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Blue Sunrise

September posting # 18: Yahoo Groups

Ah, Yahoo groups. I used to belong to so many; they were my “go to” place for online fandom, but now just a couple are active. I loved the linear conversations, the feeling that I could actually keep up with what was going in my fandoms without having to search all through Cyberia (read: tumblr) to keep up on things.

I want a new, improved Yahoo, with linear conversations AND all the great pics, gifs, etc. you can get elsewhere on the net.

I have to sign into Yahoo groups every once in awhile. Up until recently, the link for Groups showed up on the left hand side of the screen, in their list including mail, news, sports, etc. Just recently Yahoo “downgraded” groups so that the link doesn’t show up on the home page at all – you have to click “More Yahoo Sites” to find it.

I hope this isn’t a sign they plan to get rid of it. But considering how temporary most internet spaces have proven to be, I wouldn’t be surprised.
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Posted on Sep. 18th, 2014 at 04:40 pm | | Leave a comment | 12 comments |

Comments


hagsrus

I do miss the groups too. So much less fiddly than keeping track of LJ discussions.

And after all, people can always post links to the graphics.

Posted on Sep. 19th, 2014 05:25 am (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

catalenamara

I know.... links work fine for me. But picture-heavy places like tumblr sure are eye-catching.

One of my theories is that tumblr is the latest manifestation of the push and pull of modded communities vs. people wanting total free expression. One of the reasons people went to LJ was to escape modded Yahoo groups, and then people made LJ groups with even tighter restrictions than most Yahoo groups.

There are certainly a lot of reasons why so many people became disenchanted with LJ, but I think that's part of the reason.
Posted on Sep. 20th, 2014 03:09 am (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

gilda_elise

I wish Groups were more active. Even now, I find them the easiest form of communication. One place, and if someone posts everyone gets it. None of this a dozen people posting about the same thing, so you have to decide which you're going to comment on and which you're going to, well, ignore.

I've noticed that "groups" was moved to "more yahoo sites," awhile ago, so maybe there's hope that they're not going to get rid of it. I hope not.
Posted on Sep. 19th, 2014 10:24 am (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

catalenamara

I do too! I love the ease of communication on Yahoo. It was such a step up from bulletin boards - and LJ has a fancier step *back* to bulletin boards.

I never imagined communication in fandom would become increasingly difficult, but that's certain what has happened.

And, yes, I hope Yahoo keeps groups around for a good long time to come.
Posted on Sep. 20th, 2014 03:11 am (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

krisserci5

I so agree. I loved the discussions on the list. Questions asked and ansered by many. Didn't matter when the answer came in, it woukd be in the new emails. Unless you 'track' lj you never know when a new answer comes in.

It also felt more personal.
Posted on Sep. 19th, 2014 05:21 pm (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

catalenamara

Yahoo was such a great way for a lot of people to get to know each other and carry on a conversation. LJ splintered things, and tumblr has blown everything up (and yet people manage to communicate on tumblr - damned if I know how...)
Posted on Sep. 20th, 2014 03:12 am (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

hagsrus

Tumblr has me baffled, I confess. But I'm more of a text person.
Posted on Sep. 21st, 2014 04:01 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

catalenamara

I keep on trying to figure out how to do anything with tumblr other than reblog pics. I see that people actually it to communicate - a group of people were having a rewatch of a Marvel movie recently and commenting on it - but I've yet to be able to figure out how to communicate with anyone who clearly knows how to do this to ask for a primer. (And I'm more of a text person too.)
Posted on Oct. 12th, 2014 12:59 am (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

amothea

I also miss the groups.
Posted on Sep. 20th, 2014 06:17 am (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

catalenamara

Same here. I love that sort of fannish interaction, particularly the discussion of meta topics. I was hoping to find some Loki groups, but I couldn't find any on LJ with active conversations and the ones I found on Facebook were mostly about posting pictures and not discussing meta.
Posted on Oct. 12th, 2014 01:00 am (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

illariy

Huh, interesting to hear. I was never very active on Yahoo Groups because they flared up my social anxiety so bad. The only exception was KSFF, which had its own set of problems. ;-) I myself miss bulletin boards more.
I sure hope they stay around because it's such an important part of fandom history :-)
Posted on Sep. 21st, 2014 03:39 pm (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

catalenamara

Sorry for the delay in responding - oh yes, KSFF; I was on that for ages. Lots of people "lurked" on Yahoo groups; sometimes I enjoyed just following the conversations and sometimes participating, depending on whether I thought I had anything to contribute to the conversation. LJ reminds me of a higher tech version of bulletin boards, at least the ones I was familiar with, back in the 90s, which were on AOL.
Posted on Oct. 12th, 2014 01:02 am (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply