No new thoughts, but a few points to emphasize:

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1. If the .io domain is deprecated, all articles we’ve seen so far point to a three-to-five-year transition period before the .io domain is removed.
2. This provides plenty of time for Mark and his team to develop and execute a plan to guide “Groups” through transition,
3. It is the top-level domain name .io that is potentially being retired, not “Groups” itself,
4. Groups itself, i.e. the collection of files, photos, data, messages, and membership data, physically exists wherever Mark and his team have stored it, either in their own datacenter, or purchased space on a server somewhere,
5. .io is just a domain, Mark and crew can simply register a new domain . .? “Groups.someothertopdomain”, and for starters redirect traffic from groups.io to groups.somothertop domain, which links to the existing physical location.? Over time, instead of referencing “groups.io”, folks begin referencing “groups.someothertopdomain”.? Eventually all references to the old domain are replaced by references to the new. The only thing users would need to do is to upgrade their groups e-mail address in their personal address book and replace any links they’ve retained new upgraded links to the new source. From the user perspective, pretty much like when various groups were migrated to groups.io from older platforms – On Friday, your group was located via your old domain.? On Monday you sent your e-mails to the new domain.? Actually, perhaps even simpler if Mark can use re-direct options.

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This is definitely not something any of us need to lose any sleep over.

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Best regards,

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Steve

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Steve Haas

Snoqualmie, WA

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