Tuesday, December 10, 2019

Changes to Yahoo

If anyone else is still a member of one or more Yahoo groups, you probably got some e-mails recently about how they're changing in a few days. One from this morning starts like this:

Last month we notified you of the changes coming to Yahoo Groups that better align with user habits, and today we are providing an update to guide you through the next steps of the transition. Yahoo Groups is not going away - but we are making adjustments to ultimately serve you better.

Seriously? Yahoo's full of so much shit, it's leaking out their ears.

They're deleting all stored content -- anything that was in the file libraries is being erased, and it sounds like they're also deleting all the stored conversations, although I'm not sure about that. I'd bet a stack of cookies on it, though. Yahoo Groups are becoming e-mail only groups, with none of the other features they've had for years.

And they're not allowing public groups anymore. Any public group is being automatically turned private. You won't be able to just join a group anymore, or even browse through groups looking for anything interesting. You need an invitation from a moderator to join.

Now, I don't know how many people are still active on Yahoo Groups. I'm still a member of a romance review group that's transitioned over to another site in the last week. And the workshops I take with Kris Rusch and Dean Smith were all coordinated through Yahoo Groups, and we're transitioning those too, although I think we're keeping the e-mail. Other than that, I haven't done anything with Yahoo Groups in years.

But still, don't piss on my head and tell me it's raining. When you delete files and hide all the groups and generally reduce usefulness down to some bare skeleton of what your service was before, don't try to pretend you're doing it to "better align with user habits." You're doing it to save money, period, and everyone knows it. Trying to pretend you're improving service is pure bullshit, and gives me the impression that not only is your company turning cheap and lazy, but you think I'm stupid.

Show some respect. If you're slashing services to save money, at least fucking own it.

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