Comments on: Yahoo! Closes Geocities http://blogs.gartner.com/allen_weiner/2009/04/23/yahoo-closes-geocities/ A member of the Gartner Blog Network Sat, 04 Feb 2012 19:03:15 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.4 By: Xander http://blogs.gartner.com/allen_weiner/2009/04/23/yahoo-closes-geocities/comment-page-1/#comment-235 Xander Fri, 24 Apr 2009 09:31:44 +0000 http://blogs.gartner.com/allen_weiner/?p=325#comment-235 Wouldn't it perhaps be smarter to let such a system 'starve' by itself? What are the real costs of just leaving Geocities out there, without providing any technical support? As said, most of us had already forgotten about its existence, until the present day. Thoroughly wiping away Geocities might indeed reduce some costs, to be interpreted as a positive signal by Yahoo's nervous share-holders. They will be happy, for an instant. But for the Yahoo web-users, how does it by now feel to be using a Yahoo powered service, knowing they decide so easily about spoiling all your work and energy spent on uploading stuff, just 'allowing you to download all your content before the end of the year'? By trashing a site full of user-generated content, long term harm is done to the Yahoo imago, chasing core clients away. The short term cost reduction will not compensate for these long term indirect costs. Wouldn’t it perhaps be smarter to let such a system ‘starve’ by itself? What are the real costs of just leaving Geocities out there, without providing any technical support? As said, most of us had already forgotten about its existence, until the present day.

Thoroughly wiping away Geocities might indeed reduce some costs, to be interpreted as a positive signal by Yahoo’s nervous share-holders. They will be happy, for an instant.

But for the Yahoo web-users, how does it by now feel to be using a Yahoo powered service, knowing they decide so easily about spoiling all your work and energy spent on uploading stuff, just ‘allowing you to download all your content before the end of the year’?

By trashing a site full of user-generated content, long term harm is done to the Yahoo imago, chasing core clients away. The short term cost reduction will not compensate for these long term indirect costs.

]]>