Cannot get into Yahoo groups

[Robert Baer]

No matter what i do on sign-in attempt, i get:
Error
Description: Could not process this "GET" request.

Detonation URL seen is http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/wireline/
And it seems that over 4,000 have complained so far via use of their
"I can't access my account Help"

Cannot find any way to make a direct complaint o rattle their
(invisible) tree.

I just want to login to their wireline group.

[Paul]

And if you take the "tech." part off that URL,
does it work any better ?

I don't know what it is supposed to look like.

Paul

[VanguardLH]

Since you cannot connect to tech.groups.yahoo.com then you won't be able
to navigate to any page under there. That [sub]host is down.

Somewhere around 8 years ago, Yahoo started adding the category as a
subhost. Computer & Internet groups added the "tech" subhost, sports
groups added the "sports" subhost", and so on. It was merely a
redirection based on the category of the group; however, the original
URL still worked, so there were 2 URLs that pointed to the same place.
<category>.groups.yahoo.com pointed to groups.yahoo.com/<group>.

Did you try without the "tech" subhost, like Paul mentioned?

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/wireline/
doesn't work (page not found) but
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wireline/
works okay.

It's possible Yahoo grew tried of maintaining duplicate paths to the
same page and got rid of using subhosts to show the category for a
group. Or there is currently a problem with the redirection by subhost
at their web server but you can still use the non-categorized URL that
doesn't employ redirection.

Is this a recent problem (i.e., it just started) or is it a long-time
problem (i.e., been that way for awhile)? ALL web sites undergo
maintenance or outages. How long did you wait to retry?

[Robert Baer]

* SNEAKY!
And do not need any login info at all.
Now once in, can see all messages, just not formally logged in.
To see Yahoo mail, one must go thru same login....
....and that works.

Now here is where it gets interesting, the fail message still happens
with the normal login.

>
> I don't know what it is supposed to look like.
>
> Paul

Thanks for the work-around.

[Robert Baer]

VanguardLH wrote:
> Robert Baer wrote:
>
>> No matter what i do on sign-in attempt, i get:
>> Error
>> Description: Could not process this "GET" request.
>>
>> Detonation URL seen is http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/wireline/
>> And it seems that over 4,000 have complained so far via use of their
>> "I can't access my account Help"
>>
>> Cannot find any way to make a direct complaint o rattle their
>> (invisible) tree.
>>
>> I just want to login to their wireline group.
>
> Since you cannot connect to tech.groups.yahoo.com then you won't be able
> to navigate to any page under there. That [sub]host is down.
>
> Somewhere around 8 years ago, Yahoo started adding the category as a

> subhost. Computer& Internet groups added the "tech" subhost, sports

> groups added the "sports" subhost", and so on. It was merely a
> redirection based on the category of the group; however, the original
> URL still worked, so there were 2 URLs that pointed to the same place.
> <category>.groups.yahoo.com pointed to groups.yahoo.com/<group>.
>
> Did you try without the "tech" subhost, like Paul mentioned?

* That trick works if all one cared about was the group postings.
Mail not accessible because not logged in.
* Now, the regular login from that "inner" point *does* work.

>
> http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/wireline/
> doesn't work (page not found) but

* not true,message is Could not process this "GET" request, a totally
different problem.

> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wireline/
> works okay.
>
> It's possible Yahoo grew tried of maintaining duplicate paths to the
> same page and got rid of using subhosts to show the category for a
> group. Or there is currently a problem with the redirection by subhost
> at their web server but you can still use the non-categorized URL that
> doesn't employ redirection.
>
> Is this a recent problem (i.e., it just started) or is it a long-time
> problem (i.e., been that way for awhile)? ALL web sites undergo
> maintenance or outages. How long did you wait to retry?

* AFAIK it is recent, maybe a week but prolly not more than a month.

[VanguardLH]

So:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wireline/
which redirects to:
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/wireline/info (*)

doesn't get you to the same page as:

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/wireline/

used to take you?

(*) The "neo" path isn't to some group owned by Neo and you're not in
the Matrix, either. Even http://groups.yahoo.com/ redirects to the
"neo" path plus the protocol changes from HTTP to HTTPS so you end up at
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo. NEO is some new format at Yahoo Groups;
http://yahoogroups.tumblr.com/post/59703544200/new-changes-on-yahoo-groups.
A year ago when they made the announcement, it sounded like it would
apply to all groups but that was misleading. It was a proposed change
that would creep through to get employed eventually on their groups'
page design.

"Mail not accessible because not logged in."

I didn't realize the Yahoo Groups mailing lists were ever available to
non-logged users. That is, I thought you had to be logged in to
participate in their discussions and to receive any e-mails, like
newsletters, from or to the group. Allowing anyone to use their mailing
lists without logging in seems such an easy way for a scammer, spammer,
or malcontent to abuse their mailing lists.

The "page not found" is a generic message. Some web browsers provide
more info than others, or you have to dig it out. Indeed, when I use
something that shows me the headers and responses then the error is
"Description: Could not process this "GET" request." Actually that is
not an error message per se but a web page that they present to you.
The complete session looks like:

09/10/14 23:23:09 Browsing http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/wireline/
Fetching http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/wireline/ ...
GET /group/wireline/ HTTP/1.1
Host: tech.groups.yahoo.com
Connection: close
User-Agent: Sam Spade 1.14

HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently
Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2014 04:23:11 GMT
Connection: close
Via: http/1.1 proxy8.grp.bf1.yahoo.com (ApacheTrafficServer [c s f ])
Server: ATS
Cache-Control: no-store
Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8
Content-Language: en
Content-Length: 213

<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Error</TITLE>
</HEAD>

<BODY BGCOLOR="white" FGCOLOR="black">
<H1>Error</H1>
<HR>

<FONT FACE="Helvetica,Arial"><B>

Description: Could not process this "GET" request.

</B></FONT>
<HR>
</BODY>


The "Could not process this GET request" is *not* an error message.
That is the web page there server decided to deliver to you. The real
error looks to be:

301 Moved Permanently

but the web server doesn't redirect your connection to wherever the page
got moved. Normally a mapping in the web server should take you to
where the page got moved. The "could not process GET" message is like a
programmer adding a "should not see this" output to stdout. If he sees
that message then something is wrong with his code. You're seeing a web
page that should NOT be visible if the remap at the web server was
working.

Could be whomever is the web server admin screwed up an update and
forgot to add all the redirections for old URLs to the new nav path for
where the pages got moved. Could be they no longer support those old
redirections (i.e., all those "tech" subhosts used to categorize a group
within the URL to it). Whatever the reason, the web pages got moved or
the URLs (that have to get redirected) weren't updated (or they were
deliberately deleted as redundant).

We can't do anything about Yahoo's configuration of their web server and
whether the redirections were screwed up or deleted. That's something
you'll have to take up with Yahoo or find a group there that discusses
problems with their own groups (aka forums).

[VanguardLH]

VanguardLH wrote:

> We can't do anything about Yahoo's configuration of their web server and
> whether the redirections were screwed up or deleted. That's something
> you'll have to take up with Yahoo or find a group there that discusses
> problems with their own groups (aka forums).

Yahoo Feedback Group
https://yahoo.uservoice.com/forums/209451

Yahoo products -> Yahoo Groups
https://answers.yahoo.com/dir/index?sid=396546285

Contact Us
https://io.help.yahoo.com/contact/index?page=contact&locale=en_US&y=PROD_GRPS

Sign In Support
1-800-318-0612

Tweet your question
https://twitter.com/YahooCare

[Robert Baer]

VanguardLH wrote:
> So:
>
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wireline/
> which redirects to:
> https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/wireline/info (*)
>
> doesn't get you to the same page as:
>
> http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/wireline/
>
> used to take you?
>
> (*) The "neo" path isn't to some group owned by Neo and you're not in
> the Matrix, either. Even http://groups.yahoo.com/ redirects to the
> "neo" path plus the protocol changes from HTTP to HTTPS so you end up at
> https://groups.yahoo.com/neo. NEO is some new format at Yahoo Groups;
> http://yahoogroups.tumblr.com/post/59703544200/new-changes-on-yahoo-groups.
> A year ago when they made the announcement, it sounded like it would
> apply to all groups but that was misleading. It was a proposed change
> that would creep through to get employed eventually on their groups'
> page design.
>
> "Mail not accessible because not logged in."
>
> I didn't realize the Yahoo Groups mailing lists were ever available to
> non-logged users. That is, I thought you had to be logged in to
> participate in their discussions and to receive any e-mails, like
> newsletters, from or to the group. Allowing anyone to use their mailing
> lists without logging in seems such an easy way for a scammer, spammer,
> or malcontent to abuse their mailing lists.

* Check; As I said, i had to log in to get to the mail.
And i know nothing about any fancy mirroring. er-direct or change to
hpps (did not look).

>
> The "page not found" is a generic message. Some web browsers provide

* As I said, never saw that.

> more info than others, or you have to dig it out. Indeed, when I use
> something that shows me the headers and responses then the error is
> "Description: Could not process this "GET" request." Actually that is
> not an error message per se but a web page that they present to you.

* Yes, i know. In effect, it is a programming problem; but acts like an
error to potential users.

* Yes, i know. In effect, it is a programming problem; but acts like an
error to potential users.

> That is the web page there server decided to deliver to you. The real
> error looks to be:
>
> 301 Moved Permanently
>
> but the web server doesn't redirect your connection to wherever the page
> got moved. Normally a mapping in the web server should take you to
> where the page got moved. The "could not process GET" message is like a
> programmer adding a "should not see this" output to stdout. If he sees
> that message then something is wrong with his code. You're seeing a web
> page that should NOT be visible if the remap at the web server was
> working.

* Check; a programming error / problem on their end that they refuse to
address, because they refuse to allow anyone to complain.

[VanguardLH]

Robert Baer wrote:

> ... i had to log in to get to the mail.

You did not have to login before? So anyone could go dumpster diving to
read anyone's mail there? If so, seems more like a community forum than
mail.

> ... they refuse to allow anyone to complain.

See my reply to myself for the forums and contact forms that I found in
a quick hunt. I didn't search much since I don't use Yahoo Groups.

[Robert Baer]

VanguardLH wrote:
> Robert Baer wrote:
>
>> ... i had to log in to get to the mail.
>
> You did not have to login before? So anyone could go dumpster diving to
> read anyone's mail there? If so, seems more like a community forum than
> mail.

* Dense. OBVIOUSLY one has to log in to get the mail.
Before the AFU, one logged into the wireline group to look at
postings etc, and OPTIONALLY look at any mail.
Now, that is not possible.
One just jumps into the group (as previously shown by our magician
Paul), noodles around as before, THEN logs in to see mail---and _that_
login works.

[VanguardLH]

Robert Baer wrote:

> VanguardLH wrote:
>
>> Robert Baer wrote:
>>
>>> ... i had to log in to get to the mail.
>>
>> You did not have to login before? So anyone could go dumpster diving
>> to read anyone's mail there? If so, seems more like a community
>> forum than mail.
> * Dense.

And you expect help with that attitude? Did you miss the part where I
said that I do not use Yahoo Groups? Looks like you're the dense one.

> OBVIOUSLY one has to log in to get the mail.

That's not what you said. OBVIOUSLY no one knows what you meant to say.

> Before the AFU, one logged into the wireline group to look at postings
> etc, and OPTIONALLY look at any mail. Now, that is not possible. One
> just jumps into the group (as previously shown by our magician Paul),
> noodles around as before, THEN logs in to see mail---and _that_ login
> works.

Did you ask the owner of the group if they changed from requiring a
login to view posts to making the group public (no login required)?
Some groups require login to look at anything there. Some don't. The
group owner can change their mind regarding the setup of THEIR group as
private or public.

Read Yahoo's own help, like:

https://help.yahoo.com/kb/groups/SLN2444.html?impressions=true

Oh, yes, I'm the dense one, uh huh. I don't use Yahoo Groups and yet
I'm the one finding out how and where to contact for Yahoo help (and
some I didn't mention because, gee, YOU are supposed to do some work to
resolve your problem) and I'm the one finding how their groups work.

[Jeff Strickland]

"Robert Baer" <rober...@localnet.com> wrote in message
news:tjTPv.203100$yK.1...@fx14.iad...

If you cannot get into a particular place, but can get into other places,
the place you cannot get to is having a problem that you cannot solve and
you cannot go there until they solve it.

[Robert Baer]

BUT..i _did_ get to where i wanted to go, using Paul's brilliant tip.

[Jeff Strickland]

"Robert Baer" <rober...@localnet.com> wrote in message

news:ZhaRv.201924$oe6....@fx29.iad...

That only reinforces the idea that the site you want to visit is the
problem. My only point is that your machine is not what is giving you grief,
it's the place you want to visit that is the problem. What you did was work
around a problem that you identified. If you still need to jump through
hoops to go there, then the site is still broken. All you have done, with
Paul's help, is to find the right hoop to jump through.

[Robert Baer]

...and since the idiots that "maintain" Yahoo groups are busy NOT
listing to the grumbling, it will stay broken, maybe for years.

[VanguardLH]

Robert Baer wrote:

> ...and since the idiots that "maintain" Yahoo groups are busy NOT
> listing to the grumbling, it will stay broken, maybe for years.

Yahoo Groups are forums, not part of Usenet. Nothing you grumble about
here will ever be seen by anyone at Yahoo. In your grumbling here, you
never did say that you tried to grumble to the group owner or to Yahoo.
Why would they see any of your grumblings if you didn't grumble at THEM?

Again:

Yahoo Feedback Group
https://yahoo.uservoice.com/forums/209451

Yahoo products -> Yahoo Groups
https://answers.yahoo.com/dir/index?sid=396546285

Contact Us
https://io.help.yahoo.com/contact/index?page=contact&locale=en_US&y=PROD_GRPS

Sign In Support
1-800-318-0612

Tweet your question
https://twitter.com/YahooCare

I'd start by contacting the group owner or moderator(s) to find out if
they know about the loss of the redirection URLs at Yahoo's server. You
might also want to use the Contact Us page at:

http://www.logwell.com/wireline/

According to the Wireline group at Yahoo Groups, the owner's e-mail
address is wirelin...@yahoogroups.com. Ask him/her about the loss
of the subhost for the group category in the FQDN of the group. It's
their group so they are probably more intimate with any changes that
were made by Yahoo.