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hans2010 · 6 Jan 2014, 10:24 PM

This is just weird/funny enough that I thought I'd post it here. I noticed this a few months ago and it's still happening now (Jan. 2014).

What happens is that on Yahoo Mail, on certain failed actions, the Yahoo server produces an error message that pretends to be an IE error page (a nearly-exact forgery!), telling you to check your IE settings. This is particularly funny when using a browser other than IE!

How to reproduce: Using a browser other than IE (e.g., Firefox), log into Yahoo Mail (I'm on the non-javascript, i.e., neo-Classic, interface), look at your Inbox, then sign out. Then, use your browser's "back" button to get back to the Inbox page. You will get (from Yahoo's server!) an error page that is designed to look exactly like an IE error page (probably IE6), saying "502 Cannot find server or DNS error" (google that phrase, including the 502, and you'll see, most hits are related to Yahoo) and other nonsense about checking your IE settings. The only part of this that does not look like it came from IE is the Yahoo "Y" favicon, which appears in the tab displaying the error page.

Another way to reproduce this is, while not logged in to Yahoo, try to connect to the host that your account is on, without anything after the hostname. For me, it's "us-mg6.mail.yahoo.com", so I just paste that into the Firefox address bar (while not logged in to Yahoo), and, viola, there's the IE error (in Firefox!). You can get the same result with Lynx on unix. Advanced troubleshooters can confirm that the error is generated by Yahoo's server by telnetting to port 80.

My only point is that it's kind of comical to see IE error pages in Firefox (or Lynx!), but also sad that Yahoo Mail (along with many other technical failings in the past year or so) would resort to misleading customers with forged IE error messages instead of something more honest and informative. I regard that as "conduct unbecoming".

Disclosure: I'm a former Yahoo Mail Plus subscriber (as well as a former fan of the company), and switched to FastMail in 2013 (after learning about it on this site, and after being affected by Yahoo Mail problems far more serious than the above). So far, so good.

6 Jan 2014, 10:24 PM	#1
hans2010 Member Join Date: May 2010 Posts: 47	Yahoo emits fake IE error page This is just weird/funny enough that I thought I'd post it here. I noticed this a few months ago and it's still happening now (Jan. 2014). What happens is that on Yahoo Mail, on certain failed actions, the Yahoo server produces an error message that pretends to be an IE error page (a nearly-exact forgery!), telling you to check your IE settings. This is particularly funny when using a browser other than IE! How to reproduce: Using a browser other than IE (e.g., Firefox), log into Yahoo Mail (I'm on the non-javascript, i.e., neo-Classic, interface), look at your Inbox, then sign out. Then, use your browser's "back" button to get back to the Inbox page. You will get (from Yahoo's server!) an error page that is designed to look exactly like an IE error page (probably IE6), saying "502 Cannot find server or DNS error" (google that phrase, including the 502, and you'll see, most hits are related to Yahoo) and other nonsense about checking your IE settings. The only part of this that does not look like it came from IE is the Yahoo "Y" favicon, which appears in the tab displaying the error page. Another way to reproduce this is, while not logged in to Yahoo, try to connect to the host that your account is on, without anything after the hostname. For me, it's "us-mg6.mail.yahoo.com", so I just paste that into the Firefox address bar (while not logged in to Yahoo), and, viola, there's the IE error (in Firefox!). You can get the same result with Lynx on unix. Advanced troubleshooters can confirm that the error is generated by Yahoo's server by telnetting to port 80. My only point is that it's kind of comical to see IE error pages in Firefox (or Lynx!), but also sad that Yahoo Mail (along with many other technical failings in the past year or so) would resort to misleading customers with forged IE error messages instead of something more honest and informative. I regard that as "conduct unbecoming". Disclosure: I'm a former Yahoo Mail Plus subscriber (as well as a former fan of the company), and switched to FastMail in 2013 (after learning about it on this site, and after being affected by Yahoo Mail problems far more serious than the above). So far, so good.