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Windows Live Messenger will be completely obsolete as of 31st October. Thats in china - it got killed off in march 2013 everywhere else.

As a result, any questions to do with WLM will be quite useless except in a historic sense. The software is entirely useless without the underlying servers and protocol, and any questions to do with them will not be of any use to future users (Unless someone installs WLM, and complains it dosen't work, of course).

I believe editing the tag wiki to reflect the EOL-ness would be a start. Do we get rid of the questions under the tag or leave them for historical purposes? In short, what should we be doing about dead software?

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  • I suggest they are simply locked for historical relevance. Is there any way to prevent people from using the tag though?
    – Ramhound
    Commented Sep 28, 2014 at 12:23
  • Afraid not. It would be useful sometimes
    – Journeyman Geek Mod
    Commented Sep 28, 2014 at 12:41
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    One of those times when anonymous feedback from users coming in via search engines would hint if the long tail was useful in any way, or frustrating for pulling them in
    – random Mod
    Commented Sep 28, 2014 at 13:19
  • I agree with locking them for historical significance, editing the tag wiki, and closing any new questions about it. If the new question says "Why doesn't WLM work?" mark it as a dupe of a canonical question explaining that this program is completely dead because its online service is gone. If it's any other kind of question about WLM, close it as off-topic and explain why.
    – allquixotic
    Commented Sep 28, 2014 at 15:21
  • 3
    I should note (though this is probably obvious, and JMG did explain this in his Q) that programs which don't strictly depend upon a specific online service are never truly dead; e.g. any non-networked software... technically even programs from a TRS-80 would be "relevant" since they still run on the proper hardware :P
    – allquixotic
    Commented Sep 28, 2014 at 15:22
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    Could you enlighten me on something? Despite WLM having shut down officially in most of the world, there is an application(Messenger Reviver) that allows for its use with the same network as Skype (because as of now, Skype piggybacks a little on the old Messenger network). Assuming Microsoft will still use the old network or, in opposition, WLM is made to work with the newer network through 3rd party software, it would still make some sense to have the tag.
    – Doktoro Reichard
    Commented Sep 30, 2014 at 19:17
  • @DoktoroReichard - How many questions will be asked by people who are unaware of that program? As time goes on WLM will become less and less relevant. I think we should be proactive about it.
    – Ramhound
    Commented Oct 1, 2014 at 11:27
  • @Ramhound The tag can be blacklisted, but only a dev can do that, and it's not something they do every day. Mods can't do that, unfortunately.
    – gparyani
    Commented Oct 3, 2014 at 1:00
  • @damryfbfnetsi - Yeah; Its not worth getting a developer involved; Its non-use isn't that important.
    – Ramhound
    Commented Oct 3, 2014 at 9:25
  • Keep the questions here but lock them. And should Windows Live Messenger reappear one day all good and new, then unlock them. The reason I say this is because close sources have informed me that they are considering a new version.
    – jay_t55
    Commented Oct 5, 2014 at 12:58
  • It's very unlikely they would announce the closure of these services, actually do it, only to continue development on WLM they have Skype they don't need WLM
    – Ramhound
    Commented Oct 12, 2014 at 15:36

2 Answers 2

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As to the tag wiki: definitely edit to note EOL of the software.

As to the questions: Leave them for historical purposes. There's no telling how the information in those questions may come in handy for someone later. Heck, MS has been known to reverse course on all sorts of things over the years. They could decide to turn the whole mess back on next week for all we know.

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I would leave them, but not just for historic purposes: some of the questions and/or their answers will have wider relevance to IM services in general despite having a Live Messenger specific tag, and to retire just those that do not would require manual review effort.

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