Yahoo has once again decided to “improve” things
Suddenly, without warning, Yahoo has introduced a new and vastly inferior email format. And this comes after many other “improvements” over the years that are anything but. For example, just recently Yahoo kindly added a seemingly useless and unnecessary step to the process of accessing the email, even if already signed in: a “next” tab to click on.
The plaintive cry of “why?” escaped my lips when the new format appeared. But I soldiered on, trying to find the magic tab that would return me to the old format. I’ve learned that such a secret door sometimes lurks somewhere in hiding. Finally, after a lengthy and frustrating search, found! What a relief. But if it’s anything like previous times, the old format won’t remain available for long. I feel in my gut that, like so many other times before, they someday will remove that option when I least expect it.
And this despite the fact that I – like many others, no doubt – have clicked the “feedback” tab and sent a blizzard of complaints and pleas.
And no, I don’t like gmail’s format any better, although I do use it for certain things. I’ve had my blog email at Yahoo for over 20 years, and I’m loath to pack up and move.
I think all forms of Yahoo! are like digital poison ivy, and steer clear of them.
The most odious aspect of the new format is the intrusinve “AI Summaries” that merely repeat what’s in the e-mail and which cannot be gotten rid of.
I decided to pay for my personal email, and that way I am the customer and not the product. I still have my gmail accounts as spam traps for anything that requires an email in order to participate and is not actually important.
Have you considered using a standalone email client, like Outlook Express, Thunderbird, Spark? They can all hook into Y! Mail (and others) without all the web browser interface nonsense.
The AI summaries can be turned off. They put the switch in the account settings. I found it by searching “how to disable AI summaries in yahoo webmail “
Like another commenter above, I recommend biting the bullet and paying for an email service like Protonmail (about $100/year, call it $8 a month, or one Starbucks unit). The main reason I changed is to avoid digital scraping of my data (bought plane tickets? You just gave that info to Yahoo via your email confirmation, and then sold to digital data brokers). I keep Yahoo around for worthless sign-ups (retail sites that leave me no choice, where I know will go on a spam list, etc.) but moved all my “real” email to a service that is not scraped, is encrypted, no ads, and at least has a little more privacy from government intrusion.
@Paco:The AI summaries can be turned off.
For now, maybe. The next revenue stream for “AI” companies is advertising.
My browser has a switch to turn off AI summaries too but it never “sticks”. Annoying but I haven’t found a browser I like better.
@whatever: Protonmail has some other advantages, like the encryption and the foreign jurisdiction, and sometimes there are discounts, and it does have a free version. Interface is just like Gmail and I think that would be a barrier for people who are really used to a different one, but so many people have used Gmail that maybe not so many are affected.
And if you lose your Protonmail password you are out of luck, because they can’t fix that for you, that’s the flip side of the encryption.
There’s a fairly recent neologism that, while a bit purile, captures the continued decline in many mainstream services over the past few years: Enshittification. One solution that’s already been pointed out is to switch to a pay service. Ars Technica has an article on a newish pay-for-use search engine called “Kagi” as one example. Kagi evidently eliminates ads, doesn’t share your data, allows you to customize your searches in ways that “free” search engines don’t, and although there are still AI options, they remain opt-in for now. Think it’s like 5 bucks a month.
Yahoo! mail’s other “innovation” is that recently upon logging in it shows 1 unread email. Can you find it in the Inbox? Of course not! Instead you click an obscure symbol that reveals other folders, including Unread Mails. How kind of them to obscure that which most users would first seek out upon login.
I have had my Yahoo! and Hotmail accounts since the 1990’s, and of course Microsoft does everything possible to get users to abandon Hotmail addresses and move to Outlook.com.
I suppose I should just bite the bullet and purchase a Proton mail account, I adamantly refuse to use Gmail under any circumstances. Yes, I also use web page sign in only, tying accounts to email clients is a nightmare when using multiple computers and handheld devices.
I copy pics from internet and paste into Yahoo mail.
Used to be able to resize large ones by simply clicking upper right hand corner.
That has been missing for over a month, so large pictures will many times require opening in another tab, or scrolling up/down ,left/right to see the whole thing.
Coincidentally, couple of hours ago I was following useless internet advice on how to fix it. Had to take a break.
Other than that, have been using Yahoo for decades, works fine.
Gmail and outlook and other email identities for signing up to rarely used forums, or to comment on blogs.
Neo says
The plaintive cry of “why?” escaped my lips when the new format appeared. But I soldiered on, trying to find the magic tab that would return me to the old format. ”
Holy mackerel! All I had to do was find the “Return to old format” button.
Thank you Neo, made my day.
Not my dumbest laptop computer related experience.
My touchpad quit working so I had to dig through the junk drawer and find a mouse. After a couple of weeks, ordered a wireless mouse.
After a couple of months, discovered I had somehow turned off the touchpad and all I had to do was tap a couple of buttons to turn it back on.
I don’t experiment with trying “shortcuts” anymore.
Nonapod @ 1:00pm,
I call it “the worsification” of everything.
Tease.
What is this secret to turn it off?
I use a private company called Net Address. It’s about $40 per year depending on how much storage you need. I’ve used it for many years and have seldom had issues with it. They have human beings doing customer service!
Mary Catelli:
Thing is, I tried so many things, for so long, that I forget which one finally worked.
I used my ISP’s “free” email service for years, but a year or so ago…maybe two years now…they discontinued the service because so few people were using it (everyone seemingly transitioned to gmail or something like that). I was one of the few dinosaurs left. I switched to Protonmail.
It’s end to end encrypted when sending mail to other Proton users and you can even send encrypted emails to third parties either by exchanging public keys, or you can send them a one time encrypted email that they open through a browser link.
They don’t store or sell private data and they have a free version that you can try to start out with. I opted for a paid version to get extra features and I think it’s well worth it. You can use a browser based email application or they have a client application you can install if you prefer it that way.
Very clean and easy to use interface and with paid version you can get secure cloud storage with photo synching and a VPN if you’re into that sort of thing.
Highly recommended.
I have used Proton—free version— for nearly two years. As there is a 500 MEG limit, I need to delete emails fairly regularly. I switched to Proton when my email got hacked. Couldn’t get into it.
Proton Mail (free webmail version) states that, if you click “Keep me signed in” when you log off, you will be able to recover your account if you lose your password.
Thunderbird (and I suspect Outlook Express, although that’s more anti-MicroSoft prejudice than anything I actually know) is just as much spyware as Yahoo and Gmail; it just sends the data to Mozilla instead. Or additionally. Although there are non-Mozilla forks that have removed the spyware, like BetterBird.
“I’m loathe to pack up and move.” You’re loath to pack up and move; loathe is a verb.
David:
Thanks, fixed.
Was very accustomed to MS Mail, then they “ended support” which evidently actually means sending it to the cornfield.
So I just log on to Provider, which is less convenient.
@Selfy:Proton Mail (free webmail version) states that, if you click “Keep me signed in” when you log off, you will be able to recover your account if you lose your password.
Good to know, but I never use my browser in anything but private mode and as soon I close the browser it wouldn’t be possible anymore.
Being always signed in is a little less secure. Your authentication token is stored as a cookie which can be stolen. Happened in my organization once, I don’t think it happens ALL that often but to me choosing “always stay signed in” seemed liked having a fancy secure door lock but leaving the window open in case you forgot your key or because it took too long to unlock the door.
Well if there’s a common theme to these comments, it’s that there’s a lot of people who get very attached to a specific interface or a specific way of interacting with it, I see that with all kinds of software.
“people who get very attached to a specific interface”
I think you’re reading a bit too much into it. People who are looking for a solution to a problem tend to stop looking when they find a solution that works.
Then when other people ask for advice on the same issue, those people share what works for them. Simple as that.
Personally, I prefer to use a service that stays in business by treating me like the customer (which means I have to pay them, just like a customer does), rather than a service where I’m not the customer, I’m the crop and the personal information they harvest from me is the product they’re selling to customers.
In other words: I prefer to be the guy enjoying the sweater I bought rather than the sheep shivering and wondering where all my warm wool went.
But, to each his own.