Zyra's website //// Change your Homepage //// Yahoo Problem //// Site Index

Replace Yahoo*
Getting rid of Yahoo* as your homepage and replacing it with something better.

* Yahoo? ...or other "default homepage". Now that Yahoo have ceased banning my site, I am ceasing to campaign against Yahoo so vigorously. In fact, an understanding has been reached (see note at end of page).

Note: This page is being updated now that Yahoo have addressed some of the issues which led to the complaints in the first place. Remember that some of the following is historical...

In my opinion far too many people still have Yahoo.com (or other commonplace "default" site) as their homepage. I felt for quite a while that Yahoo was a poor choice and there were much better alternatives. Even my site index would be better! It's up to you what you have as your homepage, and you can choose any page on the Internet! That's at least eight thousand million pages to choose from, so I'm sure you can choose something better than Yahoo. I explain how you can change your homepage on How To Change Your Homepage. Your choice! If you would like to protest about Yahoo, make my front page your homepage and REPLACE YAHOO (or other ISP/ default homepage etc!)

Important update note: Yahoo have solved the initial copyright problem in a proper diplomatic way now. There are other issues to be solved, but at least SOME progress is being made. You can see the updates to the Yahoo problem here.

Also, the Yahoo search problem (banning a perfectly reasonable site) now appears to be in the process of being solved (2008), so let's start to forgive Yahoo.

Still, much of the gist of the content on this page is still valid, as you may be intent of getting rid of another default homepage that you no longer want to be stuck with!

Replacing your default homepage is easy, and I have a useful page of explanation on how to do it at How To Change Your Homepage. As for your CHOICE of page, that's up to you. I'd be honoured and greatly chuffed if you'd put my site www.zyra.org.uk as your homepage, but I'm not expecting you to; but at least I don't have lots of silly irrelevant adverts! I have thousands of pages of useful information, sometimes amusing or entertaining, and the adverts I have are only there if you are looking for them. If you approve of that, then maybe you'd like to make a stand against some other sites' silly splat advertising and put up a reasonable site instead!

If you decide to choose Zyra's website www.zyra.org.uk as your homepage, make sure you know it is .ORG.UK , and yet it is an international site! The curious stuff I write is generally true everywhere in the world, and besides, it doesn't matter where I live. Never mind the UK! I am moving out of the UK and emigrating to one of the tax havens. One of the possibilities originally was Belize! See www.zyra.bz - You can make that your homepage if you like, but it will be a while before it has many pages. Meanwhile at the main site Zyra.org.uk there thousands of pages, all linked together. This is the way of the future Internet, not a debasement of the Internet based on oldfashioned marketing ideas.

If you don't like big corporations telling you what to do, change your homepage! Also, you can lobby your local cyber cafe into changing their homepage on their computers, AND, if you see a computer which could do better to have a Zyra ICON, there's a download shortcut

Does ZYRA stand for anything? Yes! ZYRA stands for INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS! Zyra doesn't stand for a lot of nonsense.

That site again is:

www.zyra.org.uk

Right of reply: Hey Yahoo, if you're reading this and wondering why an independent website author would get so angry at your company, you could enter into friendly diplomatic dialogue to get this resolved. I'd much prefer to get this settled amicably, so visit the page to get this CORRECT

Note: There is good news on this, as we are now in discussion, and it may yet be sorted out. As this happens, this page will be updated to take account of the facts.

Also see Zyra Intro and Banner (for links), updates on the Yahoo problem (anecdote including automated emails and the trouble they caused), and a similar case in which AOL failed to resolve spam problem (even though several smaller places fixed the same problem easily when asked nicely). Overbearing corporate problems are also inspected at Palladium

On a previous version of this page, it was believed that Yahoo had BANNED THIS SITE in an attempt to punish or silence criticism. Now that there is some discussion, it may turn out that this is not so. It now appears to be a misunderstanding at Yahoo Search where Zyra's website was somehow incorrectly categorised. Of course, if it had been banned because of criticising Yahoo, it would have seemed to send a message "If you criticise us, we punish you". This notion is reminiscent of dictatorial governments. Also see Tibet, and the China Olympics

Update 2008/11:

In the first place, there were problems at Yahoo which went on for a long time. The initial problem was plagiarism by a Yahoo user, but Yahoo's failure to deal with it properly compounded the problem. Later, on complaining about the complaints procedure, this site was BANNED FROM YAHOO SEARCHES. This looked like very poor form, and unsurprisingly comment was made about it on these pages! However, at long last contact was made with the people at Yahoo, and it was found that Yahoo had mistakenly classed this site as spam/seo-nonsense/etc. Upon discovering this site's true merits (having thousands of pages of content, for example), this site was reclassified at Yahoo and its reputation restored. However, with a search engine, recovery always takes a while, and it appeared to have to start from scratch. However, as I write this, in November 2008, I know that at least some of my pages are at long last starting to appear in Yahoo searches. Therefore, this confirms that Yahoo have mended the problem, and so I can start to forgive them.

This page will continue to be modified and improved to reflect the current situation as it develops.