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Yahoo Changes User Profiles, To Massive Outrage
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."
Can we get Facebook and MySpace wiped clean, too?
its about competition. Other free services would never do this. And though we don't pay them, they get money from us. So we can complain. That said. Yahoo please die already, noone has liked you since '96.
Isn't this just the type of thing that Stallman was referring to not long ago? Granted, the particular details of this instance are not THAT alarming (people's profiles) however, it certainly goes to show . . .
I agreed with him then, and will certainly keep it in mind.
Moe
SARAVA!
Beta isn't a trend, it's a lifestyle!
Nobody is complaining? Everybody in the Relevant Google Groups are complaining! http://groups.google.com/group/Google_Web_Search_Help-Personalizing/topics
Most of the trackbacks for the Google Blog post announcing the change were negative, although Googleblog admins have since removed those trackbacks.
Most people dislike the wasted space of having the tabs to the left. People Also dislike the removal of the plus feature in rss feed gadgets, since the replacement (the first 20 words or so of the text of each article) is not nearly as nice looking or functional. (This change has since been reverted.) Lastly, many people are upset that gadgets can no longer be collapsed and expanded with just a single click.
Stylish sheet to fix many problems in Slashdot's D3: https://gist.github.com/801524
There used to be clever hacks in the old Yahoo Profiles to modify your profile to do things like play MIDI files and change the background and run Javascripts via a series of exploits in the way the Yahoo data forms worked.
Yahoo wants to get rid of the exploits by wiping clean every profile after it fixes the exploits. Some of the exploits stole passwords and other data and some even installed malware.
I don't mind having a blank profile, I am not really notable anyway. I am a pirate ninja and just love to blend into the background so nobody can notice me as I turn invisible. :)
Remember, Slashdot does not have a -1 disagree moderation, and no, troll, flamebait, and overrated are not substitutes.
Myself? Oh, you mean my made-up character. let's see. I'm a 15-year-old bi-sexual girl with a 38DD, I remember that, but um, what um, I can't find the picture, and I can't remember what activities I was supposed to be into, other than group orgies... sh***....
Oh well, guess I'll just create a new one.
My blog
Possibly bad form to reply to myself, but meh... I went through the process of restarting one of my ancient profiles just now - I suspect Yahoo have made a few changes since the story hit the tubes. Not everything is blanked out, in fact most details were resurrected just fine. All my pictures and contacts are still there, though I had to go through a couple of simple mouse clicks to make it happen.
The only people who will be really annoyed by this are those that are bitching about the loss of all their split personalities (aliases) - well not exactly, they can keep the multiple names, just that Yahoo is going to point back to a single profile and link all the aliases to that one profile. This will clean up all the crazies who roll out a new persona with every new boy/girlfriend, bad hair day, full moon, EMO issue, and so on and so forth.
Probably just a housekeeping strategy internally at yahoo - it'd save them a few bucks on hard drive space at the very least. I guess for anyone who really wants a bunch of different profiles, they can always create another account. They are free after all.
yeah but it was only three people making those posts.
Sorry about the writing. Robot fingers, you know? Cliff Steele in DOOM PATROL #23
Last I checked, although you can customize your yahoo page, you can't remove the F***ING HOROSCOPE! That actively pisses me off every time I set eyes on the page.
You're just saying that because you are an Aquarius -- so eccentric and passionately unwilling to fit in with everyone else.
The day that we can joke about black, Jewish or Chinese people as light hearted as we do about blondes will be a great day. Doing harm by making a blonde joke? Yeah right.