We wrote recently about the problems created by Yahoo’s decision to prevent their emails being forwarded through mailing lists with an unaltered sending address.
At the time we talked about a couple of options we had. We’re pleased to announce that we’ve now implemented a workaround, which will allow members with Yahoo email addresses to continue to participate in mailing list discussions.
The workaround functions by altering the "from" email address of an email whenever it is from a Yahoo email account. It alters it to a "dummy" address (a black hole), but leaves the sender’s name intact so that you can still see who is sending the message. We then add a warning to the list message that the address has been changed (also informing the sender), and add the original address into the warning so that you know what it is. We also add a "reply to" setting with the original email address, if one does not already exist.
This isn’t perfect, but it does allow us to maintain all the functionality of the mailing lists that you have become used to, and still allows Yahoo senders to use them. At the moment none of the other major email providers are affected, so switching to one of those alternatives is an option to avoid this workaround.
As always, we’d be pleased to hear your feedback on this or any other issues.