Yahoo Contributor Network/Yahoo Voices Shutting Down

In an announcement that caught several hundred thousand writers by surprise, Yahoo announced it was closing the popular Yahoo Contributor Network which is had acquired from Associated Content only a few years earlier.

Yahoo told its writers--some of whom had been with the site for a decade--that it would keep articles up for the month of July, make one final payment, and then delete all content. At that time the rights would revert back to the writers.

In limbo are the articles made "for hire" which Yahoo said it might chose to keep or delete, reminding writers that works for hire become the property of Yahoo and they can do what they want with them.

The Yahoo site had been having major issues keeping tracking of page views and dealing with changes in the Google algorithms, most recently "Panda." But some writers are speculating that the acquisition of Associate Content was merely a ploy to get rid of its content competition on the web and that Yahoo may have never had any long-term plans for the Yahoo Contributor Network. It is unknown if any attempt was ever made to sell the site to any interested parties.

Stay tuned for more details and updates.