I use Yahoo Mail and one thing that always bugs me is, when my session expires, they show me a page explaining why my session expired with a link that I have to click on to re-login. Why can’t the login form be on that very page? Yes, it’s just one click, but I’m lazy and it seems to make for better usability, no? So I send them feedback suggesting this and I get a canned response that doesn’t address the issue. Thinking maybe I wasn’t clear enough, I sent the following feedback again, reworded to make my point clearer:

Right now, when my mail session expires, I have to click a link to login again. It would be nice to be able to login again from that very page that is telling me why my session expired.

Please note that I understand the need for expiring sessions. I’m not complaining about this safeguard. I’m just suggesting that a login form be added on the page that explains session expirations so that users don’t have to click a link to login again.

But I got the exact same canned response. I would prefer a simple “No thanks, we don’t want to do this” to this gobbletygook that doesn’t address the issue at all, especially after I made it a point to clarify that I understand session expirations and have no problems with that:

Hello Eric,

Thank you for writing to Yahoo! Mail.

You will see the message “Your login session has expired” if it has been
more than eight hours since you last signed in to Yahoo! Mail and you
did not click the “Sign Out” or link at the end of your session. We
display this message and request password verification as a safeguard
for Yahoo! Mail users who use public or shared computers.

You may also want to check your Account Information. If you have chosen
to be prompted for a password more frequently than every eight hours,
your session will expire after the specified amount of time. To change
this, please follow these steps:

1. Sign In to your Yahoo! Mail account.
2. Click the “My Yahoo!” link, located at the top right-hand corner
of the page.
3. On the password verification page, enter your password in the
field provided.
4. Once you are at your “My Yahoo!” page, click the “Account
Information” link.
5. On the Yahoo! Account Information screen, click on the “Edit”
button next to the Member Information section.
6. Under “General Preferences”, change your Password Prompt to
whichever time you wish.
7. Click the “Finish” button to activate your changes.

Please note that opening another browser window and signing in to a
second Yahoo! Mail account will automatically sign you out of the first.
When you return to the first account, clicking on any link will give you
the “Your login session has expired” message.

If you repeatedly receive the message “Your login session has expired”
or are repeatedly cycled back to the “Sign In” screen with no error
message after entering your ID and password, your user cookie is
probably not being set properly.

There are a number of reasons why your cookie may not be set properly.
We have listed these reasons in order from easiest to hardest in order
to save you from taking unnecessary steps:

I. The date on your computer is set incorrectly. Since cookies rely
on dates, a computer with an incorrect date may “mislead” your browser
into forgetting about your cookie. To fix this, simply set the correct
time and date on your computer.

II. You have installed an application that monitors/blocks cookies
from being sent. These include virus protection software, etc. To remedy
this, simply disable the monitoring application before signing in.

III. You are behind a firewall that doesn’t allow you to receive
cookies. This is sometimes the case for users connecting from a business
intranet that limits cookie acceptance for security reasons. To check if
this is a factor, contact your Systems Administrator.

IV. Your browser is not set to accept cookies. Most browsers have the
option of either accepting all cookies, showing an alert before
accepting a cookie, or not accepting cookies at all. In order to use
Yahoo! Mail, your browser must be set to accept all cookies without
alerts. If your browser gives you the option to accept all cookies, you
should choose it. If your browser gives you the option to show an alert
before accepting a cookie, you should not select it. Below are the
setting instructions for several popular browser types.

When making these adjustments, be sure to confirm any changes you make
by clicking the “OK” button in the Options window.

Netscape versions 7.x:

1. Click the “Edit” menu and select “Preferences”.
2. Click “Privacy & Security” in the left-hand column then “Cookies”.
2. Check “Enable cookies based on privacy settings”. Clicking the “View”
button will allow you to set your privacy settings. Be sure these are
set to Medium or Low.

Netscape 6.x:

1. Click the “Edit” menu and select “Preferences”.
2. Click “Privacy & Security” in the left-hand column then “Cookies”.
2. Check “Enable cookies based on privacy settings”. Clicking the “View”
button will allow you to set your privacy settings. Be sure these are
set to Medium or Low.

Netscape versions 4.x:

1. Click Options/Network Preferences/Protocols
2. Un-check the option “Show an alert before accepting a cookie”

Internet Explorer 6.x for Windows:

1. Click the “Tools” menu and select “Internet Options”
2. Click on the “Security” tab
3. Make sure the security level is at either Medium or Low

Internet Explorer 5.x for Windows:

1. Click the “Tools” menu and select “Internet Options”
2. Click on the “Security” tab
3. Make sure the security level is at either Medium or Low

* Other:
If you are running a browser other than those listed above and would
like more information on whether your browser supports cookies, please
refer to your browser’s help file.

V. Your browser’s cookie files are corrupted. Corrupted cookie files
sometimes cease to support Yahoo! Mail. Try shutting all of your
browser’s windows, and then deleting the cookie files in your browser’s
directories. Usually, these files will be called simply “Cookies”. As
always, be sure that you have selected the proper files before actually
deleting them.

VI. Your browser is corrupted. If the above suggestions have not
helped you to solve the problem, it may be that your browser itself is
corrupted. The easiest solution may be to try another browser (if you
have one) on your computer. You may wish to reinstall your current
browser as well by finding the original installation file and repeating
the install process. As a last resort, you can download a new browser,
or an updated version of your present browser, from the web. Note that
this may take a while, depending on the speed of your Internet
connection.

The Netscape browser can be found at:

http://home.netscape.com/download/

The Internet Explorer browser can be found at:

http://www.microsoft.com/ie/download/

Thank you again for contacting Yahoo! Customer Care.

Sigh. Never mind. It’s free, what can I expect? But I would hope that even if my businesses grow, I don’t acquire a faceless drone image that Corporate America is infamous for.