[sc34wg3] if you get this, you're not a Yahoo customer

[Jack Park]

This seems like a decent question (after reformatting) to be put up at
quora.com for all to see, and, perhaps, yahoo people to answer.

Jack

On Wed, May 4, 2011 at 2:35 PM, Steve Newcomb <srn at coolheads.com> wrote:
> Dear Recipients of E-mails from isotopicmaps.org:
>
> Now it's Yahoo who has decided to block this forum's access to its e-mail
> customers.  We're again defending our free-speech/freedom-of-assembly rights
> against loss by the ham-handed and arbitrary policies of yet another
> multinational corporation.  In the past we've had the same drama with AT&T
> and a very few other communications providers.  (Operating a free forum is
> an eye-opening experience.  It adds to the pile of evidence that no good
> deed goes unpunished.)
>
> Yahoo admits that it has blocked our server's access to all its customers
> for no reason other than the fact that we seem to be engaging in bulk
> mailing, and not because of any complaint.  Moreover, Yahoo says:
> "We will examine your email practices and policies "[which are none of
> Yahoo's damn business!]", as well as your mailings' complaint rates, in
> making our decision."
>
> Now I'm speaking to you folks who have yahoo email addresses (and who
> therefore can't see this letter unless someone else forwards it to you, hint
> hint): Did you know that Yahoo is deciding whose mail you're going to be
> allowed to see?  Did you know that Yahoo is dictating the business practices
> of people who want to communicate with you?  Did you know that, if you want
> to receive mailings from a forum like sc34wg3 at isotopicmaps.org, you may have
> to negotiate with your e-mail provider before you'll be allowed to receive
> them?  Personally, I couldn't live with an e-mail provider who appoints
> himself censor over all communications I might receive.  I'd surely get
> another e-mail provider.
>
> I have written the following to Yahoo's postmaster, on the intrusive form I
> was required to fill out before service *might* be restored:
>
> If you don't restore our forum's
> (http://www.isotopicmaps.org/mailman/listinfo/sc34wg3) access to your
> customers, it's no problem for us, but it might be for them.  We are, of
> course, informing them that it's only because they insist on using Yahoo's
> email service that they can't receive the forum traffic, and that Yahoo
> admits they are blocking e-mail not because of any complaint, but rather
> because of a ham-handed policy of harassment of anyone who happens to
> operate a forum that has Yahoo addressees.  We provide our forum as a public
> service, and unlike Yahoo's forum service, we don't put an advertisement at
> the bottom of each e-mail we send.  Since we have caused neither Yahoo nor
> its customers any problem of which we're aware, we can only consider our
> need to fill out this form as a kind of harassment by Yahoo.  It doesn't
> take a lot of reasoning to conjecture that Yahoo wishes to convert our
> mailing list into an advertisement-carrying list under the Yahoo banner.
> Yahoo can expect us to file an FCC complaint about Yahoo's pre-emptive and
> unjustified harassment in this matter.
>
> Steven R. Newcomb
>
>
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