UPDATE: It has been noted that Yahoo! Messenger at times reverts the character limit in the middle of logging in, or while the user is online. I can confirm this. Also, my teacher , Sir Edge, points out that with how the XML file is written, it may behave like a cookie. It receives information from the server and updates itself. However, I have also observed that this behavior is erratic. In short, the limit is intermittent and may, or may not work or combinations thereof.
When I have time, I will monitor the Yahoo! Messenger process and intercept its activities while online. I will investigate how Y!M actually erratically changes the limit and delve into the matter.
On October 3, 2007, the folks at Yahoo! imposed a 40-character limit on status messages. So I decided to play around with Yahoo! Messenger, and found a solution to lift this limit. As of this writing, there have been no steps taken to counter this fix.
I had a feeling that this was a silent update/patch by Yahoo! And client-side, too. Client-side, because 1) status changes are almost instant. 2) Trillian and Linux clients can have longer status messages. 3) There is no delay in checking the character length between the client and server.
Suspecting that the limit is client-side, it makes sense to give a try at reverse-engineering the problem. Since it’s also been my experience with Yahoo! Messenger that a lot of the configurations are kept in XML files.
DISCLAIMER: Upon performing this fix, you agree that I will not be held liable for any loss or damage this fix will cause. This fix is provided as is. You will perform this at your own discretion.
1. Go to the Cache folder of your Yahoo! Messenger installation. In my case, it’s C:\Program Files\Yahoo!\Messenger\Cache
2. Look for a file entitled, “system.xml” and open it using notepad.
3. You will see a section like this,
<server>
<max_custom_status>40</max_custom_status>
</server>
4. Change the value of the variable, but use a whole number greater than zero. Change it to 200 if you want it back before the limit was set.
5. Save the file.
6. Log-out of your Yahoo! Session, close Messenger and run it again. Make sure YM! is shut down (not minimized), meaning there is no icon in your taskbar.
7. Enjoy!
[...] HOW TO BEAT YAHOO! MESSENGER’S CHARACTER LIMIT [...]
By: Beat the Y!M status message limit! « AKOMISMO || by Sir MartZ on October 5, 2007
at 9:38 am
I didn’t need to change this. I never updated my Yahoo Messenger because the most recent client proved to be quite unstable on my computer. It would crash whenever I right-click on something. I’m still using version 7.0.2.
By: J. R. R. Flores on October 5, 2007
at 10:18 am
This is a crazy pointless endeavour, only to accomplish what? set a novel-length status message?
Exactly the kind of stuff I’m into.
By: realworldnumbers on October 5, 2007
at 2:58 pm
I’m guessing this doesn’t work on a Mac….
By: Matches Malone on October 5, 2007
at 10:12 pm
extremely helpful. no longer will i be searching for extremely short statements in order to express my… well.. current status.
)
By: pepblue12 on October 6, 2007
at 3:19 am
I can’t see the
40
on the system.xml..
By: JLee05 on October 6, 2007
at 6:14 am
me neither
By: edwardus on October 6, 2007
at 5:04 pm
JLee,
Try creating the entry in the XML file. Just copy and paste the one from the entry and change the number to any that you like.
edwardus,
Try searching for the file in drive C: using the Find feature.
I’ve encountered this problem on Vista machines and in fresh installations of Yahoo! Messenger.
By: redwinedrummer on October 7, 2007
at 1:07 am
i can find the system.xml file but the whole script inside does not have the line that defines the max custom status parameter, ie. this line:
40
By: edwardus on October 7, 2007
at 1:56 am
[...] Beating the Yahoo! Messenger Status Character Limit Thought I was going to have a big, serious, HUGE problem when the guys at Yahoo! set the PSM limit to 30-something characters. Not only was it annoying and without an obvious purpose, but it also lead to an imminent “cut of unnecessary words” state of being, which made me absolutely incoherent. Nothing I wrote in the personal status message made any sense because I had to resume all my thoughts in only a few words. So I searched around for geeky solutions on other blogs as to how the *** can I change/remove the PSM limit? And I came across redwinedrummer’s blog. [...]
By: Beating the Yahoo! Messenger Status Character Limit « IMinent Blog on October 7, 2007
at 11:18 pm
all i can say is…thanks
By: labomo on October 8, 2007
at 2:47 pm
Hey guys. I’ve tried making the new bit of text in the file, but it still does not work. Everytime I seem to open up a new Y!M, that text seems to disappear. I enter this in the system.xml file:
250
And, nothing happens. Someone help, please?!
By: sonix_da_dj on January 7, 2008
at 4:51 pm
Sonix,
I’m surprised people are still having this problem. Hasn’t Yahoo! rectified this?
Anyway, try making the file read-only. You can do this by right clicking the file –> Properties –> Tick “Read-Only” –> Apply.
By: redwinedrummer on January 8, 2008
at 9:54 am
Unfortunately that section isn’t always in the “system.xml” file you specified. So not everyone can do this. Next time create an exe file that fixes this, and can undo it, rather than giving pointless instructions not everyone can do.
By: Anonamous on January 17, 2008
at 5:41 pm
USELESS.. I FOUND THE SYSTEM.XML FILE BUT THERE IS NO SUCH LINE AS ”
40
” HELL I SEARCHED IN ALL DA FILES IN DA CACHE ND NOTHING IT DOESN’T MENTION ANY SETTINGS 4 DA STATUS MESSAGE … CRAP! SHIT! FUCK! YOU!
By: ROBERT_DI_NERRO on July 28, 2008
at 4:31 pm
in the system.xml, there is no line
40
By: valy on March 16, 2009
at 10:06 am
well… he already told you once that not all installation have the line mentioned. I have Win Vista and i also don’t have it, but you don’t have to tell him this —> “CRAP! SHIT! FUCK! YOU!” wtf, thank the guy he even tried to do a good thing to you ppl x-(
By: alexa on April 14, 2009
at 4:19 pm
NOT WORKING!! I HAVE YAHOO MESSENGER 8 AND I DID ALL THE STUFF PEOPLE SAID NOTHING WORKED PLEASE HELP ME SOMEONE EMAIL ME OR ADD ME ON YAHOO MESSENGER as ‘anchidinionut@yahoo.com’
By: John on April 27, 2009
at 1:56 pm