Yahoo is again refusing to publish my comments.
I guess Toyota is extra touchy now that seven insurance companies have filed suit based on the Recall King's refusal to install brake override systems. As the below referenced article points out, these suits are a major challenge for Toyota.
Just for the record, here's what I had to say:
"Toyota is finally getting its just desserts for refusing to install overrides while other automakers offered this safety feature. As one of the Recall King's many dissatisfied customers - been bloggin' 'bout 'em for quite some time at (this blog's url) - I'm especially pleased that Toyota is accused of failing to disclose known defects."
I've noticed quite a few comments lately complaing of Yahoo censorship. Hey, Yahoo: the world is watching.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Insurers-take-on-Toyota-in-apf-1182206357.html?x=0#mwpphu-container
Update 1/7/2011 Yahoo continues to censor my comments. Toyota has now made the list for america's most hated 15 companies, and Yahoo immediately removed my comment, "Toyota should be at the top of the list, and not only for recalls. The complaints are many, including lousy service and equally lousy attitudes toward customers. I've been bloggin' 'bout the Recall King for quite some time at (this blog's url)." http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110106/ts_alt_afp/usconsumerbusiness
Showing posts with label Yahoo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Yahoo. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Speaking of hoods, Toyota...
'Bout two and a half months ago, my MR2 Spyder's hood release AGAIN failed to operate (See "Shoddy service: Dick Dyer and The Toyota Center" and "Hey, Toyota: Someone else fixed my car"). This time, I got the rest of the story.
To begin with Toyota designed the release cable to stretch from the driver's side all the way underneath the car to the passenger's side, and then around the back end to the latch. Kinda like goin' from Atlanta to Miami via Las Vegas. Faced with customer complaints, Toyota had issued a technical service bulletin for a new cable (same length) but were not as forthcoming about the later addition of an extra spring for the latch.
The independent shop I dealt with did their homework, got a redesigned latch, improvised to accomodate the exceptionally long cable, and the repair bill was about $450. Underscoring Toyota's lousy service, the Toyota parts dealer initially sent a latch for the trunk instead of the hood, even though the order included the correct parts number.
Toyota, you've got problems with your products, your dealerships, and your attitude, and its not about growing too big too fast. Its about an unwillingness to do the right thing. A determination to see how much you can get away with at your customers' expense. As your parade of recalls continues, I wish your former-attorney-turned-whistleblower, Dimitrios Biller, all the luck in the world as he attempts to expose the way you do business. You're a sick company, Toyota. And as far as I can tell, you have no intentions of changing for the better.
Regarding Toyota's latest recall - announced today - of 1.53 million vehicles for fuel pump and brake problems, Yahoo censored my comments.
To begin with Toyota designed the release cable to stretch from the driver's side all the way underneath the car to the passenger's side, and then around the back end to the latch. Kinda like goin' from Atlanta to Miami via Las Vegas. Faced with customer complaints, Toyota had issued a technical service bulletin for a new cable (same length) but were not as forthcoming about the later addition of an extra spring for the latch.
The independent shop I dealt with did their homework, got a redesigned latch, improvised to accomodate the exceptionally long cable, and the repair bill was about $450. Underscoring Toyota's lousy service, the Toyota parts dealer initially sent a latch for the trunk instead of the hood, even though the order included the correct parts number.
Toyota, you've got problems with your products, your dealerships, and your attitude, and its not about growing too big too fast. Its about an unwillingness to do the right thing. A determination to see how much you can get away with at your customers' expense. As your parade of recalls continues, I wish your former-attorney-turned-whistleblower, Dimitrios Biller, all the luck in the world as he attempts to expose the way you do business. You're a sick company, Toyota. And as far as I can tell, you have no intentions of changing for the better.
Regarding Toyota's latest recall - announced today - of 1.53 million vehicles for fuel pump and brake problems, Yahoo censored my comments.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Censorship: Facebook joins Twitter and Yahoo
Facebook has apparently caught the censorship virus also. Today on FB, I posted a reference to yesterday's blog post exposing the lousy service at Toyota dealerships. And wouldn't ya know it? Searched "Toyota," and the info didn't appear in FB's equivalent of Twitter's real-time results. Dirty trick Twitter style, the info did appear on my FB Home page, Profile page, and Posts by Friends. Facebook blocked the info from Posts by Everyone.
If it isn't government supported efforts to censor media coverage of the BP oil catastrophe, its an assault on Internet neutrality by the likes of Twitter, Yahoo and Facebook, while bloggers in China (make that RED China) accuse Toyota of paying private companies to delete unfavorable posts. Let's be vigilant, expose censorship whenever it occurs, and speak out loudly in favor of Internet neutrality.
If it isn't government supported efforts to censor media coverage of the BP oil catastrophe, its an assault on Internet neutrality by the likes of Twitter, Yahoo and Facebook, while bloggers in China (make that RED China) accuse Toyota of paying private companies to delete unfavorable posts. Let's be vigilant, expose censorship whenever it occurs, and speak out loudly in favor of Internet neutrality.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Censorship re Twitter, Yahoo... and Toyota
There are allegations that Twitter censored the tag, #flotilla to impede the avalanche of commentary after word got out re an Israeli raid on a Turkish flotilla carrying aid to Palestinians in Gaza. Ordinarily, I would discount this in favor of attributing the problem to a glitch. Unfortunately, however, my experiences with Twitter have not been ordinary. Best I can tell, evidence of censorship - not only by Twitter, but also by Yahoo and Toyota - is starting to accumulate (see my posts for 4/28, 5/6, and 5/10/2010).
Today's allegations re Twitter are troubling because less popular tags relating to the flotilla incident encountered none of the technical difficulties Twitter apologists say are responsible. Furthermore, after a tide of microblogs leveled charges of censorship, the #flotilla "glitch" suddenly disappeared. Kinda like what happened to me when I kept notifying my followers re Twitter's efforts to censor comments I tweeted about Toyota, including tweets re the same sort of censorship by Yahoo. Last but not least, mainstream media accounts of the raid were obviously questionable.
Censorship should alarm everyone - especially those of us who frequent the Internet. We now have the potential to reveal the kind of information that government and industry has been able to keep quiet by pressuring traditional media. This is not the time to hurl unfounded allegations, but it is most certainly a time for vigilance. For example, I am particularly alarmed re Twitter publishing my tweets via (searching) my account, but not publishing them in real-time results. This has all the earmarks of a dirty trick, because if I send out comments compaining that the tweet was censored, it appears that I was - at best - mistaken. Rest assured that I carefully monitor real-time results immediately after I tweet.
Update 6/8/2010 1:19 am - monitored 15 mins. - as outlined above, Twitter again published one of my Toyota tweets under my acct and on my profile page, blocked it from real-time results, and published subsequent complaint tweets in real-time. Dirty tricks the "Twitter Way."
Censorship issues aside, the flotilla incident is deplorable and heartbreaking. I join those who condemn the raid.
http://dowzocalypse.com/2010/05/31/flotilla-aid-murder-twitter-censorship/
http://www.google.com/search?q=twitter+flotilla&hl=en&prmd=nu&tbo=u&ei=TmEDTIOUIsT_lgf067GhCA&sa=X&oi=realtime_result_group_more_results_link&ct=title&resnum=2&ved=0CC0Q5QUwAQ&&tbs=mbl:1
Today's allegations re Twitter are troubling because less popular tags relating to the flotilla incident encountered none of the technical difficulties Twitter apologists say are responsible. Furthermore, after a tide of microblogs leveled charges of censorship, the #flotilla "glitch" suddenly disappeared. Kinda like what happened to me when I kept notifying my followers re Twitter's efforts to censor comments I tweeted about Toyota, including tweets re the same sort of censorship by Yahoo. Last but not least, mainstream media accounts of the raid were obviously questionable.
Censorship should alarm everyone - especially those of us who frequent the Internet. We now have the potential to reveal the kind of information that government and industry has been able to keep quiet by pressuring traditional media. This is not the time to hurl unfounded allegations, but it is most certainly a time for vigilance. For example, I am particularly alarmed re Twitter publishing my tweets via (searching) my account, but not publishing them in real-time results. This has all the earmarks of a dirty trick, because if I send out comments compaining that the tweet was censored, it appears that I was - at best - mistaken. Rest assured that I carefully monitor real-time results immediately after I tweet.
Update 6/8/2010 1:19 am - monitored 15 mins. - as outlined above, Twitter again published one of my Toyota tweets under my acct and on my profile page, blocked it from real-time results, and published subsequent complaint tweets in real-time. Dirty tricks the "Twitter Way."
Censorship issues aside, the flotilla incident is deplorable and heartbreaking. I join those who condemn the raid.
http://dowzocalypse.com/2010/05/31/flotilla-aid-murder-twitter-censorship/
http://www.google.com/search?q=twitter+flotilla&hl=en&prmd=nu&tbo=u&ei=TmEDTIOUIsT_lgf067GhCA&sa=X&oi=realtime_result_group_more_results_link&ct=title&resnum=2&ved=0CC0Q5QUwAQ&&tbs=mbl:1
Monday, May 10, 2010
Yahoo blocks comments about Toyota.
Anyone who thinks Yahoo is a bastion of free speech better think again. In recent weeks, with only two or three exceptions, Big Y has been refusing to publish my comments below articles about Toyota. I've been permitted to comment on other topics, and interestingly enough, Yahoo has published my comments via Buzz. The objective seems to be to prevent information from reaching the really BIG audiences attracted to top news stories, usually Yahooed via the Associated Press and garnering perhaps over 20,000 comments. Buzz generally attracts a far more limited response, and is apparently being used by Yahoo in an effort to placate my concerns regarding censorship. This evening, about 8:30 pm, Yahoo censored my comments re "Toyota waited months to issue steering recall," prompting this post.
Yahoo has a history of censoring comments. Check out Yahoo's response when someone posted comments on a flickr blog complaining about thieved photographs, and Yahoo's scolding from Reporters Without Borders for cooperating with Internet censorship via repressive regimes such as China. Gee. What else has Yahoo been up to, and how many voices - outspoken bloggers in China are often jailed - has Yahoo helped to silence?
Bloggers in China have accused Toyota of hiring companies to remove negative posts. Let's hope Yahoo, Toyota, and Twitter (see posts for 4/28 and 5/6/2010) aren't tryin' to globalize the repression of free speech.
UPDATE: Immediately after publishing this post, I submitted a tweet, "Yahoo blocks comments about Toyota. (link to this post)," and Twitter censored the tweet from Search. I then submitted a tweet intended for my followers, "Twitter is censoring my tweet re Yahoo blocking comments about Toyota," and it appeared in Search. This is the same boorish tactic used by Twitter earlier today (see today's UPDATE below 5/6/2010 post).
UPDATE: 5/21/2010 Yahoo continues to block my comments re Toyota. This afternoon about 5:10 pm EDST, I submitted a comment below the Yahoo news article (via AP), "Toyota recalls 3,800 Lexus cars for steering fix," and once again it was blocked. Not surprising that one of the congressional witnesses Toyota targeted for attack also had a blog critical of Toyota (see link list under Shhh...).
Yahoo has a history of censoring comments. Check out Yahoo's response when someone posted comments on a flickr blog complaining about thieved photographs, and Yahoo's scolding from Reporters Without Borders for cooperating with Internet censorship via repressive regimes such as China. Gee. What else has Yahoo been up to, and how many voices - outspoken bloggers in China are often jailed - has Yahoo helped to silence?
Bloggers in China have accused Toyota of hiring companies to remove negative posts. Let's hope Yahoo, Toyota, and Twitter (see posts for 4/28 and 5/6/2010) aren't tryin' to globalize the repression of free speech.
UPDATE: Immediately after publishing this post, I submitted a tweet, "Yahoo blocks comments about Toyota. (link to this post)," and Twitter censored the tweet from Search. I then submitted a tweet intended for my followers, "Twitter is censoring my tweet re Yahoo blocking comments about Toyota," and it appeared in Search. This is the same boorish tactic used by Twitter earlier today (see today's UPDATE below 5/6/2010 post).
UPDATE: 5/21/2010 Yahoo continues to block my comments re Toyota. This afternoon about 5:10 pm EDST, I submitted a comment below the Yahoo news article (via AP), "Toyota recalls 3,800 Lexus cars for steering fix," and once again it was blocked. Not surprising that one of the congressional witnesses Toyota targeted for attack also had a blog critical of Toyota (see link list under Shhh...).
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Censored by Twitter: Toyota's April sales plummet 16.7 percent in Canada
5/12/2010 - instead of separate posts, I am currently adding updates at the bottom of this post re various censorship problems with Twitter.
Toyota's slick marketing and deep discounts wore off quickly in Canada, confirmed by a 16.7 percent plunge in April sales while other automakers posted gains. For some reason, this wasn't very well publicized on this side of the border, including the popular social media site Twitter. When I submitted a tweet with the link below, it appeared on my home page and my profile page, but was repeatedly blocked from Search. Recently, I've been encountering censorship not only from Twitter, but also from Yahoo.
Apparently, the reason Toyota's decline didn't "catch up with them earlier" has to do with pre-booked sales instead of the deep discounts Toyota has been offering in an attempt to lure customers into showrooms. Perhaps this kind of information is what Toyota, Twitter, and Yahoo would prefer to keep quiet.
http://www.albertalocalnews.com/business/Canadas_six_largest_automakers_split_between_growth_decline_92711079.html
UPDATE 05/07/2010 - Twitter has censored tweets about this article from appearing in Search. Twitter's censorship re this particular tweet started yesterday. A subsequent tweet, "Reaching out the Toyota Way http://toyotasludge.com/victims " did appear in Search, and that may have been the ol' proverbial straw that broke Toyota's back, prompting Twitter to block all of my tweets from appearing in Search. The link connects to a testimonial that exposes the truth about Toyota's current attitude toward customers, and is posted - along with the customer's name - on a blog established by yet another recently victimized Toyota customer. Hey, Twitter: this is NOT the United States of Toyota.
UPDATE 5/8/2010 - About 8:30 pm yesterday, I noticed that my tweets were once again appearing in Search. I'll be posting further updates re any significant developments.
UPDATE 5/10/2010 - about noon, I repeatedly submitted the above tweet, "Toyota's April sales plummet 16.7 percent in Canada. http://tinyurl.com/25ukt2o " but it was still censored from Search. I then tweeted info intended for my followers, "5/10/2010 about 12:15 pm Twitter still censoring 'Toyota's April sales plummet 16.7 percent in Canada. http://tinyurl.com/25ukt2o '" and that tweet was published in Search. Bitter, Twitter?
UPDATE 5/12/2010 - about 9:25 pm I submitted a tweet referencing an article about Toyota's finances. After monitoring Real-time rusults for about ten minutes, the tweet did not appear, but about an hour later, it showed up via regular Search. At that time, I noticed Twitter's longstanding problem with apostrophies appearing as ' had finally been resolved. This caused my tweet - which had been programmed to read correctly assuming Twitter's glitch - to appear jumbled. I deleted the tweet, resubmitted it, and it appeared in Search via Real-time results within a minute or less. About 2:00 am I submitted a tweet re Toyota's "buzz" rating being categorized as "corporate cad." I immediately monitored Real-time results for about ten minutes but the tweet never appeared. Then I searched again, and it appeared on a stationary list of tweets labelled Real-time results. My retweets this evening were also omitted from active Real-time results, and one of them never appeared on my Home page.
Toyota's slick marketing and deep discounts wore off quickly in Canada, confirmed by a 16.7 percent plunge in April sales while other automakers posted gains. For some reason, this wasn't very well publicized on this side of the border, including the popular social media site Twitter. When I submitted a tweet with the link below, it appeared on my home page and my profile page, but was repeatedly blocked from Search. Recently, I've been encountering censorship not only from Twitter, but also from Yahoo.
Apparently, the reason Toyota's decline didn't "catch up with them earlier" has to do with pre-booked sales instead of the deep discounts Toyota has been offering in an attempt to lure customers into showrooms. Perhaps this kind of information is what Toyota, Twitter, and Yahoo would prefer to keep quiet.
http://www.albertalocalnews.com/business/Canadas_six_largest_automakers_split_between_growth_decline_92711079.html
UPDATE 05/07/2010 - Twitter has censored tweets about this article from appearing in Search. Twitter's censorship re this particular tweet started yesterday. A subsequent tweet, "Reaching out the Toyota Way http://toyotasludge.com/victims " did appear in Search, and that may have been the ol' proverbial straw that broke Toyota's back, prompting Twitter to block all of my tweets from appearing in Search. The link connects to a testimonial that exposes the truth about Toyota's current attitude toward customers, and is posted - along with the customer's name - on a blog established by yet another recently victimized Toyota customer. Hey, Twitter: this is NOT the United States of Toyota.
UPDATE 5/8/2010 - About 8:30 pm yesterday, I noticed that my tweets were once again appearing in Search. I'll be posting further updates re any significant developments.
UPDATE 5/10/2010 - about noon, I repeatedly submitted the above tweet, "Toyota's April sales plummet 16.7 percent in Canada. http://tinyurl.com/25ukt2o " but it was still censored from Search. I then tweeted info intended for my followers, "5/10/2010 about 12:15 pm Twitter still censoring 'Toyota's April sales plummet 16.7 percent in Canada. http://tinyurl.com/25ukt2o '" and that tweet was published in Search. Bitter, Twitter?
UPDATE 5/12/2010 - about 9:25 pm I submitted a tweet referencing an article about Toyota's finances. After monitoring Real-time rusults for about ten minutes, the tweet did not appear, but about an hour later, it showed up via regular Search. At that time, I noticed Twitter's longstanding problem with apostrophies appearing as ' had finally been resolved. This caused my tweet - which had been programmed to read correctly assuming Twitter's glitch - to appear jumbled. I deleted the tweet, resubmitted it, and it appeared in Search via Real-time results within a minute or less. About 2:00 am I submitted a tweet re Toyota's "buzz" rating being categorized as "corporate cad." I immediately monitored Real-time results for about ten minutes but the tweet never appeared. Then I searched again, and it appeared on a stationary list of tweets labelled Real-time results. My retweets this evening were also omitted from active Real-time results, and one of them never appeared on my Home page.
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