Yahoo - what is it for?

[Ayahuasca]

If I want to search, I use Google.

If I use Yahoo, I get very poor results often not related to what I was searching for.

If I want news, I use a news site.

Who uses Yahoo, and what do they use it for?

[boxst]

I use Yahoo out of habit. It was and is to a certain extent my homepage. It has a smattering of news etc... I also used to use Yahoo Messenger a lot, but that has dropped to almost non-existent as I will use whatsapp/snapchat etc.. now.

So, to answer your question, no idea

[Spare tyre]

I've just invested in a new one, it's called ask jeeves

[Robbo 27]

yahoo used to run the email for BT. I lost access to my talk21.com emails years ago, cannot even remember the password.

Would love to see whats in my Inbox, any ideas?

[El Guapo]

They lost all my emails a few years ago. I haven't touched anything Yahoo since.

[Wacky Racer]

I used to use Yahoo for the "groups" message feature specifically for fans of Barclay James Harvest the prog rock group from Oldham and 1930's comedian Will Hay, but posts have now virtually dried up, and BJH fans now use the "official" forum.

[Robbo 27]

Wacky Racer said:

I used to use Yahoo for the "groups" message feature specifically for fans of Barclay James Harvest the prog rock group from Oldham and 1930's comedian Will Hay, but posts have now virtually dried up, and BJH fans now use the "official" forum.

Bloody 'ell that takes me back, used to listen to Barclay James Harvest on the John Peel program on saturday afternoons.

[anonymous-user]

i used/use it for 19 years no issues.

[toohuge]

I've not used Yahoo in a long time.

Yahoo missed a trick a number of years ago. Yahoo offered a (very useful at the time) online briefcase, similar to dropbox etc. with a massive... 15 mb storage iirc. It was scrapped after a year or so due to lack of interest...

[bitchstewie]

I'm not sure even Yahoo know that any more.

These days I'm reasonably sure most of their money is made through commercial tie-ins so they end up with their browser bar installed or Yahoo as your home page, and providing mail services to other ISPs and the likes.

I don't know anyone who opens a tab and literally makes a decision to go there.

[Hub]

I use Yahoo mail - had the account for probably about 17 years though, opened as it had better storage than Hotmail's measly 20mb at the time so I switched and it is still my main personal account. They also own Flickr which is a popular photography site I use a lot.

I don't use Yahoo for searches though, and the homepage is just clickbait style 'news' a la daily mail.

Edited by Hub on Tuesday 5th April 20:47

[davepoth]

Yahoo mainly exists to own a stake in Alibaba these days. IIRC it's actually worth less than the shares in owns in Alibaba.

[numtumfutunch]

Just as I was about to skip his thread I realised that I regularly use a Yahoo email and have done since before they sponsored the Prost GP team (you prob need to Google that , not Yahoo it)

Back in the day I was an ISP tart and regularly flipped email addresses until I discovered Hotmail around 1997 which allowed me to switch providers but keep the same email - young people probably dont understand this concept

A couple of years afterwards Hotmail suffered massive spam problems so I opened a new account with Yahoo using my Hotmail prefix
Soon afterwards Hotmail cured their spam and so I ended up with 2 web based emails
I use Hotmail for friends and family and Yahoo for everything else online

The reason I forgot I used Yahoo is that since I got a smartphone I use both of them together on the native client and just forgot

Cheers

[RobDickinson]

I've used yahoo email for decades. Always been reliable though i've not always appreciated their changes.

and before anyone says I also have gmail addresses, 3 of my own domains with email etc, I just find yahoo mail accessible and convenient.

[Deisel Weisel]

email. I tried Gmail but preferred Yahoo interface.

[PanzerCommander]

I use the e-mail system for anything that might lead to junk mail as the SPAM filter is actually quite effective at getting rid of junk mail. I don't use it for anything else mind. Most of the news stories on the front page appear to be click-bait so I don't bother with them.

[IanCress]

Robbo 27 said:

yahoo used to run the email for BT. I lost access to my talk21.com emails years ago, cannot even remember the password.

Would love to see whats in my Inbox, any ideas?

They shut down talk21 a year or 2 ago. Unless you paid money to keep the account open then you've lost everything.

[S11Steve]

Do Freecycle still use the Yahoo Groups platform? Besides the chatrooms in the late 90's early 00's, it's the only reason I've had to visit Yahoo in the last 15 years.

Still got a yahoo mailbox, and after logging in again a few minutes ago, the last login was in 2009...

It seems every russian woman still wants to marry me, I have untold dead uncles in Nigeria, and ready access to blue pills.

I'll log in again in 2024 if Yahoo still exists.

[andy-xr]

I think, since yahoo got their arse handed to them with search, browser and email by Google, they've gone the supply and buy route rather than try and do much themselves

They do a lot in email, especially for ISPs. They rebrand their search for other sites, and they own Tumblr, Flickr and a few other bloggy/hostiy type sites. I think their future is probably going to be in selling themselvesand that'll actually make them some money, theregister reported they were up for sale in Feb; http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/02/20/yahoo_up_f...

[ViperDave]

I use my.yahoo.com for my home page as its is a great RSS feed aggregator and displays them nicely. So my browser home page has a selection of feeds and headlines of what i want to see not just random stuff like google now can be. It isn't only pre-configured feeds either, you can add any RSS, so I have a module for pistonheads, BBC UK and world, etc, i even had it tell me the status updates for a shipping container when a friend was importing their car.