Wed. Dec 20, 2006
Lost In The Yahoo Desert
Dear Yahoo,
I know I don’t visit you very much. Not like some others. But you have this one page I like to visit, the “Most Viewed” News page. No, I’m not going to link it. Because it is virtually guaranteed that you’ll just change the link.
You see, today is the third time I’ve woken up to do a little morning news surfing and found that page gone. Poof. No redirect or forward to the page’s new location. No 404. Just an ugly dead end, redirected to a broken page.
The third time.
This is Web 101. When you create a popular page and prominently place the link on your site, you’ve created an obligation. Your readers will bookmark that page, returning to it every day (that is your goal, isn’t it?). It is your obligation to make sure they still get there.
For the third time, you’ve left me in the desert. With no water, and no map.
You’ve been around longer than most, certainly long enough to know better. So here’s the deal I made with myself this morning (since you’re the non-present partner): the next time the “Most Viewed” News page disappears … so do I.
parched,
Reid
Published 10:48AM, Wed, Dec 20 2006
Category: Internet Web Authoring
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Peanut Gallery
Oh, I use Google News quite a bit. I have several custom news searches set up there (including one to track nasty things being said about the Falcons).
But I use(d) the Yahoo Most Viewed page as a quick check in on the news, either in the morning or on a break from work during the day. Somewhere I quickly could go and view a concise page of news links people were clicking.
And it was frustrating the first time they moved it. Maddening the second time. But the third time, I was motivated to spend ten minutes tracking down their feedback form so I could point out this kindergarten-level aspect of the web they apparently still don’t understand.
And then I filled out my own feedback form. You’re reading it. Then it gets indexed by Google. Why, just a couple of weeks ago, I wrote about Remarkably Bad Advertising. Today, if you search Google for “bad advertising,� I’m #6 out of 71 million returns.
I love the web. And I hate when people break it stupidly.
“I have several custom news searches set up there (including one to track nasty things being said about the Falcons).”
Ah, then you saw all the different versions of what Mora said and what he really meant. Yes, that’s good…
Not that I can talk, mind you. Yeah, the sheep won a game, but it didn’t mean much.
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Google News is your friend.
Seriously, I used to be a great fan of Yahoo! News, but they’ve made so many changes to the link identities and the actual layout of the pages that I have given up in disgust. Like you, I prefer a straightforward, click-once-and-its-yours setup.
Ah, well…
And how about those Falcons, eh?