
Yahoo is killing off the Yahoo Directory - aaronbrethorst
http://yahoo.tumblr.com/post/98474044364/progress-report-continued-product-focus?wow
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LeoPanthera
This is kind of a big deal - historically. Yahoo was the first website I ever
visited, and I'm sure this is true for a great many people.

Though I was kinda surprised to discover that it still exists. I thought it
had been killed off long ago: [https://dir.yahoo.com](https://dir.yahoo.com)

I was also mildly surprised to discover that dmoz, the Mozilla "Open
Directory", still exists under the control of AOL after they purchased
Netscape so long ago: [http://www.dmoz.org](http://www.dmoz.org)

~~~
nly
Dmoz is still surprisingly productive. Definitely needs to some love though.
The only modern directory that I can think of along these lines is the 'Hidden
Wiki' for Tor.

~~~
QuantumGood
DMOA edits I made when I was an editor in 2000 that are severely out of date
still exist, for example

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sthlm
The Yahoo Directory was Yahoo's first product.

This is a stark reminder that very few things last and maybe a point to
reflect how Yahoo succeeded and failed to pivot into other directions.

Can you imagine Google terminating Search? Facebook terminating their home
page? What else would they do and would they be successful?

In a historical context, back in the day directories were a big deal, it took
a long time for search engines to become powerful enough to rival the
usability. A piece of the old web is gone now.

~~~
notahacker
The original "school networks" of Facebook are long gone; their vestigial
remains insufficient too track down fellow alumni. The newsfeed, like the
Yahoo portal content, was a later addition.

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Hawkee
While this does offer some historical significance the cost to maintain old
web properties can far outweigh the value in keeping them. I run an 18 year
old site and lately I've found quite a lot of relief in removing older
features. In fact I'm considering removing the very feature that "made" my
site many, many years ago. It's certainly a necessary move if you want to stay
relevant online. I'm sure there are some folks at Yahoo who are very excited
to shut this down and close the book on what is likely a maintenance
nightmare.

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highlander
Yahoo Directory has certainly been neglected and customers stopped using it in
favor of search. However, I think there's still an opportunity for a directory
'done well'. Browsing hierarchically is a different mode of discovery.
Customers approach it in a different way and that can help them to discover
sites that they wouldn't otherwise find through search and news.

~~~
troymc
DMOZ is still around, but I think the best directories end up being the niche
directories maintained by people who are really into something. Wikipedia also
has some amazing lists.

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toomuchtodo
At least it will live on at Archive.org; I'm sure Archive Team is going to get
rolling on it shortly.

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bachmeier
You know a company is in trouble when the only way they can generate news
about their products is by shutting them down.

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robryan
Not surprised to see qwiki there. For all the hype around it I never thought
that it would be successful. All it really seemed to do was make clumsy
automated videos that took a lot away but really didn't add anything to just
reading a wikipedia article.

~~~
troymc
Qwiki pivoted in the past year or two. They made an iOS app with the tagline:

Share your life through brief, beautiful movies

“Qwikis” created in just one tap.

\---

Their blog shares several example "Qwikis" (videos):

[http://blog.qwiki.com/](http://blog.qwiki.com/)

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ulfw
A (well curated) directory can be a great tool to get to know new sites you
might not be aware of. Pity that they are killing it off rather than re-
imagining it. I don't really know what Yahoo! is supposed to stand for
anymore.

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ufmace
I wonder what the absolute traffic levels of the Yahoo directory are like
these days compared to the directory's heyday. They're a much smaller part of
the internet now, but the internet has grown so much larger.

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nhebb
I guess older sites can drop the NOYDIR meta tag. A few weeks ago i noticed my
site still has the NOODP tag. I have to think that Google doesn't even bother
with that anymore.

~~~
duskwuff
Google's Webmaster Tools documentation claims it's still used, but I haven't
seen it in ages.

[https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/35624](https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/35624)

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sylvinus
As a reminder, Yahoo acquired Qwiki for $50M just one year ago...

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sumedh
Does any manager get fired for making the decision to buy Qwiki for $50 mil

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whitneyrzoller
Acquisition decisions are made at the highest levels of the company. So...

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aaronbrethorst
This was submitted a day ago, and attracted a little bit of attention (sort
of...
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8374830](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8374830)),
but I think it's actually a pretty big deal that they're killing off their
original raison d'être. Hence the "editorialized" title[0] and resubmission.

0: "Yahoo is killing off the Yahoo Directory"

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wodenokoto
I honestly don't think this is a big deal. The directory has been defacto dead
for a long time.

~~~
matznerd
It's the end of an era...

