[Infowarrior] - Yahoo Announces It Will Shut GeoCities

[Richard Forno]

Friday July 10, 2009
Yahoo Announces It Will Shut GeoCities

http://www.appscout.com/2009/07/yahoo_announces_it_will_shut_g.php

The Google search result I got around a minute ago was headlined  
"Yahoo! GeoCities: Get a web site with easy-to-use site building  
tools." That's gonna change.

GeoCities is closing on October 26, 2009.
On October 26, 2009, your GeoCities site will no longer appear on the  
Web, and you will no longer be able to access your GeoCities account  
and files.

If you'd like to move your web site, or save the images and other  
files you've posted online, please act now by downloading your files  
or upgrading to Yahoo! Web Hosting.

For many GeoCities was where our first website lived. It could also be  
considereed one of the web's first communities. Originally divided  
into neighborhoods (which seemed reminiscent of the worst of  
California tract housing), it was a place where you could attempt to  
communicate with the world on a static page you got for free. Later  
the neighborhoods gave way to a more modern, easier and meaningful: www.geocities.com/username 
.

With limited tools, obtrusive banner ads and tight bandwidth  
limitations a popular site risked getting throttled and living out  
Yogi Berra's admonition, "No one goes there anymore - it's too  
crowded." I can't remember the last time I saw a live GeoCities page.

Yahoo! is the current proprietor of the site--a business they  
purchased in the late 90s for nearly $3.6 billion. Seriously, what  
were they thinking?

They're suggesting GeoCities' users move to Yahoo! Web Hosting. It's  
one last try to get some cash out of the site.

How sadly final of Yahoo to say "GeoCities site will no longer appear  
on the Web."

The name GeoCities will continue bring back fond memories for lots of  
the web's early adopters, but like the recent Compuserve announcement  
most of us thought it was already gone!