Experience Tumblr Like Never Before
This post will be frequently updated - check the Google Doc linked here for the latest version. Follow this Tumblr for more information in the days ahead.
Yahoo Groups will be shutting down key features and restricting access to Groups, with user-uploaded content being deleted on December 14, 2019. With this shutdown, decades of fandom history will vanish. But there is something that every member of the fandom community can do now - whether they’ve ever used Yahoo Groups before or not.
Immediately contact the admins to find out what their plans are.
Download PGOffline, a Windows tool to save the files and messages. Any member of the Yahoo Group can use this tool - you do not have to be an admin to save the mailing list.
Since many admins are busy or inactive, install the free Windows software program yourself and start downloading - focus on Files, Photos, Links, and Messages. A step-by-step walk through is available here and a video tutorial here.
Submit your plan to download here.
Export the messages and backup up the files and photos by copying them to another folder on your computer. Then contact Open Doors, the OTW preservation program. The OTW is open to providing storage of Yahoo Groups backups that are assembled by moderators and non-moderators alike. Details are here.
If you are a member of a Yahoo Group and have downloaded the files and messages, and the admins do not respond, please contact your fellow mailing list members. Remember, anyone can save a mailing list messages, files and photos and submit them to Open Doors.
Click here for instructions on how to use the Chrome plugin
If you need help from fellow fans, try asking on the “Save Yahoo Groups” Discord Channel
Mac Users: try this Chrome based plugin
Instructions on how to use the Chrome plugin
Alternatively, if you are familiar with Python, please experiment with the tools found at https://www.archiveteam.org/index.php?title=Yahoo!_Groups
Communicate with your Group members - let them know your plans
Download your Group messages, files, photos, and links using the tools above. Don’t forget to download your members list.
Decide if you want to simply archive the old posts and disband the mailing list or start up somewhere else.
Please take a look at setting up a Dreamwidth community - it allows explicit material, threaded conversations, privacy locks and is free. Image uploading is limited to 500MB for free accounts and 1.5GB paid accounts. Also, if you are considering Groups.io as an option, please note that it does not allow any material that depicts sexual activity, even implied sexual activity or anything that could be considered a fetish.
If you are a member of a mailing list, submit the mailing list for consideration. It will help volunteers focus their efforts. Don’t forget check here to see if your group is already being downloaded.
Even if you are not a mailing list member, consider creating a page for the mailing list on Fanlore, so that there will be a place for people to talk about the mailing list, its history. Details here.
Has your “inactive” email been purged? Is your email email address not linked to a Yahoo Group ID?
An “inactive” account is one where you haven’t sent an email or logged in for the past year. Receiving emails does not count as activity. The email address is then released, and can be used by someone else.
If you used your Yahoo email to subscribe to a mailing list, your access to the Yahoo Group is gone (along with all your emails). If your account was deactivated within the past 90 days, you may be able to reactivate it. (more here). Alternatively, you can try contacting Yahoo Mail support.
Outside the 90 day window: you can try creating a new Yahoo email account using the same screen name as long as no one else has snapped it up. Simply sign up as you would for a ‘new’ email account. Reclaim an inactive mailbox. Then log into your Yahoo Group.