Dear Yahoo,

[diandrahollman]

I wish I didn't have to do this. I really do. For ten years I have been able to check news headlines, weather and new e-mail messages right from my browser homepage. But lately, this convenience has come at too high a price. I could put up with the crappy spam filter that routinely routes get-rich-quick schemes, invitations to join "dating" sites and offers to enhance body parts I don't even have to my inbox. I could even put up with the constant layout changes that make it increasingly impossible to see the links I want to click on around the obnoxious advertisements parading across the page. What I can no longer put up with is the insanity that goes on every day on your news site.

The mere sight of a headline on the homepage that has any connection whatsoever to do with politics makes me cringe because I know it will draw the same hoard of internet trolls who will sling ridiculous (Repukes and Dumbocraps comes to mind) to downright hateful insults at each other and demonize each others' beliefs. Once in a while, some brave soul will beg you to do SOMETHING about the warzone that has become the comments section, but these posts are quickly buried in a barrage of hideous insults and barely coherent rants declaring the President of the United States to be a Nazi. The fact that your company allows this sort of behavior to continue unchecked not only cheapens your credibility as a news source, it enables cyber bullying. I don't know of ANY other legitimate news source that would let this behavior get so totally out of control.

This is not about censorship or denying people’s freedom of speech. The problem here is a total lack of accountability. Anyone can post anything anonymously, no questions asked, without facing any consequences for their abusive behavior. Allowing this to continue as it is just creates a toxic environment where people are afraid to speak their minds for fear of abuse from anonymous, rabid posters.

Since you seem reluctant to offer any sort of solution to this out-of-control problem, Yahoo, I am declaring myself officially done with you. Better yet: I am declaring a boycott of ALL of your services until you address this issue. I have already changed my homepage, cancelled my Flickr account and transferred all of my e-mail to another provider. Most importantly, I will be getting my news from other sources from now on. And I will encourage as many people as I can to do the same.

Disrespectfully yours,

Diandra Hollman

PS - To all those brave souls who are just as discouraged or outraged by the political bullying as I am, please feel free to pass this message on.
 

ETA: I have no idea if Yahoo.it or Yahoo.au or any of the other variants are as guilty as Yahoo.com on this front so apologies to my non-American flisters if you have no idea what I'm ranting about here. On a more positive note: I have been totally Yahoo-free for two days now and I am MUCH happier! The country is still being fucked sideways, but at least now I can look at the Minnesotans in my neighborhood without assuming they are crazed tea-party nutjobs who would lynch me if they thought they could get away with it. Most of them are just gullible idiots.