Back in November 30, 2011 I posted an article which started
with these words: “November 30, 2011. Today is the last day of
Associated Content (AC).”
Actually it really wasn’t, AC was only (practically) renamed
and of course revamped (for better or for worse) as Yahoo! Voices.
Less than three years later, or on July 2, 2014, we the
contributors of Y!CN (where Yahoo! Voices was housed) received this dreadful
email, to say the least.
Dear Contributors,
You made the past nine years incredible.
At Yahoo, we’re focused on making daily habits more inspiring and entertaining.
That means we’re constantly reviewing our products and experiences and, in some
cases, we have to make tough decisions to no longer support a product. As part
of our ongoing effort to sharpen our focus, on July 31, 2014, Voices.Yahoo.com
will be shut down; on August 15, we will make the final Performance Payment
before Contributor.Yahoo.com closes. With the exception of content you provided
to Yahoo under a work for hire license, or unless Yahoo arranges differently
with you, we will remove from Yahoo all content published through Yahoo
Contributor Network and rights for all of your Yahoo Contributor Network
content will revert to you.
We
know you have a lot of questions. Please refer to this FAQ for
details.
It
has been such an incredible privilege to share your talents with the world over
these past nine years. Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts.
-The Yahoo Contributor Network Team
-The Yahoo Contributor Network Team
I haven’t learned my lesson, how many times have Yahoo!
failed me but still I keep on coming back to it. I had my first Yahoo! Email
account back in its early days and I still use it today. But other than that, I
can’t say the same for the other Yahoo! Services I have used since then.
Now with this latest closure, I have counted nine Yahoo!
Services that I have used which have since seized to exist.
Let me list it here:
I am among the first souls to use this service and we had a
good run of about four years. When 360 closed, Yahoo! gave us the option to
transfer our 360 blogs to Wordpress, which I did and they are still there.
Nothing much to say except that I used Multiply sparingly
alongside 360.
3. Associated
Content (AC) - Closed down November 30, 2011. Renamed Yahoo! Voices (Yahoo!
bought AC in May 19, 2010).
4. Yahoo!
Voices - Closed down on July 31, 2014.
5. Yahoo!
Contributor Network (Y!CN) - Will shut down on August 31, 2014.
Now, the four other Yahoo! Services that I used which are
now extinct were Geocities, Mash, MyBlogLog and Yahoo! HotJobs. There was a Yahoo! photo sharing service but I don’t think I used it along with a handful
of other smaller Yahoo! services.
I still have at least five other (non-Yahoo!) sites I write
for that is still up and I may just have to publish some of my Yahoo! Voices
articles there or of course somewhere else more befitting.
I believe with this latest closing, Yahoo! is suggesting that we
use Tumblr but I think I’ll try to skip on this recommendation this time around.
I still use on occasion, Flickr, Yahoo! Fantasy, Yahoo!
Answers, Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Maps, even Yahoo! Messenger among other Yahoo!
services. And who knows how many of these will soon fall by the wayside and how
more services in the future.
Anyway to AC, to Voices and to Y!CN, goodbye and it sure was
fun (and memorable) while it lasted.
Notes:
Associated Content was started
in January 2005 by Luke Beatty
MyBlogLog was started by
Scott Rafer and Eric Marcoullier in 2005. It was acquired by Yahoo! In January
2007.
Yahoo! Mash was shutdown
on September 28, 2008.
My Last Post on the Y!CN
Forums
Posts: 1490 Joined: 3/11/2011
I have
been very busy of late and the days I had time, I have deliberately stayed away
from participating in the forums. I'm not mad just sad.
In fact I was sad enough one
night, I wrote an article about the closing of YV and YCN. Don't know yet where
to publish it so any suggestions would be great.
I do check in and read a few
forum posts most days, but now that the end is near, I do not wish to go
without saying thank you to everyone who have helped me in here, you were
amazing and an inspiration for me to do the same for others.
To those I've helped in one way
or another, just know that it was no biggie, glad to pay it forward.
I'm not sure where I would move
the stuff I had published here, but I know it would be in different places
(many I will retire or modify to publish like new in places which require not
previously published--just don't have the time yet). These should answer some
questions I have been receiving.
Also I'll find and try to follow
you guys in FB, or the places where you mentioned you are now publishing. Those
of you who wish to message me, you can do so at FB.
All the best to all of you and
like Lyn said this is not goodbye.
Thank you to all those who became
my fans and became my friends, those who subscribed and those who left
encouraging comments on the stuff I wrote.
Love you guys!
UPDATE: On August 27, Writers logging into Y!CN would have read this Final Message.
Dear Contributors,
August 27th at 11:59 P.M. Mountain (US) Time the Yahoo Contributor Network will be turned off. Thank you for a very special nine years.
- The Yahoo Contributor Network Team
And yes, it is finally shutdown. Thanks for the memories.
Dear Contributors,
August 27th at 11:59 P.M. Mountain (US) Time the Yahoo Contributor Network will be turned off. Thank you for a very special nine years.
- The Yahoo Contributor Network Team
And yes, it is finally shutdown. Thanks for the memories.