Farewell Yahoo Groups! Shutting down on December 15, 2020

[harlan4096]

Yahoo announced this week that it will shut down Yahoo Groups on December 15, 2020. Yahoo Group users are informed by Yahoo via email about the shutdown timeline.
 

Dear Yahoo Group Moderators and Members,

We launched Yahoo Groups 20 years ago to connect people around their shared interests. We helped our users navigate new towns, keep in touch with college friends, learn new skills, and most importantly, build connections they may have lost or never had in the first place. While we could not have been more proud of what we accomplished together, we are reaching out today with heavy hearts to let you know that we have decided to shut down Yahoo Groups on December 15, 2020.

Yahoo Groups has seen a steady decline in usage over the last several years. Over that same period we’ve witnessed unprecedented levels of engagement across our properties as customers seek out premium, trustworthy content. To that end, we must sometimes make difficult decisions regarding products that no longer fit our long-term strategy as we hone our focus on other areas of the business.

Beginning December 15, 2020 the Yahoo Groups website will shut down and members will no longer be able to send or receive emails from Yahoo Groups.

We’ve compiled a comprehensive FAQ here that includes alternative providers and information on how this will impact your group content.

Thank you for helping us build one of the earliest digital communities — we’re proud and honored to have forged countless connections over the last 20 years and played a small part in helping build your communities.

Sincerely, The Yahoo Groups team

Yahoo disabled the creation of new groups already (on October 12, 2020), and will take the website offline on December 15, 2020. Users won't be able to send or receive new emails from Yahoo Groups anymore after the shutdown date.

According to Yahoo, the decision was made because of declining usage numbers of the service. Yahoo changed Yahoo Groups radically in the past years, and the decisions that were made played a role in the decline of users.

The last major change happened in 2019 when Yahoo decided to remove functionality and content from Yahoo Groups.

Yahoo suggests four different services for its remaining users: Facebook Groups, Nextdoor, Google Groups, and Groups.io. The last option, Groups.io, may be of interest to Yahoo Groups administrators as it supports the importing of members from Yahoo Groups.

Administrators may export the list of users via Group's Page > Management > Manage Members > Actions Menu > Export.

Yahoo, which is owned by Verizon Media, is just a shadow of its former self even though some services, Yahoo Mail and Finance, are still available.

Now You: Have you used Yahoo Groups in the past? What is your take on the shutdown?
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