Yahoo Groups is closing down and all content will be deleted
A piece of internet history is being consigned to the rubbish heap. Yahoo has announced that the once-popular Yahoo Groups service is being closed down later this month.
More than this, the huge amount of information and exchanges that have been uploaded will not be archived. Before the end of the year, all Yahoo Groups content will be permanently wiped out -- so if there's anything you want to keep, you'll have to act swiftly.
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When October 28 rolls around, it will no longer be possible to upload content to Yahoo Groups. Less than two months later -- on December 14 -- Yahoo will delete all previously posted content. In making the announcement, Yahoo lists exactly what will be removed: Files, Polls, Links, Photos, Folders, Calendar, Database, Attachments, Conversations, Email Updates, Message Digest, and Message History.
There are no plans to archive content, so you'll have to manually save anything you want to keep.
In a notice posted on its help pages, Yahoo says:
Yahoo has made the decision to no longer allow users to upload content to the Yahoo Groups site. Beginning October 28, you won't be able to upload any more content to the site, and as of December 14 all previously posted content on the site will be permanently removed. You'll have until that date to save anything you've uploaded.
Slightly confusingly, Yahoo is not completely killing off Groups; the site will continue to exist in a sort of cryogenically frozen form. The company says:
The Yahoo Groups site will continue to exist, however, all public groups will be made private or restricted. Any new group members will need to request an invite or be invited by an admin. Admins will still be able to manage various group settings, though some functionality will be limited.
In short, this means that it will still be possible to communicate with members of a group, but no new content can be created or uploaded, and the private/restricted status of groups will make them much more difficult to find.
Yahoo explains how to preserve data before deletion day:
Photos and files can be saved right from the Yahoo Groups site, or you can download your data from the Privacy Dashboard.
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