SMFS and Yahoo Groups Going Forward

For those SMFS members who are no mail or have other email restrictions and may not have been checking on the list as much as they should have been, Yahoo Groups is soon ending files, polling, and numerous other features. While we will still have the ability to send and receive email for now, changes are coming and that is going to necessitate moving to another host. This morning I sent the below message to the list so that all SMFS list members are aware of how I, as SMFS President, intend on handling this situation. The post below was generated by numerous member comments on the list in recent days since the news broke Tuesday afternoon as well as a massive flood of messages to me offlist.

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It has seemed clear to me that those commenting publicly and privately would prefer to move to Groups.Io when we do move. As Yahoo Groups has stated that the emails will still work after October 21st or October 28th (pick a date as they are using both), there still seems to me to be no rush to move right this second. As I see it, the files function and polling function are the two that hit us the hardest and are not truly needed until Derringer season. 

I anticipate starting this process in early November sometime after Bouchercon. No, not the day after. I am not sure what exact day it would be, but it would be just a few days after Bouchercon here in Dallas. My goal would be to have everyone who wishes to make the leap to our new home do so by the end of November so that things are in place long before Tony and Dan need those tools for files/polling. Yes, there would be news on our blog to help spread the word when it happens. 

As I have previously explained, there would be a fee if I were to attempt to export us over from here. While I have not been able to find an actual fee structure on the Groups.Io site, I have seen the figure of $110 bandied about here and on other groups. I have also seen the fee listed as a $10 a month which would add up to $120 a year. Like the cutoff date, I don't know which one is right. Either way, it is a pain. While I would be willing to pay that up front on behalf of the group and would do so and then ask for members to chip in and help pay it, I don't trust these Groups.Io folks to not demand a higher fee next year to retain their service. Once we pay now, we may find ourselves locked in and unable to later switch to their free plan.

That means I would be passing on a fee to the next administration. That is a burden or obligation I do not want to place on them. Beyond that fact, I don't trust the Groups.Io folks to not end their free plan a year from now. They clearly are profiting from the end of yahoo groups and I think that once they get this wave of money they will want more. A simple solution for them would be to end the free version of things. But, at least if we went in free now, we would have a year before that happened and the new administration would face that issue. I can't avoid that happening, but I don't have to do something now that definitely obligates the new administration into either paying a fee or moving us again. 

Beyond that potential problem is the definite real problem regarding  group ownership. As Gerald So again noted  this morning, Margo Power is the owner of record and remains unreachable. I personally have tried to reach her a couple of times during my administration--as recently as mid summer this year-- as have members of previous administrations and with no sucess. The transfer process at Groups.Io requires the active participation of the owner of the Yahoo Group. That owner HAS TO be involved and do parts of it. No choice.  Therefore, at this time, there would be no possible way to make a transfer happen anyway.

So, it is not just their fee issue. It is a owner problem. 

This is why I suggested that the only way to do this would be to start a new group fresh there and then have folks come join it. Becuase their rules at Groups.Io make it impossible to do a transfer as many have advocated. By starting fresh, we also jettison the massive number of dormant accounts that have bloated our member roll. 

Our basic email will continue to work for now. Since we have time, I would really like to get through my coming medical stuff this week and then, hopefully, attend Bouchercon, and get through all of that before I try to fiddle with creating our new group at Groups.Io. 

Hope this all makes sense. 

KRT