Yahoo Changes User Profiles, To Massive Outrage 255
Wiseleo writes "Yahoo decided to massively screw up their entire userbase by changing all user profiles to blank. No warning, no automated way to get data back, and other unwanted changes. The blog has such choice quotes as 'We know this has been a rough transition for some of you and, and are committed to helping you use, understand, and (hopefully) enjoy your new profile,' and, 'We also know lots of you worked hard on your old profiles and want your data. If you feel like you're missing data, we've saved a copy of your old profile (and alias) and our Customer Care team can retrieve this information. You won't, however, be able to revert back to your old profile format, but you will be able to get any data that you think is missing. To do this, please go here to contact Customer Care.' There were 850 comments posted, all negative, on the first day. There are hundreds more today. There is even more outrage on the Yahoo Messenger blog."
Re:Five Nines, please, on my free service. (Score:5, Informative)
While it is true that many users are using the services for free, Yahoo also has a significant number of paying users, if I recall correctly; I see nothing to suggest that these changes didn't affect them as well.
Unfortunately, many companies with online services that have free and paid versions tend to forget about the paying customers when planning these sorts of things.
Re:Let's move on now... (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Yahoo still matters? (Score:5, Informative)
Seriously, couldn't this space on /. be taken up by something that matters on the intarweb?
According to Alexa, Yahoo! is the most popular site on the internet [alexa.com]. I'd say that that's more than enough to make a website matter, personally.
Sadly, Not Surprising (Score:3, Informative)
I worked at Yahoo for five years. I have no idea who's left (most folks I knew have also since left), but this is a clear sign of losing focus on the user. First there was the draconian booting of everyone off the old version of My Yahoo! [wdr1.com] & now this.
Why do people get to make decisions like this & keep their jobs?
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Re:Five Nines, please, on my free service. (Score:1, Informative)
Hey, can just an FYI, 12,000 people work at yahoo. We like our jobs. Kthxbai
Re:Yahoo still matters? (Score:3, Informative)
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Re:What changed? (Score:3, Informative)
Unfortunately, I didn't want a social networking site. I liked yahoo. I used it for specific things, and social networking is not one of them. I didn't join yahoo360 because it didn't include any new "features" that I wanted over classic yahoo. Now, it looks like everything is going to yahoo360..
Re:Five Nines, please, on my free service. (Score:2, Informative)
Yes, but being an ass implies that one is deliberately acting in an asinine manner (as in, "what an asshole.")
OK, I'll grant you that it's probably thus for Americans (since you've merged "arse" with "ass"), but, for me, a person who is an ass is someone who acts idiotically, as though they had no more brain than an ass (equus asinus, whence both the words "ass" and "asinine"). Someone who deliberately behaves in a stupidly objectionable way is an arsehole, bastard, prick, or any number of other obscenities.