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19 June 2005 Editorial by Peter J. Carr, Chatmag Publisher.

For years, Yahoo! chat has been most casual Internet user's introduction to online discussions.  Yahoo! operates a very user friendly chat interface, with minimal software requirements. All a user needs is a Java enabled web browser to use Yahoo! chat. No other software, such as is required for IRC (Internet Relay Chat) is necessary.

I started chatting on Prodigy in 1996, and when Yahoo! first offered chat, I moved there, and have been an active member of the chat community ever since. It was a great place to meet people from around the world, and form friendships that last to this day.

Many Internet users formed friendships on Yahoo! chat, and a lot of groups migrated to chat, rather than the separate Yahoo! Groups. Teenagers are the largest single group using chat and IM, and this now leaves them little choice than to transfer to other IM/chat services.

At first, Yahoo! chat had no advertisements, and the obnoxious "ad bots" were still a few years away.  Only in recent years has the look and feel of Yahoo! chat changed, for the worse. And, more and more "ad bots" have taken over, making for a frustrating chat environment.

Yahoo! had knowledge of both the "ad bots" and the pedophile chat rooms. Not only Chatmag, but many other users complained, including several that formed petitions requesting chat moderators. All of which Yahoo! chose to ignore.

The problem is not the advertisements, but how they are implemented on Yahoo! A user logs in using the IM client, and choses "Chat" from the tool buttons. An advertisement page loads, and is timed for up to one minute, before the "Enter Chat" button is activated.  Yahoo! obviously does not "target" any specific chat, the advertisement can be seen prior to entering any Yahoo! chat room.

In contrast, Chatmag's Directory tightly target's advertisers by topics, and we also preview each listing to ensure that the chat room  or discussion forum meets our criteria of being a safe, on topic site. Any potential listing not meeting Chatmag's standards are excluded from inclusion into the Directory.

Yahoo! can still be a good chat environment, if Yahoo! implements chat moderators, and proactively deletes chat rooms of a questionable nature, most specifically, any pedophile related or hate group chat rooms.

The advertisers that pulled their ads should be given assurances by Yahoo! that changes have been made, and their advertisements will be shown in a more favorable chat environment.

Internet chat will suffer little due to the current problems at Yahoo! There are numerous chat sites, and as long as people want to communicate, chat will be an active part of the Internet experience.

Peter J. Carr
Owner and Publisher Chatmag.com

External Links:

Chatmag's Yahoo! Closes User Chat Rooms Discussion Forum.

Yahoo! Closes User Created Chat Rooms.

Yahoo! Chatters Irate over Chat Room Closures.
 
 

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