Doing the right thing, the wrong way

Andy Baio on Yahoo closing upcoming.org:

So, Yahoo’s finally decided to close Upcoming.org, the events community I started nearly ten years ago. And, in Yahoo’s typical fuck-off-and-die style, they’re doing it with 11 days notice, no on-site announcement, and no way to back up past events.

It’s difficult to argue with Yahoo’s decision to close upcoming.org, it’s a ghost town filled with spammers and scammers.  But, much like many other web properties thoughtlessly eaten up by Yahoo over the years it could have been something really great.

At this stage, when Yahoo comes knocking on a start up’s door they have to be looking at their track record.  And then it comes down to whether you want to cash in, or whether you want to create something that will last.