Yahoo Shuts Down Property with 10m Unique Monthly Visitors

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R.I.P. GeoCities: A Community is Killed

Yahoo Shuts Down Property with 10m Unique Monthly Visitors

68 Comments

By ottawahitech (WPN reader) - Sun, 11/08/2009 - 16:02

Very good article + my story

I was not an early homesteader at Geocities. My "free" web site, Not Nortel
Network, a wordplay on Nortel Networks, the Canadian Technology giant that laid
off 70% of its work force between 2000 and 2003, was started early in the
decade. I continued updating it until the beginning of 2003. By then it had
become a web portal for two Yahoo Groups, OttawaHiTech and Nortel_Pension which
continued to derive a large numbers of new members from it for the rest of the
decade. When Nortel Networks went into Chapter 11 in 2009, the membership of the
Nortel_Pension Yahoo Group quadrupled in size within a few weeks thanks mainly
NotNortel.

The large waves of terminated employees from Nortel caused a serious bottleneck
for those seeking high tech employment in Ottawa, a midsized city, during those
years.

At the beginning of 2003 I stopped updating the information
on NotNortel and started devoting the majority of my time to moderating the two
Yahoo Groups that drew their initial members from NotNortel. Even though
NotNortel had a guest book attached to it, it was "clunky" as a discussion
forum, so attaching the two Yahoo Groups seamlessly (or so I thought) to it,
seemed like a no-brainer. The Yahoo Groups allowed me to continue providing
updated information and receive instant feedback from the members. However I continued to utilize the Geocities NotNortel site to draw new members, as well as using gifs there to liven up the Yahoo Groups homepage which did not facilitate this technology.

When Geocities was wiped out by Yahoo it left gaping holes on the homepage of
the Yahoo Group OttawaHiTech – holes I am not in a hurry to repair so as to
showcase the devastation that this seemingly small decision by Yahoo is
inflicting on other Yahoo services.

By DrJohn (WPN reader) - Mon, 11/02/2009 - 10:03

Dumb business move

I don't pretend to know the motivation behind Yahoo! shutting down GeoCities any more than I did when Yahoo! valued it at $3.54 billion, which I thought was way overpriced even during the dot com feeding frenzy. However, not selling GeoCities for whatever it could bring in amazes me.

With business logic like that, I won't be surprized to one day be reading an article announcing Yahoo! itself is shutting down.

Note to self... check portfolio and dump all Yahoo! stock.

By Guest (WPN reader) - Sun, 11/01/2009 - 17:44

GeoCities content saved

Hello to all, we've managed to save a very large part of GeoCities, if not all of it. Right now 1.1 million accounts are already back online.

have a look at http://reocities.com/

best regards,

Jacques Mattheij

By Packaged Hosting (WPN reader) - Sat, 10/31/2009 - 21:07

Crazy

It's just crazy the way Yahoo have handled the whole situation let alone the fact they have shut something like GeoCities down. With tactics and execution like that Google just need to give Yahoo enough rope...

By Connieg (WPN reader) - Sat, 10/31/2009 - 02:35

They told me as a geocities

They told me as a geocities plus customer i wouldnt have to do anything.. just when it closed sign on a certain date to sign up with yahoo webhosting and all will be transfered over... well .. no files transfered over for me as yet... and I dam well hope that they are not lost.... and i get no reply from the emails!! I don't need their hosting if they lost my files! Getting very anxious now!

By HINAYUPAKS (WPN reader) - Fri, 10/30/2009 - 19:26

Its So Sad...

Its so sad because .. geocities is like a father to me... when i began to chat in 1995 that was my first time exposing to the net. and Geocities is my first favorite websites. i build so many accounts on geocities for my friends.. and make them a personal website. my personal website that stays on geocities for 9 long years is now gone... i cant even retrieve my files inside. geocities thought me like a father. now im small time web designer using Free CMS hehehe.. so Bye Geocities.com bye www.geocities.com/trekkerz2000

RIP

/'''''/
/ /
/''''''''''' '''''''''/
'''''''''/ /''''''''''
/ /
/__ /

By Yevgeniy (WPN reader) - Fri, 10/30/2009 - 14:53

Increase your traffic-it starts here.

Please click on my name and You will be redirected to useful sourse of getting traffic techniques. Thanks

By Guest (WPN reader) - Fri, 10/30/2009 - 08:24

I had a Geocities site and

I had a Geocities site and it was deleted after Yahoo bought it because I hadn't logged in for too long - didn't even know they would do that but i am not really surperised

By dan (WPN reader) - Fri, 10/30/2009 - 06:28

i'm an idiot

I moved all my files from one identity and left a single file under another identity and now I can't get it back. What's that they say about things being forever on the internet if you know where to look?

By ebusiness technology (WPN reader) - Fri, 10/30/2009 - 00:10

not that surprising

I can sympathise but I'm not that surprised. I had a Geocities site and it was deleted after Yahoo bought it because I hadn't logged in for too long - didn't even know they would do that :(

By Chris (WPN reader) - Thu, 10/29/2009 - 12:53

Why Are they letting go of such traffic

Im kinda wondering on why thry are letting go of so much traffic...... Yahoo could do something with all that for sure...

By Rolando Sifuentes (WPN reader) - Wed, 10/28/2009 - 12:37

Yahoo is in its way to close or to be knocked down

My web site in Spanish was moved from Geocities (www.geocities.com/roland557) to Godaddy by the end of June, then I tried to close the one in Geocities but Yahoo had taken out the delete button, it was not possible for me to delete the old web site.
Now, after several months of this bad act of Yahoo, Google has penalized my new web site because it is a copy of the other and traffic has come down to the ground.
Yahoo is not working with good business procedures, they boast to be the only man operated directory but they have not an e-mail to communicate with users, all is automated, their employees are like the machine, they act automatically they know only to push a button to send due bills, nothing more.
Yahoo must learn from Google. I like to work with Google.
I recognize the infringement on my duplicated web pages for which Google penalized me, and Yahoo should pay me for the damage.
Regards
Rolando

By Guest (WPN reader) - Wed, 10/28/2009 - 10:52

response to Rockman

To say yahoo is losing millions on geocities is an absolute joke. There haven't been any updates or enhancements to the service in years. The programming and infrastructure is done. Now, there are some costs associated with handling the traffic. 1 maybe 2 servers could handle 10,000,000 visitors per month. So you are talking about an outlay of maybe 500 dollars per month for servers and bandwidth MAX. That''s what we spend and don't have near the resources Yahoo has.

So you are telling me Yahoo can't monetize 10,000,000 visits not counting the additional internal page views with all those ads sprinkled everywhere?

Granted geocities is old/outdated. But what u are witnessing is a complete lack of creativity and disregard for the users who built the community. .

Traffic is traffic. To throw it away as if were nothing.. Now that's arrogance!

By Kansas City SEO (WPN reader) - Wed, 10/28/2009 - 09:07

Thanks GeoCities

Geocities was the first "MySpace" and where I first learned the basics of HTML back in 1997 or 1998. The websites are not the best looking, ads everywhere, but a smart way to begin. Once I advanced, there was no need to go back and use the site.

Because of my start, I went back to school in 2000 and received a degree in Computer Information Management and now I am the only female on my technical floor. I am amazed at how much I know and have grown.

It was free and the only investment was time.
I didn't realize geocities was still up and running and could not imagine that people still use the site now that people can make MySpace pages and other social media tools.
If you are serious about your website, then invest in a domain name and hosting. It's cheap.

By Yurich (WPN reader) - Wed, 10/28/2009 - 08:51

GeoCities

In the +8.00 hrs region, closure of GeoCities has little impact and consequent. GeoCities services seem so slow for the past 10 years. We hardly log in to the site. However it could be a different case in America.

It is a nice and the right thing to do by shutting down GeoCities as changes must take place. To have a fresh start to catch up with other fresh services availabe esp the social networks, it's better to shut down GeoCities. After all building and making a website is at the tips of people's fingers.

So, shut down GeoCities is the right thing to do to get rid of the legacy system.

By retratos perros (WPN reader) - Wed, 10/28/2009 - 04:57

I have uploaded a Geocities

I have uploaded a Geocities site to Geocities.ws, I hope this one does not close soon ...

By boxer (WPN reader) - Wed, 10/28/2009 - 04:54

I had a site on Geocities

I had a site on Geocities for over 10 years and it served me well. Thanks Geocities.

By Paul (WPN reader) - Wed, 10/28/2009 - 04:26

Good riddance to bad rubbish.

All someone needs to do now is have Yahoo put down as it's the only humane thing to do to a dying animal.

By samurai x fan (WPN reader) - Wed, 10/28/2009 - 04:15

There many who are using Geocities as their web page host

How come?! Why did Yahoo did it with a sudden? Does yahoo doesn't get any benefits from Geocities. What happen to my files and pages there?

Does Yahoo do anything? :(

By Dick (WPN reader) - Wed, 10/28/2009 - 03:50

Geocities

It's a scandal that Yahoo has not provided a simple forwarding address service, especially for Geocities sites that are popular. This shows "how much" the company cares about its customers. A good and cheap alternative for Geocities is get-website-hosting.com

By McCLaw (WPN reader) - Wed, 10/28/2009 - 02:45

Better rankings with less junk

I personally dont mind that geo closed.

Most of the sites on there where absolute junk.

And once the junk gets killed in google's index we should see more relevant pages popping up all the time.

By Rockman (WPN reader) - Tue, 10/27/2009 - 23:13

You Get What You Pay For

It is the arrogance of the consumer that astounds me and not Yahoo. The prevailing view is that all net services should be free - no one wants to pay for anything. Now, for the stoners out there, umm...how do you propose businesses survive without revenue, dude?

The real gem is the suggestion for a "social homesteading bill of rights" - huh? So the government will tell me I can't shut down my free service that I'm losing millions on because a bunch of housewives and stoners posted their recipes and mosh pit photos? Insane.

Short answer, Yahoo was well within their rights to shut down a huge white elephant.

To paraphrase Margaret Thacher - "The problem with social networking sites is they always run out of other people's money"

By Guest (WPN reader) - Wed, 10/28/2009 - 01:42

I think yahoo should close

I think yahoo should close it's own doors. I've had a Yahoo account for over 15 years, I've watched as it's slowly gotten slower & slower, as I've gotten faster and faster connections, but it's still way to slow.

By Passive income streams (WPN reader) - Tue, 10/27/2009 - 22:52

Can't remeber the last time I landed on a GeoCities site

Yahoo seems to be content as number 2. I can think of 5 things they could do right now to make themselves more attractive compared to Google. If anyone from Yahoo is reading this, please contact me, I will gladly accept the position of General for the War against Google and will settle with $200k.yr. I promise you guys won't regret it!

By Alan Maillet - AM1 Enterprises (WPN reader) - Tue, 10/27/2009 - 22:26

My first websites were on goecities

Five years ago, I didn't have the slightest idea how do even make a website, so I started on Geocities with my part time maintenance business and tax business! And I still had them there when they shut down and need to decide what I am going to do with then now too! I now have three hosted by GoDaddy with domains, although ad supported and about a dozen set up through angelfire, also ad supported for other things I promote, etc. I guess one of then will be getting them now! When I have the time or money to do it now too. Not to mention changing my business cards, etc. Yahoo doesn't even offer ad supported sites with the purchase of a domain. Only monthly hosting subscriptions. 5 years from now someone is gonna be happy to have my sites! But it won't be Yahoo! I'm just now starting to make a little money and it's only gonna get better! They really did screw up on this one!

I also own a adult group on Yahoo and it was voted the Top Choice Yahoo Adult Group for 2008 at Wingman's Adult Group List's

By A Huge List (WPN reader) - Tue, 10/27/2009 - 22:26

YAY! It's about time! YAHOO sucks anyway!

I am glad!
Once a month I do a stolen content check and at least 50% of the time it shows up on some free GeoCities site meaning I have to attempt to get it removed - a process that yahoo seems to drag out (and you have to sign up to yahoo to report anything!)
- that along with really bad adult content pages (against yahoo tos) are all they seem to be used for or at least the only sites I come across . The few real and interesting sites don't get my visits because of all the ads.

Hosting and domains are so cheap these days anyone serious about their site should be hosting their own! (you own everything and have full control)

If you are going that option though - stay away from yahoo domain registration and hosting!!!!!!!!!!!!

I made the mistake of choosing them as my first host on a fiction site I started - ONE of the stories included a mild erotic scene - against yahoo tos (Yes I agree my fault, but I didn't consider it "adult") and they shut the site down - I had to fight with MelbourneIT (who yahoo resell domains for) to get my name back (took six months!) and I lost all my content (first site - did not know about backups ) and my yahoo ID and email!
Their prices are also way above what you should pay after their cheap intro offer - a complete rip off!

Yahoo are bad news for just about everything and whilst I feel sorry for those who have been caught out I am glad to see GeoCities gone.

By former mcd'r (WPN reader) - Tue, 10/27/2009 - 21:01

Geocities...

I worked with John Rezner for several years at McD... I remember many years ago when he was leaving McD, I asked him where he was going to and he said Beverly Hills Internet... This was way before the internet became what it is now.

By Dan Lew (WPN reader) - Tue, 10/27/2009 - 20:12

This day was bound to come,

This day was bound to come, all the data and free storage they give away, where does it end, how many servers they would of needed to keep up with the demand!

By Vik (WPN reader) - Tue, 10/27/2009 - 19:55

a small price to pay for the death of a free service

I use geocities since in it early days... but I always question myself ' how do they making money' out of it... few ads here and there can't be enough to make billions

By Jalapeno (WPN reader) - Tue, 10/27/2009 - 19:08

What a waste! Very poor business decision from Yahoo

I just can't understand the business case for Yahoo to walk away from 10 million monthly visitors - I'd love to be able to siphon just a fraction of that traffic to my client's sites.

Granted, Google was referring the lions share of traffic to Geocities, but there seems to be no rationalle behind closing the doors on all this traffic, and the potential business that comes with it.

Maybe we are not being told the whole story here, that despite the amazing traffic stats there is no revenue from this traffic in terms of advertising etc and that it's costing Yahoo a packet to maintain; if that's the reason then it's a fair decision... but has Yahoo attempted to evolve Geocities into something thats more competitive?

... another illogical business decision made by execs who are out of touch methinks...