[SERIOUS]Access to yahoo groups

Miz_Rebel · Cadet Joined: Mar 24, 2004 Posts: 2 Location: USA

I can't access my Yahoo email at work since last Monday morning
around 10:00 (before that it was fine). I keep getting at
error 999 This page is currently unavailable. Return to
Yahoo.

I run a high school computer lab so I have lots of computers available in my room and other places on campus. BTW: This does not mean I'm a computer "expert" so go easy on me! I've tried other computers on campus -same deal, but my home computer isn't working and I haven't tried any other computers off campus.

I've searched the Net and found this message board yesterday. I have tried all of the tips suggested on this thread and none have worked.

One person said this happened after they cleared them Temp.
Internet File folder which is what I did Monday morning
just moments before I started getting this error. But how
could that affect the whole freakin' lab- or the whole
school for that matter? It doesn't work anywhere on campus
and it's not just my account; others have tried and got
same message.

The error screen is from Yahoo. It has the logo on it and
isn't like a 404 screen. It's not from our filter, or the
one we get when we try a secure site -which reminds me,
don't suggest that I try logging in using "secure mode" as
we can't do that here. I've tried using Netscape instead
of IE, no luck. I tried taking off "auto detect settings"
-no luck.

I was wondering if it was some local server thing thru Yahoo, but I guess that's not it. An employee just told me that it works from her house (she tried this morning).

Do you have any ideas/suggestions??? I'm going nuts
without my email. The school secretary was going to email
me a document and I had to walk over with a floppy to get
it!!!!

THANKS!!

klizqnmpf · Cadet Joined: Apr 22, 2004 Posts: 1 Location: USA

My wife can get to it at home, but I can't get to it from behind my corporate firewall, which acts as a huge NAT. Ergo, to yahoo, all 10,000 ppl at my site are actually 1 person, and this person is abusing groups.yahoo.com very very badly.

By jove, I think he's got it. (phazei, two posts back)

Inicidentally, I can access groups in the middle of the night, or VERY early morning, but then I get locked out, and can't get to it again. If I go to my neighbors computer (who has never heard of yahoo groups), I can't access it either.

Someone oversimplified at yahoo groups.

adrianbrandt · Cadet Joined: Apr 29, 2004 Posts: 1 Location: USA

I've recently noticed the "unavailable" problem. As I suspected it was
Yahoo locking me out based on triggering some type of "overuse"
criteria -- no doubt in an attempt to curtail abusive spam-bots, etc. --
I VPN'ed into another computer (so that my internet connection would
appear different to Yahoo!) -- and presto! -- my access was restored.

This was using the exact same IE6 session running on the same
computer with the same cookies, etc., all in place. Then, just to make
sure, I disconnected the VPN connection and magically, I immediately
returned to my locked out status.

This means that Yahoo! is tracking activity based on some signature of
your internet connection to them ON THEIR SIDE. No amount of cookie
and temp file deletion would fix the problem in this case. They must
put a time-out timer (perhaps calculated on how badly the "abuse"
thresholds were exceeded) on the internet connection profile (probably
based on the externally visible IP address and/or some other combination
of externally visible items that http requests are tagged with).

Since there have been a lot of bogus spammy messages showing up
on Yahoo! Groups lately, this must be Yahoo!'s latest bright idea on how
to curtail it. The problem is that it seems to be a little too tough on
legitimate/heavy Yahoo! Groups users (especially moderators, etc.).

Adrian

david_uk · Cadet Joined: May 10, 2004 Posts: 1 Location: UK

I can replicate this yahoo groups problem easily. I found this page while looking for why its happening.

Last year I wrote some code to download messages I want from groups I have subscribed to. I used it today and after downloading about 400 messages from a group within a few minutes I got blocked with the 999 yahoo unavailable error page. I used a different IP address and it worked for another approx 350 messages.

I guess Yahoo (groups) detect too much use of them from the same IP address within a set timeframe.

No idea if the block is permanent or not. Has anyone found a good threshold yet?

Adam I would like to know what program you used to download messages, I could not find one so wrote my own and its not brilliant.

David.

Viaeanguli · Cadet Joined: May 06, 2004 Posts: 1 Location: USA

Im entering this dialog rather late but I received information from Yahoo about this subject which may or may not (probably may not since we all know the frustrations of dealing with Yahoo) be of help.

First a review: I , too, have experience the identical problem, e.g. able to get into my yahoo e-mail account but unable to enter any of the Yahoo Groups for five continuous days at my home computer relative to the 999 message. I was able, however, to enter any of the Groups from the computer at work. Somewhere during the course of my frustration I happened upon this address which you may want to keep for future needs. I have used it twice in the past year, and Yahoo will answer in about 24 48 hours: http://add2.dir.scd.yahoo.com/fast/help...i_feedback

My Yahoo!Group problems began after downloading numerous large audio (non-musical) files for professional purposes. I am an audiologist and part of my daily work involves the analysis of sound files posted on a couple of Yahoo!Groups by colleagues. I queried Yahoo! personnel via the above e-address and received the following reply the next day:

Hello,

Thank you for contacting Yahoo! Customer Care.

We are sorry you have had difficulty accessing Yahoo! Groups. The error message you describe usually indicates a problem with the connection between your computer and our servers. While this type of problem is usually transient, if you continue to experience this error, we recommend that you try accessing Yahoo! through a different computer or through a different Internet connection. We also recommend that you contact your Internet Service Provider for further assistance. If after investigating these options you are still experiencing the problem, please contact us again. We hope this is resolved for you soon so that you may continue to use Yahoo! Groups.

Thank you again for contacting Yahoo! Customer Care.

Regards,

Mary (No it wasnt Mary, Ive changed his/her name to protect the innocent.

Yahoo! Customer Care

So its my bet that either it was my ISP reacting to the huge file downloading from Yahoo! Groups, or perhaps just as likely, Yahoo! protecting itself by shifting the blame to my ISP.

Now my question, if I may: Phazei wrote in a message dated 3/24/2004 and entitled I just got that problem tonight: If I change my IP addy then I can get to groups.yahoo.com right away. How is that achieved? Ive a real suspicion that this is the only lasting answer to the problem for those of us who download heavily and frequently for other than recreational purposes. Actually, this experience with Yahoo!Groups is causing some anger since I pay them a tremendous annual fee for their premium Plus E-Mail account. I realize that their e-mail and groups are two separate areas; nonetheless, money is money and I would appreciate service in response.

Thanks for any help that may be provided relative to my question.

Scott
Tenere In Vividus

dougbrunelle · Cadet Joined: May 29, 2004 Posts: 1 Location: USA

This problem has been around longer than I thought! I first encountered it a few days ago, and verified that others were having the same problem. See this thread at the Windrivers forum:

http://forums.windrivers.com/showthread...ge=1&pp=15

Doug

jahoudy · Cadet Joined: Dec 13, 2003 Posts: 6 Location: USA

This message makes my brain hurt, "Unfortunately, we are unable to process your request at this time. We apologize for the inconvenience. Please try again later"I MISS MY EMAIL I only want to read my email. What steps can I take to resolve this is problem? I can access it during work.

Thank You

Paul · Admin Joined: Feb 22, 2002 Posts: 5694 Location: USA

Odd, I can access my yahoo email via the web interface no problem.

Yahoo_Sucks · Cadet Joined: Jun 23, 2004 Posts: 1 Location: Uk

The page that is suddenly so common at Yahoo

"Unfortunately, we are unable to process your request at this time. We apologize for the inconvenience. Please try again later."

Appears to be connected with a new limitation
It is common to be redirected to this page if you view a large number of Yahoo Groups or search large numbers of images using Yahoo Image Search
it is a pain up the chuff and another reason that I believe Yahoo are committing corporate suicide
another of the new things they have done is introduced a spelling corrector into the search engine.
now if you search for somthing and the search engine does not recognise a word you enter it will relace the word with the nearest match thus giving incorrect search results
So if you search for Farm land owned by somebody named Prew
you might enter the words Prews Farm
this is changed to Press Farm
this is about as much help as sticking a pineapple up your butt

I also believe that this is part of a plan by Yahoo to charge a fee to use the service
Free use will be restricted or limited and a fee will be charged for unrestricted or unlimited use.


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