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Summary
- Yahoo to shut down its famous group discussion platform Yahoo Groups.
- This platform was invented before social media came into existence.
- 20-year-old platform no longer fits in the company’s business strategy; Yahoo to focus on other strategic areas.
- After the announcement, many are left puzzled about the impact of shutdown on the Yahoo Mail services.
For most of the people who had access to computers in the 90s and early 2000s, Yahoo used to rule the world of internet. Even before Google and Gmail existed, people spent a lot of time using various Yahoo services.
After shutting down its iconic service Yahoo Messenger in 2018, Yahoo is closing down its other platform Yahoo Groups. Before social media became popular, Yahoo Groups was the original social media for netizens in the early days of the internet.
A 20-year-old legacy discussion board service, Yahoo Groups, will be shut down from December 15, 2020.
The Verizon-owned company announced that its legendary product, which helped people connect, no longer fits their long-term strategy. In 2017, Verizon had acquired Yahoo's rickety assets from its internet business in a mere US$4.8 billion deal.
The company is apparently focusing on other areas of business. Yahoo Group's service was also underperforming in the usage factor for the last many years. Yahoo said in the statement that they had witnessed unprecedented levels of engagement for its products. Yahoo customers are demanding premium and trustworthy content.
Hence the company stated that they are making the tough decision to let go of the services which are not in sync with their company’s strategy anymore.
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What happens when a group member tries to use the service?
With the Yahoo Groups is gone, moderators and members can no longer create new groups and communicate in the existing ones. Members will also not be able to send and receive emails from Yahoo Groups, as the website will be completely inaccessible.
Its existing members will not be able to send a new email, if they do, the email will not reach the recipient, and the sender will receive a failure notice.
Yahoo said that the old sent and received emails will not be deleted, and they will remain in the user's email box.
In a good parting gesture, Yahoo Group recommends its current users to use other discussion sites. To continue having group connections, users can try some reliable websites such as Facebook Groups, Google Groups, Nextdoor and Groups.io. These sites offer paid functions to members directly exported from Yahoo Groups platform.
To transfer to other recommended sites,Yahoo Groups admins can download their group members’ full email address list. Yahoo states that they do not have any partnership with these portals, but the recommendation is the least Yahoo can do for their loyal customers.
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Will it affect Yahoo Mails?
As the news of Yahoo Groups shutting down its services started to spread like a fire, many panicked netizens took shelter on twitter to find answers to their questions. Many worried if the decision would affect their email accounts. Users also have Yahoo email id linked to the social media platforms and other websites.
To these queries, Yahoo customer care account replied that From December 15, 2020, Yahoo Groups websites would be inactive and group members will not be able to use the services. However, this does not affect Yahoo Mail in any way, as it is a different product.
Yahoo Mail services are operational, and all associated functions around it will be available to the users.
Yahoo Groups has started not to allow its users to create new groups. The service is disabled from October 12, and other services including sending and receiving emails on Yahoo Groups will be inactive from December 15.
Yahoo, in one of its FAQs, notes that only Yahoo Groups will be decommissioned (groups.yahoo.com) Yahoo Mail will continue to function normally.
Goodbye with gratitude
Yahoo in the email sent to its patrons, said that they created Yahoo Groups 20 years ago to connect groups of like-minded people and help them communicate and bond better. Before today's social media existed, Yahoo Groups provided a platform to the users to keep in touch with their friends and family, learn new skills. And most importantly, it helped people build new connections or reconnect which they had lost.
With the emergence of tons of other social media platforms, Yahoo Groups is left behind in the race. Currently, social media portals such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Pinterest, Linkedin etc. are very popular. Discussion board platforms such as Quora, Reddit, Telegram and Twitter are famous for providing interactive platforms.
Yahoo said in the announcement that they are thankful to its loyal users who helped them build one of the earliest digital communities. Yahoo is proud and honoured to believe that over the last 20 years, they have provided a platform for people to create connections. Yahoo team wrote in the email that they had played a small part in helping its users build communities.
