Bug Updates
Update (7/3 12:30 pm PDT; 7:30 pm GMT): The problem has been fully resolved. Logs should now be functioning normally.
Update (7/2 9:30 am PDT; 4:30 pm GMT): Further good news on the logs. We’re now only about 24 hour behind and barring any new problems, engineering expects us to be fully caught up by tomorrow.
Update: There is some positive news on the logs front. The backlog is now at 50% of its peak level, which puts us on a pace to be fully caught up by this weekend (currently, activity through the 27th should be captured in the logs). However, one point to be aware of: the time stamp on the logs is showing as the time that the logs were processed in the queue, not as the time the activity took place. Which means that until this backlog is processed and we’re caught up, the time stamps on logs will not correspond to the time the activity took place. Admittedly this is not ideal (we recognize the time stamps should reflect the time the activity actually took place), but we’re not going to try fixing this until after we have everything working normally again.
Here are updates on three problems affecting significant numbers of groups or users.
GROUP ACTIVITY LOGS AND RECENT ACTIVITY NOT UPDATING
As many moderators have probably noticed, the “Group Activity” logs in the Management section have not been updating. The team has been working closely with Tibco, the company behind a key piece of software that Groups relies on to process our incredible volume of these logs, to address the issue, but the problem is not yet solved. And while the work will continue over the weekend (it’s 7:30 pm on Friday in California as I write this), I wouldn’t expect this issue to be resolved before some time next week.
Unfortunately, the queuing system that processes these logs is also the system that updates the “recent activity” module (on group home pages, the Groups Front Page, and My Groups), so this module will be out of date as well until the logs problem is resolved.
MESSAGE SEARCH UPDATE
We’re painfully aware that this is the bug that will not die. And while there is some good news, it’s balanced by some not as good news (caused mainly by the logs problem):
- The Good News: Approximately 8000 groups have been migrated to the new message search system and for these groups, message search is working correctly again (with a couple caveats described in the Bad News below).
- The Bad News I: The new message system also relies on the same queuing system as the logs. So messages posted since the logs began to backlog (for most groups on the 19th) won’t appear in search, even for groups on the new system.
- The Bad News II: No additional groups can be migrated until the queuing system is fixed.
- The Bad News III: A couple (of the nine) servers the new message search system is running on are behaving flakily. So sometimes it may be necessary to repeat a search a couple of the time to get the right results (though we hope to address that problem soon).
VERIZON AND COMCAST DELIVERY ISSUES
We began receiving reports today that some Verizon and Comcast users are again having trouble receiving messages from Yahoo! Groups. Unfortunately, there is nothing we can do to address this issues. We are sending the messages to Verizon and Comcast users, but the ISPs are either bouncing them, delaying them, or dropping them entirely. And this despite the fact that we have filled out (multiple times) the information that Verizon and Comcast ask for in these situations.
At this point, the only thing that is likely to help the problem is for enough Groups users to complain to Verizon and Comcast so that they feel compelled to take action. And when you do complain, there are three things you can do to make it more likely your complaint will be acted upon:
1. If there is information about your latest bounced message on your “bounce history page”, send it along with your complaint.
http://groups.yahoo.com/member/preferences/communication/bounce_history?email=YOUREMAILADDRESS (is the direct link to your bounce history)
2. If the problem is messages being delayed (rather than not delivered), send them the full headers of some of your delayed messages.
3. Point them to this group, which is designed for ISP Admins:
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/ygmailadmin/
We’re sorry for the hassle and inconvenience these problems cause.
- Gordon
Yahoo! Groups
P.S. As always, if you need help from beyond Yahoo! beyond the information in this post, your only option is to contact Customer Care:
http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/groups/original/ownmod/forms/forms_index.html
While we read comments on the blog, we do NOT take action on individual complaints. The ONLY way to get individual help is to contact Customer Care.
Terry said,
June 27, 2009 @ 7:20 pm
Yes the comments feature on the blog is working in
Firefox, but not Crazy Browser or Avant
Another bug is not being able to start a group for
24 hours,it just goes to a blank white start page .
I have not tested this in Mozilla Frefox yet .
Gil. said,
June 28, 2009 @ 3:21 pm
Use Opera.
Ann said,
June 29, 2009 @ 5:34 am
It looks like the search bug was partly fixed on yahoo groups. However, deleted messages are still showing up when you search by AUTHOR of messages.
Put the author’s name in the search box, and the deleted messages still show up.
Do you have plans to fix that?
jay vinton said,
June 29, 2009 @ 8:30 am
Dear Gordon and Melissa,
so now there’s a bug in your blog as well.
it just keeps getting worse and worse.
on a more positive note.
As bad as things are with yahoogroups, I just can’t begin to tell you how much it does to improve the relationship you have with us group owners each time you provide one of these realistic, informative status updates.
Administrator said,
June 29, 2009 @ 9:38 am
Deleted messages showing up in search results will be addressed once we complete the migration of all groups to the new search system.
Until then, it requires manually reindexing the group in question, which is possible but requires contacting Customer Care.
And just to be clear in case folks are wondering, while the subject line and “teaser text” of deleted messages do appear on search results pages, if a user tries to click through to see the full message, they get a message letting them know the deleted message is no longer there.
OhCoventina said,
June 30, 2009 @ 2:20 pm
Hi there,
Off topic, but can’t find relevant post so here goes. Re the ads at the top of the page – it is *extremely* annoying to have those banner ads open up and create a larger size ad covering my group pages. Generally, they are only annoying, however today an ad came down with no apparent means of closing it. This moved beyond annoying and into “I may have to migrate to other group sites” territory, as it covered the links to the pages I was trying to get to, again with no readily apparent means of closing the ad. Having an ad at the top of a group page is one thing, having the ads take on a life of their own and take over the page is just simply a horrible disservice to the people who use Yahoo Groups.
Ken said,
July 1, 2009 @ 9:48 am
Delivery issues FROM Yahoo?
The pot calling the kettle black!!
All other site developers and admins on the web complain that Yahoo does this to them ALL the time. So much so that I and many others now develop sites that do NOT allow yahoo addys in registrations!
Fix your own blocking before blasting others!
Ken
Jools said,
July 1, 2009 @ 12:18 pm
Would the gradual mending of the logs be the reason why suddenly – since about 1600 hours UK time on 30 June, members on individual emails are complaining they are not receiving group mails?
Michael said,
July 1, 2009 @ 1:14 pm
This time around, I actually have something nice to say about Yahoo: I appreciate the candor about the problem with the logs, as well as the forthright, detailed explanation of where matters stand with it.
I noticed that the logs weren’t updating correctly, and came to this blog fully expecting not to find any acknowledgment of the issue, based on past experience. However, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Yahoo had not only owned up to the problem, but was actually keeping us well informed about efforts to resolve.
Honesty truly is the best policy, and I hope it’s one that Yahoo will continue to employ.
Trisha said,
July 2, 2009 @ 7:43 am
I’m getting reports of emails not coming through from the groups I moderate as well.
Leslie Rich said,
July 2, 2009 @ 10:13 am
I’m the owner of one group and a member of dozens. One minute I was able to access the list of my groups with no problem. The next, when I click on the “manage” link or the “my groups” link I get the following error message:
Sorry, Unable to process request at this time — error 999.
I can access individual groups with no problem. I can access the Yahoo Groups home page with no problem. I can access my Yahoo mail with no problem.
I can post messages with no problem.
But I cannot access a complete listing of the groups to which I belong.
Please advise!
pat said,
July 4, 2009 @ 5:02 pm
it says this issue is resolved (it is now july 4), but i just tried to access logs for one of my groups, and they are blank. i will also report to customer care.
Judith Stein said,
July 5, 2009 @ 12:31 pm
Search on my group is now showing posts after March 19, but it will not search by author. If you ask for posts after July 1 by a particular author, for example, you’ll get *all* the posts made after July 1.
Have we lost the search-by-author function for good with the new search system, or will that eventually be restored?
Jools said,
July 8, 2009 @ 4:26 am
WRONG – not fixed – problem is back again. Logs are entering things 6 hours after they occurred!! Grrr.
Eric said,
July 8, 2009 @ 7:32 pm
Messages going out from the group arrive with bands of advertising in the middle of the text. It makes it impossible to read the message. The position of the adds in the middle of the page is different from the position on the web site, so it is impossible to circumvent it.
This is something new, but unless it is fixed, the group will become unusable.
Lori said,
July 18, 2009 @ 1:40 pm
Groups are acting up today big time. Cannot post messages, get an error message when I try to do anything. Have to refresh, hit the back button, and so on to be able to do anything at all. What is up Yahoo?
www.sunsidemusic.com.br said,
August 28, 2009 @ 8:37 am
Groups are acting up today big time. Cannot post messages, get an error message when I try to do anything. Have to refresh, hit the back button, and so on to be able to do anything at all. What is up Yahoo?
howard hoyt said,
August 28, 2009 @ 9:36 am
Any REMOTE chance YAHOO will ever take spam seriously ???
Your captcha has only been broken for about a year ?
Ha-Ha, stupid me…
can spam said,
August 28, 2009 @ 10:13 am
A special shout-out of thanks from the sino-soviet criminal gangs for the millions that yahoo contributes via sloppy captcha- esp to credit card theft.
Yahoo attention to spam is especially noted by their blocking any spamcop reports.
Your ‘doin’ a heckofa job’ Yahoo.
Thanks so much,
GL said,
August 28, 2009 @ 4:15 pm
Stop changing the location of MAJOR user interface elements for no @#$W% REASON. Items that were clear over to the right of the screen are clear over to the left of the screen now. Cause MILLIONS of people to relearn a layout, asinine.
Sobhi Nashed said,
September 3, 2009 @ 5:21 am
I have not been receiving any mail at all for a long. long time. Is there any way I can get back to being a member receiving adult e-mail?
Sobhi Nashed said,
September 3, 2009 @ 5:22 am
Do I expect to get any answer to the e-mail I have just sent?
Sobhi Nashed said,
September 3, 2009 @ 5:30 am
My group used to be “BABES -IN -BLUE” hAVE i BEEN EXCLUDED FOR SOME REASON? Can I know why? My e-mail has not bee3n changed. Still you have, for some unknown reason, stopped e-mailing me as a member of the above-mentioned group.
TEWLL ME WHY.
jollyavinash said,
March 17, 2010 @ 12:37 am
Dear All
Kindly do not entertain The services given by Complete solution which is located at Bandra Alaknanada Apts .They have pathetic service and not to be trusted at all .This agency was referred by JUST DIAL . So do not trust on the services. Regards