Where do you use YMail?
A close friend of mine has been over in Taiwan for the last few months while her husband is there on business. Though this may be a bummer in that we never get to see her, it has proven to be a major boon for interesting and entertaining links (since her day is our night and vice versa she’s had some time on her hands).
So just the other day she passes along something especially awesome. It’s been around for a while, but I’d never seen it. Where the Hell is Matt? is a site created by a guy named Matt who basically traveled EVERYWHERE in the world and videotaped himself doing a silly dance. Sounds strange, but if you see it you will be blown away by how many places he managed to visit.
What does this have to do with you, me, or Yahoo! Mail? I’ll tell you. I’m going to totally ape his idea and ask you all to send me pictures or videos of you in all of the places you use Yahoo! Mail. Seeing as how you can access your account from just about any computer, and from an increasing number of fancy mobile devices, I’m hopeful to see some interesting diversity. I’m envisioning something that captures you in the picture as well, but I’ll leave it up to you.
I urge you to be as creative or boring as you want. Just please try to have some fun with it. Maybe a picture of you in front of a landmark, or perhaps just at a place people might not expect to see people checking email. If your laptop has a webcam you could even snap the pic yourself!
I’d like to post a bunch of them to this blog (either in a single post or a series). You can email the images directly to me (ymailblog1[at]yahoo.com) but if you have videos I’ll need you to upload them to a video site and send me the link. Yahoo! Video would be very cool, but YouTube is popular too (from what I hear).
Any that we use on the blog, and perhaps some others too, will receive some Yahoo! gear … so get those submissions in! Deadline will be the end of July.
Ryan Knight
Community Manager
Yahoo! Mail
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- 26 Comments
July 15th, 2008 at 6:51 pm
When I compose a email using the new Yahoo mail, the dialog box that opens when I click the “To:” button is pathetic. I liked clicking on my list and just check the names of just a subset of list members if I didn’t want to send to everyone. The box that opens on the old Yahoo Mail is great and . Its my only irritation with the new Yahoo Mail and handles my list wonderfully.. I think everything else is great on the new mail.
I sent emails on this before but never got an answer. At least make “To:” button on the New Yahoo Mail work as good as the old. When are you going to fixed this Ryan Knight? I
July 22nd, 2008 at 10:05 am
Pleeese don’t let Microsoft take over Yahoo!
Any user of MSN Hotmail knows that their e-mail
system STINKS!
All Carl Icahn is interested in is HIS STOCK!
He could care less about Yahoo! users.
Like Bill Gates who sold his Windows 98
operating systems, Microsolf NO LONGER
offers any support for these systems. It
would be like General Motors selling you
a 1998 Buick and then refusing to offer
replacement parts!
Both Icahn and Gates are too alike, just
interested in making more money. I hope
their greed sends them to Hell.
July 15th, 2008 at 9:19 pm
RB says:
“I sent emails on this before but never got an answer. At least make “To:” button on the New Yahoo Mail work as good as the old. When are you going to fixed this Ryan Knight?”
–
That sounds familiar. I figure that’ll get fixed about the same time as we get IMAP.
July 16th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
Not for much longer if Yahoo! does not come out with IMAP soon.
July 16th, 2008 at 6:46 pm
I’m paying $20 a year to forward my yahoo mail to gmail so I cam IMAP it. I really, really do not want to be another googleite so PLEASE get this DONE!!
It would be equally great if you would get supported by Blackberry. Gamil has a great app on my new curve. Yahoo - nothing. I have been a subscriber for years. PLEASE do not make me change!!
July 17th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
That is exactly the situation I am in. With multiple computers at home where I prefer to run a true email client and the need to access webmail at work, IMAP is the perfect solution. I prefer folders over tags so I am hesitant to go the google route. However, I think I might have forked over my last $20 (x2 including the wife).
July 17th, 2008 at 11:46 pm
It’s just disappointing to think that Yahoo is exhibiting such a lack of interest in our requests for IMAP, free or not.
None of us asked for a new blog format. None of us asked for a desktop short-cut (the poor man’s form of IMAP). None of us asked for a lot of things that Yahoo Mail has given us.
But the one glaring omission of something that we want, that would really help users: IMAP. That’s nowhere to be found. No comments. No official word. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Zero.
I have to believe that it’s simply never going to happen. Yahoo simply doesn’t want to offer this as a feature, paid or not.
It’s disappointing.
July 18th, 2008 at 11:38 am
em,
I’m sorry that you are so disappointed. I’ve already stated that I will update this topic at the very first moment that I have information that I’m allowed to share. Otherwise there isn’t anything I can say, so I’m not sure what is served by trying to disrupt other discussions with these types of comments.
People have been asking for better comments functionality, which was the driving force for the update (visual layout was a bonus). Regardless, this was not a project that consumed any resources from the Mail team. Not sure what you mean by the desktop shortcut, as that is not a “feature” and has worked for all websites since Al Gore first “invented the internet”.
-Ryan
July 18th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
Ryan,
I disagree that my comments were disruptive. If you really believe that they were, then you’ll also have to tell “MB” and “TFD” that their comments were disruptive since they reiterated my points regarding IMAP. Furthermore, the topic itself is “Where do you use YMail?” and you wanted us to be as “creative or boring as you want”. Yahoo’s lack of IMAP affects where I’m able to use it. Hence, it seems relevant to the discussion. In short, I’m stuck using it online when I’d rather use it on a local client, wherever I am. I’m sorry that seems like an answer that you don’t want to hear, but since Yahoo doesn’t offer IMAP, that’s how it is for me.
I appreciate the limited amount of information that you’ve been able to share, but the fact that you have such limited information or no information is honestly indicative of a larger problem. If Mr. Jerry Yang (Yahoo Chief Executive) really wanted us to have a better email experience and IMAP functionality, he’d make it a priority for us to have it. If it was a priority for Mr. Yang, he’d come right down the hall/stairs/from the next building, or from wherever and say to the YMail team, “I’ve heard that users want IMAP. Make it happen. Make it free or make it cost X dollars per year”. Does he use YMail? Does he realize it doesn’t have IMAP?
I have no doubt that the Yahoo Mail team reports to him in some manner. Please don’t misunderstand me. You’re not at fault here Ryan. I appreciate the blog. I appreciate the interaction. The problem is above you Ryan. That’s been the case all along, and it will continue to be the case for as long as Yahoo doesn’t listen to what its users want from it.
July 18th, 2008 at 4:23 pm
em,
Don’t get me wrong. I do understand that you are frustrated. The “disruptive” remark was not relating just to this post, but more the fact that I frequently see the same (frustrated) statements from you across multiple posts, regardless of topic. I do realize that someone else brought it up on this thread, but I was speaking as a whole.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t feel like you can speak your mind, it just seemed like I was seeing similar comments from you (often unprompted and off topic) across a variety of recent posts, despite the fact that I’ve said there is no information I can share. Also, I never said that I have no information. Just that there is none that I can share.
I really hope to have more for you soon.
I do like your interesting interpretation of “where you use it” (and yes I did ask for creative interpretations). What I was going for was geographic location … not what you use to interface with the service. But if you send me a picture of you unhappily chained to your desk, having dreams of IMAP, I promise to post it in the product bullpen.
-Ryan
July 18th, 2008 at 7:47 pm
Ryan, I was reading your comment to EM and noticed your saying something about her entries being “off topic”.
I would like to ask you how we are supposed to know where to post topics of interest to us? Below are the first 5 threads of your Blog - by the way the new format is sharp - but when I log on to ask you a question or make a comment or try to figure out what is going on, I never know where to post or where to read. I have to read all these threads (which is why I keep coming across the inappropriate threads) to honestly try to post under the right topic. But it seems I have to read about the Brady bunch to glean and pick around the entries to read other comments that are “off topic”. I think many entries, including mine, are off topic because there are either no topics that are “general in nature about customer Yahoo problems”. So the best we can do is just close our eyes and pick one.
I have listed below just the top 5 topics when you open your blog. I bet there are 100’s of comments and questions just among these 5 topics that don’t belong there.
It really makes using/benefiting from your blog very time consuming.
When it’s time to change, you’ve got to rearrange … the blog
Where do you use YMail?
User Tip: Send messages to folders with a single keystroke
Firefox 3 & Y!Mail make changing your default client easy!
Making the most of Customer Care forms!
BTW, I posted an entry earlier that I haven’t seen post. Do you screen the entries before they post? I resent so it might come through twice. Honestly, I am so confused reading the threads that now I don’t even remember which I posted under.
I do notice that some people post their same comments under numerous threads………….this is because they don’t know where to post and this problem could easily be eliminated.
I am also curious……does anyone read each and every entry made in these different threads/topics? I would have to question that because if you or someone else did the entries that I refer to above that are very inappropriate (sexual) would have long ago been deleted.
July 17th, 2008 at 7:09 pm
About ready to go full time to gmail as the spam filtering on YMail is terrible.
July 18th, 2008 at 5:00 pm
Comment by Cheryl
July 18th, 2008 at 4:50 pm
Well, Ryan knows how I feel about the new and improved Yahoo…….but I’ve come to realize it doesn’t really matter how I feel - my opinion is one little drop in the bucket of who really cares.
But, Ryan, someone mentioned this earlier and it really is another thorn in my side. When I type an email and save to Draft…….and for instance I want to send it to someone to proof or give me an opinion before I finalize it…..when I hit send it deletes it from the Draft folder. Then I have to go copy/paste it from the sent email or send it to myself at the same time to retrieve it. I really just don’t understand the thinking behind some of these changes. The smallest changes seem to make the biggest impacts on making using Yahoo just a huge pain in the tush.
I still want my BCC option back on the compose page. I still want my signature box to check at the bottom of the compose page. I still want to be able to forward as inline text.
I really have tried to adapt and it just isn’t a pleasant experience anymore………BTW, I got up the other morning to a message WELCOME TO YOUR NEW FRONT PAGE. I didn’t ask for a new front page. How many changes are going to forced on Classic Yahoo users? I am not changing to the new Yahoo. I will leave Yahoo first.
Ryan, you’re a nice guy and have a tough job, but honestly who is the target audience that Yahoo is consulting to make these changes? I think I asked you once before who comes up with these “bright” ideas and how in the world could they think some of these things are good ideas. I think there is a huge difference between some “techie” sitting around playing with computers and thinking up new ways to do things….but your “techies” aren’t your everyday users like most of us are. Is anyone really reading all these blog/thread entries? I am a Yahoo customer and I pay - and I fully realize it’s my option to not pay again when it’s time - but does no one care about “many years users” and their opinions of these changes.
I think your new blog format is great. I know you’re happy with it. Now, give me back my old Yahoo Classic format (you had to know that was coming) and we’ll all be happy campers.
And BTW, I wrote you privately twice Ryan to ask you to recheck all blog threads and remove some offensive posts. They are still there.
July 18th, 2008 at 8:16 pm
I apologize to everyone for my message posting so many times! I know it was good but not that good.
When I typed my message and hit add comment, nothing happened for a long time. So I clicked it again.
Ryan, I clicked it 3 times within a matter of 5 minutes. Why would the messages post at 5:22PM, 6:15PM, and 7:47PM?
July 18th, 2008 at 11:14 pm
Cheryl,
You have bested my new “reply to” option because I don’t know which one to reply to :). I’ll try to hit all of your points as best I can.
Off topic comments (including rants) are welcome. However I try to draw the line where I feel people are trying to be disruptive. What does that mean? There is no hard and fast definition, but if a question has been asked and answered repeatedly, and the same person keeps chiming in with the same question, or lashes out at the subject of every other post because it is not a new answer to the existing question, I feel that is trying to disrupt or distract. That doesn’t mean that I have a set number, but I go by feel. I’ll make mistakes, but my goal is productive discussion…not censorship.
I’m still looking into the keystroke shortcuts for Classic, but I was under the impression that it was dependent on the AJAX nature of New Mail. I will let you know when I find out (and I’ll reply directly to the comment).
I prefer to let comments post without moderation, but that means that some unsavory stuff gets through and I have to catch it after. I thought I got the ones you were talking about but I’ll go back and look some more.
As I mentioned before, we needed to make some cuts to some options and either default on or default off for everyone. Given that BCC is not frequently used by the vast majority of users, and clicking the “show’ link reveals the field without forcing a page reload, we felt it made the most sense overall to default it off for everyone.
With regard to the signature option, we found that a lot of people preferred to see when and how the signature appeared in the message. Also, it is more consistent with other email systems to default it in (since people usually want it there) and let people manually remove it if they choose to.
Sorry that you aren’t fond of the new MyYahoo!, but you may want to try their blog
It’s at http://www.myyblog.com. I do know though that they faced similar challenges to what we had. The framework of the existing format was somewhat outdated, and an update was required not only to make it function better, but also make it easier to add or improve on features going forward.
I’m glad you like the new format, and I’ll continue to look into how to improve the discussion. I still welcome off topic posts, as long as people genuinely intend to further productive conversation, not discourage it by being insulting. Feel free to post what you want where you want, and If there are comments you feel have been neglected please feel free to call me out (or email me).
-Ryan
July 19th, 2008 at 6:04 am
Thank you, Ryan, for your response (and for cleaning up my mulitiple posts
I bested myself last night trying to reply.
I know you’ve told me previously there just isn’t anyway some of the options I want back are going to be returned. I figured I’d get fussed at for “restating” my feelings……….but sometimes we Yahoo customers just have to get it off our chests - again!
I do wish you’d consider subject lines on the entries…….it’d be much more user friendly if we could scan subjects.
Would you please address this……..Ryan, someone mentioned this earlier and it really is another thorn in my side. When I type an email and save to Draft…….and for instance I want to send it to someone to proof or give me an opinion before I finalize it…..when I hit send it deletes it from the Draft folder. Then I have to go copy/paste it from the sent email or send it to myself at the same time to retrieve it. I really just don’t understand the thinking behind some of these changes.
I’ll check out the other blog? Are you trying to run me off this forum? (Just kidding, kinda
Again, thank you for taking the time to reply…….I’ll try to be good for a while.
July 19th, 2008 at 10:19 am
Hi Cheryl,
Not trying to run you off at all. I just want the feedback to get to the right people, and I don’t think the MyY team is regularly scanning the comments on this blog
The Drafts/Sent confusion is understandable, however a lot of thought went into it and we felt this was the only realistic solution once we added the auto-save feature (something people had REALLY wanted). Once auto-save comes into play the drafts have to be handled differently, or else you would retain two copies of every email … one in the Sent folder and the most recently saved version in your Drafts.
Unfortunately this requires that people who use Drafts as templates will have to adjust their processes, but there are workarounds. In New Mail (and I think being worked on for Classic) there is an option to hold a key when sending, and the draft won’t be removed from the Drafts folder.
This doesn’t entirely solve it for templates users, because their template will retain changes made before sending. If you are sending a lot of form letters I think the best thing to do is to either maintain a templates archive either in Notes or by sending a prepared template to yourself and putting it in a folder. Whenever you need to use that template it is only a copy+paste away.
-Ryan
July 19th, 2008 at 11:26 am
Ryan, would you remind me where I can find a list of the key stroke shortcuts for New Mail ( I really am trying). I know I read them on one of the blog entries and I can’t find them. I’m having a problem with the Tutorials loading this morning. Says some of them aren’t available. I know the ones that are actually listed on the page - like (n) for new email. And I understand about moving emails to folders. Are there some that are “secrets” that I’m not finding on the email page?
Also could you tell me what key to hold (that you mentioned in your answer) when I send a Draft to prevent it from being deleted.
Thank you for pointing out that a copy of a sent Draft will be in the Sent folder. I can copy/repaste it from there.
If you’re still around, would you answer my question about bookmarks/favorites that I asked under the Rearrange Blog topic.
I’m trying to spend this afternoon teaching this old dog new tricks……
Thanks!
BTW…..Adam’s blog isn’t near as interesting as yours.
July 19th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
OK, sorry if this posts twice…..I posted it about an hour ago. I’ve refreshed the page and done everything I know to do to see if it posted and can’t find it.
Ryan, would you remind me where I can find a list of the key stroke shortcuts for New Mail ( I really am trying). I know I read them on one of the blog entries and I can’t find them. I’m having a problem with the Tutorials loading this morning. Says some of them aren’t available. I know the ones that are actually listed on the page - like (n) for new email. And I understand about moving emails to folders. Are there some that are “secrets” that I’m not finding on the email page?
Also could you tell me what key to hold (that you mentioned in your answer) when I send a Draft to prevent it from being deleted.
Thank you for pointing out that a copy of a sent Draft will be in the Sent folder. I can copy/repaste it from there.
If you’re still around, would you answer my question about bookmarks/favorites that I asked under the Rearrange Blog topic.
And another question after reading and studying, if i Import my Favorites from IE to my Yahoo Bookmarks, will my Favorites be removed in the Import or left there under Favorites also. There seems to be some problems with Importing Bookmarks and I don’t even want to try if there is a chance I’m going to loose all my Favorites.
I’m trying to spend this afternoon teaching this old dog new tricks……
Thanks!
July 20th, 2008 at 8:26 pm
The function of filter is too simple and limited. Couldn’t Yahoo learn a little bit from gmail?
July 27th, 2008 at 7:59 pm
Hi..
That’s an excellent Job guys, I just wanted to say congratulations for your great blog
Samar Eldin
http://www.SamarEldin.com
July 29th, 2008 at 7:05 am
I use all the time yahoomail, everyday, for almost 10 years now.
My only concern with yahoo mail old or new, is SPAM, i always do check /mark the emails with the spam button and those continue to come more and more and more, I’m bored with the confidential emails i receive for purrchasing, bank accounts and profitable transactions…or viagra, meet singles etc…Thanks, Bela
August 1st, 2008 at 11:45 pm
I use my Yahoo! Mail with the latest version of the Opera web browser. Should anybody want to give their e-mail *publicly* on the internet, I recommend reCAPTCHA. It may not be totally foolproof, but bots won’t harvest it as easily as mailto:plaintext.
August 7th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
omg thats rediculess
August 9th, 2008 at 9:13 am
Can you tell me why when I have blocked the address of the worst spammer it keeps showing up. I check the address (I have to open the mail to get it but never open attachments) and it is the same address. I do not want to change my address again but I’m very frustrated. VERY FRUSTRATED!
August 19th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
msn submissions…
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