My Yahoo mail was shut down... how long until I can register again?

[Kansas Man]

My Yahoo e-mail account and Geocities web account were closed by Yahoo. I'll spare you the details, except to say that the cancellation wasn't really justified.

Anyway, my Geocities URL is listed very high in Google and I'd like to re-register with the same URL ASAP to keep with audience with me.

Do you know how long Yahoo takes a name out of circulation before it makes it available again?

[Duckster]

Have you read the Yahoo/Geocities Terms of Use?

Keep in mind, their justification for closing your account belongs to Yahoo, and not you. You may not feel it is "justified," but under their TOS, you have very little to go on.

I seriously doubt your account would be reopened anytime soon.

In short, it's gone.

[Revtim]

Maybe another portal will suit your needs; I know a few.

But I'm not going to mention them unless I become reasonably convinced you weren't spamming. I also humbly request nobody else mentions any others unless we get a reasonably convincing story of why the account was closed. Let's not help people spam, OK?

[Derleth]

Revtim, portals are not hard to find. If we're dealing with a spammer, what we say or refrain from saying will be meaningless.

[Kansas Man]

I'm not a spammer. My Geocities website exposed a con-artist who had defrauded people. While all the facts on the website were true (and I included all local newspaper stories on the guy and his scam) the guy who it was about complained that it broke the TOS because it was defamatory.

(I only mentioned the Yahoo e-mail account because they own Geocities and both accounts are linked. I could care less about the e-mail account. It was the web host I am interested in.)

Is it defamatory to warn people about someone with an unblemished record of scamming others out of their money? Geocities (understandably) didn't want the headache of sorting out this matter (especially since it's a free account).

Anyway, I'm not asking how to convince them to reopen my website. I know they won't. But what I'm asking is when they will unlock that "account name" so that me (or anyone else) can sign up for a free website with that name.

[Duckster]

Yahoo/Geocities must deal with hundreds, if not thousands, of closed account issues daily. Under their TOS, they just shut down a account/site. Rather than have to deal with those users who abused the TOS and lost their account, it's easier to just inactivate the account and leave it at that. While they may again open the account to other users down the road, don't expect it any time soon, and don't expect access to the web site it was tied.

It's gone.