Over the holiday the ring management system was closed down. It reopened on September 5th, the day now known in the webring world as Black Tuesday. Previously Yahoo Inc. had sent letters to the aproximately 80,000 Ringmasters and millions of ring members informing them that they needed to signe up for a "Yahoo ID". A few Ringmasters with active signed up, almost no ring members signed up. Ringmasters knew that very few members maintained their ring records (web and e-mail address) so they recomended to their member NOT to sign up.

The YID requires:
• Name
• email address
• sex
• birth date
• birth place

The Ringmasters were also told that their forms on their ring home pages would still work. This was the second lie.

A process that Ringmasters were already wary of was already starting out badly. The reopening on Black Tuesday confirmed many fears, it confused many others. In the past Ringmasters had access to the complete ring member records. This was necessary to maintain the integrity of the ring. Web addresses change, email addresses change (5% per month), members lose passwords and forget how to get in to the system. Concienious volunteer Ringmasters contanstantly worked to maintain their ring database. On black Tuesday they were locked out. Ringmasters no longer had access to databases they had created and had been told (in writing) was their domain. Many thought it was a mistake and asked "How and when" they would be let in. No answer.

Other changes included the new "Server Side Navigation Bar", SSNB or "navbar". The SSNB is to replace all the current ring logos and grapical billboards for the rings. The SSNB no longer had a link to the ring home page, instead having three links to Yahoo. The SSNB was also an ugly corporate grey bar that grew from banner size to full page if the member were a member of several rings.

Continued above, see Ringmasters Revolt!

• The Yahoo Webring Fiasco
• The Wazillions Navbar Project
• What Happened to Yahoo?
• NAVBAR Design Error Demo
• Webring News ???
• Inside the Server Side NAVBAR
• Page 4  Anvilfire Hosts Webrings

But on Black Tuesday ALL the Ringmaster perks that enticed them to setup and maintain their rings were gone! They no longer had access to the databases THEY had created and maintained, their ring home pages (all 80,000) were abandond, the artwork many had spent hours on was being phased out. The system also took away some of the control of accepting members in the ring. The NEW process was backwards. Ringmasters had to accept member sites BEFORE the member installed the NAVBAR.

At first their was a rain of questions. But it quickly became obvious that the Ringmasters were to be taken "out of the loop". Automatic systems were in place to replace them and their rings, their creations were setup to run without them.

Questions became complaints. Yahoo's responses were either form letter replies or silence. Ringmasters started moving their rings to other services or setup their own ring hosting. Some polled members, some did not. Those that polled members got overwhelming response to MOVE, to get away from Yahoo and the YID.

As the month progressed Ringmasters by the tens of thousands were moving their rings. The "other" ring hosts were swamped with new rings and huge volumes of traffic. Ring hosting software became the hot product of the month. But the Ringmasters were not silently leaving. Protests and complaints were continous and LOUD on the official Ringmaster's forum Webringnews. Alternative forums such as eGroups Ring Manager were also floded with posts. Many Ringmasters setup protest rings (on Yahoo) and invited other rings to join their rings.

By the first week of October (time of this writing) Yahoo was finaly reacting to the huge backlash. There were still no answers, however, the only contact point between Yahoo and the Ringmasters was no longer the "official" Webring News. Posts critical of Yahoo were deleted. Protesters (or anyone that asked a serious question) were banned. On October 4th the entire archive of posts going back to the beginning was erased. New posting rules were posted that largely said, "Don't ask questions! Don't make comments"

Yahoo had lied, stonewalled, destroyed documents and was now putting pressure on their Webring News moderator to point that he was acting as paranoid as the corporation itself. Yahoo had screwed up big time. Their "new" webring system that was designed to be a huge demographicly keyed user traking system was a shambles. Any increase in profit had been lost by underestimating the backlash against the YID, Rings leaving and public distain for the high handed tactics.