Yahoo Reverses Allah Ban 331
damnal writes "Yahoo's ban on "Allah" in users names, has been reversed. The ban was instituted due to a number of people registering for IDs using specific terms with the sole purpose of promoting hate. Yahoo's comment on the reversal: "We recently re-evaluated the term 'Allah,' and users can now register for IDs with this word because it is no longer a significant target for abuse.""
Yahoo!'s transition to a media company (Score:5, Interesting)
While I don't recall Yahoo! performing any heroic deeds in the past, I don't recall them not having a spine, either. However, latetly I've seen the do some pretty spineless things - disclosing information to the Chinese government (twice!), this etc.
Is this because of Yahoo!'s change of focus? They're trying hard to become a media company rather than a technology company.
And of course, considering the fact that someone like Terry Semel (a media executive with little to no technology experience) is leading them, such policies would not be surprising. Ever since Semel's been on board, Yahoo! has taken great pains to build a brand-name, and a lot of tech folks have been replaced by older media people, and Semel has indicated that Yahoo! would "diversify" the way Warner Brothers did.
So, that probably explains why Yahoo! is afraid to ruffle any feathers. While companies like Microsoft and Google are still technology companies at heart, Yahoo! is probably attempting to get into the media, and having bad publicity in the media industry has worse consequences than it would in the high-tech industry.
Just a thought, that's all.
Yahoo Advert on Slashdot (Score:3, Interesting)
http://a.as-us.falkag.net/dat/bgf/200506/10/hojoh
Not sure if it's relevant, but the coincidence is worth mentioning.
Ban Not fair in the first place (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:I think I've snapped from all the loonie news (Score:3, Interesting)
I would have to disagree with you on a couple of points.
refers to Abu Graib as "Bush's gulag" (that one is a quote), even though Bush had nothing to do with it and the perps who did are either on trial or in prison;
This is now known to be false; the treatment was in fact authorized (by redefining torture) and Bush has yet to recant his position. It looked for a minute as if McCain had cornered him into showing some sense, but his signing statement makes it clear that he still endorses torture. The only thing that clearly wasn't authorized (and what the Bush administration has actually objected to) is taking pictures of the torture and leaking it to the media. The "perps" who have so far been charged are (last I heard) only the low level grunts who got caught.
tell them how horrible the US is
George H. W. Bush is not the United States. Saying that GHWB is incompetent, stupid, or criminal does not say that the US is these things, anymore than saying that the US has twelve thousand miles of coastline means the GHWB is fat.
I realize that many of his supporters would like to blur this point, in effect making him a monarch, but so long as there is even a pretense of democracy here the distinction between a particular president and the nation he serves will stand.
generally makes it clear that the US is now the enemy of Arabs/Muslims, should be considered treasonous
It will be a sad day indeed when "making something clear" is treasonous. It may be fraud, if the point being made clear is untrue, but even then, not treasonous, unless you are purposing a rather radical reinterpretation of the constitution. And given that we don't know what he actually said, even the conclusion that it is untrue seems premature.
--MarkusQ
Re:Yahoo!'s transition to a media company (Score:3, Interesting)
Just checked google and no one else has said it. Congratulations my friend.