Link tags: shutdown

Killed by Google - The Google Graveyard & Cemetery

147 dead properties and counting.

Closing Communities: FFFFOUND! vs MLKSHK – Waxy.org

Andy compares the impending shutdowns of Ffffound and Mlkshk. They’re quite, quite different when it comes to handling data rescue.

Shane Becker - Dark Matter and the #IndieWeb

Shane gave a talk recently where he outlined his reasons for publishing on the indie web:

Most people reading this will probably have an account at most or all of these sites: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Vimeo, Tumblr, Wordpress. Many also had accounts at Friendster, Tribe, MySpace, Delicious, Magnolia, Gowalla, Geocities. But no one has an account at any of those (on the second list) anymore. And all of the content that we created on those sites is gone.

All of those super emo feeling you posted to MySpace, they’re all gone. Some of the great web designers of our generation got started on Geocities. That stuff is gone forever. And sure, it was sparkling animated GIFs and neon colors. But that’s important history. Yahoo bought it, left it alone for a while, and then decided one day to turn it off.

Archiving Our Online Communities — Medium

Now this is how you shut down a service:

• Maintain read-only URLs for at least ten years.
• Create physical copies etched in metal held by cultural institutions for ten thousand years.
• Allow users to export their data (of course).

Web projects often lack hard edges. They begin with clarity but end without. We want to close Hi.co with clarity. To properly bookend the website.

And nary a trace of “We are excited to announce…” or “Thank you for joining us on our incredible journey…”

(Such a shame that the actual shut-down notice is only on Ev’s blog, but hopefully Craig will write something on his own site too.)

Jam Preserves - The Jam Journal

It’s a real shame that Hannah and Matt are shutting down This Is My Jam—it’s such a lovely little service—but their reliance on ever-changing third-party APIs sounds like no fun, and the way they’re handling the shutdown is exemplary: the site is going into read-only mode, and of course all of your data is exportable.

Yahoo, Google, and other destroyers could learn a thing or two from this—things like “dignity” and “respect”.

Did Google Shutdown ___________ Yet?

A deathwatch for Google products.

See also Charles Arthur’s historical data on Google shutdowns.

Thoughts on Winding Down Ficly and Updates on Its Future — sixtwothree.org

Jason writes about the closing of Ficly. This is a lesson in how to do this right:

We knew as soon as we decided to wind down Ficly that we wanted to provide users with continued access to their work, even if they couldn’t create more. We’re still working on some export tools, but more importantly, we’re guaranteeing that all original work on the site will live on at its current URL far into the future.

A Ficly Farewell on The Writer’s Room - Official Ficly Blog

Now this is how to shut down a service: switch to a read-only archive, and make the codebase (without user credentials) available on Github.

Readmill Epilogue - Readmill

If your startup gets acquired and shut down by a larger company, this is the way to announce it—no “we’re excited to announce”; no “incredible journey”. Instead there’s an apology and regret (which is exactly what your users will be feeling).

The Death of Upcoming.org - Waxy.org

Heartbreaking and angry-making.

Fictive Kin, The Joke’s On Us?

The story of one site’s disgraceful handling of acquisition and shutdown (Punchfork, acquired by Pinterest) and how its owner actively tried to block efforts to preserve user’s data.

RIP: Yahoo! Design closed down - data visualization & visual design - information aesthetics

Yahoo Design has been shut down. I understand the need for belt-tightening but firing your smartest most innovative people isn't going to help.