Editing GeoCities (section)

=== Closure ===
[[File:Yahoo! Geocities (2009).png|thumb|Logo of GeoCities before becoming defunct in 2009|200px]]
On April 23, 2009, Yahoo! announced that it would be terminating its [[United States]] version of GeoCities, and stopped accepting new registrations, though the existing GeoCities accounts remained active.<ref name="TechCrunch" /> During late June 2009, Yahoo! updated the GeoCities home page to indicate: "GeoCities is closing on October 26, 2009."<ref name="PCMagGeo" /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://help.yahoo.com//l/us/yahoo/geocities/close/close-03.html|title=What if I didn't save my files and images?|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110809185002/http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/geocities/close/close-03.html |archive-date=2011-08-09 |website=Yahoo! Geocities|url-status=dead|access-date=August 7, 2011}}</ref> GeoCities joined a long list of other services discontinued by Yahoo, such as Farechase, [[Yahoo! Music Radio|LAUNCHcast]], My Web, Audio Search, Pets, [[Yahoo! Photos|Photos]], [[Yahoo! Live|Live]], Kickstart, [[Yahoo! Briefcase|Briefcase]], Webmessenger, and [[Yahoo!#Defunct services|Yahoo! Teachers]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.calgaryherald.com/Technology/Yahoo%2Babandoning%2BGeoCities/1530841/story.html|title=Yahoo! abandoning GeoCities|via=[[Reuters]]|website=[[Calgary Herald]]|date=April 24, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090427153850/http://www.calgaryherald.com/Technology/Yahoo%2Babandoning%2BGeoCities/1530841/story.html|access-date=August 7, 2011|archive-date=April 27, 2009}}</ref>

With the termination of GeoCities in the U.S., Yahoo! no longer offered free web page hosting, except in [[Japan]], where the service continued for ten more years.<ref name="BBCPullPlug">{{cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8016211.stm|title=Yahoo pulls the plug on GeoCities|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090501013210/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8016211.stm |archive-date=2009-05-01 |website=[[BBC]]|date=April 24, 2009|access-date=May 5, 2009}}</ref> Yahoo! encouraged users to upgrade their accounts to the fee-based Yahoo! Web Hosting service.<ref>{{cite web
| author=Yahoo!
| title=GeoCities will close later this year.
| url=http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/geocities/geocities-05.html
| publisher=Yahoo! Help
| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090427080521/http://help.yahoo.com/l//us//yahoo//geocities//geocities-05.html
| archive-date=April 27, 2009
| url-status=dead
}}</ref><ref name="GeoCities_Closing">{{cite web|url = http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/geocities/close/|title = GeoCities Closing|access-date = 2009-10-30|last = Yahoo!|author-link = Yahoo!|date = October 2009|url-status = live|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20091018205426/http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/geocities/close/|archive-date = 2009-10-18}}</ref>

Rupert Goodwins, the editor of ''[[ZDNET|ZDNet]]'', perceived the termination of GeoCities as an end of an era; he described GeoCities as "the first proof that you could have something really popular and still not make any money on the internet."<ref name="BBCPullPlug"/> Vijay Mukhi, an internet and cybersecurity expert quoted in the ''[[Business Standard]]'', criticized Yahoo's management of GeoCities; Mukhi described GeoCities as "a lost opportunity for Yahoo!", adding that "they could have made it a [[Facebook]] if they wanted." [[Rich Skrenta]], the CEO of [[Blekko]], posted on [[Twitter]] an offer to take over GeoCities from Yahoo! in exchange for 50% future revenue share.<ref>{{cite news |last=D'Monte|first=Leslie|url=http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/yahoo-writes-geocities-obituary/356196/|title=Yahoo! writes GeoCities' obituary|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090722062102/http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/yahoo-writes-geocities-obituary/356196/ |archive-date=2009-07-22 |website=[[Business Standard]]|date=April 25, 2009|access-date=April 30, 2009}}</ref>

In response to the termination, rival Web hosting services began to compete for the sites formerly displayed by GeoCities. For instance, [[Germany|German]] Web host [[Jimdo]] started the "Lifeboat for GeoCities" service to encourage GeoCities users to display their sites on Jimdo.<ref name="MarshallVNU"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jimdo.com/2009/04/23/jimdo-s-lifeboat-for-geocities|title=Jimdo's Lifeboat for GeoCities|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090503033115/http://www.jimdo.com/2009/04/23/jimdo-s-lifeboat-for-geocities/ |archive-date=2009-05-03 |website=Jimdo|access-date=April 30, 2009}}</ref> ''Geocities-closing.com'', started by GeoCities competitor [[uCoz]], is a similar project begun to save GeoCities websites.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.zmogo.com/web/geocities-shuts-it-doors-and-thousands-of-sites-could-be-lost/|title=GeoCities Shuts It Doors and Thousands of Sites Could be Lost, But There Are Other Options|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091011043156/http://www.zmogo.com/web/geocities-shuts-it-doors-and-thousands-of-sites-could-be-lost/ |archive-date=2009-10-11 |access-date=October 8, 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref><!-- Please do not list any other Web services *unless* other reliable sources cover particular hosting services responding to GeoCities's closure -->

Many of the webpages formerly hosted by GeoCities remained accessible, but could not be updated, until 2014. Attempts to access any page using the original GeoCities URL formerly redirected to Yahoo! Small Business,<ref>{{cite web|title=Geocities has shut down|url=https://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/geocities|publisher=Yahoo! Small Business|access-date=4 July 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150704005606/https://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/geocities|archive-date=4 July 2015}}</ref> but now redirect to the Yahoo! main page.