Send message error (possible abuse - Yahoo)

[Guest 101]

I too, in Northern California, am experiencing the same "possible abuse" problem.
The error message reads:
An error occurred while sending mail. The mail server responded: Transaction failed : Cannot send message due to possible abuse; please visit http://postmaster.yahoo.com/abuse_smtp.html for more information. Please check the message and try again.

After trying again:
Sending of message failed.
The message could not be sent because the connection to SMTP server smtp.att.yahoo.com was lost in the middle of the transaction. Try again or contact your network administrator.

Unfortunately, I am my network administrator and I am at a loss!!

[SusanJoM]

If you read through this thread you will see that how to get around the problem is not a problem.
What we are all waiting for, however, is a solution to the problem.

[Guest 101]

I also found that by sending plain text instead of HTML prevents interruption of my transmission.

My congratulations to the person that first discovered this. Thank you for your discovery and posting the information.

[RichCT]

I have been running into this same problem all day. When attempting to reply to, or forward an email. The error message is: An error occurred while sending mail. The mail server responded: Transaction failed : Cannot send message due to possible abuse; please visit http://postmaster.yahoo.com/abuse_smtp.html for more information. Please check the message and try again.

On one message where this failed I went to options and sent to plain text, and the message was successful sent after that. Never had this happen before today.

[sewsable]

I'm in New Zealand sending via Xtra's servers which are in partnership with Yahoo and got the same problem. Changed to plain text in the meantime, but that won't be a long-term solution. Can send fine using the online version of the mail server. Tis a right pain in the rump.

[chaplain]

Same problem, solved: In TB, go to tools/options/composition/send options (button)/html domains (tab). Delete the names of the domains to which you cannot send emails. In my case, it was yahoo, msn, aol, and hotmail. Problem solved. Still baffling, but solved. It only took me two hours and a wasted call to att/yahoo tech support.

[AnotherJohnl]

Same problem. Same solution. To send I have to limit myself to text not html and use smtp.mail.yahoo.com or use Gmail's smtp, which allows me to send html as well.

It wasted a lot of time finding this incomplete solution. I am sure it is a Yahoo problem.

By the way, if you are paying for Yahoo Plus as I did, don't bother. You just have to change your country to one such as Canada or an Asian country and you get free pop, imap and (not working properly from yesterday) smtp.

[sewsable]

Same problem, solved: In TB, go to tools/options/composition/send options (button)/html domains (tab). Delete the names of the domains to which you cannot send emails. In my case, it was yahoo, msn, aol, and hotmail. Problem solved. Still baffling, but solved. It only took me two hours and a wasted call to att/yahoo tech support.

Just done this and sent a test mail, seems to have worked. Thank you.

[chaplain]

Same problem. Same solution. To send I have to limit myself to text not html and use smtp.mail.yahoo.com or use Gmail's smtp, which allows me to send html as well

Actually, I have the option selected to send the email in both plain text and html, and they are going through fine. You might try your html again. Mine seems to be going okay. Hmmm - now which was more fun tonight, working on this, or doing my income taxes?

EDIT: Well, nuts, you are right. Now I can't send in html + plain text; must use only plain text.

[RufusBrown]

I am using Thunderbird 10.0.2 on a Mac running Snow Leopard. I have regular ATT DSL, not UVerse. I too have been having this problem since early this afternoon. Thank you to those who suggested unchecking "HTML". That did work, as others have found, but it is an unacceptable long-term solution. This solution makes it impossible to send internet links in an email. I know that ATT email uses Yahoo servers, or vice-versa. The problem ain't in our sets, folks, it must be a server problem. Maybe they will get this fixed soon.

I also use Thunderbird on my PC, so I will soon check to see if I have this same problem there. I probably will since I assume that most folks here with this problem are using PCs.

Again, thanks for the workaround suggested here.

Rufus

[CindyMcD]

I found this advice on a help page and composing in plain text fixed the problem for me too. Hopefully it will be resolved soon so we can go back to composing in html.


Turn off HTML in the text format section of "send options"
Go to Tools/Options/Composition/Send Options, then under the Text Format section, select "Ask me what to do" OR "Convert message to plain text".

I consider this a temporary solution until things get straightened out. Webmail works fine but sending email with client software (Thunderbird) results in the abuse error message. I'm pretty sure that Yahoo changed something relating to how it "handshakes" with the HTML portion of the Thunderbird SMTP settings since other email clients appear to work just fine.

[chaplain]

Well, there are really a couple of odd things about this. My problem was only on my desktop pc running Windows XP, and it only applied to emails sent to aol, msn, yahoo, and hotmail. Others, such as comcast, verizon, gmail, bellsouth, and att went through fine as html. Second oddity: all emails sent from my Windows 7 laptop, running the same TB (10.0.2), went through fine to all isp's. My desktop is 32-bit; the laptop is 64-bit - could this make a difference? Well, enuf of this for tonight. Setting my clocks forward and heading for bed, having pretty much blown the whole night working through this.

[K in TX]

I've had the same problem, but interestingly, it's inconsistent. At this point, I can generate and send new messages and reply to messages generated by other people, but if I try to reply to a message that is a reply to an email I generated, I get the "possible abuse" error message. For those of you who have found that sending message in plain text or with both text and HTML enabled--does that work for replies or just for new messages? If it works for replies, does it work for replies to messages you generated?

I use Thunderbird for gmail, as well and am having no problems with that account.

My Yahoo account is actually through AT&T's U-Verse. I called U-Verse tech support and, after hours on the phone with a number of different people, one of them found an internal notice saying that some customers who use Thunderbird 10.0.2 may not be able to send email. As far as they're concerned, the issue is Thunderbird. They say that, since I don't have this problem using webmail, it is obviously Thunderbird. When I say that, since my gmail account works fine with Thunderbird and the error message is generated by Yahoo's servers, they become hard of hearing.

Before that notice came out, two different tier two tech support people at AT&T gave me "escalation" numbers for Yahoo; one is "an invalid number," and the other one has been disconnected. At the non-escalation support number, Yahoo does not provide tech support. They even declined to provide support when an AT&T tech called them on another line.

One other item: I'm not sure whether this is relevant, but my first thought was that maybe someone had my account password and was using the account to send spam. I changed the password before I ever called Yahoo. But when I called Yahoo's regular "support" number (the one that tells you they don't do tech support over the phone), before I was even into the menu choices, there was a message about what to do if you suspect that your account password has been compromised (go to some URL to fix the problem; they certainly aren't about to talk to people on the phone). I suspect that Yahoo has (yet again) had security issues and that they may be at the root of this problem. But who knows? Maybe their security is just so crappy that their "support" line always tell you what to do if they've let your password be compromised.

[Charles218]

In checking my Thunderbird (version 10.0.2, Mac 10.6.8) Error Log, I see the following - "pop.att.yahoo.com : server does not support RFC 5746, see CVE-2009-3555". I am not a techie at all and do not understand what this means, perhaps it will be meaningful to someone with more tech expertise.

Charles

[spim]

Same thing in NorCal with a pacbell.net address,started last night 3/9 been screwing around all day, worked on my little asus netbook earlier and on my iTelephone, worked this afternoon on my GF's Mac then she got the error message.

Unchecked HTML in the composition box and it's working now.

Thanks to whomever figured that one out!