The Unhappy End of a Once-Vaunted Web Site

Today is the first day in at least 17 years that Yahoo! no longer offers content specifically for children. Launched in 1996, Yahooligans! was a groundbreaking Web site, celebrated for its canny mix of entertainment and education.

But the years were not kind to this once market-leading property. By 2006, it was neglected and overlooked, but Lloyd Braun recognized the supreme value of building Yahoo! brand loyalty in children. Yahooligans! became Yahoo! Kids and for a brief time flourished with promise under a sharp product team (which I joined).

But multiple CEOs and reorgs took their toll. The Y!Kids team was dispersed and laid off until only I was left. With (now former) Yahoo! Movies Exec Producer Sean Phillips, we fought the good fight, arguing for Y!Kids' value to Yahoo! and proposing realistic plans for its rebirth.

But, alas, children don't have credit cards and the fertile youth market of the future was abandoned when I too was laid off last July. Y!Kids sat fallow, unchanged since my exit, like a corpse lying in the street, until it was mercifully brought down this week.

May it rest in digital peace at last.

Woof!

Welcome to the hibernating blog of UXCentric, Inc. We're still in business, although most of our time is now spent as the Pack Leader of Digital Media for Cesar Millan Inc.

As TV's original "Dog Whisperer," Cesar Millan is likely the most UXCentric dog behaviorist and trainer on the planet, focusing not just on the dog but also on the human at the other end of the leash. For Cesar, it's the relationship that's important, the experiences the dog and human share. Yes, he's all about the user.

So when the opportunity arose to lead Cesar's digital team into a much more UXCentric future, I jumped at the opportunity. Keep an eye on us at CesarsWay.com during 2013 as we transform our approach.

And if you have any tasty projects that might call for a passionate UXCentrist, just drop me an email using the link in the right rail of this page.

We're in Hibernation!

If you haven't noticed, UXCentric the Blog has been hibernating since I took a tasty gig at Yahoo! After years of getting projects started, I wanted to dig in for a long-term engagement to better understand my clients' experiences.

But if you have a tasty and challenging project that needs a passionate and skilled UXCentrist on the team, I'm always open to new opportunities. Just drop me an email using the link in the right rail of this page.