Yahoo! just posted a statement on the official blog of Delicious, the popular social bookmarking service it was reported yesterday to be in the process of closing down. The blog is hard to reach due to traffic, so we’ve posted the full text below.
The gist of the statement: rather than closing Delicious (“sunsetting” was the phrase the company used yesterday, internally), the technology will be sent to live somewhere else. Where hasn’t been decided yet. Though the company hasn’t mentioned it, Google’s donation of Wave to the Apache Foundation earlier this month may be a source of inspiration. It may not, though, too; Yahoo! says it is talking to other companies that are interested in Delicious. Yahoo! just may be able to squeeze some money out of this wonderful technology it tried to suffocate with neglect, after all.
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The following statement, which was issued almost 24 hours after first reports of Delicious being on the chopping block, doesn’t say a whole lot. It does say the service won’t be closed. That’s good.
“We can only imagine how upsetting the news coverage over the past 24 hours has been to many of you,” the statement concludes. “Speaking for our team, we were very disappointed by the way that this appeared in the press.”
How patronizing! Do they think people didn’t see the slide all these reports were based on?
It wouldn’t have taken more than a few quick phone calls to “clear things up” but most likely, Yahoo! didn’t really have a plan to clear things up about before seeing the backlash that unfolded. You know how fast Google, Facebook or Twitter calls us on the phone if we get something “wrong?”
Whatever. Good news. Get this precious resource into the hands of someone who will love it, please.
See also: R.I.P. Delicious: You Were So Beautiful to Me
What’s Next for Delicious?
Many of you have read the news stories about Delicious that began appearing yesterday. We’re genuinely sorry to have these stories appear with so little context for our loyal users. While we can’t answer each of your questions individually, we wanted to address what we can at this stage and we promise to keep you posted as future plans get finalized.
Is Delicious being shut down? And should I be worried about my data?
– No, we are not shutting down Delicious. While we have determined that there is not a strategic fit at Yahoo!, we believe there is a ideal home for Delicious outside of the company where it can be resourced to the level where it can be competitive.
What is Yahoo! going to do with Delicious?– We’re actively thinking about the future of Delicious and we believe there is a home outside the company that would make more sense for the service and our users. We’re in the process of exploring a variety of options and talking to companies right now. And we’ll share our plans with you as soon as we can.
What if I want to get my bookmarks out of Delicious right away?
– As noted above, there’s no reason to panic. We are maintaining Delicious and encourage you to keep using it. That said, we have export options if you so choose. Additionally, many services provide the ability to import Delicious links and tags.
We can only imagine how upsetting the news coverage over the past 24 hours has been to many of you. Speaking for our team, we were very disappointed by the way that this appeared in the press. We’ll let you know more as things develop.
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