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Sunday, 18 January 2009
Lycos is not shutting down it's Tripod and Mail Services

In an article appearing this morning, TechCrunch erroneously reported that Lycos will be closing its Tripod and Lycos Mail services on Feb. 15.  The information contained in the blog posting pertains to Lycos Europe products and services and affects Lycos Europe users only.

The closing of these two products by Lycos Europe does not impact Lycos users in the U.S.  Lycos, Inc. and Lycos Europe are two completely separate entities and business units.  Lycos, Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Daum Communications, Corp., while Lycos Europe is owned by Telefonica.  Late last year, Lycos Europe's parent company announced  it would be shutting down its operations and seeking a sale of its remaining assetts. 

Lycos Inc. (www.lycos.com) continues to operate social media, publishing and search services including both Tripod and Lycos Mail. Currently, Tripod is the #17 social networking site worldwide (comScore MM Dec. 2008), with millions of member pages hosted, published and visited each month.

A message has been posted to the Tripod Community assuring all Tripod members that Tripod is not shutting down and all free and paid member sites are just fine. 

Lycos reached out to Mr. Arrington directly, requesting an immediate correction to the erroneous posting.  An updated post is now live; but still contains the wrong logo.


Posted by buzz at 1:31 PM EST
Post Comment | View Comments (148) | Permalink

Wednesday, 21 January 2009 - 1:12 AM EST

Name: "michael (formertopdog)"

Hi Jamie

Thanks for keeping the flames burning at Tripod - glad to hear you are not shutting down. Best to the Tripod and Angelfire team!

 

Michael

Thursday, 22 January 2009 - 5:36 AM EST

Name: sally5034
Home Page: http://sally5034.tripod.com

So can I assume all Australian tripod sites will be ok then?

Thursday, 29 January 2009 - 7:12 AM EST

Name: jesselliot
Home Page: http://www.jesselliotperrodeagua.com

We are very confused as we have received emails from lycos.co.uk to say they are closing and that we should transfer to Strato.

We tried this but as we have a .com address it won't work, it will only allow .co.uk with UK based home addresses.

Our website is .com, so does this affect us? We live in Spain an as far as we are aware our provider is lycos.com from USA.

 Can someone please clarify whether the shutdown affects us or not. We only now have avery short time to find an alternative if it does.

Thursday, 29 January 2009 - 1:21 PM EST

Name: "Thomas"
Home Page: http://www.thomasfwhite.net

I hope they don't shut down their servers.  It would be a shame to lose such a great server.

Thursday, 12 February 2009 - 6:35 PM EST

Name: "S Tero"

This situation requires IMMEDIATE clarification for UK and European users!

Friday, 13 February 2009 - 3:53 PM EST

Name: "Pam Lord"
Home Page: http://margalite.net

How can I know if my site http://margalite.net is US or Uk based? I live in Israel, the site is in Hebrew, taking up 60+ pages.

 

thanks

Tuesday, 17 February 2009 - 7:01 PM EST

Name: "Mr Mac.."

I think the whole UK/European closure of the email services was a shambles. Admittedly Lycos sent emails out to all the email subscribers, but there was absolutely no contact email for people to ask questions or even an opportunity to migrate their accounts to a US based lycos.com one (which would have been some consolation!)

As a long standing lycos fan (having an email account with them for over 12 years) - this is incredibly poor and surely damaging to the brand.

Looks like i'll have to get one of those new fangled hotmail ones now..sniff..  :-p

Adios black dog its been fun!   :-(

Monday, 23 February 2009 - 11:54 PM EST

Name: "S. Kirscher"

Question, if Lycos UK is the only one effected, then why can't I reach lycos.com or mail.lycos.com today? Are the servers down? What's going on?!? Was trying to log into my mail today and every time i try reaching anything related to lycos.com times out!

 

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,

S. Kirscher

Tuesday, 3 March 2009 - 8:42 PM EST

Name: "Azucena"

Did you have any luck since then? I could access it until Feb 28, but I have been unable to access the lycos home page since Sunday March 1st.

Saturday, 25 April 2009 - 4:19 AM EDT

Name: "Nails"
Home Page: http://de.nailfreaks.com/forum/

I remember Tripod from my early days. Disappearing of it, would mean loosing a bit nostalgy

Sunday, 31 May 2009 - 8:27 PM EDT

Name: "Leesa"

My question is why am I being asked to purchase a package before I can get on to my site.  Never before, just today...What is up with the free account changing to  "must purchase" with no warning?

Sunday, 31 May 2009 - 8:35 PM EDT

Name: "tank"

this is crap! no warning atall!

Sunday, 31 May 2009 - 8:36 PM EDT

Name: "Russell"

I agree! This is crazy. It is ransom to close of access to our accounts with NO notice and expect us to pay to be able to access it again. Why would I want to give money to a company that works this way?! If anyone wants to do something about this, you can email me at rustyrobot@gmail.com  Surely we can do something, even i it's just doing our best to sully the name of Lycos.

Sunday, 31 May 2009 - 8:49 PM EDT

Name: "Jeremy"

Exactly, the company has to at leas allow its users an ample amount of time to retrieve their data if they don't wish to pay.  I have important information in my e-mail that I have to have and am not able to get because of this.  This can't be legal at all, to essentially kidnap our e-mail.  Has anyone heard or contacted lycos about this and found anything out?

Sunday, 31 May 2009 - 8:51 PM EDT

Name: "unlistedmoniker"

We are clearly dealing with dirtbags here.  The best advice I have is to contact the attorney general for whatever state you reside in.  I will not be bowing to this blackmail either.

 

If you are in dire straights and in need of obtaining access to your account right now, pay the dirtbags their 19.95, and then file the complaint with the attorney general's office.  But under no circumstances should you simply ignore a maneuver this ignorant and obnoxious. 

Sunday, 31 May 2009 - 9:00 PM EDT

Name: "Dawn Dy"

but you're shutting down your free email service right? 

Sunday, 31 May 2009 - 9:01 PM EDT

Name: "Clint"

Yo'  What's the deal with having to pay $19.95 with no warning!!!  This is awful!   I wasn't aware they were going to do this... shouldn't they have sent everyone a couple of emails about this first?  It's not that I wouldn't mind paying the money... it's just that there are so many glitches in their system now... I don't feel like I would be getting my money's worth.

 

Sunday, 31 May 2009 - 9:10 PM EDT

Name: "Ctaylor"

If nothing is happening to Lycos why can I no longer get in to my mail?  Why is Lycos demanding that I pay $19.95 to continue?  

Sunday, 31 May 2009 - 9:13 PM EDT

Name: "Greg"

The stock market is going to smell the desperation in this sudden $20 per year fee.  Not high-grade enough to charge $10/month, not getting enough adds to make it free... must be doing worse across the board.

Sunday, 31 May 2009 - 9:17 PM EDT

Name: "SeeP"

I can't believe that without any warning Lycos has decided to restrict access to those who had free email accounts.  WTF!?

Sunday, 31 May 2009 - 9:23 PM EDT

Name: "Svd"

What ever Happened ???  I am accessing my email from California, US.

 I was never informed about anything. No emails from the Lycos Team.

 I even opened my email today morning...

But suddenly today evening ,May 31st 2009 , I am not able to access my Free lycos email account. I am being asked to pay 19.95 $ to continue.

 This is sheer atrocity.. No notification in email about closure. .Not I am being forced to google and search for information on the lycos email situation.  And all my emails are locked up with these guys .. ?

Sunday, 31 May 2009 - 9:33 PM EDT

Name: "Sue2"

Hey...what's up with the "No Notice"?????  That is highway robbery! No common courtesy.

Sunday, 31 May 2009 - 9:36 PM EDT

Name: "OUSAMA"

This is just a sad awakening to how we actually have little to no control over a company when we're not paying for the service. I'm sure in their "updated terms of use" policy, that there is a clause that allows them (the Lycos executive fuckers) to pull the rug out from under us. I like a lot of you have a lot of important information in my account. If they had one decent bone in their body they would have given us a warning instead of trying to extort 19.95 from all of us. And that's EXACTLY what this is EXTORTION. It is a criminal act and punishable under law. So I suggest you contact all your elected representative in your area and even in the federal level and get your tax monies worth from your politicians. 

Also, since you have time since you can't get at your email, Do some digging and find out who is in charge at lycos and where they are located, so you, me and many others can get in their faces and have a little "chat" with the criminal cowards !  

Sunday, 31 May 2009 - 9:41 PM EDT

Name: "fiero850"

This unannounced tactic is the pits. How about a mass phone-in to the Lycos public relations Monday morning - swamp the phone line:

Lycos PR Dept.

781-370-2853 

Sunday, 31 May 2009 - 9:42 PM EDT

Name: "anonymous"

Yeah! this is so unfair! no warning whatsoever? now i wont be able to retrieve my emails?  no, i'm NOT going to pay !!!! You could have at least sent some notice!

Sunday, 31 May 2009 - 9:44 PM EDT

Name: "Jonas Johansson"

Lycos is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Daum Communications Corp., a leading search and Internet portal in Korea, and has its U.S. headquarters in Waltham, Massachusetts.

 

I'm located in Sweden and can't do much. Perhaps some of you guys can contact the Ma people.

 

No doubt we can't expect lycos to offer this fantastic service for free forever but some warning time would've been the decent thing to give. @Lycos: as a user I'm grateful for a great service provided over the years but right now you're loosing goodwill rapidly. 

Sunday, 31 May 2009 - 9:51 PM EDT

Name: "Greg"

Hey Jonas, 

thanks for the tip on Waltham Ma office. I wonder if that PR number was  just from the lycos PR dept want us to not take outside action. I would suggest calling the news assignment desk of all the major news  broadcast companies such as CNN, ABC, CNBC etc. It will not only make Lycos look bad, but will also shed a bad light on all free email providers. This will help put pressure on Lycos.  

Sunday, 31 May 2009 - 9:53 PM EDT

Name: "Janet"

THIS IS EXTORTION.  I WILL CONTACT THE ATTORNEY

GENERAL OF MY STATE - ILLINOIS.

Sunday, 31 May 2009 - 9:53 PM EDT

Name: "upset"

Lycos Management Team

The Lycos Management team includes a strong group of experienced leaders from a variety of industry backgrounds. Many members of the management team have been working in the Internet industry from its inception, and have demonstrated a proven track record of success. There are a number of key executives who come from high-profile companies with more traditional media industry experience, while others have been with Lycos for more than seven years. Their depth of overall business experience provides Lycos with a strong, agile and talented senior management team that has been instrumental in the company's success.


Jungwook Lim, Chief Executive Officer

Jungwook Lim directs and oversees all Lycos Corporate business functions supporting a large portfolio of Web products. A proven new media and communications executive, Jungwook brings an expertise in consumer experience, product innovation, revenue, sales, marketing and business development. As the former Chief Executive Officer of the Chosun Ilbo JNS, Japanese subsidiary of Chosun Ilbo, a top daily Korean newspaper, Jungwook comes to Lycos with extensive international business experience developing and implementing successful corporate strategies with expertise in corporate development and global business expansion.

Prior to joining Lycos, Jungwook had held several management positions at Daum Communications Corp. including Vice President, Global Center, Knowledge Officer & Vice President of External Affairs Office, and Head of Service Innovation Division. Lycos was acquired Daum Communications Corp. in Oct. 2004. Daum Communications Corp. is traded on the KOSDAQ: 035720, www.daum.net.

Jungwook holds an MBA degree from the Walter A. Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley, and earned a B.A. in Business Administration from the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies.


Kevin Baillie, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operating Officer

Kevin Baillie is responsible for the financial and administrative operations of Lycos including finance, legal, human resources, management information systems and facilities. In addition to his financial and administrative responsibilities, Kevin is responsible for Lycos Search, Gamesville, the Tripod and Angelfire web publishing properties, and the company's technology and operational infrastructure. Kevin rejoined Lycos in June 2005 as Chief Financial Officer. He previously worked at Lycos from 1998 through 2003, most recently as Corporate Controller. During his previous tenure with Lycos he was responsible for the financial due diligence and integration of a dozen acquisitions including Wired, Quote, Gamesville, Matchmaker and Raging Bull. Kevin was responsible for Lycos' public SEC filings, including a $450 million secondary public offering, as well as the financial accounting and structuring of several international joint ventures and the financial reporting integration of Lycos into Terra Networks as part of their business combination in 2000.p>

Prior to joining Lycos, Kevin was employed by Ernst & Young LLP from 1991 through 1998, most recently as Manager in the Entrepreneurial Services and Technology groups. While at Ernst & Young, he provided audit and consulting services to both privately held and publicly traded organizations, primarily in the technology and entertainment industries.

Kevin has been a licensed Certified Public Accountant in the State of Massachusetts since 1994. He holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Sunday, 31 May 2009 - 10:00 PM EDT

Name: "sm"

I just emailed Public Relations about this.

Here is the email for them.

Public.Relations@lycos-inc.com

Sunday, 31 May 2009 - 10:01 PM EDT

Name: "ANONYMOUS"

Lycos Public Relations Dept.:  781-370-2991

Lycos Customer Service Dept.: 781-370-2688

 You can call at any time and leave a voice mail message.  Don't wait till Monday a.m.  Start calling now to protest this extortion.

Sunday, 31 May 2009 - 10:15 PM EDT

Name: "BILL"

CEO - Junkwook Lim

CFO - Kevin Ballie

Lycos Head Office: (781) 370-2700 

100  5th Ave.  

Waltham, MA, 02451,

googlemaps link: http://maps.google.ca/maps?hl=en&safe=off&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=0,0,14441693889903249752&fb=1&split=1&gl=ca&dq=Lycos+Waltham&daddr=100+5th+Ave,+Waltham,+MA+02451,+United+States&geocode=8681329793275366349,42.393662,-71.255855&ei=zTYjStiUEZmuMvjr1LgJ&sa=X&oi=local_result&ct=directions-to&resnum=1 

Sunday, 31 May 2009 - 10:17 PM EDT

Name: "Jonas"

You're reading my thoughts Greg ;-). I'm sure a little publicity may make Lycos realize that this step of them was not the best from PR point of view. I really used to like Lycos but if they continuethis path their reputation will suffer. The times are bad and no doubt their bus

Sunday, 31 May 2009 - 10:21 PM EDT

Name: "Disgruntled Former Lycos Fan"

What's up with Lycos? Why did such a great company suddenly decide to shaft so many people? If they had given us some warning of a changeover, I would have seriously considered the subscrition plan, but I don't want to have anything to do with a company that takes my e-mail hostage.

I don't negotiate with terrorists!

Sunday, 31 May 2009 - 10:27 PM EDT

Name: "Dave"

How can a company stop delivering e-mails with no warning? If it was their intention to start charging everyone, at least notify us in advance! 

Sunday, 31 May 2009 - 10:28 PM EDT

Name: "pallen"

What gives with the charge for email all of a sudden?

Sunday, 31 May 2009 - 10:32 PM EDT

Name: "Greg"

Yes, Definitely get on the phone to your National News broadcaster. I work in the news business so I know how if even a good hand full of people are calling in on this that they will make it a national story. Imagine if CNN brings up the fact that yahoo or Gmail could do this. Is you email Safe??

When calling a broadcaster ask for the assignment desk or who you could talk to about reporting a national/ international story. The more people that call in, the better chance it'll hit the airway. Lets shame them into giving us access to our email for at least a little while.  

Sunday, 31 May 2009 - 10:32 PM EDT

Name: "Jennifer"

I cannot belive this!! All my emails gone???!!! We need to do something about this.!!!Unreal.....

Sunday, 31 May 2009 - 10:33 PM EDT

Name: "lakefront5"

pay 19.95 to someone that steals email from me

i do not think so

what will they do with my creditcard number who knnows what they will do next

they have showed they can not be trusted

Sunday, 31 May 2009 - 10:35 PM EDT

Name: "TIM"

KEVIN BAILLIE (CFO) 

DIRECT LINE

781-370-2737 

Sunday, 31 May 2009 - 10:46 PM EDT

Name: "ctaylor"

Lycos Public Relations Dept.:  781-370-2991

Lycos Customer Service Dept.: 781-370-2688

 You can only leave messages on these. The customer service number is a customer service billing number and is only for people already paying. 

I've left messages on both and emailed Public Relations. I have also emailed CNN and CNBC. My advice is to contact as many media outlets as possible to get word out that Lycos is making a money demand to upgrade your service while continuing to bar you from accessing your mail.  Again I don't recalll any warning.  They may be within their rights, but it's still lousy PR (especially without warning).

Sunday, 31 May 2009 - 10:57 PM EDT

Name: "Josh"

WTF is wrong with Lycos? Talk of alienating your customers who have been with yoru sorry asses for years? WTF is wrong withem? Did one of their Ivy League educated executives get an itch or something? WTF is this $19.95 business all about? I mean this is like someone stabbing you from behnd on the streets. Do they relaize the avalance of bad publicity that they are going to generate? The uber-smart kid at Lycos who must;ve come up with this crap must be thinking us to be fools to paty goddamn $19.95. well, **** them!!! And, what makes it worse is this heinsouly underhanded way in which they slapped this chrage on ususpecting customers. I say revolt!!! We need an electronic tea party to ask these arrogant, white collared suits to buzz off.

Sunday, 31 May 2009 - 11:09 PM EDT

Name: "prmason59"

$19.95 a year to read all those viagra emails, I think not!

There are too many other, better, free email services. 

Bye Lycos!

Sunday, 31 May 2009 - 11:12 PM EDT

Name: "ctaylor"

I just opened up a gmail account and attempted using gmail to import all my stuff from Lycos.  Gmail couldn't do it!  I got a message that stated "Could not validate this combination of email address and password." which is ridiculous. So Lycos appears to be holding my emails hostage until I pay them. 

Sunday, 31 May 2009 - 11:18 PM EDT

Name: "GV"

Can this captcha be any worse?

Sunday, 31 May 2009 - 11:20 PM EDT

Name: "Jason"

$19.95 to rescue my email? A notice or something would have been nice.

I am glad I choose an email provider that has good ethics with the public.

Sunday, 31 May 2009 - 11:21 PM EDT

Name: "M. Higgins"

I find it in very bad taste that a respectable company such as yourself would alienate your customer base by thrusting this charge upon us. 

Had I been sent a notice, regarding the charge in advance, I would have glady paid my fee and would have continued to use your services...

 

but this doesn't make since. Why alienate your supporters? Until I hear an explanation or an apology I will continue to march against your company, and warn those of your underhanded tactics.

 

This is underhanded, and wrong. During these times you should be displaying the fact that your servers are solid, and that you will continue to not falter in your pre-arranged services, rather than caving into a quick dollar as the rest of the country has.

Sunday, 31 May 2009 - 11:21 PM EDT

Name: "Bryan Gibbs"

Yes, it could be - "pay $19.95 to read this captcha image".

 Has someone got time/resources to set up a website so we can consolidate our complaints incase they close down this forum?

Something like:

 Like Arse - only stinkier

 LyCOST (black)mail

Sunday, 31 May 2009 - 11:25 PM EDT

Name: "GV"

But really, this is unbelievable. How many of us had important information and online accounts tied to lycos email addresses?  To suddently, WITHOUT WARNING, hold our online identities sealed away from our grasp until we pay for the right to view information legally ours, is simply a terrible, unacceptable business practice.

 

I hope this is a mistake, or a prank, or at least unintentional.

 

To the powers that be at Lycos: please at least let us access our personal information so we can transfer our important personal accounts away from this email service before you sweep it away.

 

Thank you.

Sunday, 31 May 2009 - 11:28 PM EDT

Name: "Jonas"

To all:

All I want now is access to my accounts for some time so I can notice people the mail will stop working. Then Lycos can save some cents on server and bandwith costs and hopefully prosper in the future.

However I second Greg's suggestion to notice various news media. I have tried a few but  I assume complaints from outside the US have less impact, so I recommend those of you located in the US to do what you can. On the other hand may a little international PR can't hurt either. 

To Lycos: I hope you understand people are disappointed at you. Perhaps this is some clever marketing trick. Now you got our attention -how will you make sure you won't loose your good reputation?

Sunday, 31 May 2009 - 11:31 PM EDT

Name: "Dennis"

I used the email at 4:30 EDT

Something like this happened one time before on a Sunday night when they were doing service. 

My email does not work now at 11:30 EDT

Sunday, 31 May 2009 - 11:38 PM EDT

Name: "Baffled"

I have had Lycos for 12 years there is a lot of data there along with kids school notices ect... I can't pay for this stuff now WTF?! This is total BS!!!!

Sunday, 31 May 2009 - 11:41 PM EDT

Name: "Jasmine"

Gosh, the same happened to me this morning right after i logged in once, the next i wanted to check my email, they told me to pay! Now i dont know how to retrieve the datas i have in lycos :((

Sunday, 31 May 2009 - 11:49 PM EDT

Name: "User since 1997"

No grace period.  No warnings.  I this fraud.  Did someone hack the website. 

Sunday, 31 May 2009 - 11:50 PM EDT

Name: "Balu"

I am using Lycos mail for past 12 Yrs. Today i am not able to access the mail and the lycos team asks me to $19.95 without any indimation.

it is totally not good..  They might gave some short notice

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 12:06 AM EDT

Name: "ToEvil"

This does suck mager behind. I use this account for all of my important things because they have one of the best spam blockers. I recenly made a UPS order and had to return it but now I cannot access the information they sent so that I could return the items I purchased. Are they gonna pay for these patent leather, stilletto boots that were sized for me incorrectly?

 

Not to mention all my job offers and information go to this account. Even if Lycos was within their rights to try and make people pay it will generate a lot of bad PR. I hope it really is like my boyfriend suggested and someone hacked the home page and jacked it up for credit card information, even that would be better for Lycos than stooping to holding people's e-mail hostage.

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 12:09 AM EDT

Name: "Ruben Cabreros"

Why is it that lycos requires old account users like me to upgrade (US$19.95) and can't access our emails without any notice? I can't access my emails since this morning of June 1, 2009.

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 12:12 AM EDT

Name: "unhappy"

I, too, am locked out of my Lycos email and very confused.  I just logged in 2 days ago!  I have many important emails and infomation sitting in that account.  Boo hiss on Lycos!  I will be trying to call all the numbers others have posted and will be emailing the PR office.  What kind of company forces people to pay 19.95 without warning to get their own emails???

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 12:14 AM EDT

Name: "Matt"

Bad businese for sure, bad marketing for sure, but I believe what Lycos is pulling here is also ILLEGAL. You cannot modify a leagal agreement - (the one we all agreed to when we signed up for a FREE e-mail account) without BOTH parties consent. We can sign up for $19.95, or we can agree to go away, however we must 1st be given the opportunity under the contract to walk, close accounts take OUR information with us. Shutting our accounts and deletion of our important information, documents and contacts is THEFT!

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 12:22 AM EDT

Name: "ealewis"

I am hoping this login issue is a glitch, but their agreement does not instill much trust:

"Lycos may at any time and for any reason terminate the Service, terminate this Agreement, or suspend or terminate your account. In the event of termination, your account will be disabled and you may not be granted access to your account or any files or other content contained in your account although residual copies of information may remain in our system. Except as set forth above or unless Lycos has previously canceled or terminated your use of the Services (in which case subsequent notice by Lycos shall not be required), if you have provided an alternate e-mail address, Lycos will notify you via e-mail of any such termination or cancellation, which shall be effective immediately upon Lycos's delivery of such notice."

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 12:28 AM EDT

Name: "Unbelievable"

I'm very shocked and very upset that all of a sudden, and WITHOUT ANY ADVANCE WARNING, I cannot access my Lycos e-mail account without paying $19.95. Shouldn't Lycos at least give us the option of retrieving all of our data if we don't want to pay for e-mail and move all our stuff? I have so much important information stored there, as well as most of my personal contacts.

If Lycos is reading, we deserve an answer! And a way to get our data out of there. 

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 12:35 AM EDT

Name: "LM"

I agree that we need to make the media aware of this.  This is completely outrageous. 

I have two email accounts, one business and one personal.  My personal account is about 10 years old.  No way am I paying $40, especially when the primary vendor of my business stopped accepting lycos emails a few months ago because they think they are spam!  The only reason I hadn't switched my business account yet was because I'm planning on getting a new address associated with a website we're building.  I still need to get access to my data NOW, though.  If they had notified me in advance, I would have considered paying the fee to keep my personal account, because so many people have that address.

On top of that, what is the guarantee that our information hasn't already been deleted?  Has anyone paid for the "upgrade" yet?  I'm afraid that even if we pay the $19.95 we could discover an email account that's been wiped clean, no emails, no addresses, nothing!

I have emailed CNN, MSNBC, and CBS in the hopes of getting a story on the news tomorrow!

Here are links to submit news tips:

For CNN:

http://www.cnn.com/feedback/tips/newstips.html

MSNBC:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18616878/

And the Consumer Alert for CBS news:

scams@cbsnews.com

That's all I found for now.  The more people who email or call them, the more likely the story will be to hit the news!  Hopefully it will also prevent OTHER email providers from doing the same to their customers in the future.

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 12:35 AM EDT

Name: "North of the Border"

Lycos, this is absurd! Sure, service providers can change terms - they do it all the time. The only difference is that they give their customers notice! How can you operate a business in this manner? Imagine your vendors all of a sudden changing payment terms on you without notice? "Oh by the way, instead of collecting in 30 days, you now must pay within 15 days and you are now overdue". Insane right? I'm sure you would hold them legally negligible. Well this is what you are doing to your customers.

Not only was there no notice, but there is not even an explanation or a note to mail users when they try to log in.  Like another user, I had to google to find out what the he** was going on! You don't have the courtesy/good business sense to address something this big with your customers? Again, how can you run a business this way?

I hope that this was a temporary lapse in judgement, and that you will reinstate the unpaid email service for a reasonable period of time.  

To all of those fighting this via the various outlets described, I really appreciate it and hope it works!

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 12:48 AM EDT

Name: "bogunbear"

As it is only day one of this matter, I am hoping that it is merely a glitch and that all will be up and running smoothly again very shortly.

 However, if it is not, it would indeed be a case of extortion and one to send shudders throughout the world of the internet.

I recall that many years ago, when the internet was in its infancy, there were many free email providers. After the crash, most of these closed shop; however, in each case they all advised their users of what was happening. After all, it is the not only ethical but also ensures that ex-users are not left with a bad taste in their mouth.

Perhaps Korea does not share the same ethics that the rest of the world possesses. This is something I do not know, as I confess to knowing little about their culture.

My understanding over the years was that it was a free email service, just like the other major players (gmail, hotmail, yahoo etc).

My analogy of what appears to be taking place  is like this:

You have children and are in need of a babysitter to look after them while you are not home. A babysitter offers her services for free, with the only condition that you look at her drawings every time you use her services. She is so good that you get more business for her by telling your friends.

Then one day you come home and your children are not there. There is a note telling you that you can only have your children back when you pay her the amount she specifies. She even happily offers to continue looking after them, but only once you have paid. She will not allow you to see or speak with your children until then.

You try to explain that her services were so good that you probably would have paid, but why has she taken the children from you?

Was it in her terms and conditions? Did she advise me to check these? Where did she deliver them to? Where did she hide them?

 Like I said, I hope it is only a glitch. Otherwise, extortion. So much personal data, photos, banking details, email addresses etc, now unable to be retrieved by me, yet accessible and suddenly 'acquired' by the 'trusted' provider. Scary.

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 12:52 AM EDT

Name: "Graciela Blaum"

well, nobody send me in advance the news that lycos would cut the free service, now I cannot log in and recover important email addresses and other stuff

I am very disappointed

Graciela Blaum

 

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 1:10 AM EDT

Name: "Mark N."

Not to scare everybody, but check out what I found after I noticed that I couldn't long in, either (sorry, I don't know how to make this a live link) --

http://cross-site-scripting.blogspot.com/2009/05/phishing-with-jquery.html

 Note the date, moreover. . . .

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 1:13 AM EDT

Name: "kobold"

i too am dismayed, frustrated and angry.  however, the bottom line is i need the information in my lycos account.

does anyone know, if we pay the $20 do we have access to our former accounts in total?

i don't want to, but before i cave, i want to know that i won't get another f**k without a kiss

 thank you

 

 

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 1:14 AM EDT

Name: "Roderick"

I would like to think this was all a mistake.  Surely, there would have been some explanation posted on the login page about the recent change, if it was intentional.  I'm waiting to see that.

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 1:17 AM EDT

Name: "Shocked"

Well, that looks like what it is then. 

I think that whether this was a move by Lycos or hackers, it's time to move accounts and find somewhere a bit more secure. 

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 1:18 AM EDT

Name: "Unbelievable"

Does anyone else think that hackers may have hijacked the Lycos e-mail web site and are redirecting its users to the sales page? It's just a really sudden and abrupt change. I'm definitely not entering any information on that sales page.

Whatever is going on, I hope it gets fixed/changed back soon. 

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 1:28 AM EDT

Name: "sam"

Very disapponitng indeed....... I have been using a mailcity account earlier which was converetd to lycos.com there after ...... Lycos account has been a friend during my ups and downs during all these years .... but alas.....it has decided to part ways in this gloom period ... I have lost my job ..looking out for a job these days .... all places where I have submitted my CV  bears lycos email address ..... I wish I could just explian my anguish .... also there lot of contacts and other stuff stored in my accoun which seems to have gone now ..... I'm not in a position to pay right now ........ this is the time I needed this account most ..... really don't know what to do.....

 

But on the other hand I believe that this is some sort of error that has cropped up and will get rectified soon...... I'm sure a proffesional company like lycos cannot do something like this

 

PLEASE HELP .......  

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 2:00 AM EDT

Name: "Alex"

What’s going on Lycos Mail (USA) !? Force individuals to pay, how anyone from Lycos Mail USA can expect anyone to pay by holding our accounts hostage. I've been with Lycos ever since the MailCity takeover.  It would only be logical to give warning of this happening? But not even that! Everyone!! Don't let Lycos get away with this. If they have a problem demand that they fix it! I don't know if I could trust Lycos after this. They better give a well explanation if this was a mistake; as it better be.

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 2:11 AM EDT

Name: "greg gregley"

I hope Lycos's share price gets absolutely dumped when the NASDAQ opens.

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 2:22 AM EDT

Name: "Angry Bob"

What a sham. The purchase page for lycos is on a https/  server which is generally secure....my take is this is lycos, not a hacker.

 

We are all stuffed- held to ransdom to access what is listed as free. legal? Proabibly given their terms and conditions...Ethical? Anything but.

 

Shame on them...

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 2:45 AM EDT

Name: "sam"

guys i still feel this is an error ..... "Continue with Free Service" link/button seems to be missing ....

lycos folks please don't give us a shock like this and fix the error soon...... 

 

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 2:46 AM EDT

Name: "nick"

I can't believe someone like yourselves could display such scum bag deceiving behavior towards people who have been relying on you for so many years. The logical and normal way to give your intended plan across would be to provide some warning in advance. People don't want to be dealing with scums like you. Give me (and everyone else here) temporary access to copy our details elsewhere!

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 3:22 AM EDT

Name: "Greg McCarthy"

Hallo everybody,

 did any of you ask the help desk of lycos.com prior to writing here?

 Chances are there that what seems to be kind of a "mailjacking"-redirection is only a service error ...

 

If anyone did this .... I would like to here of the desk's offical answer.

 

Regards

 

Greg 

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 3:30 AM EDT

Name: "Delilah"

@sam and @Greg M... 

 ... I guess that indeed the service error is a missing link "continue with free service" ...

BUT: QA (quality accurance) is no invention of aliens ...

 

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 3:33 AM EDT

Name: "anonymous"

I check the help desk and couldnt find any info

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 4:12 AM EDT

Name: "anonymous"

a few additional contacts that might be able to provide us with answers

support@support.lycos.com  (held desk support)

Kathy.O'Reilly@lycos-inc.com (direct email fro PR manager)

Melbourne IT - +61 3 8624 2300 (registrars for lycos mail)

Register.com 1-916-445-1254 (registrars for lycos mail)

I would like to believe this is just hackers or a mistake but why has lycos not responded to any of us or posted info on their website?

I am going to keep contacting them until they respond.

If anyone else has any luck contacting these people can you please post a message here and let us know

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 4:18 AM EDT

Name: "nightowl"

@anon...

Perhaps the support stuff has normal office hours?

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 4:35 AM EDT

Name: "Rick"

IF anyone has actually stooped down to a low level and payed the fee just to see if they can login reply back. I really would of appreciated an e-mail stating this was going to happen BEFORE. Know tons of people are left to think and lose sleep over this.

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 4:37 AM EDT

Name: "optometrists nightmare"

@nightowl:

 Maybe this is an anwer:

" We request your understanding that response times can take up 24 - 72 hours during normal business days of operation."

My question would be: In a global village: Whoms "business days of operation" is meant here? Actually we do not know the support stuffs' location of residence ...

 

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 4:48 AM EDT

Name: "Sunil Tejani"

Am using mailcity since year 1997.

I am shocked to see mailcity as a paid service.

We registered free mailcity users should had been informed well in advance about it going paid.

 

 

 

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 4:52 AM EDT

Name: "Kathy"

@opto...

 If I read those small letters right, this is an indication what 'premium' office hours are: 

"... Lycos Domains, Tripod and Angelfire Premium subscribers do have the option of contacting Lycos Customer Service and Technical Support by using the Live Chat tool.

Live Chat hours of operation are Monday through Friday, 9 AM - 5 PM Eastern Standard Time ..."

Free mail support service might (and are virtually certain to) differ accordingly.

As 'global village' is located, this can be any timezone from -12 to + 12 UTC.

And "support stuff's time zone", "programmers' time zone" and "decision makers' time zone" might differ also ("... 24 to 72 hours ...").

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 5:11 AM EDT

Name: "SULTAN RAISIN"

Do not misundestand me: The issue we complain about is a kind of grave and certainly promoting disbelief in quality of service and decreasing our trust in the mail service of lycos ...

It strikes me that additional comments like "Oh ..." does not give us new information of some kind ...

Would information like "It's now X.XX EDT, and I have still no answer from  support@support.lycos.com" not be kine of a bit more informative to all of us?

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 5:17 AM EDT

Name: "stupid bunny gal"

Reading your complains I wonder: 

Does this problem of not being able to login into mail.lycos affect all lycos.com users or espially former mailcity customers?

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 5:21 AM EDT

Name: "Raisin the stakes"

I emailed Lycos 8 hours ago and have received no reply, other than the automated message saying that they would reply with 24 to 72 hours 'normally'. Given how many people must have been pissed off by this and the amount of incoming email, I would guess they are going to have a hell of a headache when they get to work this morning and will probably take longer than that to reply.  

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 6:17 AM EDT

Name: "Bogunbear"

I am affected and have never been a mailcity subscriber. I joined lycos directly some years ago.

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 6:29 AM EDT

Name: "Chronnos Titanos"

"That office of their's empty", said Mike, " and all doors are closed."

"My clock says it is near midnight", said Laura.

 "I want this office open and listing to my complains!", was Mike's reply.

"Do you want sedatives or answers with knowlowdge and your issues resolved?", Laura asked after an while.

 "Sedatives?"

 "Did you know that giving 'support' has two qualities? You can either give advise or give sedatives. I would like to get advise. Sedatives can be given by people being told to do so, advise has to discussed and its quality be reassure, othierwise it's only an other kind of sedative, isn't it, honey?"

First Mike made a frowning smile, but then he understood.

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 7:05 AM EDT

Name: "Heartlessness"
Home Page: http://None

2.3 Lycos reserves the right to modify the Lycos Services at any time. WITHOUT LIMITING THE GENERALITY OF THE FOREGOING, YOU ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT LYCOS MAY CHANGE THE FEATURES AND TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS OF LYCOS SERVICES OR PARTICULAR SERVICES PACKAGES FROM TIME TO TIME. If you are dissatisfied with any modification to the Lycos Services, your sole remedy will be to terminate the Lycos Services in the manner described in this Agreement.

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 7:19 AM EDT

Name: "hemmo paskiainen"

Works just fine here. Maybe you all just can't use your computers.

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 7:24 AM EDT

Name: "Bobbi"

Yes they can change it at any time.  My free acount is now holding me hostage by asking for 19.95.  I can't even get in to get my addresses without paying.  A bit of notice would have been nice.

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 7:33 AM EDT

Name: "Tanja Fessle"

To "hemmo paskiainen":

If your email account is working fine, I really really wonder what brought you to this page! I found it hard to navigate my way here and I was LOOKING for some explanation and  problem solving for my account drama.

 You just happened to stumble across this section of the lycos website?!

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 7:41 AM EDT

Name: "Mitch"

I have three different Lycos email accounts. I have been experiencing the same troubles you all have been experiencing - BUT ONLY WITH TWO OF MY THREE accounts.

 One of my accounts is working perfectly. It also only has like 5 MB of storage use and the other two have hundreds of MB of storage.

 I wonder if other people with low storage amounts are not experiencing any problems....

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 7:45 AM EDT

Name: "hemmo paskiainen"

Tanja Fessle wrote:

"If your email account is working fine, I really really wonder what brought you to this page! I found it hard to navigate my way here and I was LOOKING for some explanation and  problem solving for my account drama.

 You just happened to stumble across this section of the lycos website?!"

 

Yeah, I understand  that it was hard to navigate here if you can't even use your email account. I, on the other hand, can use my computer so I am able to read my free lycos email and navigate wherever I want any time. And today I wanted to navigate somewhere where I can laugh to computer-handicapped people like yourself.

 

 

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 8:12 AM EDT

Name: "Biz"

This is from their "updated" Lycos mail Terms of Service.

1. Description of Service. Lycos offers subscription and unpaid versions of its electronic mail services (the "Service").

I guess they have not gotten around to taking out the unpaid part yet.

 Please post any sucess stories about getting your stored messages back.

 

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 8:26 AM EDT

Name: "thomysmom"

I wholeheartly agree.  It's not just the 19.95 a year fee, it's the principle.  Why did they not give us a warning.  I have some very important emails I need to retrieve.  I'm calling my lawyer today.

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 8:41 AM EDT

Name: "ctaylor"

Problem is they can do it, but it's just bad PR.  It sort of like extortion without notice, because they know the ONLY way you can get your emails is to PAY THEM!  

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 8:45 AM EDT

Name: "Nick"

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}

This is really weird.

Check out he link posted by Mark N. above.

Did Lycos get hacked ?

http://cross-site-scripting.blogspot.com/2009/05/phishing-with-jquery.html

 

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 8:50 AM EDT

Name: "ctaylor"

It takes about 24 hours for them to respond via the Help Desk and I've called their PR and their Customer Service phone lines and even emailed PR so they know what's going on, but no one is replying. 

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 8:53 AM EDT

Name: "Nick"

Sorry for all the garbage charactors in my above post.

Cut and Paste the link below and decide for yourself,

http://cross-site-scripting.blogspot.com/2009/05/phishing-with-jquery.html

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 9:00 AM EDT

Name: "krapo"

Hemmo - your a db

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 9:16 AM EDT

Name: "Anne"
Home Page: http://irrelevant

I am furious.

I have been using Lycos free email for more than ten years (started as mailcity).  Lycos and Daum have destroyed any shred of loyalty I may have felt toward them.

If they had approached people in a reasonable and honest way, many of us would have paid 19.95 just for the convenience of NOT having to copy out all of our old address books, etc.   Instead, in resorting to  extortion tactics they have ensured that they will have instead a mass exodus to gmail, hotmail and other places where you can get what they are offering at 19.95 for free.  

 THIS IS BAD BUSINESS.  IT MAKES NO SENSE not to give people warning before doing this.

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 9:17 AM EDT

Name: "krapo"

folks - i'm not sure this is a mistake. look at the wording on the lycos.com page and everywhere else. no mention of free - just mail plus - sign up now... prepare for the worst.

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 9:28 AM EDT

Name: "Mark N."

Glad someone else finally noticed this.

From the blog:

jQuery is a wonderful tool when the need to traverse the HTML DOM arises. With only a few lines of code the layout of a web page can be drastically altered. Using an XSS vulnerability and a bit of creativity we can manipulate http://registration.lycos.com, turning it into what appears to be a reactivation link that users must click to keep their accounts. When the user navigates to the page, the malicious code reads the value cookie and sends it to us using an anonymous mailing service. All of this will happen transparently as the user is waiting to be redirected to http://mail.lycos.com.

 I think Lycos may have actually gotten hacked: If you click on the "This is not me" link, you're taken to a sign-up page that looks EXACTLY like the screen-shot on the blog.

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 9:32 AM EDT

Name: "Jonas"

I don't know which is most scary or likely. Outrageous business practice from lycos or hackers successfully kidnapping innocent user's accounts.

However I tried recently to access from a linux-ubuntu system. For some reason there wasat least  a form for accessing free mail there. But it didn't function, just redirected to the pay-for-premium box.

However I am preparing for the worst. Starting the tedious work of minimizing damage.

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 9:34 AM EDT

Name: "krapo"

I'm not buying the hijack. By now, lycos could redirect to a message page. anyone actually pay and gain access? this would tell the story.

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 9:51 AM EDT

Name: "oceang1"

I tried something different. I clicked on "forgot password" wondering if

my password was going to be sent to an alternate email address.

Nothing has been recv'd yet and its been over an hour.  Lycos may have been hacked. Still waiting and watching this board for more info.

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 9:56 AM EDT

Name: "krapo"

how hard is it for Lycos to post a message by 10am?

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 10:00 AM EDT

Name: "LM"

Is it a coincidence that this news story broke today?  It's on CBS news' and Forbes' websites.  No mention at all of discontinuing free email service.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/06/01/paidcontent/main5053754.shtml

As someone above mentioned, when you read the wording on the lycos mail page, it makes it sound like the only option is a paid email account, no mention of a free one.

It's almost 10am EDT, and still no lycos response....

 And these Captcha's are killing me....

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 10:05 AM EDT

Name: "Enrique"

This is atrocity is by far the worst behavoir I-ve ever witnessed regarding web services. A kick on the teeth to us users for using lycos for the last 6+ years instead of gmail or hotmail.

Hijacking e-mails.. what-s next breaking legs if we don-t pay_

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 10:13 AM EDT

Name: "lakefront"

i see there is a notice on the log in page or home page they say there is a problem and free mail will be back as soon as they can find the problem

lets see how long this takes and how much money they made in the mean time

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 10:14 AM EDT

Name: "AD"

The notice is up:

The Lycos Mail Team is aware of an issue causing outage for our free users.  The problem is being worked on and we hope to have service back soon."

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 10:16 AM EDT

Name: "Fraud vacine (aka Hunter)"
Home Page: http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/cybercrime/reporting.htm

Guys, what ever is the reason for the thing going on here there is solution against it.

 If lycos.com is "mailjacking" this behaviour may be ok with their own rules but federal rules from W., D.C. do not allow any kind of blackmail.

 If lycos.com is being hacked they should help their customers getting secure again.

 In both cases wating seems to me not ok any more.

 Inform your single authority capable of handling fraud like this:

 http://www.ic3.gov/complaint/default.aspx

 If you want to inform yourself further:

http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/cybercrime/reporting.htm

 So, finally this would force a solution to this stupid affair.

 See you at ic3.gov!

 Hunter

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 10:21 AM EDT

Name: "LM"

Well thank goodness for the response!

 Whether this is a "mistake" or whether they have realized the repercussions of trying something like this remains to be seen....

If the site truly WAS hijacked...does that mean that the hijackers now have our usernames/passwords just because we tried logging in to our emails?

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 10:21 AM EDT

Name: "aycy"

Notice is up on the email log in page.

 

The Lycos Mail Team is aware of an issue causing an outage for our free users. The problem is being worked on and we hope to have service back soon.

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 10:24 AM EDT

Name: "lola"

i do not see any notice and i just checked....

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 10:26 AM EDT

Name: "Kim"

The Lycos mail page now has the following posted:

Notice
The Lycos Mail Team is aware of an issue causing an outage for our free users. The problem is being worked on and we hope to have service back soon.
 
Hopefully this will all be cleared up soon...

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 10:57 AM EDT

Name: "Alan"

The message is still up, but I can now login to my account.

 

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 11:27 AM EDT

Name: "DR"

11:00am and the red notice is still showing, but I am able to log in and use my account.

Wonder if we'll get any kind of explanation from Lycos????

Good catch about the XSS vulnerability Mark N and Nick.

PS to "hemmo paskiainen"

Have you any more smart a$$ comments to make to all us "computer-handicapped" people?

You are unbelievable. Or were you the one causing the problem? Either case, you're an arrogant a**.

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 11:31 AM EDT

Name: "snplw"

I am not able to get into mine as of yet

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 11:44 AM EDT

Name: "kobold"

hi

 i don't see any notice when i go to the log in page at www.lycos.com, nor can i log in yet.

 what address are you going to where you can log in?

 i guess i am one of the computer handicapped, and how!

 thx in advance for any suggestions.

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 11:45 AM EDT

Name: "BB"

How about if we all get together and threaten a class action lawsuit!  Sure they have their "legal disclosures" but to restrict access to users' accounts without warning and only allowing access by paying $19.95 per year - NOT! 

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 12:04 PM EDT

Name: "DR"

Around 11am (EDT) I successfully logged in at:

http://mail.lycos.com/lycos/Index.lycos

BUT--I just tried again at noon and got redirected to that $19.95 page.  So I guess they're still working on it....

I think a class-action suit is a great idea. 

 

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 12:07 PM EDT

Name: "BB"

The number you posted for the public relations dept is a fax machine!

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 12:10 PM EDT

Name: "Rick"

The following was posted on the Lycos MAIL website at 11:50 AM EST.

The Lycos Mail Team is aware of an issue causing an outage for some of our free users. The problem is being worked on and we hope to have service back soon.

Okay folks it looks like the hackers attacked Lycos with either the "Gumblar" exploit and did a re-direct to another site. Gumblar is a bot net exploit that infected all my websites and was a royal pain in the %$@ to fix. -OR- they infected it with the XSS Cross site script that also redirects.

I run Network Security company and we made LYCOS aware last night (via tech email) that this was a possible security risk to our FREE Lycos Email accounts. 

Also folks if the Hacks got our logins we will all have to get new passwords, but how they will get the new passwords to us if we dont have another email address will be a trick. Essentially Gumblar exploits the SQL (Sequential Query Language Data base) back end of a hosting server (Lycos) it then tries and sometimes succeeds in getting login passwords to accounts. 

Yes then these guys can read your emails, personal infomation and private emails.

Am I mad. YES !! Do I not have access to my email YES !! Is this my primary email address NO !! I just use LYCOS for my free account. But I have tons of people that have one.

I hope that we do not have to get new passwords and hopefully Lycos secures the site and mail by days end today.

Good luck to everyone and hopefully we ALL will have our email back

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 12:13 PM EDT

Name: "BrianB"
Home Page: http://maccomplainer.com

It's some sort of scheme I think, and those desperate enough to open their email today will have to upgrade to a paid account, even with the warning in red font, which is unclear for a purpose I think.

 

People should blog about this, use scare tactics or whatever means.  I had eudoramail accounts, which was then integrated with lycos. I've had these accounts for a decade. I wish they'd downgrade the storage instead of shutting it down without warning.

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 12:18 PM EDT

Name: "BB"

As many people as possible that are reading this NEED to inundate the news with your complaints.  Email to scams@cbsnews.com and write a complaint at this website for CNN. http://www.cnn.com/feedback/tips/newstips.html

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 12:20 PM EDT

Name: "BB"

The funny thing is that the Notice messsage is only on mail.lycos.com but if you go to Lycos.com where the normal sign-in, there is nothing posted to that affect whatsoever.

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 12:23 PM EDT

Name: "DR"

One thing I noticed....

When I'm on a known legitimate Lycos website, the word "Lycos" always shows up as "Lycos" on the tab bar.   On that $19.95 page, Lycos is shown in all caps -- LYCOS.  A small detail for sure, but often something small like that is an indication of hacking.  ???

 

 

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 12:25 PM EDT

Name: "sam"

Guys!!

Since lycos has acknowledge that there is a problem and they are working on it .. so I think let us allow them to come out with a solution ..... ..... I was just trying to study the pattern of URL's and this is for the first time .PHP extension is getting into act .... I'm pointing to that redirect to sales.php file .... I sense the problem is grave indeed ....let us have paitence and allow team lycos to respond back in this flaky situation ...  

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 12:36 PM EDT

Name: "sam"

good news ppl and congrats team lycos ..... I have just been able to login into my account

 

Good work done ....

 

request team lycos to let us know all about this incident and I do hope we all are secure

 

Cheers!!

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 1:22 PM EDT

Name: "Jonas"

My e-mail is available now (I'm located in Sweden, Europe). Thanx for fixing it Lycos :-) 

 I just changed my password. That change was long overdue anyway. I suggest you who have access again do the same and change to a longer and stronger  password.

The class-action thinge discussed by a few people here is nothing I'll participate in.  Let's hope we all just learned something about computer security from this.

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 1:42 PM EDT

Name: buzz
Home Page: http://buzz.tripod.com

Hello,

The Lycos Mail team investigated the issue that you experienced. The problem was caused by a software bug; you should not have needed to upgrade your membership to continue to access your Lycos mailbox.  We truly do apologize for this experience and are working on making sure that this does not happen again moving forward.

Should you have any additional questions, please let us know so that we can assist you further.

Regards,

Lycos Mail Team

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 3:03 PM EDT

Name: "DR"

Jonas said:  "The class-action thing discussed by a few people here is nothing I'll participate in."   I agree with that.  A class-action lawsuit would have been appropriate if indeed Lycos had locked us out of our accounts for a $19.95/year ransom  --  but not for a bug.   I hope Lycos finds and prosecutes whoever hacked in and caused the problem.  Under the circumstances, it seems as though Lycos did the best they could do. 

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 3:05 PM EDT

Name: "Lt. Cmd. Data"

Dear Lycos Mail Team,

thank you for your quick solution to our problem.

I'd like to write a follow up to what one of my fellow customers wrote above in a sketch "What Laura would now say to Mike":

"Didn't I tell you, that there ARE two kinds of support? First sedative, which can be given by anybody around the world at anytime when being to told do so and then, there is the other kind, which in  contrast solves your problem and gets you moving ahead again. This one is available at local office hours, done from your fellow citizens, somewhere out there, but with knowledge, and family.  Just like by you in your job, my dear Mike."

"But it would have dramatically been better to be informed earlier and having the problem solved almost instantly."

On Mike's face Laura could see this nasty eyes of little boys talking about toy cars they could not get there hands on.

"Do not forget that for this kind of instant support you would have to pay money. Money for which I might buy me, e. g., another dress, another parfume, or some other sweet stuff, that you do love so much on me, isn't it that way, my sweetheart?."

"Aren't you able to stay earnest for at least a moment?"

He could not get a clear idea of what he should have read in here face. But why ...?

"Honey, you won't get outerspace instant support for, let's say, as less as 20 bugs, e.g. I guess it would cost you some kind of a special support contract. One that would cost you some more bugs - may be even lots ..."

Instead of frowning Mike this time whispered some sweet ideas about such things, may be 'bugs', may be 'support', into Laura ears ..."

I would like not to add anything further to this.

Best Regards,
Data.

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 5:04 PM EDT

Name: "Jonas"

@DR: Thanks for discreet correction of my typo ;-) Internet is a great invention but it's speed makes the spelling suffer (lazy me).

@Lycos: Great job. Mission accomplished and confidence restored :-)

@All, what a nightmare, I never want to experience this again. :-p This is a reminder that the internet can be a risky place.

Please be careful out there folks. Do your best to protect yourself. Don't use the same password for different sites. Use a firewall and updated antivirus software. Make sure to update your other software too. If you can afford it - buy a router (they are not so expensive) and make sure to reset it's password. 

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 8:01 PM EDT

Name: "eM"

Thanks Lycos

I am so glad I dont have to change my lycos account. I love this email service. I am a bit scared that the bug may have released information in my account. I have paypal details etc... in this account. How likely is it that people would have access from this bug to email messages?

 

Monday, 1 June 2009 - 8:06 PM EDT

Name: "bogunbear"

I also have access again. I am hoping it remains and am grateful that it was merely a glitch afterall. I must admit it was a scary one. Like others, I too will be a bit more cautious in my future internet dealings.

Tuesday, 2 June 2009 - 12:03 AM EDT

Name: "Angelia"

Like many individuals I also have experienced difficulty with my email. I made a technical ticket through lycos. This was the message I recieved and my email now is working fine. 

 

Thank you for contacting Lycos Customer Service.

The Lycos Mail team has investigated the issue that you were experiencing. This problem was caused by a software bug; you will not need to upgrade your membership to continue to access your Lycos mailbox.

We believe that the problem has been resolved.

We truly do apologize for this experience and thank you for your patience.

Should you have any additional questions please let us know so that we can assist you further.

Stephan
Lycos Customer Service

Tuesday, 2 June 2009 - 12:05 PM EDT

Name: "LM"

Yesterday I submitted a question to Lycos Customer Service, asking if the bug had caused my username/password to be released to someone unknown.  I was worried about all my personal documents having been compromised.  This is the reply I got, hopefully it will help to reassure some other people out there, as well:

A staff member has replied to your question:

Thank you for contacting Lycos Customer Service.

Please be assured that your security and private information was never compromised from the weekend event that occurred. Despite many rumours persisting on the Internent concerning this incident, everything that happened was internal to Lycos. The mistake was entirely ours and no outside forces were to blame. We do apologize as we realze this was a very poor membership experience and we are working towards making sure this never happend again.

If you have any further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to follow up with this email so that we can provide you with further assistance.

Bill
Customer Service
Lycos Services.

Tuesday, 2 June 2009 - 12:47 PM EDT

Name: "I. boon"

Imagine my surprise when I opened my credit card statement and there is a charge from Lycos-communications 7810370-2688.  Only problem is, I DON'T USE THEIR BLOODY EMAIL SERVICES!!!!!!!  What's with your billing credit cards from a list that you guys have undoubtedly purchased and now bill?  I bet you people at Lycos figure that many people don't check that $19.99 charge on their credit card statement each month, right?  GUESS WHAT, I DO CHECK ALL MY CHARGES!!!!!  You guys should be investigated!!!! This smacks of the tactics MCI used way back before World Com went under.  They would bill loads of people, most who did not have their service and then tried to sell their company at an inflated price because of all their "outstanding billing".  When a company starts billing people who do not use their services, watch out, they are in trouble!!!!

It's all a scam folks, just another bunch of cheaters.

Wednesday, 3 June 2009 - 8:50 AM EDT

Name: "Jonas"

I.Boon

It's very understandable that you're upset now. A few days ago I was quite angry too. However the Lycos people solved the issue nicely and restored my confidence in them. I suggest you contact your credit card company and Lycos to challenge the billing. It's probably just an, albeit annoying, mistake.

 all the best :-)

Jonas, happy Lycos user.

 

Friday, 3 July 2009 - 9:08 PM EDT

Name: webmaster-misteriosnuevaenergia

Que bueno que Lycos Network no cierra, ya que yo prefiero a Lycos ante AOL, Yahoo, y otros portales.

Me gustan sus servicios (incluyendo a los desaparecidos como Cinema, Mix, etc!!! =) 

Friday, 17 July 2009 - 7:36 AM EDT

Name: "Chad Taylor"

So why am I getting this freaking error messages now that they need to stablize the system Try again later?  I have yet to open any of my emails! So is this the hand-writing on the wall?

Friday, 17 July 2009 - 7:41 AM EDT

Name: "Chad Taylor"

 Here is the message in full when you click on an email to try and open it:

SYSTEM ERROR!!!  

Sorry for the inconvenience.
At this moment, we are doing our best to stabilize the system.

Please try again later.

Sunday, 18 October 2009 - 12:13 PM EDT

Name: "Erik Zepeda"
Home Page: http://www.misterios-nuevaenergia.com/

Lycos congratulations!

I love Lycos, I would like to return to have free, and record Lycos Cinema, Lycos Mix, and Lycos Mexico have.

I like the truth more Lycos than Google, Ask, etc...

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