Yahoo Messenger 3.0 beta 3... Avatar not working?

[masterjedi747]

I honestly can't figure this one out.

My avatar is displaying the default a shadow/silhouette, and I can't change it.
(Other Yahoo Messenger users (not Mac) are seeing my image as solid black.)

What I've tried:
1) Countless Google searches, with no luck.
The closest I got was finding a Yahoo! question from someone describing almost the exact same scenario, and the only response they got was from some stupid Windows user informing him that "3.0 is completely outdated, I'm surprised it''s even still working, because it's now currently up to version 9"... simply not realizing that 3.0 is the current version for Mac.

2) Changing every imaginable option that might affect this.
I've found that I can "select" the image that I want to use, and hit "OK", but it never actually shows up outside of the preferences panel. If I close the preferences panel, and re-open it again, the image that I had selected is once again completely blank. It's just not sticking, for some reason.

3) Restarting the entire application.
Interesting Note: When it's in the process of "logging in", my old avatar IS displayed in the center, very briefly. It then disappears and goes back to blank once I'm completely logged it.

Does anyone have ANY idea what's wrong here?
And why I seem to be the only person having this problem?

 

[Watabou]

I am having the same problem. I choose a picture from my Photo Booth library and it shows up fine in the window but then I still have that default silhouette in yahoo messenger.

 

[MagnusVonMagnum]

Something is definitely broken. If I select an avatar I make up on Yahoo itself, it'll show up, but if I select an image off my hard drive, it'll show up in the preference editor temporarily, but it won't change on the messenger window and when I exit the preference editor and then return to it, it's deleted the image as if I had never selected it. This thing has been out for what, 4-6 months now? They haven't bothered to fix such a basic bug? I guess we shouldn't be surprised given how long it took them to even get to Beta3 even in light of the Safari scroll bug. They just don't care to bother for Mac users.

 

[masterjedi747]

Well... that's good to know, I guess.
Frustrating, but good to know.

I was actually just looking around right now, and found this:
http://nz.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080606075341AAAM8gX

And that's VERY interesting, since it really looks like it did start very, very recently. Which explains why I couldn't find any old records of anyone else reporting the same problem.

Well, at least it's not me and my computer.
NOW the job is just to wait, or report it, or something.

I did find someone (from an older discussion) saying that we could report problems here <messengerformacbeta@yahoo.com>, so maybe that would be worth a shot... not exactly sure though.

 

[GSMiller]

In all the time I've used YIM 3 beta, my friends using Windows (all but one) have never been able to view my avatar. When I connect to YIM using AIM though, they can see it.

 

[James17]

I have the same problem. It could be a 10.5.3 issue with Yahoo or a problem at Yahoo's side, I don't know.

 

[MagnusVonMagnum]

It's NOT a 10.5.3 issue. I'm running 10.4.11 and have the same problem regardless. I just send feedback to Yahoo (select "HELP" and then "FEEDBACK" in Yahoo Messenger) as if it'll do any good. But maybe if they get enough people sending feedback they'll do something about it. My PC version of Messenger doesn't have this problem. In fact, if I change my image to a picture of my choosing in the PC version and then go back to using the Mac version, my avatar disappears (apparently the setting is stored server side and the Mac version can't even read it. If change it to my avatar on the Mac side, it will change to the avatar on the PC side as well).

 

[jive turkey]

I sent my feedback and hope all of you guys will as well. Aggravating bug!

 

[Jauu]

Custom Avatar?

Just to chime in, I was always able to swap images on the v3. beta until I decided to play with custom avatars, then I found I couldn't swap back. My custom avatar will show just fine, but I can't seem to revert to any other image. Sometimes I would have to restart Messenger to affect an image change but not always.

I also tried to resolve the problem by deleting the custom avatar in hopes it would force an image display but that had no effect. Finally, I also note that an older image does display during the log on sequence but does not display in the primary window later.

I did submit to Yahoo the problem....

 

[Hapa Hanu]

On June 5th Yahoo updated their servers for messenger and that is when all the problems started for both PC and Mac users. Most of the problems have been solved for PC users but still at this time the custom client side Display Images of Mac users are not being accepted by Yahoo's servers.

No idea when they will fix it for us Mac users ...

 

[Jauu]

Yahoo formal reply

The feature you have written us about is a feature of Yahoo! Messenger
for Mac 3.0. While in the Beta testing period, this feature is
unsupported, which means, unfortunately we cannot assist you with it at
this time. Fortunately, we will be providing full support of the
Messenger for Mac 3.0 Beta in early summer 2008. So stay tuned!

<snip>

If you are having problems with Messenger not loading, (You try to
launch it but the wheel just keeps spinning!) you can try the following:

1. Quit Y! Messenger
2. Open a Finder window (the Mac icon on your dock)
3. Click on your user name on the left side
4. Open the "Library" folder
5. Open the "Caches" folder
6. Open the "Yahoo! Messenger" folder
7. Drag files in that folder to the Trash
8. Click the back button twice until you are back in "Library"
9. Open the "Preferences" folder
10. Find the files that start with com.yahoo.messenger
11. Drag them to the Trash
12. Start Y! Messenger

If you are still unable to resolve your issue,and it is critical to your
use of Yahoo! Messenger, you may want to uninstall Messenger for Mac 3.0
and install a previous version of Messenger that has been approved for
General Release. You can download the previous version Yahoo! Messenger
for Mac (v2.5.3) here:


Oh.... and did I say it didn't help?

 

[MagnusVonMagnum]

Yahoo Messenger for the Mac has been in "beta" status for what, it's entire existence? How many years is that, exactly? I seriously doubt it will ever leave beta status. It gives them a nice excuse to not support it whenever convenient.

I've already created a new Google Mail account to slowly replace my Yahoo one since Yahoo refuses to offer any real e-mail options beyond browser-based, unless you are willing to pay a yearly fee. And then you only get Pop3. Well, that SUCKS in 2008. Google has Imap for FREE. I can now check my mail on either of my two computers in any of four operating systems (MacOSX, XP, Linux and even OS9 via Mozilla Suite) and my iPod Touch and it will only delete the e-mail off the server if I tell it to, whereas Pop3 either deletes it after your first download to ONE computer (thereby making it impossible to get it on one of your other computers should you have need) OR leaves it on the server forever in which case your ISP might get very upset with you over time, leaving endless mail there.

Slowly but surely, Yahoo is becoming completely irrelevant to me (well Microsoft already is on the Web). It'd be nice if Google's own chat software (Google Talk) were cross-platform. There's still some things Yahoo Messenger can do (like video chat, phone calls, etc.) that it can't, at least not in non-windows operating systems. But then Yahoo Messenger doesn't support Linux, for example, without a 3rd party text chat only app either.

 

[Beric]

Yahoo couldn't care less about its loyal Mac users. It is unstable, constantly quitting, with bugs and less features than the Windows version. It's still in beta. If only iSight worked with Yahoo accounts...

 

[MacGirl74]

Aggravating Yahoo Photo Issue

I have been having the same aggravating problem. I can use my Yahoo Avatar, but not my own image. It, too, shows in the prefernce pane, but not in the actual conversation window. Sigh.

At least it's summer 2008!!! Let's hope we get a fix, soon!!

I am just really glad it isn't just me.

 

[MagnusVonMagnum]

I cannot get Yahoo Messenger to work in Leopard without being in Firewall mode, despite adding it to the Firewall list of apps. Similarly, I can't get Bluetooth file transfers to work in Leopard because the Firewall seems to ignore its presence in the list and blocks it anyway. Both work fine in Tiger. I can't seem to find other references to this problem. Are you that use Leopard able to get it to work in non-firewall mode? What could I be doing wrong? And yes I had Bluetooth file sharing enabled in the "Sharing" preference in OSX.

I'd just keep using Tiger in the long run but other things don't work right there that do work in Leopard (e.g. headsets work with Bluetooth in Leopard with my MSI USB dongle, but not in Tiger where apparently only D-LINK adapters work with headsets. I guess they couldn't be bothered to add the improvements in Leopard to Tiger's Bluetooth support.)

Meanwhile, the avatar thing isn't working in either OS, but I did have luck getting my new Logitech 9000 webcam to work in both operating systems with Yahoo Messenger 3.0 beta 3. It's really cool to use it with Remote Buddy and my iPod Touch. I can see the webcam display on the iPod Touch from anywhere in the house.

 

[James17]

Yahoo have acknowledged this problem and are working on fix.

The Yahoo Development Team have acknowledged this problem on their blog and they are working on a fix.

"Recently several Mac users have been experiencing issues with setting and viewing the display image. Thanks for the heads up! We’re aware of the issue and are working to resolve it. Until then, sit tight—we know it’s frustrating but appreciate your feedback on this issue.
Thanks!

Melissa Daniels
Yahoo! Messenger Community Manager"

http://www.ymessengerblog.com/blog/2008/06/19/mac-users-display-image-update/

 

[MagnusVonMagnum]

Since this thread was posted, they've fixed the avatar problem (a server side issue, it seems), but in the past few weeks, I've had a problem where Aim 3.0 beta 3 won't 'quit' normally. I have to force quit. Up until a few weeks ago, it exited normally just fine. I have no idea why it suddenly won't quit properly. A reinstall did not help. It might be a server side issue again seeing that I've had the problem in both Leopard and Tiger on my upgraded PowerMac (PPC), but it does NOT have the problem on my MBP (Intel).

Edit:

After searching some more, I fixed the problem by deleting all the Yahoo Messenger cache and preference files in the user libarary (username/library/cache/YahooReferences and /username/library/preferences/yahooreferences). Maybe it only needed one of them deleted, but I did both at the same time and all I know is now Yahoo Messenger exits normally again. Deleting username/library/application support/yahoomessengerreferences did NOT help nor did deleting yahoo messenger the application itself and reinstalling. So if anyone else is having a "force quit" situation, try deleting your cache and/or preference files in your user library and see if that doesn't fix it.

 

[mackelly]

Hello,

Sadly, I am having this same exact issue. Image I am selecting from my desktop is not displaying. Image will display briefly during log in, then when logged in... it's the silohuette (sp? sorry)... even though I do not have the (thing I can't spell) selected. When I try to go back and choose my image again, the browse box is empty again.

I can choose my custom Yahoo avatar, that will work.

It looks like my image works fine on my PC. When I originally downloaded YM to the Mac (I'm a complete newbie to this world.) the image displayed no problem.

I could really use some help. I've been looking for 4 days without avail. Going between the Mac and PC. Trying to move, copy, send, paste the image. Took new images.

New images won't "stick'' either. I just re-downloaded YM. No help.

Is there anyone out there that can help me fix this, or please suggest another way to use YM ~or something else that I can use with YM so that I don't need to set up new contacts~ I'd be sincerely grateful.

I am so lost. Thank you so much for reading this... Kelly =)

 

[stu3ufc]

well evey time i quit yahoo and resign in again it doesnt remember that i chose one of my pictures as an avatar and reverts back to showing no photo

 

[MagnusVonMagnum]

well evey time i quit yahoo and resign in again it doesnt remember that i chose one of my pictures as an avatar and reverts back to showing no photo

I think it just started doing that again recently. It was working fine here for awhile.

 

[DealsR4theDevil]

I think it just started doing that again recently. It was working fine here for awhile.

Ya .. i got Y!M i think soon after they fixed this bug initially so i never experienced this problem before ..

for like a week or so now my avatar doesnt work .. i can select it and it appears to me but not to anyone i talk to and then after i log off and on again its back to the silhouette ..

this is annoying ... i hope they fix it soon

 

[frogbeastegg]

Add me to the list. I'm having these same exact issues. At least now I see that I'm not alone.

 

[stu3ufc]

Ya .. i got Y!M i think soon after they fixed this bug initially so i never experienced this problem before ..

for like a week or so now my avatar doesnt work .. i can select it and it appears to me but not to anyone i talk to and then after i log off and on again its back to the silhouette ..

this is annoying ... i hope they fix it soon

exact same issue

I like Yahoo too. be nice to sort the avatars out because people have no idea it's me

 

[^^BIGMac]

Anybody have anymore information about Yahoo fixing this problem?

It's completely messed up. One day it was working OK the next it just stopped. It's been a month I think.

 

[jinxie]

i seem to be having the same issue-

that y'all had a few years back- just wondering if anyone ever found a solution to it...its kind of frustrating...any help would be appreciated-