Yahoo’s test were greeted with this message: “Uh oh…We are unable to display Yahoo Mail. Please disable Ad Blocker to continue using Yahoo Mail.” That message was shown to users on Chrome and Firefox browsers, according to a thread on Adblock Plus’ forum.

A Yahoo spokesperson offered this clarification to Engadget: “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.”

Uh-oh! I won’t be using Yahoo! mail anymore.

 

[LeafByNiggle]

Yahoo!:

Uh-oh! I won’t be using Yahoo! mail anymore.

If they follow through with this, there is a simple solution that browsers could implement. They could design the browser to appear to accept ads from the Yahoo, but just not display them on the screen. Websites have no way of knowing what is displayed on your screen. Then only infer that you have an ad blocker by the lack of response from browser to the relevant HTTP pop-up commands.

 

[Crossbones]

I don’t personally have a problem with ads unless they are obnoxious.

Three things I don’t like:

1. Ads that make sound. Or any website that makes sound without my request.
2. Pop ups.
3. Ads that keep me from seeing the content until I can find the (X) to close it out.

Let me help the advertisers out there. These ads just make me less likely to buy your product. Though I am personally hard pressed to think of a single instance an ad on an internet page caused me to buy anything.

 

[Micosil]

Glad I don’t use Yahoo! mail.

 

[JRS_88]

There are always ways around these things. Just give the extension/add-on creators
time with the code and it’ll be broken.

 

[Vim71]

1. Ads that make sound. Or any website that makes sound without my request./QUOTE]

This. I hate these ads so much, that often times when I can’t find which tab is making noise, I end up closing them all until I find the one making it. Then I have to go through the pain of reopening the tabs that were fine.

 

[didymus]

I don’t personally have a problem with ads unless they are obnoxious.

Three things I don’t like:

1. Ads that make sound. Or any website that makes sound without my request.
2. Pop ups.
3. Ads that keep me from seeing the content until I can find the (X) to close it out.

Let me help the advertisers out there. These ads just make me less likely to buy your product. Though I am personally hard pressed to think of a single instance an ad on an internet page caused me to buy anything.

Exactly!
I wouldn’t mind ads so much if they stayed at the borders of the screen. I understand that getting “free” content has to be paid for somehow & I usually disable AdBlock on homemade sites and blogs.
I agree with you on all three counts. Yahoo! is esp. horrible as far as #3.

 

[Trident_H]

I guess I don’t blame them. I mean the alternative is they lose their income stream and have to shut down. I’d rather deal with ads then have to pay fees to use web sites.

 

[dmar198]

* Ads that make sound.*

I hate these ads so much, that often times when I can’t find which tab is making noise, I end up closing them all until I find the one making it. Then I have to go through the pain of reopening the tabs that were fine. There’s a useful feature in Chrome now: when a tab is making noise, a small music icon appears in that tab, so that even if you’re in another tab you can see which one is making noise. And if you click that music icon, the tab is muted. The more you know…

 

[Elizium23]

There’s a useful feature in Chrome now: when a tab is making noise, a small music icon appears in that tab, so that even if you’re in another tab you can see which one is making noise. And if you click that music icon, the tab is muted. The more you know…

I can’t mute the sound that way, in Chromium Version 45.0.2454.101 Ubuntu 15.10

It works in Firefox, though.

 

[WKW_69]

Yahoo!:

Uh-oh! I won’t be using Yahoo! mail anymore.

You can use any email client to download email from Yahoo never needing to go there to see your email.

 

[dmar198]

I can’t mute the sound that way, in Chromium Version 45.0.2454.101 Ubuntu 15.10

It works in Firefox, though.

Oh, I thought it was a regular feature now. Apparently you have to type chrome:flags into the address bar, hit enter, and enable the feature through the flag labeled “Enable tab audio muting UI control. Mac, Windows, Linux, Chrome OS.”

 

[Augustine]

I guess I don’t blame them. I mean the alternative is they lose their income stream and have to shut down. I’d rather deal with ads then have to pay fees to use web sites.

There’s so much content in the Internet that one site shutting down doesn’t mean that you won’t the same content from elsewhere.

Pax Christi

 

[Augustine]

I don’t personally have a problem with ads unless they are obnoxious.

Since most of the Internet is now accessed using mobile devices, the users are paying for the mobile data wasted by all ads, from the barely tolerable banner to the most annoying flash animation. So I have a problem with all ads.

Pax Christi

 

[Trident_H]

There’s so much content in the Internet that one site shutting down doesn’t mean that you won’t the same content from elsewhere.

Pax Christi

Sure but if guys don’t get paid you only get so many ‘free’ sites before some of those sites start selling your info as a way to get paid. Nah. I’d rather know how they’re making their money and not try to be too much of a freeloader.

 

[dmar198]

Sure but if guys don’t get paid you only get so many ‘free’ sites before some of those sites start selling your info as a way to get paid. Nah. I’d rather know how they’re making their money and not try to be too much of a freeloader.

There are other ways to make money on the internet than by selling ad space and user info. Blogs are a great example, but the maker has to do some work: take his most popular posts and put them into a book, then talk up that book in some posts. He’s not selling ad space Or user info in that example. Also, corporate websites are often basically fancy posters for the company. They Are a kind of advertisement: they tell people what the company is, how you can get ahold of them, and what their products cost. But people go to them. So there’s two ways to make money without selling ad space or user info: write a book and talk it up in your blog, or become a company and turn your website into a fancy poster.

I would imagine that forums are hard to make money off of without ads though. Like this one, with its huge often-changing banner ads at the top and at the top-right. It Could make money in other ways, I suppose: Catholic Answers staff could drop into the interior more often and promote their products, but they are pretty busy… perhaps forums need banner ads.

 

[Trader]

You can use any email client to download email from Yahoo never needing to go there to see your email.

Comcast uses Yahoo but I access all my email accounts from Outlook. I never realized that ads were a problem. Don’t tell Microsoft about this. It will make them raise the price of Office and Office 365.

 

[pnewton]

Sure but if guys don’t get paid you only get so many ‘free’ sites before some of those sites start selling your info as a way to get paid. Nah. I’d rather know how they’re making their money and not try to be too much of a freeloader.

Yahoo has no problem freeloading on a cell phone users data plan. I have no problem with ads, but when the ad content becomes a sizable percentage of the total download, I have to question who is the freeloader. If web advertisers have not kept upping the ante with flasher, more obtrusive, obnoxious, data-hogging ads, ad-blockers would have never caught on.

 

[Trident_H]

Yahoo has no problem freeloading on a cell phone users data plan. I have no problem with ads, but when the ad content becomes a sizable percentage of the total download, I have to question who is the freeloader. If web advertisers have not kept upping the ante with flasher, more obtrusive, obnoxious, data-hogging ads, ad-blockers would have never caught on.

Good point. Not having a phone I sort of forget that angle. And I mean I’m in agreement with everyone else in that ads should not be throwing a video with sound at me for no reason. I’ll not only skip that seller but usually also the site that let them on.

 

[pnewton]

When Yahoo was new, it was my home page. As their ads caused their site to become difficult and time-consuming to load, I abandoned them for Google, but still used their sport site. Now, I have abandoned that for ESPN, though I am looking for something else less massive. It was the weekly fantasy pop-ups that sent me over the edge.