Mighty Yahoo No More

Seems like I'm not the only one who thinks Yahoo's degeneration is real. Although much different from Baseline Magazine's David Carr's experience, I'd have to concur.

Not everything is in disarray in Y! land. I still think their Yahoo Mail web interface is the best of the free web mail interfaces out there, their Developer Services are great and extremely useful, and much more. But there is a definite rot in some areas - sadly, in one of Yahoo's strengths and original "reason for being" - web directory listings.

It's not a case of bad service - reps can only do what they can based on procedure. And in this case, procedure is the problem. So in this age of instant gratification and uber-efficiency here's the saga presented in bullet point fashion to keep it short and simple:

• Have an annual paid Directory listing service since 2002
• Time to renew, a friendly reminder is sent via email. It even contains information you may have forgotten, like your ID. It's an annual thing, so it will help.
  
• You try to manage your account using said ID (in the email sent)
• It doesn't work, the ID is simply "lost" in the Yahoo system. It's a hellish loop in la-la land trying to, uh, get Yahoo to take money...

The "fix"? Quote (not verbatim), "Since your ID has been deactivated due to inactivity, we have to cancel your listing and you'll have to create it again".

Wow, it leaves me speechless (or is it click weary?) and simply gave up. A five year business relationship in the rocks. From a company that needs it at that....For what? Something any mom and pop billing "department" can handle? No, the "imagine the number of people we service" excuse (and it is an excuse) doesn't work. Never has, never will. Not in my book - I know there are much smarter people in Yahoo! than I am, who can handle business and technology architecture orders of magnitude larger than what I've laid hands on. It's a case of rot, forgotten basics...

I've read articles about the how and/or why Yahoo fell behind in a service they started (Search + Directory). Heck, I was even part of the era of Yahoo, Alta Vista, Excite, etc. once the "mighty ones" that all dot-coms courted (I did, in a past dot-com life)...even had the pleasure of working with great Y! people then...in their purple and yellow offices and conference rooms with creative names...Technology? Leadership? Decisions? Hmmm, too vague for me. Maybe it's just simply getting down to basics.

Don't make customers beg to give you business....sounds like a great starting point eh?