Step 1 - Preparing
You want to migrate your YahooGroup, or start a new group, on Forums.Group? This is where you start...
Preparing
The following are a list of things you need to prepare before you can proceed with your order:
Which catagory does your forum belong to?
Decide on the catagory your forum should be found under. We have prepared a list of catagories you can select from and that should be a guide. If you need a special catagory that is not listed, select the closest you can find and you can give your preferred catagory name during the ordering process.
Decide on a name for your forum
This should be descriptive and in one long word. If you are migrating from Yahoo Groups, then the name of that group is advised.
For example, a group about dog breading could be called: "DogBreading", "Dog-Breading", "Dog_Breading", but NOT "Dog Breading"
Prepare a description for your group
This should be a few sentences that sums up what your forum is all about. Write it in a way that people interested in your topic will find appealing and inviting to join.
Related Website
Do you have your own website, or related Facebook page, etc. that you want to refer people to?
Sample desktop banner image 1500 pixels wide
Sample mobile banner image 700 pixels wide
Prepare banner images
You need two images 1500 pixels wide for desktop users and 700 pixels wide for tablets and smartphones. They should be relevant to the topic and visually pleasing. It should also include the name of your forum and any logos as well. The smaller image is 700 pixels wide that is to be displayed on smartphones. It should be similar, but designed to work well on a smaller screen - make sure the text is visible, etc. If you do not submit your own banner, we will create a generic one and there will be a small charge to change to your own banner at a later date. If you had an image you used with your YahooGroup, we can use that as well.
Languages to use
Determine what language the forum should run in. By default, we will use American or British English with options for French, German and Spanish. If you need a different language, we can install any of up to 54 languages, providing they have been updated for phpBB version 3.3. Note that there is a small fee for adding additional languages on free-hosting forums.
Recommended by
Did a friend or other group recommend you move of start a new forum with us? Please tell us who recommended you to us.
Prepare list of your forum's catagory and forum names
Prepare a list of catagories and forum names to be used on your forum. These help to let your members post about topics they care about. Look at any phpBB based forum to get an idea of what catagory and forum names you need to start with. It will be possible to add names later, but a well designed forum structure will set the tone of the forum. Yahoo Groups had only one catagory - the name of the group. Now you can add a number of related subcatagories to better sort the topics of your forum. You can download an Excel Template file that you can use to plan your forum.
Choose the hosting plan:
Starting a forum on forums.group does entail more work and costs than a YahooGroup die. We need to manually setup a subdomain for your forum, install the forum software and all the extras as well as customizations needed. We also have to migrate your members and message archives as requested. This requires our migration team to do a lot of work and is the reason we have to charge a registration fee to setup a forum for you. The extra work is worth it as forums are far superior than YahooGroups ever were and provide an excellent user experience.
Free HostingWe have a free hosting plan where there are still costs for setup and any extras you need and advertising is then displayed to your members (to pay our costs to host your group).
While free hosting sounds good, you only have moderator access to the forum and extras cost extra. This is OK for archive groups and groups with a low number of new messages.
Premium HostingThe premium plan costs more, but includes much more functionality, gives you admin control and there is no advertising displayed. You still have the option to have advertising displayed to help pay the forum costs for the following year - it is under your control. If you have a larger group, the premium option is highly recommended. Click here to see a feature comparison.
Migration from Yahoo Groups:
If you wish to revive your Yahoo Group archives on our platform, there are some extra steps that need to be done.
- Obtain the MBox-Format files that were released by Yahoo Groups. They are no longer offering them for download, but there is a good chance that you, or one of your members have already downloaded them. We need the file called "messages.zip" from that archive download. If you do not have a copy, ask if we have a backup copy or can find it for you. Once you have the zip file, you need to upload it to us. If they gave you other files as well, send them to us and we will restore them as well.
Alternatively and/or additionally, we can also use the messages captured in Microsoft Outlook. If any of your members have all the posts stored in Outlook, it is a simple job to create an empty PST file and copy all those messages into it. This can also include any messages posted after Yahoogroups removed their archives on December 16, 2019. By combining these archives, we can rebuild the messages from your community right up to the present day - you do not need to lose any of your archives! - Download the complete list of members from your Yahoo Group. Only the group Owner or empowered Moderator can do this. We give full details on how to do this on the Group Transfer Page. This has to be done BEFORE YahooGroups close down their service on December 15, 2020!
- Once we have received all the files, information and the payment, your group will be added to the processing queue and will be converted into a forum as soon as your group gets to the top of the list. Depending on how many orders are ahead of you, this can take some time during the transition period when we are expecting lots of orders. As long as you have backed up all the data we need before December 15, we will be able to migrate your forum. We have no deadline where we have to stop processing orders - if you have a copy of the data we need, we will restore it for you (provided the data is intact and not corrupted in any way).
