Yahoo Groups Is Shutting Down And Everything Will Be Deleted

Another Internet relic will soon go dark, Yahoo has announced. Starting later this month, users will no longer be able to upload content to Yahoo Groups, the online discussion boards that launched back in 2001 as an extension of the previous Yahoo Clubs. Though the initial change will only prevent users from uploading, Yahoo has warned that all posts published on the platform will be deleted before the end of the year.

Yahoo Groups is home to a massive collection of aging discussions on a large variety of topics. The boards work similar to online forums, though they'll be less familiar to younger Internet users. The design is antiquated and largely replaced with typical forums, Reddit, and other similar platforms.

Each group is isolated into its own little cluster where users can view the group's important details, such as language, the date it was founded, how many members are participating, and related websites. Each group page likewise features a calendar that allows users to easily jump back to messages from past dates.

The platform exists mostly as a piece of history at this point; though there are still new posts appearing in groups, many have gravitated to more modern platforms with better support for mobile and a greater selection of features. Starting on October 21, users will not be able to upload any new content on the platform, according to Yahoo.

On December 14, Yahoo will purge all content uploaded on Yahoo Groups, effectively wiping multiple decades of discussions. The company advises that anyone who wants to save uploaded content will need to do so before December 14, otherwise it'll be gone forever. The Yahoo Groups site enables users to directly download and save files and photos. Beyond that, users should visit the Privacy Dashboard in their Yahoo account to view and save their data.