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How are people reading this group? — Parallax Forums

How are people reading this group?

ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
edited 2002-05-08 03:59 in General Discussion
Hi all,

Is anybody else disturbed with Yahoo's recent decision not to forward
mail to POP accounts anymore without $$$ ?

Reading this group from the Yahoo groups page is a real pain with
all the advertising and clumsy interface. I've been having the
postings sent to my Yahoo mail account and then autmatically forwarded
to my regualr POP account at my ISP so I could sort, read and store
messages with my standard Netscape browser. Now that's all shot
to hell.

What is everybody else doing? Why is this group on Yahoo anyway
instead of being a simple USENET group? What value are we receiveing
to put up with all the ads, clumsy interface, and Yahoo's
determination to get more $$ or make life more difficult for us?

Any thoughts?

Comments

  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2002-05-06 20:13
    I read something that says we are only supposed to discuss basic stamps so
    I'll keep it brief.
    The future of the internet hangs in the balance between a television-like
    advertisement driven platform and the pure info paradise it started out to
    be.

    I think that the advertisement is going to grow into "web tv", but so will
    the underground info exchange sector. There will be a split soon and the
    internet will be somewhat pure again. The masses will flock to web TV, and
    we will be the ham radio operators of the future.
    In short, we really do not need yahoo to keep an info exchange like this
    going. People have been exchanging info over phone lines for free and
    without advertisement since the late 70s or so.
  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2002-05-06 20:31
    At 06:33 PM 5/6/02 +0000, bigpika wrote:
    >Hi all,
    >
    >Is anybody else disturbed with Yahoo's recent decision not to forward
    >mail to POP accounts anymore without $$$ ?
    >
    >Reading this group from the Yahoo groups page is a real pain with
    >all the advertising and clumsy interface. I've been having the
    >postings sent to my Yahoo mail account and then autmatically forwarded
    >to my regualr POP account at my ISP so I could sort, read and store
    >messages with my standard Netscape browser. Now that's all shot
    >to hell.

    You don't need to do that! I just have all my Yahoo Groups mail sent
    directly to my regular email account (the email account I get from my
    ISP). So far, no sign of extra charges.

    As far as I can tell, the extra charges that Yahoo wants to implement apply
    only to having mail forwarded from a Yahoo mail address to some other email
    address.

    Go to the Yahoo Groups page for each group that you are subscribed
    to. Click on the "Edit My Membership" button. Fill in your email address
    in the field marked "Email Address". This should NOT be a Yahoo email
    address! Then select the type of delivery you want: individual messages, etc.

    Be sure to also select the "Do Not Convert to HTML". Selecting that option
    kills the animated advertising that Yahoo otherwise adds to each message
    sent to you and replaces it with a simple 1 line text message.

    Click the "Save Changes" button and you should be in great shape!

    dwayne


    Dwayne Reid <dwayner@p...>
    Trinity Electronics Systems Ltd Edmonton, AB, CANADA
    (780) 489-3199 voice (780) 487-6397 fax

    Celebrating 18 years of Engineering Innovation (1984 - 2002)
    .-. .-. .-. .-. .-. .-. .-. .-. .-. .-
    `-' `-' `-' `-' `-' `-' `-' `-' `-'
    Do NOT send unsolicited commercial email to this email address.
    This message neither grants consent to receive unsolicited
    commercial email nor is intended to solicit commercial email.
  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2002-05-06 21:55
    At 14:33 05/06/02, bigpika wrote:

    >Hi all,
    >
    >Is anybody else disturbed with Yahoo's recent decision not to forward
    >mail to POP accounts anymore without $$$ ?

    No, because I just let this mailing list send mail directly to my home
    account vs to my Yahoo account, then forwarding it from there via the extra
    cost forwarding service. It's free.

    >Reading this group from the Yahoo groups page is a real pain with
    >all the advertising and clumsy interface. I've been having the
    >postings sent to my Yahoo mail account and then autmatically forwarded
    >to my regualr POP account at my ISP so I could sort, read and store
    >messages with my standard Netscape browser. Now that's all shot
    >to hell.

    I used to know a guy who used to bang his head against a wall because it
    felt so good when he stopped. Simply have your YahooGroups mail sent
    directly to your Blarg.net account and stop banging your head against that
    wall. Set your preferences for no HTML since this list doesn't allow HTML
    anyhow. Voila! No ads, no clunky web-based interface. Last I checked
    Netscape will allow you to place your mail into folders so sorting, reading
    and storage shouldn't be an issue.

    >What is everybody else doing? Why is this group on Yahoo anyway
    >instead of being a simple USENET group?

    Usenet is a mine field compared to this mailing list. We need the anarchy
    of Usenet like we all collectively need several more holes in our heads.

    >What value are we receiveing
    >to put up with all the ads, clumsy interface, and Yahoo's
    >determination to get more $$ or make life more difficult for us?

    I think this is an issue between you and Yahoo. Go recruit a mob, complete
    with pitchforks and firebrands, off of Usenet. You'll find a zillion
    volunteers there for sure.

    >Any thoughts?

    Yeah! Parallax pays something like $60 or maybe more a year to keep this
    group ad-free and you go and make an effort to load your view of it up with
    ads at added cost to yourself. What are you thinking and why are you
    complaining about it here?


    Jim H
  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2002-05-06 22:11
    In a message dated 5/6/02 4:57:28 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
    HigginsJ@s... writes:

    << We need the anarchy
    of Usenet like we all collectively need several more holes in our heads. >>

    well, a few more eyes, ears and mouths could not hurt...
  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2002-05-06 22:40
    Umm... you were paying how much for the service originally?

    Yahoo! is a business and in order to provide free services (such as this
    list) they have to make money somewhere else. If they can't sell more ads
    they have to charge a little for "luxuries."

    Original Message

    > Is anybody else disturbed with Yahoo's recent decision not to forward
    > mail to POP accounts anymore without $$$ ?
    >
    > Reading this group from the Yahoo groups page is a real pain with
    > all the advertising and clumsy interface. I've been having the
    > postings sent to my Yahoo mail account and then autmatically forwarded
    > to my regualr POP account at my ISP so I could sort, read and store
    > messages with my standard Netscape browser. Now that's all shot
    > to hell.
    >
    > What is everybody else doing? Why is this group on Yahoo anyway
    > instead of being a simple USENET group? What value are we receiveing
    > to put up with all the ads, clumsy interface, and Yahoo's
    > determination to get more $$ or make life more difficult for us?
  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2002-05-07 03:47
    --- In basicstamps@y..., Jim Higgins <HigginsJ@s...> wrote:

    > Yeah! Parallax pays something like $60 or maybe more a year to keep
    this
    > group ad-free and you go and make an effort to load your view of it
    up with
    > ads at added cost to yourself. What are you thinking and why are
    you
    > complaining about it here?

    First, thanks for the input Jim... But I am puzzled by your statement
    above, could you please clarify it? I'm on the Yahoo interface
    right now and every page has both a banner ad and a very intrusive
    ad that takes up about half the message space. On top of that,
    about every third message request is interrupted by a full page
    ad with a "click to go on to message" ... so what exactly do you
    mean?

    Does Yahoo agree not to sell your email address associated with
    this group if you forward the messages to your home account?

    Thanks
  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2002-05-07 04:46
    We probably need to clarify what Yahoo! is going to start charging for.

    They are not going to charge you for emails from this group being sent to
    your home / work email address. However, they do want you to pay a small fee
    if you use a Yahoo! email address and have email sent to the Yahoo! address
    forwarded to your home / work email address.

    Original Message

    > > Yeah! Parallax pays something like $60 or maybe more a year to keep
    > this
    > > group ad-free and you go and make an effort to load your view of it
    > up with
    > > ads at added cost to yourself. What are you thinking and why are
    > you
    > > complaining about it here?
    >
    > First, thanks for the input Jim... But I am puzzled by your statement
    > above, could you please clarify it? I'm on the Yahoo interface
    > right now and every page has both a banner ad and a very intrusive
    > ad that takes up about half the message space. On top of that,
    > about every third message request is interrupted by a full page
    > ad with a "click to go on to message" ... so what exactly do you
    > mean?
    >
    > Does Yahoo agree not to sell your email address associated with
    > this group if you forward the messages to your home account?
  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2002-05-07 16:41
    At 22:47 05/06/02, bigpika wrote:

    >--- In basicstamps@y..., Jim Higgins <HigginsJ@s...> wrote:
    >
    > > Yeah! Parallax pays something like $60 or maybe more a
    > > year to keep this group ad-free and you go and make an
    > > effort to load your view of it up with ads at added cost to
    > > yourself. What are you thinking and why are you
    > > complaining about it here?
    >
    >First, thanks for the input Jim... But I am puzzled by your statement
    >above, could you please clarify it? I'm on the Yahoo interface
    >right now and every page has both a banner ad and a very intrusive
    >ad that takes up about half the message space. On top of that,
    >about every third message request is interrupted by a full page
    >ad with a "click to go on to message" ... so what exactly do you
    >mean?

    I'll try to explain, but if BasicStamps is the only Yahoo Group (mailing
    list) you subscribe to, you may not fully appreciate what I'm
    saying. Please let me know if this is the case.

    Let's talk first about Yahoo Groups mail sent to your home address. Most
    Yahoo mailing lists have ads embedded in each of the postings
    themselves. You have an option to receive these postings as plain text or
    as HTML. If you choose HTML, you can find yourself getting fancy
    formatting, large and small fonts, distracting colors, and banners inside
    the postings themselves. If you choose plain text for a typical Yahoo
    group, you can see small ads about 3 - 4 lines long, with no formatting,
    and no banners. Parallax, makers of the Basic Stamp and sponsors of this
    mailing list, pay Yahoo not to put ads inside postings to the Basic Stamps
    list when they are sent to your home account. The cost of that to Parallax
    is something close to $60 a year.

    Now let's talk about mail read via the Yahoo web interface. Here, no
    matter what your Yahoo Group settings are, you will get animated ads taking
    up as much as about 1/3 of the screen and ALL postings are converted to
    HTML no matter what your setting regarding HTML vs plain text might
    be. Frequently you will get a full screen ad that requires an additional
    click to move on to the message you thought you were going to see as you
    mentioned above.

    Now, referring to my earlier remarks, if you *CHOOSE* to use the web
    interface to read Yahoo Groups mail, you have chosen the most advertising
    laden and most inconvenient approach to reading your mail. If you access
    your Yahoo mailbox during "prime time" you have also chosen one of the
    slowest approaches to reading your mail. Be assured the ads will appear
    before the mail content will and if you're on a dialup account.... well
    heaven help you. That probably explains the part of my remarks that
    puzzled you most.

    >Does Yahoo agree not to sell your email address associated with
    >this group if you forward the messages to your home account?

    Yes, and as far as I can tell they really don't give out your home
    address. It is less clear to me whether or not they share your Yahoo
    address. My Yahoo account name is apparently a very desirable one since
    I've had a half dozen offers by folks wanting to buy it from me, so it
    could just be that spammers have guessed the name vs Yahoo giving it
    out. I get spammed 30 - 40 times daily at my Yahoo account.

    So anyhow, if you set your Yahoo options to receive promotional ads from
    Yahoo and/or its partners, you can get a boatload of junk in your Yahoo
    mailbox, but you should see none at your home account used for Yahoo groups
    mail.

    And a note to ALL here - Yahoo apparently thought too many folks opted out
    of special offers so they flipped everyone's preference to receive these
    offers and if you don't go in and reset your preferences not to receive
    these offers you will start getting these ads starting in a month or
    so. You should have gotten mail at your Yahoo account within the past
    month telling you this, but many of you could have deleted it unread. I'm
    referring to the preferences on your general Yahoo account, not your
    individual subscribed Yahoo Groups preferences.

    I hope this helps improve your enjoyment of the Stamps list.

    Jim H
  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2002-05-07 22:40
    I read the messages on the Yahoo groups page, and I mostly ignore the
    ads. I realize they need to make money somehow. There are so many
    messages from this group every day that it was getting overwhelming
    trying to manage them from my mailbox.

    p.s. Be sure to change your "Marketing Preferences" to avoid a flood
    of SPAM....
    Go down to the bottom of the screen,
    Click on "Privacy Policy",
    Click on "Marketing Preferences",
    Click "no" for all the boxes.
    Save.
  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2002-05-08 03:59
    > I'll try to explain, but if BasicStamps is the only Yahoo Group
    (mailing
    > list) you subscribe to, you may not fully appreciate what I'm
    > saying. Please let me know if this is the case.

    Thanks Jim for that very thorough explaination - it's appreciated.
    I'll shut up now since I'm sure some folks consider this thread
    slightly off topic.

    Cheers,

    Michael
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