My Netscape' isn't yours any longer! (UPDATED)
By
Mike Tomkins
(Thursday, April 26, 2001 - 18:21 EDT)
AOL Netscape quietly removes third-party channels from its site...
IR reader and 'Digital Outback Photo' editor Uwe Steinmueller wrote in this afternoon to let us know that our news channel had vanished from his 'My Netscape' page. A little investigation reveals that Netscape has completely redesigned its My Netscape service, and in the process third-party channels have disappeared.
Apparently AOL Netscape are showing their usual standard of respect for users (the My Netscape service wasn't updating channels properly for days/weeks at a time early last month - they never responded to a single support request) and have completely removed the service without any notification to users or those of us providing our content. The section of the My Netscape site on how to publish content has vanished, and even the button to add a site to My Netscape is now a broken link. We can't find any information on the change or a way to re-add third party channels to Netscape's site.
With that in mind, we're taking down our links to the My Netscape channel we've been running for the last 18 months. You can still access our channel through UserLand, or check back here as always for the latest news. Should AOL Netscape provide a means to re-add our channel, we'll do so!
UPDATED 2001-04-26 21:35ET: We note that our good friends over at the Digital Photography Review have also commented on this sad state of affairs. Phil has picked up an email address for feedback on the new My Netscape design; if you miss our channel there, we suggest you let AOL Netscape know what a disservice they've done to their readers with this move!
In the meantime, as we said in our article, vote with your feet and try out our channel on UserLand - you can also access the Digital Photography Review channel on the same site.
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