Dear Yahoo Mail,
I remember it well, I was sat in an internet cafe in Bournemouth in 1998 when I signed up for my Yahoo Mail account. It was an exciting time, the geeks had already ventured onto the world wide web and word spread fast about this new tool that was going to be the future of communication. The business world was catching on quickly and if any self-respecting businessman didn't jump aboard then he was going to be left behind.
I remember getting some new business cards printed up just so I could put my email address on them and join the ranks of the super up-to-date business elite. This year was also the time that I decided to leave my post as Staff Trainer at Virgin and venture out on my own, it was also the time that my wife fell pregnant with out first child. A defining year for me and, Yahoo Mail, you were part of that.
You've always been there, I've engaged with you every day since we first met. As a kid, I was a vociferous letter writer and I would fire off fanmail and enquiry letters and wait eagerly for responses. Every morning I would get a buzz when I heard the letterbox rattle and raced down to see what had arrived. I used to get the same little buzz everyday when I logged into you, Yahoo Mail.
My inbox has been the place I have learned about friends' good news - job promotions, engagements, babies, charity endeavours, exam results and holiday snaps. The content often had me smiling and punching the air in front of my screen. Conversely, it's also been a source of bad news where I have found out about plummeting stock prices, national disasters, friends' illnesses and colleagues' deaths, the information that you have brought me has reduced me to tears. So these extremes of emotion in front of your logo and interface have conditioned me to think of you as a trusted friend. A friend I can rely on and confide in, a solid and reliable partner who is always there. Which makes the recent changes harder to take.
On your 16th birthday, like an unpredictable adolescent, you changed overnight. I woke up and logged in to find a very different beast. Without warning, I was confronted with an unfamiliar interface, nothing was where it was supposed to be, I was fumbling around with you like we were on a first date. It was confusing and disorientating. I could no longer do the things that made me choose you and stick with you over all the other available email providers. I became discouraged but I persisted as I thought some of the old you must still be in there somewhere. But it wasn't. You'd changed, Yahoo Mail, and not for the better.
I went through a period of uncertainty, what should I do? I felt comfort in the fact that other people were going through a similar upheaval, complaints were made, petitions were signed, noise was created but it was all one-way. There was no official statement or reaction from Yahoo HQ. This made me feel sad. Even if someone said 'Bear with us, give it a go and we'll see if we can restore a couple of the old features that you all miss so much.' Anything really, just to make me feel that the last 15 years wasn't a totally one-sided relationship. But nothing…
So, I've done what any self-respecting gentleman would do, I've broken off the relationship. It didn't come easy and I did hang around to try and make things work but I got nothing back. Today, I met a new email interface and although it's early days, it does feel that one day we might have the relationship I once had with you. So, it is with deep regret that I say farewell to you, Yahoo Mail, we've been through so much together and it's with a heavy heart but I feel it is time to move on.
It's not me, it's you.
Mr Brian Story
P.S I'm currently downloading the archive of our 15-year relationship onto a hard drive and I'm going to send it to your CEO Marissa Mayer so she can bury it in her newly-purchased funeral home.
RIP Brian Story + Yahoo Mail 1998-2013
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