They can shove their no longer free POP3 mail up my yahoo

The BBQ Pit
1

I’m sure this is going to be a lame rant. I’ve never posted one before, I’m tired and cranky, and I realize that getting what you pay for is something I may have to accept. Still, what the hell is going on with yahoo? All of a sudden it seems like you can’t even wipe your nose without paying for it if you use any of their services.

I’m pretty sure they used to allow POP3 and email forwarding completely for free. Of course I’m not sure about this, because at the time I was using we only work when we really feel like it, and we hope you enjoy our 27 porn messages a day mail. I suffered with hotmail for a long time, and I finally switched to yahoo when I just couldn’t take it anymore.

This was about a year and a half ago. I thought it would be great. I’d never heard anyone complain about hotmail level spam garbage or regular problems accessing mail. I was ready to commit to an address and stick with it. They didn’t allow POP3 or forwarding willy nilly, but if you were willing to let them send you a third party ad once a week, you could check your mail through Outlook.

And life was good.

Similar situation with yahoo groups. It used to be totally free access. Then they started with the ads on the group pages and in every email. Okay, it’s annoying, but I understand that all of that traffic costs money. Then they started making you click through ads on every 6 or 7 messages you accessed on the web. Annoying, but the same rationale still held. Now it seems like you have to click through an ad on every single fuckin’ message. And now they’re talking about charging for a group to exist at all.

So the email I just received says that as of April 24, yahoo is going to charge $29.99 a year to either POP3 or forward your email. Sugar plums that they are, it’s only $19.99 for the first year if you register before the cut off date. Yes, I realize that it costs them money somewhere down the line for me to have POP3 access, but this still sucks big time ass.

I’m currently looking for a new job, and my yahoo address is on my resume. You may say why don’t I just check on the web. Of course it’s never that simple. Given that the job search has already led to suspicious behavior, I don’t think constantly logging into yahoo is a great idea. Check at home you say? The RAM on my laptop is an amount that most of you probably don’t even remember, and it throws a temper tantrum whenever I keep two windows open at the same time - even if I say pretty please and promise a back massage.

Given the job search, it might be worth paying the $19.99 this one time, but this still pisses me off to no end. Not to mention my second yahoo account that I use for message boards and mailing lists, etc. I’m certainly not going to pay a second fee for that account!

2

I don’t like it either, but we were getting something for nothing, and the economics didn’t work out. Yahoo has held out longer than most, but simply because they were providing free POP3 service, they increased their base and thus their costs. If Microsoft wanted to be truly helpful, they’d figure out a way for their email program to pull the information without the POP3 address.

Despite it’s miniscule storage, I’ve found Hotmail to be a good alternative. I keep a managable ‘safe’ list and everything else gets trashed. It’s amazing how quickly the bulk mail folder fills though.

3

I was annoyed by the same thing, until I noticed an “Expand Messages” link on the message list page. That option displays the full contents of a block of 14 consecutive messages, with only a single display ad at the top of each group of messages.

4

Damn. I ain’t paying. Anyone know of any other free POP3 mail services?

5

Wow, did I miss something or am I grandfathered in? I’ve had my yahoo email for four or five years now, and all I’ve ever been notified of is that I can have a 25 Mb box for so much a year.

I haven’t gotten any notice of them charging for POP3 accounts.

Of course, my email’s *down right now, but I had been chalking that up to Yahoo flakiness.

6

I’ve never used Yahoo’s POP3 service, so no biggie to me. Groups, however, are more of a concern - where did you read they may charge for them? I’ve own and run five of them right now, and am a member of about 35 of them.

{sigh} The internet free ride is coming to an end. How sad… :frowning:

Esprix

7

… and it is being chronicled here.

Zev Steinhardt

8

  1. I just went to my Yahoo! account, and used their POP3 service. No mention of present or future charges.

  2. Zev’s right - a lot of content and services that we’re used to having for free, we should expect to have to start paying for, pretty soon. (Including maybe here. :() But when something costs to provide, why should we expect to receive it for free?

We got spoiled during the “Internet bubble” years, when everybody figured that they’d grab market share first, and figure out how to turn a profit later. Nobody figured out how to turn a profit just on ads. The party’s been fun, but it’s winding down. Now somebody’s got to go pay the bills.