But then in September when the site relaunched with its “stacks” concept, the applause died down. Hard core users were not happy with the direction the site was taking.

In November, Avos announced that it had acquired Trunk.ly to enhance link saving with Delicious. It collects all the links that users share or like on sites like Twiter, Facebook and LinkedIn, and stores them in a single place.

In a nutshell, that walks us through the relaunch of Delicious.

Now, the company has posted a message on the Delicious blog talking about browser extensions. It says:

In the past one of the ways of working with Delicious has been the browser extensions. For users of those extensions, it’s been frustrating that some of the features are not working. There’s also inconsistency between the features in different browser extensions. We want to clarify our position on the extensions and where we are going from here.

The challenge this creates is that our focus is on innovating and moving Delicious forward. We are re-building it into a site that once more attracts millions of people to enjoy the best content the web has to offer. How the Delicious site works and operates is changing. It will continue to grow and change more quickly and this is where we are directing our efforts.

The company goes on to say that it’s putting the extensions “on ice,” and that it will not develop for them in the near future, as they’re focused on the bookmarklet as the primary way to interact with the site, beyond the site itself, which it says it is also focused on.

If you’re already using extensions, and you’re ok with the way they’re already working, you can continue to use them. Just don’t expect any changes to them soon. It sounds like this could change in time though.

Avos (the company from YouTube founders Chad Hurley and Steve Chen), which acquired Delicious from Yahoo earlier this year, announced today that it has acquired Trunk.ly to “enhance link-saving” with the site.

Trunk.ly itself was founded about a year ago by Tim Bull and Alex Dong, based on the concept of “making the bookmarking process more automated and supported by intuitive search.”

It collects all the links that users share or like on sites like Twiter, Facebook and LinkedIn, and stores them in a single place.

“It became clear from the first discussion with Trunk.ly’s founders that our visions for the future of bookmarking and discovery were closely aligned,” said Hurley, the CEO of AVOS. “Their technology and insights will accelerate link-saving and searching capabilities in Delicious.”

“We’re excited to join this stellar team and apply our bookmarking innovations to help Delicious users discover and collect the web,” said Bull.

Trunk.ly will be discontinued as a standalone service, and as part of the Delicious team, they’re immediately starting on integrating the technology into Delicious. The site will continue to operate for two months so users can move their links elsewhere. They’re providing an export tool.

It will be interesting to see if there is more positive reaction to Delicious as it integrates Trunk.ly.

I’ve started a new “stack” for resources related to Google’s Panda Update, which webmasters can use to stay informed about it, and hopefully get some useful knowledge to help them survive future updates or help them get back in Google’s good graces if they’ve already fallen victim.

I wouldn’t say that the list is complete, so I’d like to encourage you to share other resources in the comments section. We’ll evaluate whether or not to include them from there. Hopefully we can make this a really useful resource.

Bookmark the stack, because there are links in it that will be updated continuously as more info comes out. Click the image below to go to the stack, and feel free to share it on StumbleUpon, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc. so more can see it and help add to it.

The revamp caught my attention, because I like what they’re doing with “stacks”. These are essentially collections of bookmarks based on a specific topic, displayed in an interesting way. I see a lot of potential for information discovery in this concept, and I think the guys who created the world’s biggest video site might be onto something again. I don’t know that it’s going to be YouTube big, but so far, I think it’s going to be worth using.

The stacks concept is explained simply in this video:

They still have some work to do, however. There needs to be better browser extension tools and mobile apps, though the mobile site isn’t terrible.

I’m viewing the site from the perspective of a new user, as if it’s an entirely new product, but of course this really isn’t the case. Delicious has been around for years, and regardless of Yahoo’s disinterest in it, it does have a solid community, and many of them aren’t thrilled about the new changes.

While at its core, the new Delicious serves basically the same purpose as the old Delicious – social bookmarking – it is now being executed in a pretty different way.

John Blump, a WPN reader, commented:

- the main page is full with images?! information = 0
- i saved links which do NOT appear anywhere (and other which do) ?!
- when i want to save through my firefox add-on, every time i’m asked to login !
- when i do save a link, i cannot use MY TAGS any more ?!
- now i’ve got only 10 links per page ! the designer did not understand the aim is to get the most links per page NOT the least !

ReadWriteWeb blogger Marshall Kirkpatrick calls the new Delicious a “bitter disappointment.” But again, he also talks about how his site has used the service a lot.

Suman, commenting on a GigaOm post about the redesign, wrote:

I had a fairly bad experience with the new Delicious today. Just last week I had spent a few hours curating my saved bookmarks and organizing tags. The new Delicious doesn’t seem to know anything about it. All my effort is lost. There is no longer a bulk-edit function to redo my changes. I can no longer manage my tags – could find no option for deleting old tags. Some of my tags with special characters are now broken, I get a 404 when I try to access them. I am done. Goodbye Delicious.

A few more comments from Twitter:

It does seem pretty clear that the transition process didn’t go very smoothly, and that’s clearly irritated quite a few people. The comments in this article are just a small sampling of what’s out there. That doesn’t mean that people won’t like the new Delicious. Whether or not it can capture mainstream appeal reamins to be seen, and again, I think mobile apps could help with that. After using it for a day, I don’t think it’s perfect, but I expect they’ll continue to make improvements. I do think it has the foundation of something that could grow into a really interesting place to find content shared by yourself and others.

What do you think of the new Delicious? Were you using the old version? Let us know in the comments.

And here’s what it looks like:

The new delicious utilizes a new feature called “stacks,” which the company calls “playlists for the web”. The following video explains how these works with the example of “why mustaches are so awesome”. You find various related links around the web and find a nice collection to create a stack. It’s pretty simple really.

To be honest, I’ve never been much of a Delicious user, but I’m kind of digging what they’ve done with it, at least at first glance. This looks more like something I would use than the previous version, which ultimately led to a sale after its expected demise. If enough people feel this way, we may see a resurgence for this social bookmarking site.

“After acquiring the service from Yahoo! in April, we realized that in order to keep innovating over the long term, the eight-year-old site needed to be rebuilt from the ground up. The result is a new homepage, interface and back-end architecture designed to make Delicious easier to use,” the team says in a blog post.

“Every day, people create boatloads of content on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and across the entire web,” the team says. “It’s getting increasingly difficult to cut through all the noise. If you know exactly what you’re looking for, search works great, but what if you want to discover something new? Conversely, how can you easily organize the best websites around a topic you know a lot about?”

Stacks are the company’s answer to this question, and Delicious will be competing with services like StumbleUpon, Reddit, Digg and the like, just as it has always done, but the new feature provides Delicious with a new weapon. It will be interesting to see how users respond.

Yahoo said at the time, “While we love Delicious (and our users love Delicious), we wanted to find a home for the product where it can receive more love and attention. We think Avos is that place.”

It looks like that may indeed be the case, as Avos is giving Delicious a refresh. This is supposed happen “later this year,” according to the New York Times, which reports that Chen and Hurley say it will resemble the original Delicious, but with a new design using new software and new systems for tagging and organizing links. Jenna Wortham reports:

The home page would feature browseable “stacks,” or collections of related images, videos and links shared around topical events. The site would also make personalized recommendations for users, based on their sharing habits. “We want to simplify things visually, mainstream the product and make it easier for people to understand what they’re doing,” Mr. Hurley said.

Chen and Hurley reportedly want to solve the information discovery/overload problem that many others are trying to solve, but they may be headed for a similar path that others are also traveling. These solutions often tend to just become one more thing to look at, rather than a filter for noise.

The hard part is getting users to add one more thing to their daily routine. They’re going to have their work cut out for them in that regard, but it should help that Delicious is already an established, brand, which the two acknowledged in the NYT interview.

We’ll be on the lookout for what they come up with, but I’m starting to wonder if the information discovery/overload problem can really be solved. I think it’s more something just to deal with, and we all have our routines.

A statement on the Delicious blog says:

As creators of the largest online video platform, they have firsthand experience enabling millions of users to share their experiences with the world. They are committed to running and improving Delicious going forward.

Starting today, we will ask you to login to Delicious again and agree to let Yahoo! transfer your bookmarks to the new owner. That way, you’ll enjoy uninterrupted use of the service and will keep your account and all of your bookmarks when we make the transition.

Delicious will become part of Hurley’s and Chen’s company AVOS.

Yahoo said, “While we love Delicious (and our users love Delicious), we wanted to find a home for the product where it can receive more love and attention. We think AVOS is that place.”

Avos is said to be keeping the service up and running as is, but intends to add features going forward. This would certainly make more sense than buying it and letting it stagnate.

Users will have to go to an opt-in page to agree to AVOS’ terms of service and transfer their bookmarks. Information to be transferred includes: username, password, email address, first and last name, bookmarks, tags, notes, inbox items, tag bundles, tag descriptions, network members, subscriptions, blogpost jobs, and Twitter Auth credentials.

Those that wish to export their data can do do with this tool. If users don’t opt-in, they will no longer be able to use Delicious.

AVOS does say it is making a Firefox 4 Delicious extension a “top priority”.

The transition is expected to be complete in July.

Jay Yarow, the author of the fresh report, wrote, “Yahoo is about to close a deal to sell bookmarking site Delicious for $1-$2 million, says a source familiar with the discussions.”

Then, although this is heading a bit further out on a limb, Yarow continued, “Our source isn’t sure what company is buying it, but says it’s a ‘strategic partner,’ something like StumbleUpon.”

The possibility of a sale has caught the Delicious community’s attention, in any event, and with good reason.  Four months ago, an internal Yahoo document leaked and let the world know that Yahoo intended to “sunset” Delicious, so an acquisition would allow for its continued existence.

A sale would count as something of a victory for Yahoo, too, at least compared to just killing Delicious.  The PR would be worth a little, after all (versus being responsible for terminating the well-known property), and $1-$2 million is better than nothing in terms of payments.

It’s of course not great for Yahoo that the rumored sale price dropped by at least $3 million in the space of seven days, however, so we’ll be sure to keep an eye on the situation.

One last financial tidbit: Yahoo’s stock is up 1.64 percent so far this morning, putting it ahead of the Dow (up 1.18 percent) and Nasdaq (up 0.94 percent).

UPDATE: A Yahoo spokesperson contacted WebProNews to say, “As we have mentioned in the past, part of our organizational streamlining involves shifting our investment in underperforming or off-strategy products to put better focus on our core strengths and fund new innovation in the next year and beyond. We’re actively thinking about the future of Delicious and we believe there is a home outside the company that would make more sense for the service, our users and our shareholders. We’re in the process of exploring a variety of options and will communicate specific plans when appropriate.”

To be perfectly clear: this has not been confirmed through official channels.  There aren’t even multiple anonymous sources behind the story.  But The Next Web stated this afternoon, “We’ve received a solid report from a reliable and proven source that Yahoo has sold social bookmarking site Delicious for $5m+.”

That would represent a victory for Delicious fans who didn’t want to see the site die.  Although many have already fled, the average user might prefer to return and/or stick with it rather than deal with something new.

A sale would also function as a semi-win for Yahoo, at least compared to just killing Delicious.  The PR would be worth a little, and $5 million is the equivalent of more than a few ads sold.

So we’ll see what happens.  It’s possible some investors believe the sale occurred, at least, since Yahoo’s stock rose 2.11 percent today (the Dow and Nasdaq rose 0.50 and 0.54 percent, by comparison).

Folks are upset (or maybe disappointed is a better word). I’m one of them. I’ve come to rely on Delicious as my primary bookmarking system (not so much on the social side). And now I’m left looking for alternatives.

I’ve heard the chatter online yesterday and this morning, done a little digging and wanted to share some of the posts I thought highlighted the best options (as well as the process of downloading and migrating your existing Delicious bookmarks). Not sure what direction I’m going to go yet, but I’ll be weighing my options over the weekend.

The options

* The best services for migrating your Delicious bookmarks (Lifehacker)

* The 5 best alternatives to Delicious (The Next Web)

* 10 alternatives to Delicious social bookmarking (Search Engine Land)

* Think about migrating to Evernote? Great post here from the Evernote blog about how to go about making that transition (Evernote Noteworthy Blog)

Pros/Cons of each tool

* FANTASTIC Google Doc with a list of Delicious alternatives as well as pros and cons of each

How to download/migrate your Delicious bookmarks

* How to save your Delicious bookmarks (Tech Cocktail)

* How to export and move your Delicious bookmarks to Google Bookmarks (Tableters)

Originally published at ArikHanson.com

Any other ideas for Delicious alternatives? Share in the comments.