390159 - avatars.yahoo.com - site blocks non-Firefox Gecko browsers

Status: RESOLVED INCOMPLETE

(Tech Evangelism Graveyard :: English US, defect)

Description

[Tsahi Asher]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; he-IL; rv:1.8.1.5) Gecko/20070716 SeaMonkey/1.1.3
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; he-IL; rv:1.8.1.5) Gecko/20070716 SeaMonkey/1.1.3

when you try to access http://avatars.yahoo.com/ , you are redirected to http://avatars.yahoo.com/error_browser.html, where you are suggested to use such legacy browsers as Netscape 7.2, IE 5.5 and Mozilla Suite 1.7.6.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. go to http://avatars.yahoo.com/
2. lo and behold

Actual Results:  
redirect to http://avatars.yahoo.com/error_browser.html

Expected Results:  
let me get my avatar

i exchanged a few email messages with the Yahoo support team, here they are:


Hello Tsahi,

Thank you for writing to Yahoo! Avatars.

We have forwarded a copy of your email to the Yahoo! Avatars Production
Team so that they can further investigate this problem. We appreciate
your reporting it to us. Your input helps us to constantly maintain and
improve our services.

Thank you again for contacting Yahoo! Avatars.

Regards,

Brett

Yahoo! Avatars Customer Care

For assistance with all Yahoo! services, please visit:

   http://help.yahoo.com/

New and Improved Yahoo! Mail - better than ever!



Original Message Follows:
-------------------------

hi,
it looks to me the lack of support for SeaMonkey by Yahoo Avatars is not
technical, but rather legal. i.e. you want to protect yourself from
possible damage litigations, so you only support what is explicitly
documented by Adobe. i can assure you SeaMonkey uses the same plugin
architecture as do Firefox, Netscape, and Opera. there is absolutely no
difference in behavior between SeaMonkey and Firefox, and you can check
it yourself if you want to. see this page for a semi-official
documentation about flash in SeaMonkey: http://plugindoc.mozdev.org/windows.html#Flash
. as you can see, despite what's on Adobe's web site, their flash
installer automatically detects SeaMonkey and installs itself for this
browser.

i would assume Adobe wouldn't want to spend resources on extensive
testing of every browser out there, but since the only difference is the
user-interface of the browser, i don't believe such testing is required.

in short, there is no technical reason to block SeaMonkey from accessing
and using Yahoo Avatars.

Tsahi

--
The day Micro$oft sells something that doesn`t SUCK
is the day they start selling vacuum cleaners.
http://www.geocities.com/tsahi_75

----- Original Message ----
From: Yahoo! Avatars <[e-mail]>
To: Tsahi Asher <[e-mail]>
Sent: Monday, July 9, 2007 7:45:59 PM
Subject: Re: Technical Question - Avatars in Messenger    
(KMM99389289V38092L0KM)

Hello Tsahi,

Thank you for writing to Yahoo! Avatars.

We understand you have questions concerning the browser support offered
for Yahoo! Avatars.

Yahoo! Avatars are created using Adobe Flash, which is where we derive
our supported browser list from. Currently, the list of supported
browsers Adobe offers support for its Flash Player can be found at the
following address; unfortunately at this time it does not include
SeaMonkey:

- http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/productinfo/systemreqs/

We have reviewed the SeaMonkey and Mozilla Suite packages, but since
Adobe does not currently offer supported functionality for their Flash
Plug-in, we do not have those browsers listed as supported browsers as
we cannot guarantee the required Flash Player components would function
properly with those web browsers.

We apologize for any inconveniences this may have caused and appreciate
you contacting us in regards to this issue.

If there is anything more we may be of assistance with, please feel free
to contact us further.

Thank you again for contacting Yahoo! Avatars.

Regards,

Brett

Yahoo! Customer Care

For assistance with all Yahoo! services please visit:
  
   http://help.yahoo.com/

New and Improved Yahoo! Mail - better than ever!



Original Message Follows:
-------------------------

hi,
just to make things clear, SeaMonkey is a web browser and internet
suite, based on Mozilla Suite (and very similar to Netscape Navigator
7.2, which you recommend  on that error page). it has the same rendering
engine, and therefore the same capabilities, as the latest Firefox. see
it's web site at http://www.mozilla.org/projects/seamonkey/ .

now, to your other questions:
* IE version: irrelevant. using SeaMonkey 1.1.2
* Windows XP SP2
* Adobe Flash 9.0 r28
* yahoo id: tsahi_75
* not using IE, so no "error on page" message.

there's no privacy protection software installed.

there's just a broken yahoo web site.

thanks,
Tsahi Asher.


--
The day Micro$oft sells something that doesn`t SUCK
is the day they start selling vacuum cleaners.
http://www.geocities.com/tsahi_75

----- Original Message ----
From: Yahoo! Avatars <[e-mail]>
To: Tsahi Asher <[e-mail]>
Sent: Sunday, July 8, 2007 12:55:55 AM
Subject: Re: Technical Question - Avatars in Messenger  
(KMM99270687V45319L0KM)

Hello Tsahi,

Thank you for writing to Yahoo! Avatars.

If you are having problems with Yahoo! Avatars, we'd like to help you.
However, there was not enough information in your email for us to
provide you with a detailed answer.
    
If you would like assistance resolving any more difficulties, please
respond to this email describing the difficulty you are having in as
much detail as possible. The more details we have the easier it will be
for us to help you with the issue.

* The full version of Internet Explorer. You may find this by selecting
"About" from the "Help" menu. This version will contain a number of '.'
separators.
  
* The version of the Windows Operating System you are using. You can
find this information in the "System" control panel.
  
* The full version of the Macromedia Flash Player.
  
* The Yahoo! ID you are using to access Yahoo! Avatars.
  
* If there is an error message, or an "Errors on Page" message, please
click the yellow triangle next to the text "Errors on Page" and reply to
this email with that information.

Please let us know if you have any of the following installed on your
computer:

* Firewall
* Anti Pop-Up Software
* Privacy Protection Software
* Third-Party toolbars for IE

Thank you again for contacting Yahoo! Avatars.

Regards,

Maggie

Yahoo! Customer Care

For assistance with all Yahoo! services please visit:
  
   http://help.yahoo.com/

New and Improved Yahoo! Mail - better than ever!



Original Message Follows:
-------------------------

Mail-Id: 1183841894-5827
"Name:" : Tsahi
"Yahoo! ID:" : tsahi_75
"Email Address:" : [e-mail]
"Yes" : Not set by user
"Subject:" : Avatars in Messenger
"Additional Information" : while trying to access yahoo avatars with my
fully updated, gecko 1.8 powered SeaMonkey, i was redirected to http://avatars.yahoo.com/error_browser.html
, where i was advised to download 2 years old browsers to access the
site. you should know that SeaMonkey 1.1 have the same rendering engine
as the latest Firefox, so no issues should arise for accessing the site
with this browser.
please correct your browser detection, so that any gecko powered browser
can access the site, regardless of the vendor of the specific browser.
While Viewing: http://avatars.yahoo.com/error_browser.html

Form Name: http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/avatars/general.html

Yahoo ID: tsahi_75 : Yahoo id from cookie  
"https://amt.yahoo.com/amt/dosearch?.token=3hhBO5_ybvHZ6rAV7tXAD8AVFhHCl
g5aS9Q4nn5d"


Other ID:

Browser: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; he-IL; rv:1.8.1.4)
Gecko/20070509 SeaMonkey/1.1.2

Comment 1

[Chris Lawson (gone)]

Yep. Idiots. Just because Adobe is wrong on their site doesn't mean that Yahoo should perpetuate the wrongness. This is also a problem with Camino, and presumably any other Gecko browser that does not give a user-agent specifically identified as "supported".

Comment 2

[Chris Lawson (gone)]

INCOMPLETE due to lack of activity since the end of 2009.

If someone is willing to investigate the issues raised in this bug to determine whether they still exist, *and* work with the site in question to fix any existing issues, please feel free to re-open and assign to yourself.

Sorry for the bugspam; filter on "NO MORE PRE-2010 TE BUGS" to remove.