Why a bunch of Yahoo e-mail users are REALLY unhappy with Yahoo right now

Yahoo Mail is currently facing a mass exodus of users after locking people who use Ad Blocker out of their accounts. Most people who still use Yahoo Mail, I’m assuming, are those who created their email address in 1999 or whose desired name was already taken on Gmail. Apparently, being encouraged to turn off their Ad Blocker software is enough to drive them away.

Ad revenue is obviously important to the company’s survival – since the email account is free, the ads are the only way Yahoo can make money. It isn’t the first website to test out features that lock out folks with an ad block on. The Washington Post started a similar system in September, rerouting ad block users to a registration page, and a London newspaper called City AM is following the Post’s lead.

That doesn’t change Yahoo’s hemorrhaging of users.

When users with adblocker signed into Yahoo to check their mail, they were faced with a message like this one:

However, Yahoo was then faced with messages like this one:

Ouch!

Currently, this feature is only being tested by Yahoo. The company told PCWorld that it is, “continually developing and testing new product experiences. This is a test we’re running for a small number of Yahoo Mail users in the U.S.” It kind of sounds like people are failing this test, but the verdict is still out.

If you are one of the people who didn’t want to be [email protected] so you are now [email protected], and you’re locked out of your account, try this: open Yahoo Mail in a browser other than FireFox, Then, go to Settings > Viewing Mail and change the option from “Full Featured” to “Basic.”

Or, you know, get used to being JaneDoe_1 on GMail.

(Images via Shutterstock and Giphy.)