Last month, Yahoo began offering a way for users to "stalk" up to five usernames for $1.99 -- basically from inactive accounts that will now be up for grabs. However, now those people with a new recycled Yahoo ID are finding they're also receiving a lot of email . . . for the previous user.
"It started off with some stuff from catalogs and clothing companies and I thought, 'That's fine, I'll just unsubscribe.' I figured I'd have to deal with a little of that," Scott Newman told InformationWeek. "But then I started getting emails with court information, airline confirmations, a funeral announcement saying someone had just died -- it was nuts."
Perhaps in response to this story, or many similar complaints, Yahoo launched a "Not My Email" button on its email to "train" the new users' inboxes not to collect email that doesn't concern them, according to TechCrunch. \
Despite Yahoo's somewhat laissez-faire attitude, many critics have cited the recycled names could have consequences for user security, especially for those whose email addresses are linked to credit cards or other payment information, InformationWeek reported.
The new button will begin rollout this week and should help send misdirected email to the big spam folder in the sky, but likely that will take a few weeks or months for the email application to actually get right.
