Friday, April 16, 2010

Shame on Yahoo

It's just another one of those days when my forehead wants to come in contact with the top of my desk. Repeatedly. The individual investor is continually fed information from the trough. Slop it up.

Shame On Yahoo

I was trying to do something else in Excel today and I used Yahoo's distribution data for TIP. The numbers didn't match up though.

Yahoo: TIP Dividend History

You will note that many distributions are missing from the data. I would point to the sizable August and September distributions in 2009 in particular. This also throws off most of the adjusted close historical information (that adjusts for dividends and splits).

I went directly to the iShares site to get the distribution information in my previous analysis, so these errors probably don't affect anything I have done here.

Shame on Yahoo for providing bogus information. Bogus information is worse than having no information.


Shame on Yahoo, Part II

I decided to "Send Feedback" using the link at the bottom of the screen to point out this error.

This is where it took me.

"We're very sorry, but the survey you are attempting to reach is no longer active."

9 comments:

  1. I am shocked that Yahoo would do this. Perhaps a Haiku is in order?

    ReplyDelete
  2. GYSC,

    Perhaps a Haiku is in order?

    Yahoo and Nomad
    These units are defective
    They are imperfect


    The Changeling (episode)

    Through a questioning to Nomad on its prime directive, Kirk confirms his suspicions that it must execute it with no exceptions, and then reveals that he is not Nomad's creator. He explains that Nomad had mistaken himself for Roykirk, the two men's names being similar, and as such Nomad has committed an error; furthermore, it has compounded that error with two more, specifically failing to realize its mistake and failing to immediately execute its prime directive as a result. This causes Nomad to lock up in an irreversible logic loop, its stubborn belief that it is perfect conflicting with the realization that it is in error, and Spock and Kirk manage to get it to the transporter and beam it into space just as it executes its prime function on itself.

    According to Star Trek, Nomad was created in 2002. No wonder our economy is in shambles.

    There's only one way out.

    Yahoo must Yahoo itself.

    "Faulty! Faulty! Must sterilize! – STER-I-LIZE!"

    ReplyDelete
  3. "It's just another one of those days when my forehead wants to come in contact with the top of my desk. Repeatedly."

    Just one more reason to have that tin foil hat lined with premium two ply.

    It's not just for sweat asorbtion!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Mark,
    you are a true man of all things! Haiku even! Try to solve my DNA based puzzle tonight and you are a medici man!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Speaking of faulty links,
    the mpettis.com site [China analysis] has been down for a week.
    Anyone know why?
    - jus me

    ReplyDelete
  6. Since faulty links is today's theme...

    Fawlty Towers: The Germans

    watchtower,

    Note the head gear. I think it's two-ply.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Mark,
    we need to have a meeting! Ever coming to lovely Boston? My treat?
    PS its kind of ugly but whatever

    ReplyDelete
  8. GYSC,

    You really want a challenge?

    Check out this winner from the 1995 International Obfuscated C Code Contest.

    dodsond1.c

    They say it translates text to pig latin. As a former lead software engineer with many years of experience, I'll just have to trust them on that, lol.

    I love that the programmer even shaped the code into the face of a pig. That's one class act. Hahaha!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Obfuscated Code

    Obfuscated code is source or machine code that has been made difficult to understand. Programmers may deliberately obfuscate code to conceal its purpose or its logic to prevent tampering, deter reverse engineering or as a puzzle or recreational challenge for readers. It is a form of security through obscurity.

    Mission accomplished! Um, but not in the usual sarcastic way that means complete and utter failure of course. This mission really was accomplished.

    ReplyDelete