Yahoo’s Very Bad Idea to Release Email Addresses
Yahoo is releasing inactive Yahoo IDs so that users can score a better email address. This means you can finally have albert@yahoo.com instead of albert9330399@yahoo.com, for example. Sounds great, right? It’s actually a spectacularly bad idea.
In a Tumblr post, the company announced that on July 15, it will be “freeing up” Yahoo email addresses that have been inactive for a year or more. But it’s not just deactivating these accounts, it’s going to offer them to other people.
In mid July, anyone can have a shot at scoring the Yahoo! ID they want. In mid August, users who staked a claim on certain IDs can come to Yahoo! to discover which one they got.