ADMIN: Is Yahoo giving you the "Ferret Treatment"?

[Kelley <kelleythompson@gbronline.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 52999

Hello, everyone,

If you've been experiencing some unusual problems receiving messages 
or posting messages to this group (or any Yahoo group), here is some 
information from Yahoo's Help section, with a few of my own comments 
thrown in...


Why did I stop receiving email from my group?

There may be a problem with your Yahoo! Groups account.  Visit your 
My Groups page.  (Look for My Groups up at the top right of this 
page.)  If there is an "Email account is bouncing" error message near 
the top of your My Groups page, click on the error link for details. 

(If you're set to No Email or Special Notices, you may be bouncing 
but not realize it.  One sign is that you no longer have the "Post" 
option available when you visit the group online.  If you reply to 
messages by email, messages you send to the group address are re-
routed to the Mods, Elves, and Geists at the owner's address, so 
these messages will not reach the main list.)


What does "bouncing" mean? 

If your email account ("jane_doe@ isp.com") refuses to accept email 
from other accounts, then your account is said to "bounce" email. 
This usually means that if someone sends you an email, their message 
is returned to them with an error from your Internet service provider 
(ISP).

If Yahoo! Groups gets such an error back from your account after 
sending you a message, we consider your account to be "bouncing" 
email. 

If messages sent to your account are consistently returned to Yahoo! 
Groups with an error, your Yahoo! Groups account is deactivated, and 
group messages will not be delivered to your account.

Once your account is considered bouncing, Yahoo! Groups will send a 
series of test messages to your account. If the test messages are 
returned as undeliverable, then the account will continue to bounce. 
However, if a message is delivered and not returned as undeliverable 
within five days after it was sent, the account will automatically be 
reactivated. You may also manually reactivate your account by 
visiting your My Groups page.  

Yahoo! Groups organizes bounces into two types: hard bounce and soft 
bounce. 

Hard Bounce

We consider your account to be "hard bouncing" if the error message 
we get back from your email provider says either of the following: 

* your email account does not exist 

(If you created a Yahoo or Hotmail account specifically to join this 
group, but have not visited that account since, it will be considered 
closed after 3 months.  You may not realize that when you join a 
Yahoo group the default setting for receiving messages is "Individual 
Emails".  If you do not change this setting, and have joined with a 
created account that you do not continue to use, that account will 
quickly fill up and / or be closed, which leads to bouncing.)

* your ISP refuses all email from Yahoo! Groups. 

In this case, your Yahoo! Groups account will be deactivated and set 
to "Bouncing." You will not receive any group email until your 
account is reactivated.  

Soft Bounce

If the error message we get back from your email provider doesn't 
fall under the definition of a hard bounce (see above), then the 
error is considered a soft bounce. If your account generates an 
occasional soft bounce error, it will be logged but no other action 
will be taken by Yahoo! Groups. However, if your email account 
consistently generates soft bounce errors for several days, then your 
Yahoo! Groups account will be considered bouncing and your Yahoo! 
Groups account will be deactivated. In this case, you will not 
receive any group email until your account is reactivated. 


How do I reactivate my Yahoo! Groups account? 

Go to the My Groups page. 
If you notice a bounce alert near the top of the page, click on the 
link. This will take you to the My Preferences page. 
Click on the Reset link. 
 

As I write this, we have 686 members bouncing.  (!!!)  If you think 
this may be the case for you, please take a moment to follow the 
steps above to reactivate your account.  If you have any trouble with 
this, please contact me at kelleythompson@ gbronline.com, or at 
HPforGrownups-owner@ yahoogroups.com.  

I'll need to know the email address you used to join this group (or 
the last address you were using for this group) to determine whether 
you're bouncing, and if you are, I will be able to send a 
reactivation request to that account for you.  When you receive this 
request, all you need to do is follow the steps in that message, and 
your account will be reactivated.

Thanks so much for your help on this, everyone!


--Kelley, for the Mods