Posted by Rick on January 22, 2002, at 18:21:47
In reply to Problem with Yahoo, posted by mair on January 22, 2002, at 7:57:16
>I didn't realize, stupidly, that yahoo would include that information next to my address in all of my emails. This means that anyone I email automatically learns my real name, thereby destroying the confidentiality feature. I've been trying without success to change this.Not so stupid...I did the same thing - twice. They should tell you that the default display name will be your registered name.
> If anyone knows how to fix this please let me know. It might make me much less paranoid.
All you have to do to change this is log onto your Yahoo account, the click Options on the left, then click Mail Preferences under "Personalization." Then change the "From Name" at the top to whatever you want people to see next to your address (I just deleted my last name), and click Save at the bottom right. To make sure it's working right, you can send yourself an email.
>I've emailed yahoo, but I'm not sure this is going to yield results.
Emailing Yahoo is unfortunately a waste of time. They used to provide personal replies, but now they'll either just email back a part of the Help section (which doesn't usually answer the question in my experience), or they'll fail to reply at all.
What I *can* tell you if you're concerned about privacy is to NOT use the "auto-forward" feature that will forward all your Yahoo mail to a different address you select (I'll call this your "final" address). Just two days ago, I was shocked to learn that if, for some reason your final address rejects one of these forwarded messages, Yahoo will shoot back an error message to the original sender that just happens to divulge both your final address AND your IP address! I couldn't believe it! Using Yahoo's POP3 feature is a much safer way to go if you don't want to have to keep checking a particular Yahoo address on the web. And be sure to read the full privacy policy.
Rick
poster:Rick
thread:2697
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20011216/msgs/2714.html