Anyone know more about facebook and the community chats going away then being deleted? and what to do

[bobbler]

On facebook I'm in a few private groups and I've just clicked on one and got the following notice

Community chats are going away starting October 5​

---

These chats are now paused. You can still read messages, but won't be able to send new ones.

Chats linked to Facebook Groups will be permanently deleted.

You can download your messages from this chat in the Accounts Center.


Does anyone have any advice on what this change means and what the best thing to do is? I know this might vary depending on the group. As the only option is to "download you information"

and I'm not fully sure what this means things will be replaced with.

Obviously due to memory fun it is often useful to be able to search for 'that thing I saw discussed or discussed some time back' would be the main reason I guess but I have no idea what I'll be downloading

I'm also intrigued why this change is happenning and what is replacing it?

 

[Kitty]

Does anyone have any advice on what this change means and what the best thing to do is?

Apparently they're trying to migrate people to other platforms like Messenger or WhatsApp. The older content will still remain, I think, it's just that they're not allowing people to add more. I don't know how long it will be kept for—it might be available long term, like timeline posts.

You'll probably find all the content you'd like to keep is downloaded. Maybe try it and see what's there? You won't need to read it all, a quick scan will give you a sense of what's included.