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Note:
eGroups and Yahoo! are still two separate
companies and until the companies are combined,
will continue to operate independently. However,
assuming the merger happens, we'd like to
clarify the following:
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| Q. |
Why
did this merger happen? How will moderators and members
benefit from the new service? |
| A. |
eGroups
was created to offer the world's best email groups. Thanks
to our loyal members and a team of great people, we built
a service hosting over 900,000 groups used by more than 18
million members. By joining the Yahoo family of services,
we will enhance and expand our current groups, and
introduce our unique communication tools to millions of
new users around the world. Once our services merge, we
expect our members and moderators will benefit in many
ways:
- Access
to a variety of group enhancements
- A
greater selection of new groups to join
- A
larger audience for existing groups
- More
services for our international members
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| Q. |
Will
eGroups continue to offer free email group services? |
| A. |
Our goal
will be to preserve the features of the free, easy-to-use
email service that is eGroups. The integration will
provide you more services and options. The features you
know and love will remain. The URLs and email addresses
you have will continue to work. Access controls will be
maintained (for example, if your group's content is
private, Yahoo!'s goal is to preserve that).
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| Q. |
When
will the eGroups and Yahoo sites be integrated? |
| A. |
It will
take about two months for the legal transaction to be
approved and completed (late August). After that point,
we'll decide what level of integration offers our members
the best service. Your suggestions
and comments
will be carefully considered. Integration will not begin
until after the companies are combined, and the
integration process is expected to last for several
months.
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| Q. |
Will
there be any changes to the treatment of content posted to
the service? |
| A. |
Yahoo!
will not claim ownership to content posted by eGroups
members to the service. Yahoo!, like eGroups or any other
Web service, will need the right to display, distribute
and promote the content you post -- otherwise, Yahoo!
would be unable to provide this service. So Yahoo! will
require a "license". The license that Yahoo!
will need will be for the purpose of displaying,
distributing and promoting your content in connection with
the service. That's it.
Users will retain the copyright to the content they post.
Yahoo! will not sell your personal writings in a bookstore
or make a cookbook out of the recipes on your eGroups
group. If your group's content is private, Yahoo!'s goal
is to preserve that.
Yahoo!
has had user-created content on our site since our
inception. Yahoo! builds services for people like you. If
Yahoo! violates your trust, Yahoo! will lose you. That's
not good business or good for Yahoo!
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|
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| Q. |
What
will happen to the current eGroups services (email, chat,
file space, calendar, etc.)? |
| A. |
No
significant changes are planned for the eGroups service
until the legal transaction is completed. After that,
eGroups and Yahoo will bring the best of both services
together. In situations where services overlap (like Yahoo
Calendar and eGroups Calendar), we may choose to
consolidate. If this happens, we will migrate your data to
the new format. |
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| Q. |
Does
this merger mean I have to change my group addresses or
subscription URLs? |
| A. |
No.
eGroups and Yahoo will maintain your original group email
addresses and Web URLs indefinitely. This means that you
do not have to update any subscription Web pages you may
have created. After the companies are combined, eGroups
and Yahoo will evaluate options for a new system of
addresses. However, even if new addresses are created for
your group, the old addresses will continue to be
supported.
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| Q. |
Will
there be changes to eGroups policies (e.g. adult content)? |
| A. |
Both
companies are legally obligated to eliminate content of
which we become aware that violates local, state, federal,
and international laws. Because both companies currently
have similar policies and procedures to cover these
situations, we do not anticipate significant changes to
our policies regarding acceptable content. However,
changes in applicable law might require policy changes in
the future.
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| Q. |
Will
improvements to eGroups continue while the merger
proceeds? |
| A. |
Absolutely!
eGroups will continue all planned development during the
merger process. This means we will continue to work on new
features and fixes. You may have noticed that we recently
revived the Activity logs feature for groups you moderate. |
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| Q. |
Where
can I find out more? |
| A. |
For all
support inquiries, please
contact
Customer Support.
To learn more and share your thoughts with others, join
any of the following groups:
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