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Every
Geocities User Must Re-Register
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If
you've still got a homepage
on Geocities, and heaven forbid
you do, you might be surprised
to find out you must re-register
to continue using Geocities
services. Why? Simple, Geo is
integrating it's user database
with Yahoo!'s.
So how does it affect you? Well,
Geo e-mail and GeoPlus addresses
will stay the same. But your
username won't. For example,
if altericon is taken at Yahoo!,
then my new username will be
altericon.geo. Make sense? Well,
no, it doesn't. Because while
my username will be altericon.geo,
my e-mail (if I used it) would
be altericon@geocities.com.
Better yet, some Yahoo! (no
pun intended) thought it would
be hilariously funny to register
the altericon
ID at Yahoo! stating that
they "like Geocities"
and that "Don't you wish
you had signed up for this handle
before me?" Well, not really.
Why should I care is someone
(likely a CL or "hilarious"
Geostaff member) at Yahoo! holds
the altericon name. It's not
like I want it. In fact, I don't
even see any reason why I should
re-register. It's very clear
that anyone left at Yahoo! Geocities
is a total idiot, and anyone
who actually volunteers for
a multi-billion dollar corporation
needs to get some professional
help.
Furthermore, what's the purpose
of re-registering when your
page is dead anyway? AI gets
a whole 30 hits a day, which
MDCN
will grab in a few minutes.
And anyone who knows me knows
the Altericon name is being
used elsewhere anyway. In fact,
for the uninitated, altericon.com's
beta site should be up and running
fairly soon.
In fact, my guess is that a
good majority of Geocities come-and-go
users won't re-register. Half
of them probably forgot they
had a page here anyway. So if
Geo deletes those that had pages
here, it's going to look mighty
stupid when half it's user base
disappears. And notice Yahoo!,
who understands the value of
it's users, remains unaffected
by the integration. There will
be no altericon.yahoo, because
that would make people ANGRY.
As usual, the CLs are making
a small uproar about this, but
GeoMark has whipped them back
into submission with a comment
that they were quite insulting.
Oh, like they haven't come to
expect getting run over by Geo's
plans yet? And of course, they
all fell into line and made
comments about how wonderful
Mark was. Face it, this group
is hopeless. I like Mark as
much as the next guy, but they
don't have the balls to stand
up to anyone at Geo.
Part of me is angry. And part
of me is happy. I mean, it's
hard to see this place get run
into the ground. It's hard to
watch the CLs, a formerly respectable
group, turn into a bunch of
bumbling yes-men that agree
with whatever father Geo has
to say. (Porn? We love it! It
belongs in "The People's
Portal.")
But I'm also relieved to see
that almost everyone with any
self-respect has gotten out.
Yes, there are a few people
who still linger around. But
for the most part, all the good
sites have left, and a lot of
them have bought their own URLs.
In fact, there's no one left
to argue with. The sense of
community, once left only among
CLs, is completely gone. Even
the CLs don't care. There might
be ten or twenty who actually
have anything to say anymore.
One quick look at the messages
from the CL Forums reveal it's
all the same people. No one
else gives a damn. One CL was
so angry they claimed to have
written several people including
"altericon." They
must have written that altericon
at Yahoo!, because I didn't
get anything.
The bottom line is, if even
the CLs don't care, why should
I? Why should you? You shouldn't.
You shouldn't re-register. You
should leave. And don't look
back. |
What
the Heck is Going On?
The New Yahoo! Geocities Merger
Q&A
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If
you haven't noticed yet, Geocities
is a mess right now. Some of
you have no watermark. Some
of you have this ugly linkback.
Some of you don't know what's
going on. Here's a quick rundown
on what's happened, and what's
likely to happen, and why.
Q : What happened to the Watermark.
Is it returning?
A : Well, yes and no. The Watermark,
the hideous "stain"
that graced our pages for almost
a year, has been replaced by
a link back at the bottom of
our pages. It does not scroll
with the page, and it doesn't
use unnecessarily bloated DHTML.
My guess is watermark click-throughs
were horrendously low, since
everyone just ignored the blasted
thing. Will this new linkback
start jumping around our pages
again? I don't think so. The
only reason people are so upset
is that right now it's showing
up on multiple frames in some
neighborhoods. Why they can't
provide the same fix they used
on the watermark is beyond me,
but that's the way it is.
Q : What's going on with the
Geoguide?
A : Many of you will noticed
that a lot of Geo's ads have
been replaced with HTML ads
for Yahoo! These are simple,
straight HTML ads that might
take up 1K or so. Maybe not
even that. Another thing that
appears to have returned (or
at least come back from near
extinction) is the homesteader
banner. These were almost non-existent
before the merger, but we are
seeing them more and more now.
Before the Yahoo! ads were up,
the Geoguide was almost exclusively
homesteader banners.
Q : But what about the new Geoguide
that's coming?
A : Considering Yahoo! seems
to appreciate straight HTML,
my guess is we'll see a true
HTML Geoguide, not the graphically
based one we have now, on our
pages relatively soon.
Q : What's happening to the
Geo employees?
A : According to published reports,
most of the Geo employees are
now gone. But as far as I can
tell, the ones that we actually
interact with for the most part
are still here. Sadly, a few
were not able to move north
to the bay area, in particular
the well loved "GeoKaren."
It would seem the people that
got canned are the kinds Yahoo!
can replace with their own,
tech types and the like. GeoMark,
he's irreplacable.
Q : What about the CLs? Are
they sticking around?
A : Yes, in the same limited
capacity that they have been
in for quite some time. Supposedly
they are going to start actively
recruiting "a lot"
more CLs, but I don't see how.
99% of the homesteaders could
care less what happens to Geo,
let alone become a leader of
the community. I still say the
program will be discontinued,
but Yahoo! isn't going to be
the bad guy in this one.
Q : Will Geo sites now be able
to get on Yahoo?
A : HAHAHA! No. But Geo neighborhoods
will be integrated into Yahoo!
categories. So you'll at least
be able to get here from there.
Q : What's your take on the
merger
A : I actually think it's going
to be a good thing for Geo.
As you can see, they've already
rid Geo of the watermark, and
are making changes for the better,
even if they're a little messed
up at first.
Q : What can I do?
A : Honestly, you can leave
Geo. They'll just do whatever
they want, and you really can't
do anything about it. Leave
and go to virtualave.net or
one of the other sites.
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What
is Geocities official stance
on their new pornographic ads?
They say they've been around
for a while now, and that there's
nothing wrong with them. In
fact, you too can show nasty
ads on your page!
In a response to my comments
in the Geo forums, GeoMark wrote
:
"Those ads have been serving
for quite a long time. They
are only displayed in search
results pages where people are
specifically looking for sexually
oriented material. The search
results themselves are not from
GeoCities. BTW, that banner
is within our content guidelines
for homesteader pages."
Well, a little surprise for
us. Apparently soft core pornography
is okay. Who cares if little
kids are looking? Apparently
not Geocities. How many of us
believe this ad isn't somehow
going to mistakenly get slipped
into Enchanted Forest rotation
much like the gay.net ads.
Since we're now allowed to put
pornographic images on our pages,
let's do it. Let's advertise
Geocities in the best way possible.
Put these graphics on your page.
Wow! Take one of them. Do you
like "A Family Friendly
Site" or do you like "Sodom
and Gomorrah." And you
get to choose between a naked
woman licking... something,
and two women getting it on!
Which one is your choice? Take
one, and link it to Geo, or
better yet, link it here. ;) |
Geo
Advertising for Porn!
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Geocities
"family" image is
slowly making way for a new
one, stimulated by the porn
industry. One ad in particular
is for amateurs.com, also known
as Amateur Hardcore.
Amateur Hardcore, owned by WebPower,
Inc, is just one of the sites
currently being advertised by
Geo. But all the sites are owned
by the same company, and appear
to be very similar in content
and appearance. (I did some
"in-depth" research.)
According to one
user, who followed up on
the ad after I mentioned it
on the Geocities forum, their
sites have been named "Raunchiest
Site of the Month" by the
famous Persian Kitty.
AlterIcon has collected some
of the ads being shown on Geocities
for WebPower's porn sites. Be
warned, these ads are not for
children. They are disgusting.
They don't show nudity, but
they tempt you with the possibility
of more skin.
Check out where the ad takes
you here.
WARNING : Contains partial nudity
and NOT for children.
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It's the Beginning of the
End for the CL Program
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Personality
Cult is the opinion of Michael
Stevens. It's not hard news.
I try to differentiate for the
stupid people.
Geocities Community Leaders
seem relatively content to volunteer
for a for-profit corporation,
but now it turns out the practice
just might be illegal! (I TOLD
YOU SO!)
Over at Internet giant AOL,
Community Leaders from the online
service are asking the government
to look into labor practices.
If AOL's CLs can be defined
as employees, they could be
entitled to backpay. AOL would
be ordered to pay twice the
minimum wage to over 10,000
volunteers.
Geocities may face the same
dilemma. It's only a matter
of time until someone makes
the same complaint. Geocities
would have to prove that Community
Leaders act as volunteers for
homesteaders, not as employees
for the corporation. But Geocities
knows that it's in big trouble
on this issue. The fact is,
Geocities has determined what
it's CLs can and can not say...
they can not show public outrage
over the watermark. They knew
that CLs could be instrumental
in defeating the watermark.
Face it, AlterIcon with the
backing of Geo's own Community
Leaders would have made a big
impact. What we got though,
was retired CLs and CLs and
Liaisons who had to remain anonymous.
I thank everyone of them, and
they did the best they could,
but the fact is Geocities wouldn't
let them. If they made one wrong
move, they could be fired. The
firing is done by the corporation.
Community Leaders, quite simply,
act as employees.
We all know that Geocities can't
afford to pay for their CLs.
They would be out millions of
dollars. The only solution is
to finally shut down the Community
Leader program, otherwise face
legal trouble. On the face of
it, they will pretend this isn't
the case, but they are simply
saving face while they decide
what to do. In fact, Geo has
NOT commented on this at all.
They have simply kept their
mouths shut.
The other problem Geo faces
is that a LOT of it's CLs are
under age, because people with
real jobs don't have the time
to be community leaders. That
means BIG TROUBLE for Geo! I
suspect the first people to
be removed from the CL program
under those under 16.
If you've got any info on the
end of the CL program, let me
know at michael@melvindesign.com.
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Get
Geocities Graphics from
Geolink/AI
Check Out AlterIcon's Dead Forums.
It's like a piece of AI History!
Old
AlterIcon Forum
The
old Bravenet forum. This lasted
us a long time, but it had it's limitations.
AlterIcon
Community@Excite
The
private AlterIcon Community.
This was a mistake from day one!
But hindsight is always 20/20.
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Buy
yourself a CD. It feels
good.
Everybody
else is doing it.
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