Around 10 P.M. ET last night Yahoo mail emailed a letter to all of it's users who view their Yahoo mail by having it forwarded or using a Pop account to tell them that this service will no longer be free. Starting April Sunday April 24th, they will have to pay $19 a year for this service.

Being a thoughtful reporter I immediately began pestering Yahoo's media relations staff with the question, "How many Yahoo mail accounts does this affect? Or what percent of accounts does this affect?" Nobody ever got back to me. Nor does it appear that they responded to any other reporters' questions, because they're not quoted in any of the articles I've seen on the topic today.

I can't say how badly this could affect your deliverability if you send email newsletters, although I expect publishers to tech-savvy audiences will definitely feel at least a small pinch as readers who rely on Pop accounts to feed stuff they've sign up for under Yahoo aliases into their regular Outlook or Eudora email accounts at the office. I can't believe more than 5-10% will ante up for the new service, which means 90% will have email getting dusty waiting for them in Yahoo accounts they are not in the habit of proactively visiting.

My recommendation -- sometime in the next two weeks, it's probably worth sending a special message just to your Yahoo address-readers asking them to change email addresses for more convenience if they use forwarding.