Yahoo Groups Shutting Down - Dec 14, 2019 (UPDATED)

[morgandawn]

(Updated Oct 25, 2019)

Starting Oct 28, 2019 no new files (photos, documents, etc) will be allowed to be uploaded. Starting Dec 14, 2019, Yahoo Groups will be limited to emails only - functions like digest will be eliminated and all files and photos will be deleted. Admins will have limited tools and all groups will be invite only. And archives of existing messages will not longer be accessible.

What To Do?

I have a step by step guide here. The short version

1. Admins - back up your Groups and decide whether and where to move
2. Members - back up your Groups - don't leave this to the admins.
3. Everyone - consider documenting Yahoo Groups on Fanlore, help spread the word

The OTW has made an announcement. Their Open Doors preservation program is open to  providing storage of Yahoo Groups backups that are assembled by moderators and non-moderators alike. Details here.

Fans are gathering on a Discord Channel to chat and ask for and give help:  https://discord.gg/ek2xFyJ (updated invite)

Please follow the Yahoo Group Rescue Tumblr for updates

 

Comments

[doranwen]

I'm actually running out of groups to backup. I've looked at everything I can find from search, and they're all one of the following:
- locked (and very few of those have allowed viewing of the archive upon applying - I'm not sure how the ones that did, did)
- nothing but spam (it's not worth it to me to set it all up to download just 15 posts of teens going "come join my group!" and then stop because the rest is spammage)
- only for certain types of content that I'm not into
- fandoms I'm not into (I'm happy if someone else backs them up, they just have to be interesting to me for me to put the effort into doing it myself).

I've added all the ones I can't get into (that haven't outright denied my application to join, as a couple have) to the spreadsheet as suggestions (and am delighted to see that one's already been claimed and backed up).

I've tried every combination of words for the following fandoms (I'm now resorting to slowly browsing through long lists in various categories in hopes of finding promising ones): Tolkien, Pretender, X-Men Movies, Smallville, Narnia, Dr. Quinn, Lois & Clark, Women's Murder Club… I even ran across a Black Sash group, which is so obscure it doesn't even exist on AO3, and I'm planning on requesting it this year for Yuletide!

Any suggestions for how to find more fandoms to back up, without spending hours (that I don't really have) browsing through the directory of groups in an attempt to find good ones? As long as it's a fandom I'm remotely into (anything in my interest list on the profile) I'll happily turn my computer loose on it.

EDIT: I forgot Narnia…

[morgandawn]

A few fans are going through old lists of Yahoo Groups looking for ones with automatic member approval a s should have a that list soon. We also have a few on our Google Spreadsheet...those have not been vetted yet. I'll try to post the info as soon as I get it

[doranwen]

Awesome. :) I claimed one on the sheet that listed Pern (a book series I enjoy, if not as fanatically as some fandoms) as the fandom (though it appears less Pern than a mix of fandoms, and mostly ships I'm very much not into, but hey, it's backed up now).

I'm slowly poking through the lists of groups under All / Entertainment & Arts / Humanities / Books and Writing / Fan Fiction - found one or two potentials so far.

[morgandawn]

Here is one on our spreadsheet no one has claimed: https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/MSRfanfic-only/info

[doranwen]

X-Files is one of those fandoms I'm definitely not into and never will be. (The only alien I like is Clark Kent, pretty much, and the little bit I saw of X-Files once creeped me out.) If it's still lingering when I've completely run out of fandoms, maybe I'll claim it so it's not lost entirely, but I'd hope someone else would get it that would actually be interested in the content in addition to preserving it for preservation's sake.

Anyway, earlier I stumbled across a fanfic resource group for medical details and decided I'd hop on and snag all of that (useful stuff), and there was a LOT (they were smart enough to require approval of messages from new members, so no spam to worry about); it's still plowing through that one and will probably do so for another few hours, by which time I'll be asleep.