Boohoo, Yahoo
Written: Jun 26 '02 (Updated Jun 26 '02)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Still good, for the most part.
Cons: Clear signs of deterioration, now and in the future.
The Bottom Line: It's been fun but I think Yahoo is headed down the Hotmail path.
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| pambo's Full Review: Yahoo! Mail |
So, after I get something (which I don't have) enlarged, will I still be making $5,000 a week, working at home?
Or, can I expect to earn more?
I'm troubled by Yahoo's troubles, which seem clearer every day.
Up until recently, Yahoo has been an extremely steady, if not flashy, free e-mail service that blocked most, though not all, garbage e-mail, provided tech service that promptly answered, if not always clearly, answered questions, and maintained a very steady presence. The weakest element of the service was its refusal to allow users to block or otherwise filter more than 15 addresses, which in this day and age, is unacceptably low.
But, things are changing, and of course, not for the better. What was once a service far superior to everyone.net and the outrageously bad Hotmail, Yahoo has been inquiring, imploring, really, users to sign up for various services, sticking ever-larger ads in every corner of its pages that it can find. It has been poking around, asking questions, which, though voluntary, seem to point to more intrusiveness in the future. It also delivered a questionnaire recently, asking, among other things:
What price would I be willing to pay for certain services that are now free?
Would I pay if I could filter more addresses?
Would I switch services instead of pay?
Would I pay for more storage space? And how much?
And so on, a series of ominous questions clearly meant to prepare users for fee-based services.
Worse, and more obvious, the tech support seems to be fading. What was once speedy and utterly reliable has turned into sporadic responses. Twice recently, all of my folders just vanished for more than 48 hours. Meantime, my inbox was jamming up and I hit the mail limit because I couldn't go into the folders and delete anything.
Repeated messages to tech support got zero response. Zero. I was stunned. Eventually, both times, the folders reappeared, with no acknowledgement from Yahoo.
The second problem came on top of a question I had about the receipt of html documents. I maintain an editors' web site (copydesk.org) and we've recently begun adding member pages. But when people tried to email me their pages, Yahoo turned them into a cut-and-paste, directly into my email, meaning the material no longer formed pages. Several notes exchanged with tech support led to more frustration, because they "couldn't duplicate this error"--in other words, couldn't see what the problem was. I gave up and began using a different address.
Worst of all, the level spam has probably quadrupled in recent weeks. Yahoo's "bulk mail folder" which was designed by Yahoo to try to head off bulk mailers no longer is catching even a quarter of the material.
And, Yahoo has begun doing what so many bad services do. When they're busy working on the setup, somewhere in the background, the service deteriorates, with no explanation. As it turned out, Yahoo was busy preparing a beta redesign at the same time I couldn't access my folders, and was getting repeated "page contains no data" messages whenever I tried to open anything. So all the energy, I'm sure, was going into the beta test, and not into making the current system work properly.
I'm sorry to see this happen to Yahoo. There must be a way for a free e-mail service to exist and make money. Free Internet-based e-mail is a huge help--you can access it from anywhere. But if it continues to deteriorate, people will depart in droves, I suspect.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
pambo
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 - Top 1000 |
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Member: Pam Robinson
Location: Long Island
Reviews written: 477
Trusted by: 238 members
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