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MSN Groups’ Adult and Mature categories were part of a service that Microsoft later closed, but the available historical record does not establish exactly when or how those categories were discontinued. Microsoft’s broader notice announced that MSN Groups would close on February 21, 2009, and offered users a way to move communities to Multiply.
What were MSN Groups’ Adult and Mature categories?
MSN Groups was an online community service where people could create and participate in groups. A historical overview associates the headline “MSN to Close Adult, Mature Groups” with its Adult and Mature categories and says users could no longer create a group as Adult or change a group to that category. However, that overview does not provide a sufficiently detailed primary record to confirm the category policy’s exact wording, scope, or effective date. The timing and precise terms of the Adult/Mature category action therefore remain unresolved.
When did MSN Groups close?
Microsoft’s customer notice, reproduced in a November 2008 discussion archive, announced that MSN Groups would close on February 21, 2009. Later secondary reporting says the shutdown was extended to February 23. February 21 was the announced date; the later account is the basis for describing February 23 as the reported final shutdown date. Neither date establishes when the Adult/Mature categories themselves stopped being available.
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Microsoft’s notice said it had partnered with Multiply to offer a migration process intended to preserve online communities and their history. That describes the offer and its goal, not proof that every group or every item of content transferred successfully. The notice also said the closure was part of an effort to update and realign Microsoft’s online services with Windows Live. That was Microsoft’s stated rationale.
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What alternatives did Microsoft offer?
| Option | What it was | What the historical record supports |
|---|---|---|
| Multiply | Microsoft’s partner service for moving MSN Groups communities. | The customer notice described a migration process intended to preserve communities and their history. It does not establish that every community or all its content transferred successfully. |
| Windows Live Groups | A separate Microsoft service for small-group collaboration. | It was described as a new collaboration service, not a direct replacement for the full range of MSN Groups communities. |
TechCrunch’s contemporaneous report repeated Microsoft’s broader explanation and identified Multiply as the migration option. Its framing is the reporter’s account, while the closure rationale above is attributed to Microsoft’s reproduced customer notice.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Can former members access or close an old MSN Group through Outlook?
No current Outlook Groups support instructions establish how to access, close, or recover a defunct MSN Group. Those instructions concern a different, currently supported product. Outlook Groups should not be treated as a way to retrieve historical MSN Groups communities or data.
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