After 10 years (October 1998) of having the BIW list group at Yahoo Groups they up and deleted the group without notice or explanation. It just boggles the mind that ten years of posts, over 600 a month, are gone forever. I have a message out to tech support but from what I’ve been reading online I don’t expect to ever hear from them.
I’ve heard stories like this from people, some our own members, of sudden disappearances of groups and ID’s for no reason but I never actually expected it to happen. I realize it is a free service but really, ten years of advertising them and I couldn’t get one email of explanation?
Moving forward. The good thing is that there are still a few weeks before the December BIW begins (December 8). Thank you for your patience as I work through this.
Update: Saturday morning – I received a form message from yahoo, not surprising, that didn’t really answer anything. Since then I’ve been in the process of making other arrangements which I think, in the long run, will be better for the group. I hope to have a new community setup on the BIW website by the December BIW. It will ultimately be a better solution with less mail and the opportunity for more interaction. Please send me your name and email so I can add you to the membership list when the time comes. Stay tuned, more to come.
Update: Sunday – Yeah, we have a new community set up! At least the basics. I’ll spend the next week doing some tweaking and then start contacting members. If I don’t contact you by December 3 please email using the contact email at the website.
Update for November 29: The basics for the new community is in place and I have a few members doing a test run. The whole month of December will probably be a big test run but we’re up and moving forward. Thank you for your patience! Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
Wow, Moe. That’s unbelievable. MAJOR kudos to you for getting a new group up and running so fast!!
I’m flabbergasted. But I’m keen to try this new set up – sounds interesting.
wow that’s pretty rotten. im not surprised cuz they were no help when i needed assistance on my yahoo 360 blog so i up and made a new one with blogger.
i just double checked my groups and yes biw is gone! but i also checked my groups with little activity and they’re still there! go figure!
Hi Moe,
And I notice MadChallenge is gone, too. Is that yahoo shenanigans?
On another note, I’ve had great support from ListHelp, another yahoogroup of experts who often have answers to questions nobody else can answer. Perhaps they have a connection or path to restore the group, if for no other reason than to get emails from the members. Just a thought. I’ll tweet you the url if you want it.
Now off to the forum, which might turn out to be a blessing in disguise anyway.
Ele
http://twitter.com/blogbooktours
Ele, I did a lot of searching looking for explanations etc. and the general consensus was that once it’s gone it’s gone. I think the new format will be better. I’m created a spot for Mad Challenge and Dawn is moderator there as well.