Where does Yahoo! head next?

Posted October 16th, 2007 at 3:13 pm by Jerry Yang, CEO & Chief Yahoo

 227 Comments / Filed in: Trends & News

There’s been much curiosity and speculation about what’s been happening here at Yahoo! over the past few months. Roughly 100 days into our business review, I’m ready to start sharing some of the framework for where we see the future of Yahoo!.

After I last posted in July, we gathered senior leaders from across the company to develop a vision that we believe is truly different from that of the past. We conducted an intense review of our business, examining everything from our strategy and culture to our competitive position and how the marketplace is evolving. We knew we had to change not only our business, but also how we prioritize and make decisions. We had to shift from a siloed mentality to a more collaborative organization that marches toward a common horizon. We had to determine which businesses to invest in, and which to begin to exit or de-emphasize.

What we ultimately saw was massive untapped potential and the opportunity to achieve things few companies on the planet could accomplish. As audacious as that sounds, we believe it’s entirely within our reach with a lot of hard work and discipline, greater focus, tough decisions, a shift in culture, and faster execution. And what will drive us? Creating incredible experiences for our customers.

Based on our analysis, we’ve made important decisions. We defined a strategy that revolves around making Yahoo! indispensable to an ecosystem of consumers, advertisers, publishers and developers while tapping into three key differentiators: generating and leveraging insights, deploying open platforms, and becoming partner of choice. While these have long distinguished us, we intend to do more with them going forward. We will do so by measuring how much more “relevant” we can become for each member of our ecosystem. We believe centering around “relevance” will become a unifying focus for us and drive increased value in everything we do.

We’re placing our bets in three big multi-year objectives. Let me walk you through them, what they mean, and what kind of actions support them:

1. Become the starting point for the most consumers: We’re defining “starting point” as being the sites that help you better manage your life and connect you to what matters most to you. Services like our Front Page, My Yahoo!, mail, search, and mobile all fulfill that role, while properties like news, sports, and finance (for example) serve as anchors from those starting points. We’ve made it our mission to provide kick-ass experiences in both of these categories to inspire the most consumers to begin their day with us. It’s critical for us to continue to invest and innovate in these offerings so that we can power and delight these consumers. Recent moves like the new Yahoo! Search, the new Yahoo! Mail, and our acquisitions of Zimbra and BuzzTracker should give you a sense of what we mean. And by tapping into our insights, we think we can significantly increase our relevance (why serve up World Series content to you on our front page when what you’re really interested in is Dancing with the Stars?).
2. Become the must-buy for advertisers: What’s key here is our transformation from selling inventory on primarily the Yahoo! network to becoming an advertising company that delivers comprehensive, integrated, and targeted solutions on Yahoo! and beyond. Through our acquisitions of RightMedia and BlueLithium, we think we’re on track to becoming the industry’s leading open ad network. We’ll provide advertisers with the benefits of more insights, open competition, and scaleable tools and platforms. We think our momentum is building. Panama’s global rollout is nearly complete, our display business is showing signs of growth, we’ve signed on more great publishing partners, and we’re encouraged by the traction we’re seeing in our new strategy.
3. Deliver open, industry-leading platforms that attract the most publishers and developers: We have phenomenal technology platforms and data infrastructure, and it’s time to share. Besides building on open API for critical platforms, we’re looking at many different ways to open Yahoo!. We’re excited about what could happen when a motivated community of publishers and developers starts plugging into our most popular services. Imagine how efficient your Yahoo! Finance experience could be with portfolios integrated from your brokerage. Or how personalized your Yahoo! homepage could be with a cool third-party widget. The possibilities are endless and “open” is all part of a new way of operating at Yahoo!.

Our new decision-making framework also informed what we’d no longer invest in. To start, we’ve de-emphasized our focus on subscription music in favor of ad-supported music, migrated Yahoo! Photos to Flickr, we intend to transition Yahoo! 360 to a more integrated Yahoo! “profile” experience, we’ve closed Yahoo! Podcasts and plan to shut down a number of one-off services, and we’re currently assessing our options for our Kelkoo comparison shopping service in Europe. We’ve identified still more areas and we’ll continue to work through them.

While our recent actions and initiatives provide the breadcrumb trail for Yahoo!’s future direction, you should now have a clearer sense of the new path we’ve charted. We’ve scripted our strategy, sharpened our organization, determined how we’ll prioritize, and zeroed in on our big bets. We’re in the midst of our transformation and seeing some initial progress. There’s hard work ahead, along with a large and growing market opportunity. If we execute as planned, I’m confident we’ll be creating substantial long-term value for our users, advertisers, publishers, and developers – and, of course, for our shareholders.

Jerry Yang
CEO and Chief Yahoo

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227 Comments Add your own

navin | October 16th, 2007 at 7:20 pm

Yahoo! has passionate users, amazing talent, and a big heart.
I guess thats the reason why its a big part of my everyday life.
Thank you, Yahoo!.

gag | October 16th, 2007 at 7:38 pm

yahoo is already a success but has to win everyday. Their is so much more to do, ambition of growth at yahoo should be beyond the potentials of the internet. Thank you, D n J for yahoo.

SEO Consulting | October 16th, 2007 at 9:17 pm

Congratulations on a great third quarter. Look forward to a great rest of the year.

John Furrier | October 16th, 2007 at 10:44 pm

Jerry,
I’m glad to see you as the orginal cofounder and now CEO at the helm. Yahoo was and is still a brand that users and advertisers love and trust. You helped make the Web a reality. I’m glad to see the sharp crisp focus. Silicon Valley was build on the backbone of fostering ideas, technologies, products, creating ventures, and making money. Yahoo’s been there before and I’m looking forward to seeing you guys move to new ground. Best of luck with your sharpened strategy.

- John Furrier
Palo Alto, CA
Founder PodTech

Amit Chowdhry | October 16th, 2007 at 10:57 pm

What would be amazing is if users saw more of a presence of the Yahoo! Music player. We’ve seen Yahoo! Music integrated into Facebook in the form of an application (my favorite application by the way), but it would be awesome to have one’s personalized station embedded into Yahoo! Mail or the Front Page and have it running as users surf through Yahoo!’s various portals (Yahoo! News, Flickr, Del.icio.us, etc).

Those are my $0.02. Great job, Yahoo! Keep innovating!

Krish | October 17th, 2007 at 2:23 am

Congratulations on the positive signals. Good luck in getting Yahoo to a market leader and trend setter.

Matt Cox | October 17th, 2007 at 2:57 am

Finger’s crossed.

I have my own ideas of what Yahoo! should be focusing on, where they should be and what they should be doing with their products… but then, I’m not in a position (and probably never will be) to put those in action.

Fred Oliveira | October 17th, 2007 at 3:16 am

I have been saying this a lot but I feel encouraged by the attention Yahoo! is giving developers - it shows not only a lot of respect but insight into what can actually push Y! forward. Yahoo! is not only bringing the right people in, it is also allowing people on the outside to explore more of its property and collected knowledge. Keep it up.

Mike Abundo | October 17th, 2007 at 3:22 am

There’s a much shorter way to say all that:

1. Portal.
2. Ads.
3. APIs.

King Tom | October 17th, 2007 at 3:26 am

Are you mad? You guys don’t know your arse from your elbow! Your paid search is a mess (despite a lengthy revamp) and your organic listings have absolutely no relevance to what I’m actually searching for. There’s a good reason Google rule the world - because it’s the only true search engine in the world and they bring at nearly all of the best tools.

If Yahoo truly want to move forward they need to start thinking about new ways to push a formerly popualr product back into the spotlight.

Take a look at Nintendo for example, they were nowhere a year or two go and Sony ruled the world. But they came back with a product so pioneering and unique that everyone began to remember why they used to be so great.

Pull your finger out Yahoo, before Google begin to take you down in the places where you still have visitors!

Jackson | October 17th, 2007 at 6:28 am

I do think that Yahoo! has a great set of tools that once integrated and consolidated, will be setting the bar for the competition. However, I am just wondering if the “starting point” goal is just another name for “Yahoo is going to be the best portal”.

How about instead of focusing on being a starting point, focus on being a gateway. For instance, I publish to Flick without ever going to a web page. I post to my link blog directly from my feed reader, I post to my microblog directly from SMS.

I understand that Yahoo! needs web eyes to be a must buy for advertisers, so how about services that reach out and grab my attention a little more. Let someone tag me in a picture and then alert me to that, or even let me “follow” flickr and del.icio.us users in a less passive way than RSS.

BTW, I really like some of the unification of services I have noticed going on in regards to profiles on Yahoo! properties.

Emre Sokullu | October 17th, 2007 at 6:30 am

Sounds great! Congrats!

seekXL | October 17th, 2007 at 7:58 am

Very interesting, i hope this are the right way for the future.

GuillaumeB | October 17th, 2007 at 8:15 am

Please, oh please do pay attention to homogeneity in this draft.
I mean you definitely have to do something with the redundant services (Y!Bookmarks, MyWeb, Delicious) and maintain a coherent UI (New Y!Mail VS old calendar …been more than 2 years now).
I’ve been following Yahoo for ages now and here is a wrapt up of y opinion on the future of Yahoo
http://www.guillaumeb.com/2007/09/urgent-steps-yahoo-needs-to-take.html

I wish you luck with your project and I look forward to see an even more amazing network

Anindya Sharma | October 17th, 2007 at 8:15 am

Yahoo has the base platform and legacy to archive what it wants, and now also has focussed 3 area policy in place also…….Best of Luck Jerry…YAHOO!!

Yahoo! Evangelist | October 17th, 2007 at 8:40 am

Jerry, David and Sue

You people rocked.. Looking for the great come back. Hope you guys offer a formiddable competition to other players out.

Floyd | October 17th, 2007 at 10:05 am

Number 2 won’t happen unless you make number one happen first. Number one has so slim a chance of happening I will be surprised if you can effectively do it. The new Yahoo mail? I switched to a rival service because of it. Yahoo Search? I never use it. Yahoo Groups? Seeking alternatives. Fortunately for Yahoo, Google doesn’t engage in customer interaction really, so you are just starting to gain the edge there. Use what your users tell you they like, and make it happen. Better yet, allow as much customization as possible and you will have relevance, and thus advertising draw. Customers are your bread and butter, and I don’t mean advertisers. The end, Joe-average user makes or breaks you. Right now, Yahoo has little to offer me, and in searching out alternatives, I’ve found others more to my taste. Less cluttered, easier to use, and with more options and less self-hype. Good luck. I hope to see progress.

Doors | October 17th, 2007 at 11:36 am

Well, From a pure implementation perspective, the focus (IMHO) should be on driving people to focus on important projects. There are too many Y! properties..just hanging around..close them.

Most importantly, hire smart people (I know of few employees who have just gone lazy after staying in y! for 3+ yrs).

Marc Grossman | October 17th, 2007 at 11:46 am

Jerry,
Congratulations on the new game plan. Please do not forget to include “accessibility” into all of the business plans.

Alexis Kauffmann | October 17th, 2007 at 12:48 pm

Mission #1 is quickly being achieved as your services keep improving with unparalleled quality. Yes, your 360 space need urgent improvement but, as an average, Yahoo services expand to meet the needs of the average internet users. Hope it stays in that path.

Scott | October 17th, 2007 at 5:31 pm

The mainstream on Yahoo loves the yahoo groups. Other groups have a much different approach but yahoo still seems to win out on that topic. We will see on the other points I guess.

The Dog Clothing Company | October 18th, 2007 at 12:02 pm

Yahoo! once was THE market leader but what’d happened over all these years? It gradually lost its share to Google and others. I love Yahoo and I really hope all these strategies will get it back to where it was.

Jen | October 18th, 2007 at 3:52 pm

i dont get the shutting down of one-off services or de-emphasized focus of subscription music favor of ad-supported music help i wanna understand

Larry Kollar | October 18th, 2007 at 4:52 pm

You really need to take another look at 360 and how passionate its users are about it. Yahoo!360 somehow became “Myspace for grownups,” perhaps without intent, and certainly without a lot of support or communication from the 360 Team. People are leaving 360 *right now* because they’re expecting it to turn into yet another pre-teen thing come January. Look at the over 900 comments on the latest 360 Product blog post, and you’ll see how many people care deeply about this service.

How many users were on 360? Two million? (minus the thousands that have already left) Can Yahoo really afford to alienate that many people? I don’t really believe Yahoo wants to lose those users, but lose them you will if you don’t start communicating in *detail* about the changes that are coming. How many more users would there have been on 360 had the 360 Team been proactive with bug fixes and communication? How wildly popular might it have been had Yahoo been promoting it? (I started a blog on Blogger about a month after 360 first rolled out, because I didn’t know 360 existed at the time.)

Look into how you can make the passion work for you… because right now, it’s working against you.

gag | October 18th, 2007 at 5:16 pm

i was listening to Infected mushroom -psycho when i happened to check this post. Their are sites i can download flv from, i love music.
I was thinking about this whole drm situation, i mean if i create a awesome music/song i want to make money. At the same time, their is also the analog hole n the fact that everything today is being given free and music is something almost everybody cant be without, so they will reach out n grab.
At this point, i wanted to ask yahoo if they could create a smart menu within the video player itself so videos could move to the toolbar, widget, gadgets, blogs…also if yahoo could somehow get a view which could just act as a music player with a visual when i am just in the mood to listen to music, like when i am working. I guess this also comes in handy when i have a slow connection. I am also trying to read about having multiple Internet session, so my broadband could handle all my media needs and i could use another net access, like from a mobile for my surfing all at the same time. I don’t know if this problem of media access is unique to me, i do use a very old computer.
I think free music to the user is the way forward. If i am creating music and if your gonna use it, i want to be paid. Here again, many revenue generation models are gonna be born. It will mostly involve people like you and me becoming distributors, talent hunters, brand mangers etc., Right now its dollar a song and like i said i am listening to phyce trance…..

GA | October 18th, 2007 at 5:29 pm

What about Yahoo Calendar? Thats at the forefront of my life too, but other than integration with yahoo mail, the calendar itself has evolved little. Any plans for that in the near future?

gag | October 18th, 2007 at 5:33 pm

I visited some y360 a day back and felt the above emotions. I wrote here about how y360 could be striped down of the media n stuff and be presented as a bloggers delight. Giving emphasis to posts, topics/titles, tags, syndication (rss), privacy set at source (both for blogger and commenter) and all this be interconnected and being attached to profiles. I saw screenshots of mash, their is work to do i am also thinking i might not have all the puzzle bits, its a different story when you draw strategies on a paper board, the dots connect better everyday. Meanwhile i would not worry much, i mean even god removed those dino’s and started fresh, except for those roaches, god. I need to stop this music.

Anne Orsi | October 18th, 2007 at 6:33 pm

I’m one of those passionate 360 users the previous commenter mentioned. I have a friends list of over 150 people, a number of whom have friends lists of similar size. We use the service every day.

Because of the way the 360 “transition” was announced, many people assume that it will degenerate into something like that horrible MASH network Yahoo is now beta testing. Despite those among us who advocate waiting to see what the new social networking/blogging/profile platform will look like, people are jumping the 360 ship in droves. Many are heading to Multiply.com, where we can have the same features we love about 360 as well as the ones we’ve asked Yahoo to provide throughout the multi-year beta testing of Yahoo 360.

The users of Yahoo 360 are adults, not teeny-boppers. They want to blog, they want to network with other adults, and they don’t want to be assaulted by MySpace-type graphics and noise. While we do get silly on occasion, we don’t want to be assaulted by silliness as soon as we log into our social networking site.

I think an integrated profile with a blog, RSS feeds, a good search engine, and customizable modules would be a great way to get people to use the service as their first stop - their home page.

Unfortunately, because of the way it was announced, Yahoo is driving away the people who would have been most loyal.

I would like to suggest some damage control.

*Assure the users of Yahoo 360 once again that their blogs will be preserved in their entirety - that means preserving the comments to the posts as well as the posts themselves.

*Explain HOW the changes will affect current Yahoo users. If you want to keep the user base you already have, they need to know that things will be better. For instance, if Yahoo were to say something along the lines of “The ‘MyYahoo’ page will now include your profile, your blog, links to your favorite sites, and improvements to the RSS newsfeeds already available” people would probably say that the transition will be good, not that the sky is falling.

*Start actually responding to technical problems with action rather than the same, tired form letter. I have written Yahoo multiple times about the same ongoing problem with my 360 page and have never gotten any answer other than the “we’re working on it” email. It just does not take 10 months to fix a software glitch when the feature works fine elsewhere.

*Remember that your advertisers want traffic, and the best way to deliver that traffic is to have happy users of your sites. Customer service is critical. Yahoo’s users are its customers, even if the service provided is free. Respond to their concerns and problems in a positive way. Happy users result in more happy users, because word of mouth works for you. Word of mouth also works against you, and has been working against you for some time because of a lack of responsiveness to customer concerns.

*Yahoo Executives who use non-Yahoo products to make public statements do their own products no favors. The blog here on Wordpress.com could be mirrored on Yahoo 360. Doing so would give the Yahoo users more confidence in the product. A big question lately is “Why don’t the Yahoo executives support their own products?” That question is followed closely by “If they don’t believe in their products, why should we?”

I like Yahoo 360 and I want to stay with Yahoo. I have built a strong network of interesting people. Wrecking the platform on which we all stand will disperse us to other places. We don’t want that, and I suspect Yahoo really doesn’t, either.

Please, give us real feedback. The company changes and the changes with Yahoo 360 affect us loyal 360 users in a very real way and on what we feel is a very personal level.

brenda | October 18th, 2007 at 9:45 pm

i think this really sucks. you shouldnt shut yahoo down. it a fun place and i have meet alot of people thought yahoo.

gag | October 18th, 2007 at 10:18 pm

I had a blog….. i think people who comment at blog should be given opportunity to tie up with a brand and maybe let to tag a logo along.

anyway a minute ago while i was transferring files from one folder to another, i was amused to find the animation of single sheets of paper fly up and do a flip mid air and then fly down to the folder on the other side. Imagine ywidgets installed in computers n gadgets and files being flipped at yahoo and then sent to the other end.
In computers are we looking at a operating system within another and will widgets work combination n recombinations to accomplish tasks.

Princess Vicki | October 18th, 2007 at 10:30 pm

I realize that Yahoo!360 is a free site, and I appreciate that. I came to 360 almost 2 years ago, and have put alot of work into my site. It took me a long time to learn how to do alot of things on there.
Then, came the changes…Yahoo Photos closed down, forcing everyone to choose another venue…Flickr which was supposed to be free…but now I come to find out that nope…it was only free for a bit, and now I will have to shut that down because I cannot afford it.
Then the geniuses decided to create MASH and somehow mess everyone over and rip 360 away from us. You asked our opinion…and then do as you please anyhow even though the majority of users said they wanted 360 to stay. Mash, Facebook, and even MySpace is mostly for kids. I am 48 years old…I have no desire to be on a site that is for kids only! 360 has more adults on it than kids now.
So…go ahead & make your new sites, but keep 360 just like it is!!! Or if you really want to do something with 360…HOW ABOUT FIXING THE BUGS ON IT!!!!! Please?

Sandy | October 19th, 2007 at 2:45 am

I have been using Yahoo for 10 years. I’m 22 years old so thats about half my life. It has saddened me to leave. Yahoo was my home page, its where I purchased games, received E-mail, and until recently blogged. After being ignored on the 360 Team blog for so long then insulted and chastised for asking questions over at the Mash board I decided to leave.
As a side note, I hate Mash. If I wanted a My Space account, I’d have one. If I had kids, they would not use Mash. I’d pop them in the mouth if I ever heard them say fugly? What are you trying to teach kids anyway?
Getting back on track, The transition to Flikr was awful. The newest photos don’t show up on our pages. We have other issues with photos, reviews not showing up, groups disappearing from our pages. I stayed even without answers because I had put so much work into my page and my friends. I know 360 is a free service but I also know you get money from advertisers to allow them to try to sell their products to us. I am, or was your customer. I have changed my homepage to iGoogle and have a new gmail account. I now buy games from BigFish, and I chat at IMVU. I am slowly moving my blog to Multiply.com.
I was given this site from another 360 user who wanted me to come over here and beg you guys to read the comments on the 360Team blog. Obviously no one over there is reading the over 2000 comments from the last 2 entries. I don’t know why you can’t read them. I have. I’m not here to beg though, I want you to know you have lost for good at least one customer. Once my blog is moved I don’t ever intend to use Yahoo again. For anything. I have been kept in the dark, ignored and then insulted. I have dealt with bugs and glitches, ending user chat-rooms, closing yahoo photos. So you see I’m not against change or I would have been long gone. I’m against being abused. I won’t beg you to keep 360, I’m moving on. However if you care (which I doubt) about how your “customers” feel it may be wise to take a look over there. Not only are some leaving but others are willing to hang around and be treated like dirt forever if you will just keep their beloved 360. Personally I won’t shed a tear if your company folds up and goes bankrupt, I know it probably won’t happen. I know I won’t have hundreds follow me away from you. I know you don’t care about me or how I feel, but it won’t stop me from telling you about it anyway. Bottom line, I don’t like you anymore.

Hollywood Entertainment Blog | October 19th, 2007 at 4:39 am

introduce something like google adsense

Myscha (Y! ID womankindeternal) | October 19th, 2007 at 5:08 am

As you will see if you check my website link, I have embraced what Yahoo! offers up until now.
Y! was the first place I found that offered an “online briefcase” where I could store important documents and be able to access them from anywhere in the world with an internet connection.
The introduction of Y! 360 was the reason I began blogging in the first place, and I believe mine is the only blog that currently offers songs in text-only sheet music format with a link to an online converter.
Y! made all of this possible.
Recently I was offered, and accepted a beta version of Y! Mash profile. After one or two “mashing” sessions I have been completely unable to access my profile again.
Everybody I know through Yahoo! is very worried about the proposed future development of Y! and Y! 360.
Y! is a good product. It ain’t broke. Don’t try to fix it. And stop trying before you lose a loyal userbase!

Lisa | October 19th, 2007 at 6:06 am

In Yahoo’s arrogance they have forgotten the customer base they have. They have asked for help from us the users. In every case it was asked that the bugs be fixed and that they stop harrassing people with “mature content” notices when there is NO Mature content. In flagrant disregard nothing was done. Then the Mash. Have you ever asked your users if they wanted anything like that? No. So many do not know how to use features like codes for backgrounds. May seem simple to most but I know a lot of people who just learned how to change a 360 background, let alone a Mash one. Have you read any of the dozens of pages that begged to keep 360 and not change it but fix it? On a regular basis blogs are eating and can’t be posted for days at a time. Now they are moving us? Do you know how many have already left for Multiply? How many will never come back as they feel they have been betrayed by Yahoo? MSN is booming over there with Multiply and the Yahoo refugees that flocked there. Why would we trust a company that cannot read the messages they are given and take into consideration what we want? Arrogant educated idiots.

Steve Sutherland | October 19th, 2007 at 6:12 am

I realize that ultimately, Yahoo is a business. You currently offer a great service, yet I must admit - outside of 360 and Answers, the only other service I use at Yahoo is the search engine.

Removal of 360, a reasonably easy to use social networking tool when compared to others, would result in the loss of my use of Yahoo completely. I know I don’t bring tons of money into your coffers, but I do click through on many of your vendor ads, knowing that this is how you are able to provide the free service. With the removal of 360, a mass exodus of users from Yahoo will impact your bottom line.

Don’t listen only to your inner circle, too many businesses have done that - only to discover too late that they have misread the pulse of their target audience. Consult with all your stakeholders, not just those who you see as a line on your financial statements.

I think you will find, managed properly, Yahoo 360 can be a value added project to your stable of offerings. Continue to expand, but retain 360.

Thank you

Rick Kintz | October 19th, 2007 at 6:56 am

Instead of trying to reinvent and create a clone of other “online communities” why not build and improve on the fantastic foundation you already have in 360. If that MASH is a sample of things to come I may as well take all of my “online time” right on over to MySpace. I don’t like MySpace near as much as 360, but it is so much better than the “brain fart” called MASH! 360 is a wonderful community! It has bugs, but instead of trying to fix the bugs you seem to be choosing to dump it and all of the wonderful people there to cater to the “children”! I beg you, don’t do it! Be the difference in the “online communities”!

Norma Dawn | October 19th, 2007 at 7:14 am

I have been a member of Yahoo 360 since June of 2006. It took me a while to get into the whole blogging scene, but once I did I became an active daily blogger. I have made a ton of friends from all over the world through blogging and visiting other people blog pages. In fact, I have met several of my fellow bloggers as my husband and I travel around the United States in the last two or three years. I am still in close contact with the people I have met in person, and plan to meet still other fellow 360 bloggers in the future. It has become a life line for me, and I am upset that it will be taken away in the not so distant future. I have an account on MySpace. I don’t like it or use it often. I have an account with MSN for blogging, but rarely use it either. I have checked out the YMash and I am not impressed with it. If that is what you are planning to replace 360 with I will have to find another venue for my blogging. It seems so many have heard rumours of this happening and have already left 360. Isn’t there some way we can compromise on this so 360 and its current bloggers can continue in the New Year? Can’t we fix what we already have? Don’t older adults count as much as children and young adults? After all it is our money the younger clients are spending!! If I have to move blogging, I will move everything off of Yahoo! Just how I feel… Norma Dawn

Richard Dutt | October 19th, 2007 at 8:32 am

Hey I plead that you keep 360, I have friends there, and don’t want to loose them. I like it’s stye, you’ve done a good job. Well that’s my two cents. I agree with Princess Vicki, but I’m older, so keep something good. The old saying if it ain’t broken don’t fix it. I think it’s working just fine, Thank you for listinening.

Alexander Ainslie | October 19th, 2007 at 9:17 am

Jerry:

Out “Open” Goog/MS/FB/Bebo/Hi5/LI. Make the New Yahoo! an i/O platform of choice your users & developers will love you for it. As Marc Canter puts it, allow developers to “spit and suck” into and out of the platform.

Take the Web 2.0 “Social Graph” and drag it (and messers MZ/FB & Co.) to where it belongs and go eventually - a true “Semantic/Contextual Graph” - just be the person and organisation that makes it happen. BTW, try to do it before Nov 15th ;).

Also, don’t give up on Kelkoo just yet. We have a portfolio of systems and methodologies in patent pending that can take Kelkoo (& Shoposphere) to the next level of revenue generation.

Best regards,
Alexander Ainslie
WinitNetworks Ltd. (BVI)

Angry Baby Boomer | October 19th, 2007 at 9:55 am

It’s obvious that you have NOT looked at the Yahoo360 NOR WHO is using it. We do NOT want to have to know how to use htlm code. We LIKE the format the Yahoo 360 provides. It is innovative and different from ALL the rest. That’s why we are here.

I’m amazed that you would write off all of the baby boomers in exchange for the kiddies. Why do YOU not have a Yahoo 360 blog??? Have you even LOOKED at it?

Did you know that the Yahoo360 team didn’t even blog for TWO months this summer?? It wasn’t until everyone was commenting on MASH about what was going on over on the 360 that we FINALLY got a response. Please hire folks who ACTUALLY use the product that THEY earn their paycheck from.. not from folks who work here.. and blog on MySpace.

Who’s kidding WHOM?

Jayne Jordan | October 19th, 2007 at 9:56 am

I agree with Princess Vicki…

360 is slow enough without adding things that will make it run even slower.

Danny Sea | October 19th, 2007 at 10:06 am

My dad had a phrase he used continuously when I was young. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” I find it ironic that 360 is the best blogging website out there and you guys want to shut it down. And I have been to MASH and Multiply. MASH is so inferior to 360 that if I have to move to another website, it definitely won’t be this one. I probably will discontinue blogging period. 360 made blogging a memorable experience. I met so many wonderful people. The newer blogging websites makes me wonder if they were designed by geeky, immature teenagers. 360 was such a breath of fresh air from the sleezy chatrooms. I think someone sat on a loaded gun and it went up where the sun doesn’t shine and blew out their brains. I can not speak for others, and I am not asking people to get on my bandwagon…but for me, it is 360 or nothing whatsoever. This will probably be deleted so you cannot read anything negative, but at least I got it off my chest.

Guy, High Priest of Meatloaf | October 19th, 2007 at 10:31 am

Dear Mr. Chang:

I’m going to jump on the bandwagon here about Y360.

Y360 is the PREFERRED social networking site for adults. Period. The other sites look, and behave, like very obnoxious tinker toys for kids, without any serious writers, an astounding amount of clutter brought on by users with no idea how their changes will affect the output to people trying to see their profiles, and the NOISE you get subjected to on those sites is truly atrocious to me, a 50 year old male.

I blog on Y360, nearly every single day. Some days the topics are serious, sometimes just goofing, and sometimes I’m testing rough drafts for reception amongst an ADULT crowd so I can dress them up for print sales. Y360 currently IS my homepage, my first landing point of the day. Every day. 360 days a year (hey, we ALL take a break now and then).

You have created what has become the de facto KING of social networking sites for adults. And I know of about 200 who are preparing to jump ship at the drop of a hat if you turn it into a children’s play zone.

Some of us are waiting to see if you instead reblock the hat, dress it up, and clean up the rough edges. Despite its flaws, Y360 is the BEST option for adults right now - but your team has failed to listen to the users or address the issues brought to them for nearly 2 years.

Guy, High Priest of Meatloaf

Guy, High Priest of Meatloaf | October 19th, 2007 at 10:32 am

Woops, sorry… Mr. Yang.

Guy

Socen Muse | October 19th, 2007 at 10:46 am

I do agree with the above sentiments about 360 being the adult world’s blog experience and if a couple of the bugs were worked out, most in 360 would continue being the ever-growing family it’s become. I don’t think there’s a need for yet another *younger generation* blog site….we don’t need a pet to feed…have no great desire to drift through 2 years of relearning how to use tools, etc, when all-in-all, 360 has been very user friendly for us of the AdultWorld.

We just want to keep it! It’s our scrapbook w/out all the bazillion pieces! I’ll even keep it with the bugs rather than have to give it up completely.

haroula | October 19th, 2007 at 11:38 am

Why would you want to stop,or change the 360 page?I do not like Mash and i want my 360 page!If you really were interested in our opinion,you would listen to us!
Most of us are adults on the 360 page,and are happy with our blogs,friends and so on.
If you honestly listen to us,then how about letting us vote if we want to have something else?
Please let us keep our 360 page and just make improvements there!
Thank you

Vee Ghozlan AKA butterflynxile aka 360 Yahoo Refugee | October 19th, 2007 at 12:00 pm

Sir,

I am done with Yahoo. As of January 2008, I will no longer use Messenger, their email system, their phone system (yes, I a have a phone number with Yahoo, 360, Mosh/Mash, Travel, shopping or any other the other services, that Yahoo provides. A dear friend suggested that you were through neglect, forcing 360ers to abandon this service. Well, if that was your intent, you have succeeded. We are mass migrating to Multiply, when 360 closes.

Amazingly, some of your staffers sought to misleads us about Yahoo’s intentions, in some recent blogs. A Mr. Darrell Jones aka Mr. UHHH, patronized and condescended and managed to piss off reams of 360ers. Then Matt, informed us of the “transition” in 2008. One that would allow us to keep our blogs, comments etc. Unfortunately, your transitions have been disasters. We are still recovering from the photo/Flickr fiasco and as such, have little or no faith, that Yahoo can live up to its statements.

Unfortunately, one in your Customer Service is not spouting the parting line and has confirmed, that you are closing 360 down. So the whole Matt post on the 360 team blog is a clever lie, about “transitioning”.

Thank you. By 2008, I will be not be using any of Yahoo’s services. Incidentally, other people are following me, in this decision.

vee ghozlan

Ruth | October 19th, 2007 at 12:21 pm

Okay, I doubt I’ll be heard here, as the thousands of us that cared to comment on other places on YAHOO have been ignored, but I have to try.

I have recommended Yahoo 360 to people. Why? Because its straightforward, easy to use, and the networking was great.

Now, after being insulted by your staff, ignored, and for the most part treated as if I, as a long time Yahoo user, were inconsequential, I’m told that …”too bad, so sad”…we’re getting rid of Yahoo 360.

Do you care about customer relations? Do you understand them? Are the kids you have working for you breathing such rarified air that they can’t think like real people? Do they really think ignoring and patronizing customers is the way to go?

Now, I’m seeing people leaving Yahoo in disgust, in droves, and heading to other places that *listen* to their customers, and *care*.

What Yahoo needs is a crash course on customer service, and how to make a customer feel valued, because they sure aren’t managing that NOW.

I have opened an account elsewhere and I’m moving my stuff there, piece by piece, because I no longer trust Yahoo to provide me the service they have, or to keep their promises, or to even treat their users as if they had one whit of intelligence.

Nice job of alienating your customer base!

Ruth, a formerly *happy* Yahoo 360 user

Dave | October 19th, 2007 at 12:55 pm

I agree with the comments posted here about Mash and 360. I don’t like Mash. The “About Me” questions are juvenile, why do I want a pet, or a kaliedescope on my page? I know nothing about HTML, CSS, and know enough about RSS to copy a link to a newspaper for my 360 page. THAT is my profile. Not Mash. 360 is incredibly user friendly. It allows me to search for other users by location, interests, etc. It’s a great blogging location. Fix it. Don’t transition it to something no one wants in the first place. It seems like a bad business decision to make changes without ever bothering to ask those who use the product what they want. It’s an even worse business decision to ignore those who use your product, and are very loyal to it. I also know many people leaving 360 because of the rumors, lack of information, and mostly, dissatisfaction with Mash. I realize that anyone over 13 may not be your target audience, but we are the primary users of your product.

RC | October 19th, 2007 at 12:56 pm

Jerry:
I am glad that Yahoo seems to be getting back to its roots. However, I can tell you, that as a big fan and daily user, the site has many flaws.
You guys are getting ahead of yourself and seem to have lost touch with the users. For example, I use Yahoo every day and surf the net every day. Yet, I heard about this thing called 360 and have no idea what it is? I read about it on another news site.
Bix? What the hell is that? You need to realize, not everybody is a hard-core techie and understands this stuff. I surf for hours every day, what about casual users? Yahoo has such a huge audience and is a great brand — you should be worth the same as Google. They suck, don’t offer much and in my opinon, are kind of sneaky. AOL is the pits. I can’t get my email to work with them. You have the opportunity to be the leaders, but you are kind of blowing it.
I think you have the chance to be even bigger and better, but you seem to be blowing it. But even finding a way to give feedback was a chore for me.
Think more in terms of KISS and you will do better. Anyway, hope you see my point and would be glad to help out.

Donna aka Hanz | October 19th, 2007 at 1:04 pm

I like many others have become frustrated with the lack of caring and customer service for the last several months. I’ve lost entire blogs, comments, e-mails, feed entries (finally deleted in frustration), etc. Had I pulled the same stunts that the Y!staff has been pulling, I would have been fired long ago.

I am in the middle of moving my favorite 360 blogs to Multiply.com as I no longer trust you or your company. From there I’ll make the decision of whether or not to save them in a document folder; I’m certainly not going to try it here, nothing works; the rest I might as well delete as they’re going to be lost anyway in the so-called smoth transition.

I’m glad I made the decision to delete ALL of my photos when I heard about the Flickr; I never did like that site. Free? Yeah, right.

I don’t want to lose the cherished friends I’ve made from literally all over the world and I know I will lose most of them once 360 closes it’s doors. We’re adults and we don’t want a toy site to deal with. We can go to MySpace for that nonsense.

360 is a valuable tool for those of us who love to blog. It’s valuable to those of us who’ve made friends of all ages from all walks of life and all over the world. And you are going to flush it down the nearest toilet?

Sit back, prop your feet up and watch as literally hundreds if not thousands of us leave your troubled waters for greener pastures; those pastures ARE out there.

Fix the site already.

Rose | October 19th, 2007 at 1:39 pm

Its too bad, that you didnt announce the transition of the 360 site at the same time you announced the closing of yahoo photos. If you had done that, a lot of us wouldnt have bothered with moving our photos from yahoo photos to FLICKR——–would have been no need to do it, wouldnt need a place to store our photos if 360 is gone.Or at least i wouldnt have done it.

Progress is only good if it makes things easier and better. Theres something wrong with progress when so many people, and i do mean a lot of people,,, are angry and upset.

People are still angry over yahoo photos closing,, just go to the Flickr forum and read the comments–

People are angry over this transition of 360, just go to the 360 staff blog and read the comments–

I know my comments may not mean much to you, but felt i had to take the time to address it.

Thank You for your time Rose

Diana | October 19th, 2007 at 2:15 pm

I have been trying many different sites since I first heard that you might close 360 down. None of them have compared in ease and options…… mash….. not a good option at all for bloggers. I have met many through my 360 and I am thinking that many of your advertisers would benefit from keeping it open and focusing more on it and letting mash just drop.
Thanks for your consideration
Diana

Terry | October 19th, 2007 at 2:22 pm

I would also like to see 360 remain in its current form with the bugs fixed. I have looked at the MASH pages, and see it as something similar to Myspace. I want something simple, without all of what I call ‘clutter’ on the main page. I enjoy blogging and reading friends blogs, the lack of a blogging on MASH is a huge negative in my mind.
With your recent announcement I’m sure the decision is already set in stone to eliminate 360…and with it, I think you’ll lose a lot of formerly loyal ‘customers’.

GEL | October 19th, 2007 at 2:37 pm

Mr Yang,
I applaud you for wanting to make Yahoo better for all concerned, but I am concerned that when someone makes a blanket statement about what is going to be done without being specific that they either (1) do not know the specifics to give; or (2) are not telling those specifics to avoid consumer comments. I have been on Yahoo 360 for over a year now and I would hate to lose it and only have MASH as the alternative. MASH is not what the adult audience is wanting, because it is laid out for teenagers with childish things, such as Karl Marx Paddleball, My Pet and Mashies. Those of us who are older enjoy the blogging with our friends and being able to comment on other’s blogs as we have on 360. If I wanted something like MASH, I would have been on myspace a long time ago, but I chose to make my online page on 360.
I have read alot of the comments both here and on the Y360 blog site which list numerous bugs on 360 which have been brought to Yahoo’s attention for quite some time with no results. If you have an oil leak in your car you don’t go buy a new car, you get the oil leak fixed…. that is common sense.
Now if the real reason for aiming for the younger generations is the money brought in by the ads, well then do away with 360. But in the meantime, please don’t spin your yarn with invisible wool and expect us to see it as you do!
I will wait and see if this is posted, that will tell me if you truly are interested in what your users have to say.

GEL

Linda Stewart (aimlessjoys) | October 19th, 2007 at 2:39 pm

I hope the changes you intend will address the passion its worldwide users feel for their Y360 blogs & Friends, & reap the goodwill & loyalty that is so abundant there. Many of my 360 friends are finding other venues, & I also set up a Blogger account long ago when rumors of eaten blogs, etc., surfaced back at the beginning of 2007. But I still like my Y360 blog best.

While I am certainly no great hand at html, I have been able to share photos & hopes & dreams, poems, great experiences, etc., with delightful ease. My homepage is set to My Yahoo, but the changes already there have been somewhat bewildering to me. Which is, of course, my problem, to be regarded as an opportunity to learn. Since you have stated that the platform for my beloved blog is one you are no longer interested in investing in, I am sorry for that, & hope the community spirit that Y360 embodies will not be toast.

To conclude, I understand how business works, & will be hoping to find an “incredible experience” with Yahoo, hopefully even better than the one I have enjoyed so far on Y360. But the nuts & bolts of sharing that vision will be up to you & your employees.

You are providing a universe of unprecedented possibility here, & hopefully the judgement of history will toast you in the good sense. Cheers!

Senei | October 19th, 2007 at 2:50 pm

I have used other blog site but when I discovered Yahoo I found it the best. It is well laid out and easy to navigate. I did check out the new MASH but found it more in keeping with entertaining kids.

The current 360 is now well established and I have found it easy to spend time expressing my thoughts, some serious and some with a touch of humour. The people who make up this community are genuine and warm. Together we have bonded and in a way promoted 360. Now the rumour is that there is going to be drastic changes and that is scary. I and others feel that this is unnecessary and implore that you listen to the voices that don’t want to loose 360. I prefer the 360 to remain as is. It’s not broken so it doesn’t need fixing!

It is our loyalty to Yahoo that recognises the concept of 360 has already proved successful and we sincerely hope that Yahoo 360 will maintain its current format for the future.

Mac | October 19th, 2007 at 3:00 pm

I don’t think it’s to much to ask the CEO of Yahoo just to take a look at all off the 360 users out here asking for someone associated with Yahoo to please just listen to what us users would like. Please take notice of all the request to please keep Yahoo 360 up and running for us. If a change is needed then change the way 360 is being operated and just fix the minor little bugs with the program and keep what works instead of creating more problems and disappointments for the 360 community. Leave the MySpaces, the Mashes or other blob communities for the kids and let us adults have the community that we have helped build.
Thank you
Maclll

Chairman Jell | October 19th, 2007 at 3:00 pm

I have to admit that Mash is a bit of a….Mash.

360 though, is a nice concise well designed product and it is a puzzler why you would want to replace it.

deb | October 19th, 2007 at 3:06 pm

i love my yahoo 340 why cant we please keep it lots love theres too i do not like mash thanks deb

deb | October 19th, 2007 at 3:06 pm

i mean 360

deb | October 19th, 2007 at 3:07 pm

why cant you just do what you want to 360

r_i_d | October 19th, 2007 at 3:35 pm

Dear Yahoo! people,

You state that your number one goal is to
//Become the starting point//

well, you are
For a number of people like me. Y360 is our starting point.

If you’re going to move our blogs and networks to something like MASH, may I suggest that,

a) rethink the basic set-up on MASH. Ditch the silly pet, put a BLOGGING module up and running as fast as can be, with a push button, IMPORT BLOGS/PICTURES/COMMENTS from y360.

b) why two messages system? Dith the Y360 message system that everybody hates, and let normal yahoo mail deliver the message. By the way, the new Yahoo mail is a nightmare compared to gmail (in case you didn’t know).

c) let people put ads on their blog/mash/homepage. You’ll have millions of happy customers, and you can take a share of that too.

You guys are lucky ; we are telling you what we want, although we could get it elsewhere already, on Multiply, on Blogger, using MyBlogSpot (I see you have it up there). Etc.

I’m thinking that when you launched Y360 you must have have an idea in mind. What was it? To find us, a large base of enthusiastic users? Well, we’re here!

Everything runs on trust. Simple TRUST.
If your people base feel betrayed, even in the context of a free service, they’ll go elsewhere, and never come back.

Enough said.
Good luck!

r_i_d

Susan | October 19th, 2007 at 4:11 pm

Dear Mr Yang:
I have been reading reports on thoughts of closing yahoo 360 and moving on to something else.I want to share with you my thoughts of yahoo 360 and what it means to me.I have met so so many people on there,wonderful,loving,careing people.I call my 360 my extended family.I have grown to love them like they really are my family.We have been there for one another through ups and downs in our lives.We group together as a family to help others.We do blogs for friends and family who need our prayers and support.Do you have any idea what these few words of Goodmorning and Goodnight mean to people on 360 who have no one in their lives who care enough to greet them each morning or night with a smile and a few words to brighten their day.These comments,the blogs the people,,we all mean so much to one another.I get so so many messages from people on 360 who tell me how much i brighten their darkest days,just by putting a comment on their 360 pages every day.Do you realize what it would do to these people if you took 360 away.It breaks my heart to think of loosing these people i call family.It would be devastating to some if we lost the contact we have here on 360 Mr. Yang.These are real people behind these screens,typing real words,real feelings.I invite you to please visit my yahoo 360 and read it carefully and go to any of my friends 360 and see and feel the love and concern for one another.I am not interested in any other sites on here,,360 is like home to me,,please don’t take it away.
Sincerely
Susan Bradley(susanb)
Yahoo 360

Brenda B | October 19th, 2007 at 4:24 pm

I have been a loyal Yahoo user almost ever since Yahoo came out. Yes, I’m one of those horrible baby boomers who feels that we’re being turned out because we’re not longer needed. Nobody has ever asked our opinion about what we want. Well, I think it’s perfectly clear, given the countless comments you have already received: WE WANT TO KEEP 360! And yes, I realise that I’m shouting. Do you know I’ve just seen the video that you people at Yahoo need to watch. I found it on my 360 friend ‘The Drama Queen’s’ page. It’s called ‘The Simple Truths of Service Movie’. Here’s the address: http://www.stseervicemovie.com Enjoy!

Suzi | October 19th, 2007 at 4:27 pm

I realize that you don’t give a tinker’s damn about what I have to say concerning 360, but, I’ll say it anyway…

It’s my understanding that you want the younger crowd, and the majority of them are on MySpace…
So…make 360 more appealing to a younger crowd…how hard can that be?

It’s also my understanding that Mash is just a temporary site, a test field…
So, you are going to gather everyone there, and then turn around and change it again? What an absurdity.

Personally, I don’t see one good thing about Mash…
We need a pet to feed? Give me a break…what the heck are you thinking? Younger crowd? Sounds to me like you want 6 year olds.

Mash is just about as useless as it gets…and, in the end, with places like Multiply.com and LiveJournal, etc., you are going to lose much more than you gain…

Sincerely…

Brenda B | October 19th, 2007 at 4:30 pm

Sorry. Correction to that address: http://www.stservicemovie.com

Brenda B | October 19th, 2007 at 4:31 pm

Third time charm: http://www.stservicemovie.com

Lisa | October 19th, 2007 at 4:44 pm

Please just leave 360 alone. Fix the problems and just leave it alone. Its better then myspace and its much easier to use. Its my addiction and I use it daily several times a day.

vivieny | October 19th, 2007 at 6:04 pm

Alienate the grey £/$ at your own risk - 360 is for adults who currently seem to be turning their backs on Yahoo in droves. Change is not necessarily for the better and frankly, Mash sucks!

Misty | October 19th, 2007 at 6:28 pm

I was given this site to come on over and read up on what the
CEO has to say about improving Yahoo.
Far as my pea brain understands this sweet talk what I gather
is all about the mighty dollars so that you can remain sitting in
your high tower with glass windows, an over paid job and your entire kiss
a$$ing underlings covering up and praising you on bended knees.
What you really need to do is to take a moment out of your busy
schedule and go read what you’re so called Yahoo 360 Product Blog
team is spewing forth and what the 360 community is saying back.
http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-1qCkw2Ehaak.hdNZkEAzDrpa4Q–?cq=1
Two blogs by them: The Evolution of Yahoo! 360 with comment counts
now up to over 1059 and growing AND the second one titled
Yahoo! 360º Questions? Let’s Talk (Uhhh, Right Here) with a total
of 1645 comments.
This will tell you how your most loyal customer base are handling your
brain wave ideas.
Since the product team or whomever you send emails to for questions
or problems to be answered, NEVER respond or they send a generic
email claiming they are hard at the problems, have not had the
decency to post since way back in July THIS tells us all really Yahoo
doesn’t give a Rats A$$.
Your loyal consumers/customers are jumping ship so fast because of
no reassurances the 360 community will be as it is/was in 2008.
Because of your lack of insight Multiply is benefiting big time. It is a super easy platform and the speed sure beats Yahoo. Guess what? Nothing goes missing and if a problem they hop to it pronto AND a response to boot.
By not fixing the problems within the 360 community e.g. Flickr,
Groups disappearing, counters caput, blogs disappearing for days on end,
unable to post comments and a host of other things to numerous to mention your so called special teams will be transferring these problems over onto the new platform. Now that is what I call brilliant.
The Yahoo 360 community is mostly all adults who have established
a large base of new found ADULT friendships. These people are serious
bloggers. These bloggers are from all over the world. Y360 is the most preferred adult blogging site.
My Space and Facebook has a following of kids that simply want to play games, send silly pokes, animated grow flowers, join unreal meaningless causes, buy rounds of booze and post a zillion UTube videos on your
Fun Wall.
You did have a loyal following. Believe me Word of Mouth is what makes a business successful but also Word of Mouth can rip it to shreds in a blink of an eye. You won’t have advertisers beating a path to your door with no customers.
Can you afford that?
See you at Multiply.

Misty | October 19th, 2007 at 6:41 pm

I forgot to mention that you don’t have to use Flickr to use for images on your blog at Multiply. They have a nifty feature whereby you can upload straight from your computer.
Too bad you aren’t listening.
I luved my home at 360. Now we wait.

John Milani | October 19th, 2007 at 6:51 pm

Please,
I do enjoy 360. It is very easy to stay in contact with friends and easy to use. I hope 360 can be kept. Just please consider the people who use it and not just your bottom dollar. The majority should have a say in this.

Tracy | October 19th, 2007 at 6:55 pm

Just a thought… I know you guys are planning a new “profile” experience, but if you kept the 360 name- you might avoid some of this panic.

I’m all for making things better with 360, but I think your biggest draw is the 360 simplicity. It’s easy to use. It’s easy to meet others. It’s easy to blog. Easy to use RSS feeds. Easy to comment. It would be a shame if that went away in all your tinkering.

You have a HUGE, LOYAL 360 fan base. Start by making them happy, then progress by attracting new users.

Lastly, I can tell you right now… everyone on 360 wants to be assured that Mash is not our future ‘360′. Because, frankly, I hate it. Everyone I know finds unappealing. It sucks.

I’ve been with you since the beginning Yahoo!, and it’s been a great ride…. but I have to say, this is your last chance to make it right. Make it work.

joannp | October 19th, 2007 at 7:14 pm

I for one love both sites, 360 and Mash. Mash is a nice social network and 360 is great for blogging. I am wondering why you are dumping 360 when Mash does not have a way to blog?? To become top in the field that you so desire why don’t you combine the two . Leave 360 as it is for the blogging part and just add Mash for our front page:) how simple is that!!!
I thank you for taking the time with us , we do love our 360 please let us know a little more about the blogging part of your plan. People are worried.
Blessing and good luck , joannp

Darla | October 19th, 2007 at 7:19 pm

You have got to be kidding me. You can not get rid of 360. There are to many of us that made friends on here and do not want to loose them. I like going and reading other peoples blogs and browsing. I think the majority of us wants 360 to stay. And I also think if you get rid of it a lot of us will be going else where.

Hans Krugger | October 19th, 2007 at 7:23 pm

Please… if its not broke..dont fix it. We like 360 as it is.

Joan | October 19th, 2007 at 7:43 pm

What I get from your essay above is that you want to turn Yahoo into some sort of hypermarketplace. You want it to be a starting point for consumers, a must-buy for advertisers, and a place to attract the most publishers and developers.

As a person in my mid-40’s, my consumer value has never been higher. It is people in my age group that make up the bulk of consumers in this nation. I know you think it is a younger group, but you would be incorrect.

Yahoo!360 is the best forum for social networking that I have been able to find for people ages 40 and over. My age group. We don’t need a lot of bells and whistles, just a place to jot down our thoughts and have people respond to them. The advertising is noticeable, yet not ostentatious and overbearing. The technology is not too overwhelming to learn easily. It is a very nice place to park my blogs.

I am leery of the vague future you’ve laid out for my friends and me on Y360. It makes the users of this product suspicious and I can certainly understand why many of them have jumped ship and headed over to Multiply or MySpace. I hope you understand that you are pulling the rug out from under your own plan by causing mistrust and bad feelings among those users of Yahoo in my age group, who have, until now, felt right at home on your pages.

As for me, I will give you the benefit of the doubt. I’ll stick around and see if I like what you’ve got in store for us, but if it is just another kiddie site, my days of visiting Yahoo (and it’s advertisers) will be over. I’m sure I am not the only one who feels this way!

John of AllFaith | October 19th, 2007 at 7:46 pm

I have spent the day creating a Multiply Blog.

It is we, your users who have made Yahoo what it is.
Without us you would have no advertisers.

When Yahoo bought Geocities they destroyed what was the best such site on the internet.

When Yahoo bought (and later dumped) Webring Yahoo destroyed an incredible service. It never recovered.

This list could go on but why bother…

Yahoo 360 is without any doubt (in my opinion) THE best such service online. Now Yahoo are going to destroy 360 too!

Yahoo can do anything it wants to with its products (of course) but if you do not cancel this destruction of 360 I for one plan to sever all ties with all Yahoo products forever.

I’m through creating things to make you people money only to have Yahoo destroy them.

I hope Yahoo comes to its senses instead of cents and dollars.

Cheryl Siders | October 19th, 2007 at 7:49 pm

WHY cant u just leave 360?????// It seems smarter financally to fix the bugs here & leave it over creating another forum or even cont. Mash doesnt make much sense.U said you were listening well LISTEN NO ONE WANTS YAHOO 360 TO GO AWAY. KEEP IT PLZ!!! You guys have done enough to mess with our minds by posting in August then NOTHING for 2 months then a blog that said we r listening & now this.I cant get my avator to post or even my third pic Im allowed wont post. Canu help me plz. U came by to swipe a nakey pic I had plz help me post my avator.Most of the 1000 comments on Yahoo 360 page is similar KEEP 360 & FIX THE BUGS!! SIMPLE ENOUGH??Also why did you allow bad language to stay on the last post in August?/ Ppl did it to get your attention. The ONLY way they got your attention was go to Mash & complain.

Terrence M. Wiens | October 19th, 2007 at 7:53 pm

Hi Jerry:
I have had a Yahoo Mail account for eleven years and have had Yahoo as my Home Page for about the same amount of time. I have been blogging on 360 for over a year and despite the fact it has more bugs than the Arctic in summer, I have enjoyed the experience and made lots of good friends.
You are now in grave danger of losing me and a multitude of other adults. That MASH thing is a glorified colouring book for children. We do not want a Facebook or Myspace or any other format designed for teeny boppers. We’re mainly Boomers with fat wallets and bank accounts, advertisers’ dream targets.
So messing with 360 is simply bad business.
The so-called infor we’ve gotten so far from you folks has sounded like the gobbledegook spouted by politicians who use a lot of words to say nothing and make grandiose promises they have no intention of keeping. That sort of treatment may fool children but not us. We’re setting up accounts on MULTIPLY as lifeboats for when you sink 360 into oblivion. It’s a darn good site, you folks could learn something there.
Anyway, my advice is to communicate clearly and often with us or it’s going to be Sayanora, Yahoo.
Take care and be safe.

Mystie2007 | October 19th, 2007 at 7:54 pm

If you ‘honestly’ want to know just how devoted your users are to their Yahoo 360 blogs, perhaps you’ll take the time to read the Save 360 Petition. People deserve to be heard so please make the effort. Thank you!

Sherri | October 19th, 2007 at 7:55 pm

Hi
I just wanted to let you know that I think you are making a big mistake. I have been a yahoo user since 2000 I will be 41 in Nov. I feel that by not listening to what 360 users want you are not satisfying your customers. I don’t have a problem with change. I started using Beta Mail when there was still the option to use the old mail format. I have yahoo jukebox. I also don’t mind watching a commercial while I wait to watch a video. It seems that you are trying to make yahoo a new an innovative place. Thats fine sometimes, time changes things. My questions to you is why get rid of 360 and why change it? If nothing else you should be trying to make it a household name like Myspace. Even though I can use a computer I found myspace to be too complicated I have grown to love 360 I enjoy my friends that I have made here. You say that a transition will take place?? Just what is that? We need help! I know that it has a lot to do with money. Don’t you think that advertisers are will pay to advertise where the traffic is? It’s not like the site isn’t being used or that there is low traffic flow. I think that you could find a way for people to advertise if you really wanted to. Fix what is wrong with the site and do what you can to make it a place where more traffic will come. I don’t really like to google I use yahoo as my search engine although I do sometimes use google if I am looking for pictures. Please fix 360 don’t get rid of it. I enjoy blogging and I don’t want to loose my site. I have learned a lot from the group I joined. I am slow at aspects of the computer and would hate to have to learn another site. I would rather learn to make changes with the 360 site. All we ask is that you don’t keep us in the dark and you do your best to make 360 a site of the future instead of a thing of the past. Thank you for listening.

Moonie | October 19th, 2007 at 8:07 pm

Sir, do you realize the life line that you will be severing if you shut down yahoo360?? Do you understand what will happen if it just goes poof like a thief in the night? The friendships that have been forged and created, the relationships that have been established between people of all walks of life? I have found FAMILY that I never knew I had because of yahoo360. 360 is a place that adults can be and not have to worry majority of the time about being invaded by brats under the age of 18. I do not like Mash, I hate MySpace, I love my Yahoo360, why??? Why do you persist in destroying something so good?? Yahoo360 has so many networks, especially for women. Women who are survivors of Cancer, survivors of Rape, Survivors of Domestic Violence and it is only because of Yahoo360 that majority of these Women can actually find someone they can relate to without being judged! And now……you so callously decide to take all of these lifelines away. We……the loyal patrons of Yahoo360 beg you to reconsider.

Moonie Sixkiller

Midnight_in_Gethsemane | October 19th, 2007 at 8:28 pm

I have been with Yahoo ever since I became familiar with a computer.
I believe it would be a great shame for Yahoo to shut down 360. This is where we have made great friendships from all over the USA and the world over.
I can understand if you were upgrading the program. I can not see doing away with 360.
Most of the younger generation is on myspace and I very seriously doubt if they will go to a yahoo program.
I fear that you are letting the older generation down. We should count just as much, if not more, than the younger generationI also fear that if Yahoo does away with 360 that many will do away with a lot of Yahoo’s services and go instead to Google and MSN. Yahoo would loose a lot if this were to happen.

mary | October 19th, 2007 at 8:54 pm

From the Greetings E-cards to the games to the photos. Now 360? Are you guys kidding? Do you just get the hook in peoples mouths and get a good forty percent to just follow along with the changes and let the other 6o% go? Honestly when 360 goes, I go too. I enjoyed 360 very much. It’s easy and fun. You, for a lack of better words, stink! When you close 360, I guess that will be it for me on Yahoo.

mary | October 19th, 2007 at 9:03 pm

While I just commented, I need to add that the advertisements on Y360 are viewed by stable adults with real live jobs and the freedom to spend money, unlike that awful myspace who shows slasher film ads, because that is there best bet for money making. Is that where you want to be? The market of teens on an allowance?

Brian | October 19th, 2007 at 9:05 pm

Your just not listening are you. Listen to the voice and try to understand it. Most people in 360 don’t want glitter we are not children, we enjoy being adults. Put it to a vote!!!

Anna~Anna | October 19th, 2007 at 9:16 pm

I was going to write…

But I see that Anne Orsi (above) has expressed my own sentiments so succinctly that I perhaps do not need to.

I SHARE ALL OF HER SENTIMENTS!
So I shall keep my own comments to a personal level; business (yours) has already been addressed.

IF you ARE indeed preserving all of this (360-World) for us, then why would we need to be “transitioned” in the first place?

And why would ‘we’ need to be given “the right tools to move ‘our’ blog content”?

Move it where, pray tell????

As of this moment, I have been faithful to 360. My friends list is/was chosen very carefully. I have a clean page and run a tight ship.

I just wish that Yahoo! might have shown a little more of that same faithfulness in return.

Oh just let us know already…

I have asked people repeatedly to let us know what is going on. No concrete answers there, or here.

I have blogged since I’d 1st heard the rumors too. (Please see my tag cloud under 360~World)…

Part of my own remarks there read as follows:

“I am not a wise blogger, not sage, or any of those other terms… But I love to share my little stories, and photos; AND to read and see others as well.

This (360), for me has created an outlet, and has brought many friends to my heart.

I am not, nor have I ever been, interested in blogging elsewhere.

Nor have I accepted any invitations to join others on their “new” sites.
(Yes, I have checked out Mash). Noisy and immature.

Yahoo has created somewhat of a mass exodus by not addressing these issues for people. Many have pulled up stakes and went elsewhere.

Yes, there IS a huge difference in 360 from some of the other sites.

But hey YAHOO!, maybe this is WHY we are here in the first place.

…Lightbulb goes off, …(somewhere out in California I hope)…”

There are those of us here on Y!360 that are not interested in numbers, (although with the sheer numbers that some individual blogs have, it would seem as there is NOT really a number problem).

These numbers, (real people reading real Y! 360 blogs) are coming from somewhere, and I refuse to believe that there is some Stepford computer reading mine at any point.

Maybe there are more ‘numbers’ elsewhere… (that ‘elsewhere’ being myspace, blogspot, facebook etc- blah, blah, blah).

I neither want to quit blogging, nor be forced to go elsewhere.

Mash, like many of the others mentioned, is too immature and childish for my own personal tastes.

I am hoping that the powers that be will allow 360 to remain as a separate entity if need be, and not to be confused within a whole new world of “poor me’s” and the immature writings of people that cannot find their own way in the world. (cyber OR otherwise).

I do not need rapidly changing walls or other things in my life.
For crying out loud I will be 50 next year and do not need anything even remotely close to ’stupid’ anymore.
(Hell, I was married to ‘Stupid’ for too many years anyway)…

“I get sick of idiocy very quickly and do not want any other blog site.

This little corner of Yahoo! (360) is more than enough for me.

In the meantime, I have had many requests to “join a friend” at MySpace and the others…

If I wanted a MySpace account, I would have one.

If I wanted all the crap that goes with those other sites, I would have that too.

…Although many a person HAS gotten their 15 minutes of fame by going to those sites.

(I don’t think I have EVER seen Y360 aired or profiled on Primetime)?

So while I am sure that the 360 could be improved at times, I am still very comfortable here.”

As far as anyone that has sent me an invitation to all those other sites knows, I do not accept, nor do I join them. I am not opposed to ‘change’, but the fact is that I am simply NOT interested in being anyplace else. (Unlike real life)?

All humor aside, I am thinking that if we go off half~cocked to join anyplace else, we are only feeding that frenzy, that gaggle of goners.

I will not be doing this.

My 360, and ALL of yours, provide me with enough inspiration to get me through my days, and to see how you are getting through your own too!

And until this is all more substantiated, then I shall try not worry overmuch. I will however, go buy some ink, and a wee bit of paper. My blogs are as much for you as they have also been written for my grandbabies; and they will have each of my blogs available to them on hard copy too.

Rethink. Renew. Reuse. But do not replace.

XOXO
Anne

Mommaof2 | October 19th, 2007 at 9:23 pm

I truly appreciate that Yahoo 360 is free,but please…If it isn’t broke…don’t fix it! Yahoo 360 is a simple,easy to use site that many ADULTS enjoy using. It isn’t noisy,it doesn’t take forever to load,because it isn’t ‘junked up’ with a bunch of unnecessary graphics,and thankfully with us more mature people,not full of a bunch of immature children.Yes,there are a few exceptions,but all in all,it’s a wonderful place to spend a few minutes of extra time each day,or as often as possible ,with no bells and whistles that’s just not needed!As for the Mash thing,since the majority of people on Y360 are adults,we already have REAL pets,and REAL children and families to take care of,who needs a virtual pet?! I truly hope someone is really reading what we all have to say.If we wanted something like MySpace,we’d already be there!Please be “The horse of a different color” and don’t follow in the footsteps of the sites focused mostly on the younger generation!Thank you.

Viccles2004 | October 19th, 2007 at 10:03 pm

Thank you for your posting on what has been going on behind the scenes in Yahoo. It is obvious that what is “relevant” for Yahoo and it’s stock holders is money,… bottom line. I know that Yahoo provides a service, in fact a lot of services. Those services are used by us the consumer. The views of those consumers have been voiced in the latest postings in the Yahoo 360 team blogs both here and abroad. What Yahoo fails to do is listen to those consumers. Here lies the “relevancy” of what really mattes. Profit, more advertising, or the opportunities for more advertising and businesses that tie themselves to the Yahoo network. Each small voice of ours though is the basis for consumption of that network. A lot of members of the 360 blogging community are understandably upset. Questions went unanswered for months… Issues sidestepped…promises being made of something that will enhance our Yahoo experience even more. How can promises be made of an “enchanced yahoo experience”, when what we the users of 360 have already been experiencing…. such general disreguard?

“Irrelevancy: not relevant: not applicable or pertinent,” …. isn’t that what you really meant to say?

Night _ Howl | October 19th, 2007 at 11:11 pm

I am here to plead with you to please keep 360 as it is,or at least don’t change it drastically.Many of us are ready to leave and migrate to multiply.com if you take our pages away,and we don’t really like it there.You don’t know how much 360 means to a lot of people.We have worked very hard on our pages,and 360 is like a little neighborhood where we check in on each other.It’s extremely user-friendly,and I like the look of it.One of my friends is nearly suicidal at the thought of losing his page and his friends.For those of us who don’t get out much,or don’t have a lot of friends or family,360 has been a Godsend;it literally gives us a reason to get up in the morning.Please don’t take it away!
Thank you.

dezbird | October 20th, 2007 at 12:21 am

“We defined a strategy that revolves around making Yahoo! indispensable to an ecosystem of consumers, advertisers, publishers and developers”- err no, you are running away your consumers by closing down 360. Even if you were to transition it in to something like MySpace and target a younger audience why are you paring down your music service? Not that I care about the music service but it makes no sense to me. What demographic are you targeting exactly? You have blatantly ignored the vox populi. It seems you are only interested in obscene profits. The thing I am wondering about is, if you drive away your loyal 360 users, how do you expect to make these profits? There will be no one left to click on ads, purchase products or services, no one left to increase your market popularity and make you appealing to investors. I am not a professional person by any means but even I can understand that you do not alienate your customer base. You can’t expect people to shop through your sites or patronize your sponsors once you have told them to “go fly a kite” (to put it mildly). I have had a Yahoo! game account for 7 years and an e-mail account for even longer than that. I have had a 360 account for over a year. If you destroy 360 then there will be no reason for me to return. I still have other e-mail accounts from 10 years ago that I can use and I can go play card games elsewhere. I am also setting up a different blog spot on another server so that I may still have contact with the wonderful people that I have met on 360. Yes if 360 goes down then I will no longer have anything to do with Yahoo! or it’s sponsors. Hey if you don’t want me or my money then there are other places that do. I think that you are making a horrible business decision.

Angeline | October 20th, 2007 at 12:52 am

I joined yahoo about 6 months ago and having tried others have found it the best one to use. I especially like the protection we receive as users to be able to report abuse and harrassment and other problems. I like the service the way it is and do not wish to see it change. It works for me it is simple and effective and the community here is one of the best. I have already lost some friends who have gone over to the other service and can not keep up with more than one blog. I have had an invitation to mash but can not get into it as there was a problem. Given a choice i would stay where i am. Many users are objecting to this change having been happy with the service the way it is. I understand the need to update, compete and run an effective service but most people would just be happy if some of the glitches in the system were ironed out.
Many people were not happy with the move to Flickr either as they liked the service they had before but they had no choice. It would be good if we could try out the new service and decide for ourselves if we want to stay or go. Reading the comments most people would prefer to stay where they are.

SweetPotatoe Queen | October 20th, 2007 at 1:05 am

Congratulations on the new changes that await!
While your customers await the specifics of said changes there is much angst about the future format of 360. Y360 is a vibrant community of adult bloggers that are quite concerned about the continuity of this platform. Per your post it seems Y360 is not an area of investment in your future plans. This is truely unfortunate as you have a vast number of customers who will simply move their blogging sites and in doing so have no use for daily ties with yahoo.
Thanks for the update..going to go spread the word on 360 that it’s time to look for a new home for blogging.

ian bach | October 20th, 2007 at 2:47 am

Hello I have my web site hosted by Yahoo and I use many yahoo products.

I do think yahoo has lost users for several reasons

1. many changed internet subcription to a local DSL.

2. yahoo has lost its edge in the search engine market.

3. in yahoo 360 a person must try and find ways to make their 360 page better. many use video. Yahoo has not supplied a video host site that i know of? also there is no help pages that really show a person all they can do. how to find friends,, ways to prevent finding bad friends, BUT mypage has very little help on showing users what is possible and how. They suggest contact other users to learn.

4. There is plenty of places that cater to young people…but yahoo has many devoted people 30-60 +. This is where Yahoo should focus on the New markets like baby boomers etc.

5. Yahoo should not try to do it all. look at google, myspace, youtube, they all allow 2nd party software and they show they users where to find 2nd party software to enhance their sites/pages/blogs.

6. Yahoo should look for untapped markets like 30-70 age group.

Personally I like Yahoo 360 because it is less kids and nuts (then most sites). Also they are strict against porn and such. Yahoo 360, yahoo questions and answers, and a few other yahooo products/services rate very well in google. A person can gain high ranks if they use a good user name (use a fake name if u can), blog id, and tags work very well in the google rankings and search listing. I am number 2 or 3 in google search and have about 1/3 to 1/4 of the top 20 links in google if you type Ian Bach in the search.

For now it looks like yahoo 360 will be around at least a year more but I expect that will be years. New products will be available but switching I don’t see becoming manditory. Major reason why they will keep yahoo 360 around…. People Like Cherei. and also the possible loss of long time users.

I do think yahoo QandA needs work cleaning up of the disruptive people. But for now it looks like Yahoo beleives, liberael views sell better than reality /conservative views.

Best Wishes,
Ian Bach

ian bach | October 20th, 2007 at 2:57 am

I want to thank yahoo. About 10 months ago I started to report terrorist friendly Blogs, pages, profiles, etc. to many hosts. Yahoo has been very helpful in shutting down terroist / terrorist friendly web sites. Some of these include ones with a nuke explosion superimposed over NYC skyline, blogs that showed US military in a bad light, fake military IDs, and fake NYC ID, even a terrorist friendly / site in Australia yahoo.au

Best Wishes,
Ian Bach
Counter Insurgency Blog

Peggy | October 20th, 2007 at 3:05 am

I dont know what I would do without yahoo! It has become a part of my everyday lfe for over 5 years now and I depend on its services..Sorry to hear 360 is closing as I use that too and I have met alot of people (my own age) to befriend an see whats going on with them in their daily lives..

MaRtY | October 20th, 2007 at 4:30 am

I love 360 and have used it on an almost daily basis since joining the community. I’m not impressed at all with Mash; nor am I impressed with your lack of response to either the bugs that affect 360 users or the requests to keep 360 around. You constantly talk about wanting to cater to the customers but are constantly showing that customer opinions don’t matter. If 360 goes away then I will too. I have no desire to mess with a MySpace clone. If I wanted to use MySpace then I would have gone there to begin with. I also strongly feel that it would be a waste to mess with Mash because it too would be abandoned when you come up with your next ‘great idea’ and loyal customer opinions would be completely ignored. 360 is an incredible site that is geared for adults, and that has set it apart from and above other social interaction sites. To believe it needs to be scrapped for something different shows just how disconnected from your users you are. Like another commenter said…you should have followed the age-old advice - if it’s not broke then don’t fix it.

Nancy | October 20th, 2007 at 4:44 am

Most of us who use 360 and know what’s going on (as much as we can,anyway) are worried and upset. We have spent yrs building up our pages and our friends here. We are ,for the most part,intelligent,thinking ,feeling Adults. That’s why we have our blogs on 360 and not Myspace.
I think most of us would appreciate communication from the management of Yahoo & 360 and not just some rude blog by people like Darrell Jones.
I know it’s hard to please everyone but from what I have been reading on blog comments and other sources,including here,it might be a good idea to ask us,your customers what we like and dislike about 360. I’m sure you’d get lists and lists.
From reading these comments I see alot of knee-jerk reactions but I also see alot of really good ideas that if taken into serious consideration might just help make your “transition” easier for you and all of us.
I’m not asking for the moon….I don’t want that. All I’d like is some consideration & respect as a long time Yahoo user . Please listen to us .
Thank you for your time.

Kathy Marche | October 20th, 2007 at 5:39 am

I recently heard a rumor that 360 might be closing and changing into MASH. I was absolutley devastated when I, along iwth a few friends decided that since there was no reassurance that this was only a rumor, decided that we had better get MASH pages for ourselves…just in case it turned out not to be only a rumor, so that we would still be hooked up with each other. But upon seeing how there is no blog in it, and features that are obviously designed for children (which is fine - if you happen to be a child), well, I was literally in tears. I am a 42 year old woman in a long term relationship. I’ve looked previously at MySpace, FaceBook, just out of curiousity, as they get so much media attention, and was totally appalled at the thought of having an account at a place like that! Too many unnecessary features, and again, designed obviously for children and teens, and adults who wish to “hook-up” and a place full of sexual predators, and in general, just a place where I would never go to feel comfortable, or go at all.

Ove a year ago, when I changed over from dial-up to AT&T Yahoo DSL HIgh Speed Internet, I sort of fell into 360 by accident. And found that it was the best thing that had ever happened to me. There have truly been times that I don’t know if I would have made it through had it not been for 360 and the absoultely wonderful, true and mature friends that I have found here. I come to 360 every single day, I’ve had a blog running on here now ever since I joined in Sept. 2006. If you kill 360, you might as well kill me, too. 360 has enriched my life more than you people there at Yahoo could ever know, and to have had that, and for me to have invested so much of myself in people who I have believed would be there for as long as I live, and vice versa, how could you possible be so cruel as to threaten to take that away from me. And it’s not just me. I read some of the comments above mine here, none of them from people I know, although everyone I do know here on 360, along with their friends, their friends friends, and so on and so on, are as devestated as I am, if possible, some even more so - at the rumors that have been flying about the possibility of 360 abandonng us, or worse, changing to something foreign and unwelcomed by us here who love and need 360 in our lives every day. Now, we’re finding that the so called rumos are not just rumors, but that you at Yahoo! are actually considering doing something so very, very cruel, as to play with so many of our lives by threatening to yank our world right out from under us! Please, I beg of you, Pleaes, please, please… let 360 be. Do whatever you want with your other services, but please don’t destroy so many lives by having given us 360, and each other - only to take it away from us. Please give this matter more consideration, and think of how many lives you will absolutely destroy, should you discontinue, or change in any manner, 360. If only you would put you energy instead ino fixing the minor 360 “glitches”, such as allowing all of us to be ble to put all 4 of our profile pics back up, maybe allowing HTML in blog comments. But even if our do’t fix those things, I would be still ever so grateful if I couold know that 360 is not hanging in the balance the way it now seems to be.
Please, listen to us, know that many of us literally depend on this site for our sanity, for companionship, we have put a lot of work into our pages. Why in the world would you create something so wonderful that has touched so many peoples lives the world over, only to take it away from us? Surely you wouldn’t be so cruel. Please take my comment along with all the others I’ve read so far, expresing basically the same sentiments. I thank you very much for taking this into consideration.

Sincerely,

Kathy Maracher

Suzanne Deal-Fitzgerald | October 20th, 2007 at 6:06 am

I’m also a 360 user, my homepage is Yahoo’s home page, my default search engine is Yahoo, I use the Yahoo tool bar, I’m in over 20 groups on Yahoo Groops, and I use the “My Web” feature daily.

I’m 50, I’m one of the babies in the Baby Boomer Generation.

There are many of us out here, and I’d hope your “senior” leaders will keep us in mind. When it comes to the 360 sites, many of us are there for the content, and not the toys. Mash seems to be a lot about toys and gimmicks, and not about substance.

Please keep us in mind when you go through your changes, and we go through ours. We are more settled about who we are, and what we are comfortable doing. I think that’s an asset. Work with us, answer our questions, fix the problems with 360, and don’t roll your eyes when we want to stay with something that’s working perfectly well for those of us who know what we need and why we need it.–Thanks!

Cordelia | October 20th, 2007 at 6:13 am

FWIW, I’ll chime in here with support for 360. I won’t go down the list that so many people have cited, but I LOVE 360 because it’s ADULT ORIENTED! I am 42 years old. I don’t want glitter crap. I don’t want some ridiculous cyber pet to feed. Since hearing about the impending demise of 360, I’ve been looking elsewhere in order to find a site that serves my need for adult conversation and insight. it’s looking like Multiply at Google may be where it’s at, or so I’ve heard from lots of 360 users.

Looks like I’ll be moving my base of operation int eh next few months and taking my friends with me if 360 is altered.

sher | October 20th, 2007 at 6:28 am

please dont destroy our 360, like most 360 users i do not like mash, and would rather keep 360 i have been a yahoo user for 9 years now and have seen a lot of changes, i think yahoo 360 is the best thing that was made and i want it to stay that way, please yahoo listen to us just for once and hear what we have to say dont close our 360 and turn it to mash

Jolinda A. | October 20th, 2007 at 6:29 am

It is obvious here and from all the comments on Y!’s Product Blog that the majority of 360 users are not happy with changes they feel are looming over them. I became a 360 user by chance. I saw it listed as a link on the home page about 2 years ago and clicked on it to check it out. I have never left.
The reason so many people are upset, I believe, is that we feel as if our suggestions for the most part have been ignored. We are your customers. I would venture to say that 360 users take advantage of more services than any other group.
Now, the users of 360 have made a personal connection with other users who are now quickly leaving. 360 has been a mental “home” for me and I don’t know where I will go if it is “integrated” with Mash or a different service.
We are an older generation of users that enjoy the indepth personal connections we make with people who have similar interests and experience. Going somewhere new would very much be like starting over after a divorce. I find that traumatic and basically unrewarding.
I hope that you find a way to resolve this without greatly affecting your largest consumer base. Otherwise, I see my blogging life regressing back to a personal hand written diary.