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Wih Messenger Revamp, Yahoo Joins the 'Unsend' Trend (thestack.com)

Posted by timothy on from the recalling-the-bandwagon dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Yahoo has announced a new version of its almost-mothballed Messenger app, which, in addition to new integration with Flickr and Tumblr images, now permits users to 'unsend' messages at any time, a facility which Viber added last week. The ability to erase sent communication has been a dream of business and personal users for many years, and if messaging eclipses email, it seems likely to become a reality.

49 comments

  1. nice title by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    some real editing work going on here

    1. Re:nice title by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I had to read the headline 5 times to catch it, that auto-correct brain. Note to self: no editor jobs for me.

    2. Re:nice title by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      some real editing work going on here

      For some reason I read it as "Winamp" and clicked immediately.

    3. Re:nice title by Big+Hairy+Ian · · Score: 1

      Can they please unsend that press release

      --

      Build a Man a Fire, and He'll Be Warm for a Day. Set a Man on Fire, and He'll Be Warm for the Rest of His Life.

  2. Classy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Stay classy slashdot, can't even spellcheck the headline!

  3. unsend not guarenteed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    cannot guarantee that the sent content hasn't already been consumed and saved, but cool feature.

    1. Re:unsend not guarenteed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I wrote a utility that screen captures every 5 seconds and saves them for an hour, so I can go back and get anything up to an hour later. I didn't write it originally to put on my girlfriend's phone though. Nope. I would not do that!

  4. Wow ... by gstoddart · · Score: 4, Funny

    I swoon over the innovation here, and hereby retract my previous assertions Yahoo is growing irrelevant and pointless.

    Adding a feature to a product which TFS calls "almost-mothballed", that's sure to save the company!!

    My nipples crinkle in admiration.

    --
    Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    1. Re:Wow ... by crtreece · · Score: 3, Interesting

      My nipples expolode with delight!

      --
      file: .signature not found
  5. Unsend doesn't exist after delivery by pla · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Sure, go ahead and unsend all you want! I always find it hilarious when I get email recall messages that my client ignores; seeing the same thing in a real time chat should prove a real hoot!

    1. Re:Unsend doesn't exist after delivery by vux984 · · Score: 2

      that my client ignores

      The thing about messaging is you are generally locked into a client; so it'll no longer be up to you whether or not you use a client that ignores it or not.

    2. Re:Unsend doesn't exist after delivery by mentil · · Score: 2

      I connect to yahoo's servers using Pidgin. I imagine Trillian also works. I imagine the client will either ignore the unsend, or give a bolded notification "The user attempted to unsend the prior message".

      --
      Corruption is convincing someone that the selfless ideal is the same as their selfish ideal.
    3. Re:Unsend doesn't exist after delivery by zlives · · Score: 1

      screen cap

    4. Re:Unsend doesn't exist after delivery by vux984 · · Score: 1

      Only works if you have the presence of mind to take one, and you do so before the un-send goes through.

      In other words, yes, screen cap works, and always will because you can't display someone to something and simultaneously prevent them from seeing it or recording it. Even if it takes another phone taking a picture... it will be doable.

      But how many times are people going to miss that window of opportunity before something gets 'unsent' ?

    5. Re:Unsend doesn't exist after delivery by vux984 · · Score: 1

      Yeah, and if Yahoo care an iota they can block trillian and pidgin trivially. All it takes is a few certificates; and 3rd party clients are rendered useless.

    6. Re:Unsend doesn't exist after delivery by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      I thought all the IM services had changed their protocols so that open-source applications like Pidgin wouldn't work any more.

      Surely Yahoo would do this here if they haven't already.

    7. Re:Unsend doesn't exist after delivery by Jack+Griffin · · Score: 1

      The thing about messaging is you are generally locked into a client; so it'll no longer be up to you whether or not you use a client that ignores it or not.

      Except I don't know anyone that uses Yahoo for anything, so it won't be a problem. And if my IM provider tried such a thing, I'd simply change providers.
      Been nice knowing you Yahoo, whatever it is you do these days...

    8. Re:Unsend doesn't exist after delivery by Jack+Griffin · · Score: 1

      Yeah, and if Yahoo care an iota they can block trillian and pidgin trivially. All it takes is a few certificates; and 3rd party clients are rendered useless.

      And then next to go will be there customers. Good luck with that strategy...

    9. Re:Unsend doesn't exist after delivery by stephanruby · · Score: 1

      It depends if your email client uses IMAP instead of POP.

      The entire point of IMAP is that if you delete/read/change a message on one of your client programs, it will do the same on your other client programs. IMAP is actually quite handy for users who read their email on more than one device.

    10. Re:Unsend doesn't exist after delivery by vux984 · · Score: 1

      Yeah, because a significant proportion of instant messenger users using Yahoo messenger are using 3rd party clients like pidgin and trillian.

      Wait, are you trolling me?

    11. Re:Unsend doesn't exist after delivery by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      assuming this was for "revenge pics" and so more often than not.

  6. I wrote an app that Un-deletes anything I receive by gurps_npc · · Score: 1

    Because I don't like it when people delete incriminating/vicious things they said to em.

    --
    excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
  7. How young is slashdot to not remember AOL? by thewolfkin · · Score: 2

    AOL had unsend. It had unsend because everything was under their control. As far as I can tell it's the only way to do unsend and it's the first sign of a system that's entirely under their control. Send is send. You can't pull back a fired bullet and you shouldn't be trying to unsend messages either.

    --
    Just another second banana
    1. Re:How young is slashdot to not remember AOL? by chispito · · Score: 1

      AOL had unsend. It had unsend because everything was under their control. As far as I can tell it's the only way to do unsend

      Correction: There is no way to unsend if the recipient already read it.

      --
      The Daddy casts sleep on the Baby. The Baby resists!
    2. Re:How young is slashdot to not remember AOL? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I see nothing wrong with that sort of setup.

    3. Re:How young is slashdot to not remember AOL? by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      If the client application is closed-source and is the only option, then it's not hard for the service to determine if the recipient has read the message yet or not (unless they just leave it open all the time of course, I mean if they're logged off). The client app could even see if the window was minimized or obscured.

    4. Re:How young is slashdot to not remember AOL? by Provocateur · · Score: 1

      How young is slashdot not to remember AOL Uhrm this slashdot beta, still in the larval stage, A-OLd man, and its editors wear their slacks with their underwear showing, not their butt-cracks.

      --
      WARNING: Smartphones have side effects--most of them undocumented.
  8. Unsend easy to defeat by Jason+Levine · · Score: 1

    Unsend is easy to defeat, assuming someone reads it before you unsend it. Simply take a screenshot and your message will live on. In fact, it might become standard practice to refer to screenshots of messages in case someone unsends the message and then tries claiming they never said it.

    (Yes, screenshots can be faked, but it will be some proof that the message happened.)

    --
    My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
    1. Re:Unsend easy to defeat by gstoddart · · Score: 1

      If you need to take a screenshot of everything you get to prove you got it ... you either need a better job or better friends.

      Constantly having to document that something happened means you're in a pretty hostile situation.

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    2. Re:Unsend easy to defeat by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 1

      It isn't about jobs or friends. Sometimes it is about trolls and criminals. If a dirtbag sends my under age daughter a dick pic, it is going to get screen capped and sent to the police. Undelete just give false sense of security.

      --
      Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
    3. Re:Unsend easy to defeat by mlts · · Score: 1

      What might be interesting would be a signing/timestamping app that has a portion sitting on the SIM card. This way, when a screenshot is taken, it is cryptographically signed, with the private key residing in a tamper resistant area, with no way to forge when the screenshot was signed.

      As for unsend functionality, it is part of Exchange as well, but if one reads mail fairly quickly (or has a mail filter to move mail) the unsend attempt will be not successful, and tends to let the receiver know the sender wanted to take it back.

    4. Re:Unsend easy to defeat by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That makes sense, but taking a screenshot isn't a very elegant solution. You should probably file a feature request to Yahoo for an "ununsend" function, and give your example as one reason for it.

    5. Re:Unsend easy to defeat by Provocateur · · Score: 1

      Constantly having to document that something happened means you're in a pretty hostile situation Now I know how Linus Torvaldis feels, being the Jedi Master of the kernel.

      But his solution was: "ftp is my backup!" So guys can scramble all they want and cream themselves getting that snapshot. And Linus, verbal as he is, didn't waste his time backtracking what he said. All he really meant was,This is about you, not me isn't it?

      --
      WARNING: Smartphones have side effects--most of them undocumented.
    6. Re:Unsend easy to defeat by stephanruby · · Score: 1

      It isn't about jobs or friends. Sometimes it is about trolls and criminals. If a dirtbag sends my under age daughter a dick pic, it is going to get screen capped and sent to the police. Undelete just give false sense of security.

      Just make sure that the penis is attached to an at least eighteen year old dirt bag, otherwise you'd be trafficking yourself in child pornography.

  9. Wih? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Too bad Slashdot hasn't joined the "unpost" trend.

  10. time to go. by nimbius · · Score: 1

    Another good reason to ditch providers like google and yahoo. mailboxes that can have content remotely deleted by the sender should be more than enough indication that the spirit of free and open discussion fostered by email is slowly being crushed. This feature shows that Yahoo is more concerned about providing a happy and positive experience for users than an independent and standardized experience with all the liberty the internet was originally imbued with. in other words, back in my day when you clicked send, you goddamn well meant it. you were held to defend your position and challenged based on your logic and comprehension as exhibited in the message.

    so go ahead and click unsend, or recall, or whatever the options called. But dont be surprised if for all your good intentions and every respectful plea, your words are found to be quite indelible. It is, after all, being delivered to my server.

    --
    Good people go to bed earlier.
    1. Re:time to go. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is for instant messaging, not e-mail.

  11. Skype has had it for ages. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Move along, nothing to see here.

  12. Another tool by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Just another tool for those who want to rewrite history. Of course, they won't be totally erased. A copy will be kept on yahoo servers.

  13. Forced my hand by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    You cannot run the app without entering in a mobile number. They don't need my mobile number, they want it. Ditched messenger.

  14. Re:I wrote an app that Un-deletes anything I recei by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why doesn't em grow a thicker skin?

  15. Re:I wrote an app that Un-deletes anything I recei by mwehle · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Why doesn't em grow a thicker skin?

    Because em would grow too heavy, and then how could em dash?

    --
    Wir sind geboren, um frei zu sein - Rio Reiser
  16. idiotic. by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 1

    How will it stop the reciever taking screen grabs? OR save it using other methods?

    --
    sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
    1. Re:idiotic. by Jack+Griffin · · Score: 1

      How will it stop the reciever taking screen grabs? OR save it using other methods?

      Or more importantly, how will it stop customers from leaving?

  17. Re:Lack of Accountability is the Future? by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

    The conservatives are the ones that usually have a lot more kids.

  18. if messaging eclipses email by guruevi · · Score: 1

    uhoh.wav, the year 2000 called, they want their ICQ back.

    Once sent you can't unsend it on the Internet. As soon as a client refuses to implement the feature, or worse, implements a feature that highlights, tracks and uploads these, you're done for. Look at Exchange un-sending in e-mail.

    --
    Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
    1. Re:if messaging eclipses email by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      GMail unsend is fine, though. You only get n minutes to unsend (configurable, so it arms a timer to automatically send your message after n minutes so long as you haven't unsent it. It's silly but ends up being convenient and has none of these sender-narcissism or walled garden issues.

  19. Re:I wrote an app that Un-deletes anything I recei by stephanruby · · Score: 1

    Because I don't like it when people delete incriminating/vicious things they said to em.

    On a more serious note, if grandma has a yahoo email account, you guys better start explaining the new feature to her.

    It would be unfortunate if she believed that a Nigerian prince can successfully predict the winning lottery number, or the outcome of horse races.