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A lot of people don't trust Yahoo because they willingly and actively collaborate on governments' attempts at oppression, censorship, and privacy invasion. I th

A lot of people don't trust Yahoo because they willingly and actively collaborate on governments' attempts at oppression, censorship, and privacy invasion. I think Google is now making a farce of its "don't be evil" marketing mantra, but at least they put up some resistance on some key issues. Also, Yahoo was an advertising company first and a technology company second. Google was a technology company first and an advertising company second. Now, they are the same, but those old perceptions exist. Finally, there's a lot of FUD about whether Yahoo will even exist as a seperate ongoing entity. If/when Yahoo can do something about it, the community will be more willing to rely on it.

SwellJoe 17y ago
A lot of people don't trust Yahoo because they willingly and actively collaborate on governments' attempts at oppression, censorship, and privacy invasion. I think you'll need to provide references on this assertion. I'm not saying it isn't true...but, do a "lot of people" really feel that way about Yahoo? I may have missed the nerd bulletin that went out saying I'm not supposed to trust them. All the people I know at Yahoo are good folks (likewise all the people I know at Google). That's not to say there aren't troubling events in both companies histories...but I'm not really thinking people actively mistrust Yahoo. Or do they?
- briansmith 17y ago
  I've never heard anything good about Yahoo's ethics, but I've heard plenty of bad things from the tech press. Wikipedia is a pretty good place to start: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahoo!#Criticism_and_controversy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahoo!#Criticism_and_controvers.... I personally know developers that choose alternatives to Yahoo whenever possible for ethical reasons. I personally know people who refuse to work for Yahoo for ethical reasons. Are there a statistically significant number? I don't know. But, I've never heard anybody claim that Yahoo is on any kind of ethical high ground either. Of course 99.9% of the people at Yahoo! are great people. But, historically, the company's top management has failed ethically in very important cases. And, their official policy (marketing message) on ethics is weak. Google's marketing message on ethics is much stronger. Keep in mind that while I think Google is seen as a more ethical company, I am not saying that one company actually is better than the other. I'm only talking about perception and the marketing messages that each company has put out.
  - nostrademons 17y ago
    But you hear bad things about nearly everything from the tech press. That's their job: to hold your attention so they can sell advertising space. Negative news grabs your attention more than positive news, so that's what the press reports. And indignant moral outrage over the latest nefarious corporate goings-on sells more papers(/banner ads) than anything else, so that's what they report on. In basically every organization I've worked for/with/in (except the financial industry), the truth is basically 10-100x more benign than the media reports it as. So unless you have personal experience with people in Yahoo or Google that make you not trust them, don't believe everything you read in the media.

SwellJoe 17y ago

A lot of people don't trust Yahoo because they willingly and actively collaborate on governments' attempts at oppression, censorship, and privacy invasion. I think you'll need to provide references on this assertion. I'm not saying it isn't true...but, do a "lot of people" really feel that way about Yahoo? I may have missed the nerd bulletin that went out saying I'm not supposed to trust them. All the people I know at Yahoo are good folks (likewise all the people I know at Google). That's not to say there aren't troubling events in both companies histories...but I'm not really thinking people actively mistrust Yahoo. Or do they?

briansmith 17y ago
I've never heard anything good about Yahoo's ethics, but I've heard plenty of bad things from the tech press. Wikipedia is a pretty good place to start: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahoo!#Criticism_and_controversy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahoo!#Criticism_and_controvers.... I personally know developers that choose alternatives to Yahoo whenever possible for ethical reasons. I personally know people who refuse to work for Yahoo for ethical reasons. Are there a statistically significant number? I don't know. But, I've never heard anybody claim that Yahoo is on any kind of ethical high ground either. Of course 99.9% of the people at Yahoo! are great people. But, historically, the company's top management has failed ethically in very important cases. And, their official policy (marketing message) on ethics is weak. Google's marketing message on ethics is much stronger. Keep in mind that while I think Google is seen as a more ethical company, I am not saying that one company actually is better than the other. I'm only talking about perception and the marketing messages that each company has put out.
- nostrademons 17y ago
  But you hear bad things about nearly everything from the tech press. That's their job: to hold your attention so they can sell advertising space. Negative news grabs your attention more than positive news, so that's what the press reports. And indignant moral outrage over the latest nefarious corporate goings-on sells more papers(/banner ads) than anything else, so that's what they report on. In basically every organization I've worked for/with/in (except the financial industry), the truth is basically 10-100x more benign than the media reports it as. So unless you have personal experience with people in Yahoo or Google that make you not trust them, don't believe everything you read in the media.