The combined customer service and engineering problem around “forgot your passwords” has had a decade to mature online, and yet here we have an endless loop from Yahoo! Search Marketing. How can customer service be this bad for something that is raking in billions of dollars!

My credit card is being billed, my password doesn’t work (I don’t know if it was hacked or I simply forgot it), and after 30 minutes of clicking I am convinced there is no way to contact anyone. FAQ entry #5 is the kicker:

How do I use the password hint feature if I have forgotten my password?

The “Forgot your password” link can be found on the DirecTraffic Center login page. After clicking on the link, you will be asked to supply your user name and e-mail address. The actual password will not be given to you, however a hint of what this password is will be displayed if your name and e-mail address match what we have on file for you. If you do not already have a password hint in this field you can add one by accessing the “Edit Customer Profile” link on the main page of the DirecTraffic Center and then scrolling to the bottom of the page to the “Change Password” section. Please note that you do not need to enter your password to add a password hint.

Noodle on that one for a bit.

Google, just emails the password to the email they have on file.

Anyone know anyone at Yahoo! SEM?

I may have retired, but I’m still partial. BusinessWeek Online’s reader survey features a nice flash results graph and a landslide vote in favor of Webshots in the photo category.

I may have been in denial, or just busy migrating to a Mac (more on that later!), but I haven’t gotten a chance to post about my last day with CNET and Webshots.

After many years, 4 business entities, 5 business locations, and numerous job descriptions, Nick Wilder and I have made the leap into the free world. In fact, I have it on video tape–Nick actually “leaving the building” with his box (and his chair!)

[Video clip above requires QuickTime: has the excellent new h264 codec! mpg video available here]

I will indulge in a single paragraph of nostalgia. Webshots was the killer screensaver application that grew into the largest photo sharing community. As a business, it was always profitable and never had venture money. The company pioneered user-generated content and a public community, tapping social networking before it was a commonplace term. Out of the growth was born one of the first and largest content/service subscription businesses in addition to a burgeoning online media property. I am very grateful to have worked with so many talented and dedicated individuals over the years and feel secure in knowing that CNET was the perfect company to carry on our history of growth and continue to innovate around photos.

What’s next? Well, after having some time recently to start tinkering, Nick, Julie and I have set out to conquer some web applications that need attention. We have started a small shop called 83 degrees. Stay tuned…

some photos from our last day

The day after I got the parking ticket I was able to pay a visit to Andrew Michael Baron, who with Amanda Congdon have created Rocketboom. This videoblog is the first to break into mainstream coverage (BusinessWeek and the local CBS affiliate) and they are working hard to define this new short form medium.

Someday the internet will be home to zillions of small channels. Rocketboom is showing that you can inform and entertain with production costs about that of a tank of gas.

I got a ticket recently in New York. Fed the meter twice but got twisted around in SoHo and was 5 minutes late for the third go round and lost out to the tune of $65. I just tried to pay the ticket online as it conveniently advertises, but I was unable to locate find the ticket by ticket# or license plate.

Instead, I get a popup telling me that it takes up to 4 weeks for tickets to get into the online system!

4 weeks!