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Skating Newsletter Article Inline
Skating Newsletter Article The Yahoo Inline Skating Page Sucks!
There, I've finally said it in print. It wasn't easy. I like Yahoo! They're cool, right? They are the most visited site on the Web!
They were one of the first commercial sites on the Web and a great way to find all those other pioneers out there. Dave and Jerry are filthy rich, but they are still cool - not like, say, Larry Ellison who acts like the CIA Director. Besides, I own Yahoo stock, have a my.yahoo.com page, and once had a Yahoo email address. Plus, they're got this great Holiday Inn style billboard on I-80 in San Francisco with funny messages. So I'm not exactly an enemy of Yahoo!
But Yahoo! got its start as a web directory and the directory is still there, but it sucks! Take the Inline Skating Page - Please! (insert rim shot) The first thing you notice (I hope) is that Get Rolling is not listed. Now, we have been on the web as long as Yahoo!. I have submitted our site to them a half-dozen times, at least. Do they write? Do they call? Do they list us? No! It's not like they reply, "Hey, we've looked at your site and it's pretty lame." No, they just don't bother to respond. They just leave us on hold.
How hard is it to send an email? They have a whole web-based email system. They don't even need Microsoft.
So apparently Get Rolling doesn't meet their high standards. Let's take a look at the great sites they have listed. The first link I clicked on today was Uncle Derek's Sk8 Page. Sounds cool! Here is what Uncle Derek has to offer. "Sorry dudes this site has closed down now. After all the fun we've had Uncle Derek's finally gone to rest in peace. Keep Skating! "
So let's check another. Pish's Skate Page Once you get past the very irritating Yahoo! Geocities ad Pish tells us, "I started this page because on 11/2/96 I was grounded and I wanted something to do. And then on 1/30/97 I got some more space, so that I could do a whole lot more with my web page. It's now 3/25/97 and I'm just about done. Come back soon to see if I add anything more." Cool!
These are literally the first two links I clicked on today! What are those yahoos at Yahoo! doing? Counting their stock options?
Ok, that's a pretty small sample. Let's try another. A random click on Aggressive Skating Online reveals, "This page is moving to http://www.3RDimension.com/aso/ that will be the only way you can get to it in a few more months. Please change all links and bookmarks to the new address asap." The "new" page offers such timely sections as a "Look at the 1996 Aggressive Skates."
I think there is a trend here.
So I checked all the links listed.The final count is 17 links to sites that offer interesting or reasonably up-to date content. 13 links that were broken or went to sites that were totally out-of-date or otherwise worthless. Plus two more I wasn't quite sure of. Compare this to the Get Rolling Sk8 Lynx! 37 solid, up-to-date, interesting links. Add the Get Rolling Resource Page and you have more Inline Skating Information than Yahoo! has ever listed.
So we should be filthy rich, too, right? Well I'm sure we have more fun skating than Jerry and Dave, but filthy rich only applies if you count the cow pies in our neighbor's ranch. But that doesn't mean I don't want to be filthy rich. We are willing to bring the Yahoo! Inline skating page up to the standards of Get Rolling for only a very small grant of Yahoo! stock. Jerry are you listening? Dave, do you read your own email? Probably not. But it's worth a try. YHOO is up about 130% in the last 12 months! It's all those quality links!
For a comprehensive list of great skate sites, go to Back Street Inline's skate links page. (They can't get listed at Yahoo, either.) --Liz
Comments or questions? Ask Liz