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yahoo sucks! Boycott yahoo. |
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As another protester noted on her site: "Also, I'm going to stop spelling Yahoo! with a capital 'Y' *or* an exclamation point. So there, yahoo." Amen, sister.
There are various reasons why people think yahoo sucks. I am furious with the change in eGroups that took effect on January 26, 2001... I don't want to sign up for a yahoo ID, I don't want to sign up for a yahoo ID, I don't want to sign up for a yahoo ID! My bad experience with yahoo started back in July of 1999 with the takeover of Geocities.
| Remember Geocities! |
The following is the statement I left on my old Geocities site when I ghosted my page and fled after the yahoo takeover:
"Site Content removed as of July 3rd, 1999 via FTP. *PLEASE NOTE: I did NOT agree to the new TOS but FTP'd in under my old Geocities account in order to take down my site. Yahoo does NOT own any rights to any of the content that was displayed here prior to July 3rd, 1999. I apologize for the popup ad but I can't get into my old Geocities Filemanager to change it back to a banner without signing up as a Yahoo member and thus agreeing to the new TOS... so be it..."
At issue was the Terms of Service that yahoo wanted the Geocities Members to sign in order to access their sites:
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Section 8 of the Yahoo/Geocities Terms of Service - the offensive portion of which reads as follows: 8. CONTENT SUBMITTED TO YAHOO By submitting Content to any Yahoo property, you automatically grant, or warrant that the owner of such Content has expressly granted, Yahoo the royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive and fully sublicensable right and license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform and display such Content (in whole or part) worldwide and/or to incorporate it in other works in any form, media, or technology now known or later developed. |
These pages offer some history of the boycott and the Haunting of Geocities back in July of 1999; pages were copied to allow people to read them without having to give yahoo any visits - some internal links on the pages may not work:
The Haunting of Geocities A Breakdown of Section 8 in the TOSGeocities members were held hostage, unable to access their sites via the web without signing up for a yahoo ID and thus the new TOS. I remember giving people a crash course on how to FTP to their sites in order to take them down without accessing the new Geocities/yahoo file manager pages. Now, yahoo did finally ease up on the TOS and the Haunting was considered a success. But the way that yahoo tried to sneak in a clause that allowed them free use of any content on the member's sites left a bad taste in my mouth. I avoided yahoo from that point on and refused to use their "search" pages [which are all crap anyway] or any other yahoo services. And while the Geocities users won a small victory, there were still all the other people using yahoo email or any of the other services who still were under the original yahoo TOS - also known as "yahoo - we own the content so you don't have to!"
There are various reasons why people think that yahoo sucks... These are just a few:
June 30, 1999 - The Geocities/Yahoo takeover:
Homesteaders were held hostage by yahoo as they were
locked out of their sites unless they signed on with new yahoo ID's and thus to the unacceptable TOS. People were frantic.
REMEMBER THAT DAY
September 5, 2000 - The Day The Rings Died
yahoo took over Webrings.org and ruined what many ring masters fondly remember with the following words:
"Many rings were (and still are) things of such great beauty that it takes my breath away." While I never was a ring master
or a member of a webring, I feel their pain and support their boycott.
The Day The Rings Died
yahoo "editors" refuse to add pages submitted to their search engine:
Editors seem to refuse to add or even acknowledge
the request to submit a page to the yahoo search engine. Some sites find that if they put up one of
the "boycott yahoo" graphics i.e. the green ribbon, then they are suddenly listed.
HAS THIS HAPPENED TO YOU??
yahoo charges a "special" $199 fee to put you first in line for website submissions:
This special fee will ensure that the yahoo "editors" will visit/consider a page submitted to
the search engine but it still does not mean your site will be listed. A webmaster might as well throw $200 out
the window and still have the same chances as those who don't fork over the fee.
The giant portal is offering to expedite reviews of sites -- for $199
The total lack of any sort of actual technical support - canned email replies are ALL you can hope for.
No links needed here - if you've ever tried to get any assistance from an actual person
at yahoo, you know what I mean....
The continued practice of changing things and not telling anyone in advance. Then you can't get any sort
of help from a real person and their "help" pages suck.
Again, no links needed - they delight in causing panic and if you have perused their
"help" site, you know it isn't, really.
January 26, 2001... the takeover of eGroups.
You Are Here!
This last one grates me to no end. Why in the world did yahoo feel the need to change eGroups into something
that is generic yahoo and FORCE eGroup users to sign up for a yahoo ID before they can access the email lists
web area features? It almost seems like yahoo can't get enough users on their own, so they takeover other
companys and force the innocent customers to become yahoo members so they can say "Look world! Look how many
users we have! We are so great!"
Yeah, except users are FORCED into it. It's Geocities all over again.
If yahoo had bought out eGroups and left it alone, I could have lived with it. I *hoped* that they would just leave eGroups
along, content to own the biggest email list service around... But I saw trouble coming back
in August 2000 when the takeover was announced. What I cannot figure out is why yahoo wants to gobble up the
eGroup identity that is so well known. Companies buy other companies all the time and keep the brand name just
as it was, and the PRODUCT/SERVICE just as it was. But not yahoo. They want to assimilate all others and turn
the whole world into one big yahoofest, everything identical, everyone with the same form of ID, everyone with exactly alike,
with no difference, no choice.
Gosh, even AOL left ICQ alone when they took over.... and as far as I know, hotmail did not become microsoftmail
during that merger...
| I don't WANT a yahoo ID!!! |
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Will Yahoo! Groups have a different TOS from the rest of the Yahoo!
network? No. However, Yahoo! will view content and user activity differently
on Yahoo! Groups than the rest of the network. The current Terms of Service has been revised to include a clause that specifically references Yahoo! Groups. It is copied below: With respect to Content you submit or make available for inclusion on publicly accessible areas of Yahoo! Clubs and Yahoo! Groups, the license to use, distribute, reproduce, modify, adapt, publicly perform and publicly display such Content on the Service solely for the purposes of providing and promoting the specific Yahoo! Club or Yahoo! Group to which such Content was submitted or made available. This license exists only for as long as you elect to continue to include such Content on the Service and will terminate at the time you remove or Yahoo removes such Content from the Service. This language is far less broad than the language in the eGroups Terms of Service and protects your content. If you don't want us to feature your content, simply remove it from your group. |
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AND..... Section 8 remains in use today - http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
modified a bit here and there because of all the many services
that yahoo has taken over, and yet they still continue to try to claim the copyright to
content that is "publicly accessible"! Did Geocites teach them nothing? 8. CONTENT SUBMITTED OR MADE AVAILABLE FOR INCLUSION ON THE SERVICE Yahoo does not claim ownership of Content you submit or make available for inclusion on the Service. However, with respect to Content you submit or make available for inclusion on publicly accessible areas of the Service, you grant Yahoo the following world-wide, royalty free and non-exclusive license(s), as applicable: With respect to Content you submit or make available for inclusion on publicly accessible areas of Yahoo! Clubs and Yahoo! Groups, the license to use, distribute, reproduce, modify, adapt, publicly perform and publicly display such Content on the Service solely for the purposes of providing and promoting the specific Yahoo! Club or Yahoo! Group to which such Content was submitted or made available. This license exists only for as long as you elect to continue to include such Content on the Service and will terminate at the time you remove or Yahoo removes such Content from the Service. With respect to photos, graphics, audio or video you submit or make available for inclusion on publicly accessible area of the Service other than Yahoo! Clubs or Yahoo! Groups, the license to use, distribute, reproduce, modify, adapt, publicly perform and publicly display such Content on the Service solely for the purpose for which such Content was submitted or made available. This license exists only for as long as you elect to continue to include such Content on the Service and will terminate at the time you remove or Yahoo removes such Content from the Service. With respect to Content other than photos, graphics, audio or video you submit or make available for inclusion on publicly accessible areas of the Service other than Yahoo! Clubs or Yahoo! Groups, the perpetual, irrevocable and fully sublicensable license to use, distribute, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, publicly perform and publicly display such Content (in whole or in part) and to incorporate such Content into other works in any format or medium now known or later developed. "Publicly accessible" areas of the Service are those areas of the Yahoo network of properties that are intended by Yahoo to be available to the general public. By way of example, publicly accessible areas of the Service would include Yahoo! Message Boards and portions of Yahoo! Clubs and Yahoo! Groups that are open to both members and visitors. However, publicly accessible areas of the Service would not include portions of Yahoo! Clubs and Yahoo! Groups that are limited to members, Yahoo services intended for private communication such as Yahoo! Mail or Yahoo! Messenger, or areas off of the Yahoo network of properties such as portions of World Wide Web sites that are accessible through Yahoo! Webring but are not hosted or served by Yahoo. |
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1. ACCEPTANCE OF TERMS Welcome to Yahoo!. Yahoo provides its service to you, subject to the following Terms of Service ("TOS"), which may be updated by us from time to time without notice to you. |
I don't want to sign up for a yahoo ID
I don't want to sign up for a yahoo ID
I don't want to sign up for a yahoo ID!
| I simply don't trust yahoo anymore! |
Here are some links to other pages that have news stories, think yahoo sucks, or who are boycotting yahoo for their own reasons. Let's hope yahoo listens and stops trying to make the whole internet accessible only with a yahoo ID...
No links to geocities/yahoo sites are included. Sorry, I just don't want to encourage people to visit yahoo for any reason...Look, I admit it. I am biased against yahoo. It isn't just the TOS, either the current version or the version from July 1999.... it isn't just that they are sneaky when they merge with another company, it isn't just that they force users to become "one" with yahoo via the infamous yahoo ID when a merger happens.... it's not just that they are trying to take over the internet or refuse to give any customer service while they do it. It's all of the above and more. yahoo sucks... plain and simple. Boycott yahoo.
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yahoo sucks! Boycott yahoo. |
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This cool graphic compliments of:
http://members.fortunecity.com/boycottyahoo31/