bppilot - 2:16 am on Jul 14, 2004 (gmt 0)

I wanted to clarify last comment so that it doesn't get taken out of context. I totally agree with your comment about the immitators as we are having to deal with them all the time as well. It drives me nuts to see another site listed in the top 10 who has outright 'stolen' content I've used on our sites, in press articles and during industry speeches I've given.

As for the bad publicity, I think that there are many hard working individuals at Yahoo who really do want to do a good job. After all, I don't think that anyone wants to go to work in the morning with the intention of squashing smaller companies or doing a 'bad' job. I think that some of the internal red tape factors might make it harder for them to do their jobs and at times look like they 'want' bad publicity, but I really do think that there have are some good people there who want to be seen as working for a good company. In fact, even though I haven't gotten our penalty removed, I've been corresponding with one individual who has been extremely polite and I think genuinely cares but has his hands tied in the process.

I personally hope that Yahoo cleans up some of the items that make them an easy target for bad publicity. I think that giving reasons for penalities and having an expedited review process (even for an additional fee) would be a good start. It certainly would end a few of these 'what do I do now' discussions.

BP