Yahoo finally replied to our request for information about why they are blocking us by providing a canned response which didn’t tell us anything we didn’t already read on their website. But they did apologise: “I want to apologize for any inconvenience this issue has caused you.”
Shortly after 01:30 UTC on 31 March we did see all emails still queued on our server for addresses on Yahoo and Yahoo-hosted domains clear — i.e., they were delivered. However, a few hours after that the block at Yahoo based on “user complaints” seems to have been reinstated, and so we are back to square one.
We have again written to Yahoo and are continuing to research possible workarounds … while we wait another day or two for their possible response.
In addition to researching workarounds, we’re taking some of Yahoo’s reasonable advice from their canned email and moving up certain changes to mail server configuration policies that they suggest. However, these cannot be implemented overnight across all clients’ domains without causing even more problems for our clients, so they will be introduced gradually.
We sincerely apologise for this inconvenience, but we cannot take responsibility for Draconian policies implemented at a very large email provider that has drastic effects on small hosting companies like NinerNet and our clients, and that are seemingly out of step with comparable large email providers like Gmail, Hotmail, AOL, etc. We’ve been in business for two decades — only two years less than Yahoo — and are not an upstart spamming operation that opened business last night and will be gone by next week. Clearly this kind of information is not being taken into account by Yahoo.
This is yet another example of why — on a network that requires cooperation between disparate entities, which is the very definition of the Internet — we shouldn’t do business with massive companies that can steamroll their way over the ability of smaller entities to participate. Signing up for a service from Yahoo (free or paid) or the parent companies of any of the other corporations mentioned in this post might be quick and easy (and probably even “free” of monetary cost), but there is always a price to be paid down the road. We and you are paying it today.
The workaround we’re working on may solve this issue, but there is still the risk that Yahoo will notice what we’ve done and block that avenue too. If you’re forwarding email from your domain to a Yahoo account, we strongly suggest that you stop doing that. If you’re doing that or using personal, free accounts for business use on Yahoo or other free email providers, we also strongly suggest you stop doing that. If you need help achieving — with your own domain and the hosting services you’re already paying for — what you’re currently doing with free email accounts with third-party providers, talk to us and we’ll help you do it a better way.
Further updates will continue to be posted here as they become available.
