Sep 07
21

MBL loses user due to forced account merge

10 Comments

I was browsing with firefox earlier over at MBL and decided to edit my profile. It was at that point the login screen was forced on me asking me to sign up with my Y! ID or if I didn’t have one the option to create one. I didn’t want to do this so I guess that for as long as my IE7 cookie lasts, I’ll be able to browse about and respond to PM’s and all that stuff. I did use the mass message tool to tell people I was offski and that I could be reached, followed, networked or whatever else you want to call it at, Bumpzee, Sphinn, StumbleUpon, Digg, and Blogcatalog so there thats that.

I knew it was coming, but today it happened. It’s no big deal, but I’ve decided not to merge my Y! and MBL identities. 

Why? Well, no real reason other than I don’t want to and to be honest MBL had kinda lost its sheen for me. I’m sure that a lot of the people there still love it to bits and get a great deal of use and satisfaction from it and well,  good luck to them too, it’s just no longer my bag. 

I don’t like having things forced upon me, I like choice and options, I don’t get why they felt the need to make this a mandatory thing.

Call it grumpy, call it what you like.

 I’m sure they’ll cope just fine without me! ;)

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Posted in mybloglog by robwatts 10 Comments

10 Responses to "MBL loses user due to forced account merge"

  • Robyn says:
    September 21, 2007 at 5:24 pm
    Reply

    Rob, your point is well taken. My time is very limited so if you were to recommend just one of the networking tools you mention, what would it be? Just curious.

  • robwatts says:
    September 21, 2007 at 5:35 pm
    Reply

    Hiya Robyn, for a broad base of topics with a similar set- up i’d say blogcatalog. It has inxs of 80k blog users and is a great fot for those who liked MBL and the kinda options it gave.

    Sphinn is a great resource but is very tech and search centric.

    Bumpzee is a good thing too, yet doesnt quite yet have the reach and user base of the aforementioned.

    Hope that helps :)

  • Matt Keegan says:
    September 22, 2007 at 11:53 am
    Reply

    Rob,

    I received your message and promptly tried to sign into MBL on my other computer. Locked out. I then went to my main computer and got right in. When I logged out and tried to log back in, I was shut out.

    That would be okay, however when I entered my Yahoo! information, it said that no account existed for that name. Well, I then compared my Yahoo! account to my MBL account and realized I am using two different sign in names. MBL wouldn’t even accept my Y! sign in, so I’m locked out, for now.

    I may exit MBL too as I have only been using the site as a tool to check current stats for two blogs. I only have the free account as the $25 fee wasn’t of interest to me.

    I feel the same way as you do — I am being forced to take a certain action that I don’t want to take. Quite frankly, I am getting tired of all of the shepherding around that I am getting through various internet sites including banks, forums, social media, etc. Is being user friendly to ‘net users becoming a thing of the past?

    Regards,
    Matt Keegan

  • robwatts says:
    September 22, 2007 at 3:18 pm
    Reply

    Hi Matt, yes I think part of their ‘tactic’ is to be able to corral every user of its services under a unified login so that they can better profile and therefore monetise them subsequently.

    It’s good to be able to say no thanks. I don’t need any for profit company so badly that I should just hand over everything I do and say for subsequent scrutiny. I like my anonymity every now and again, who doesn’t?

  • Steve says:
    September 25, 2007 at 3:29 am
    Reply

    Huh. I guess I’m surprised at your reaction. Is it the affiliation with Yahoo or the fact that two sites merged? Or that they didn’t give you the choice of maintaining independent accounts? I didn’t think twice about it, and am wondering what I’m missing! :)

  • robwatts says:
    September 25, 2007 at 12:39 pm
    Reply

    I think its more about choice Steve. I’m sure that choice could have been an option. Maybe I’m just a little too cynical and suspicious of corps in my old age :D

  • Calvin Warr says:
    September 28, 2007 at 2:41 pm
    Reply

    To some extent, I agree, we should have a choice of how we want to log in. I am sure Yahoo! will iron out the kinks eventually. But I want to point out that logging into a single user id, is a trend that is slowly but surely coming along. Microsoft of course have their own id system, but there is an open source one called openid that seems to be picking up momentum. I tried it on a few sites. It still has its problems. But its a trend. Eventually, one day, we might have only one login. Scary.

  • robwatts says:
    September 28, 2007 at 4:52 pm
    Reply

    Hi Calvin

    There’s a thought – an uber uni-login, makes me think of identity cards and border controls and all that jazz. Perhaps I like the illusion of freedom that I delude myself into believeing I have, when the reality is that my ISP probably has a shed load of data into my browser habits, stuff i save and download, search queries and more…

    We may all laugh and get flippant about it but there is a scary reality to this stuff that we should all be a little more vocal of.

    I agree scary!

    Thanks for your contribution

  • Snoskred says:
    September 29, 2007 at 1:05 am
    Reply

    I haven’t logged into MBL for a bit, but I had my login set to remember me, so when I did login I wasn’t asked for my yahoo ID.

    I agree that it is not a good idea to make everyone do it, it should be optional. I don’t have a yahoo ID of my own, I only have yahoo ID’s I use to bait the scammers, such as my Busty Bavarian chick who looks incredibly like Heidi Klum.. ;) Needless to say the scammers adore her. But I certainly don’t want that Yahoo ID linked to my blog where I mention I am a scambaiter. It will give the game away!

    If it becomes a forced thing where I have no choice but to use a yahoo ID, I will be leaving as well, I think.. but like I say it didn’t make me do it yet.

    Cheers,
    Snoskred

  • robwatts says:
    September 29, 2007 at 9:38 am
    Reply

    Hi Heidi Snoskred, nice to see you

    Well I think I read somewhere that the cookies will expire at some point. If you try and view your account details or make any edits to it, then it is at this point that they will force the new login on you.

    Currently, I can still use it, but only with an IE7 browser.

    sleeks off t see who this Heidi Klum person is…

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