Lycos US is closing its chat services and message boards from next month.

The portal is pulling the plug on its "Lycos Communities" (including chat, message boards, clubs and image galleries) from February 1. Terra Lycos is retaining chat etc. at its European sites.

Users who store any content on the service, such as digital photos, need to decide what to do - as Lycos ain't saving a thing. It's chucking the lot out.

In a statement on its Web site the outfit explained: "After February 1, 2004, Lycos Communities - including Chat, Message Boards, Clubs and Image Galleries - will be discontinued. All text, photos, messages and other content relating to Lycos Communities will be removed from the Lycos Network and will not be saved.

It went on: "The decision to close this site was a very difficult one for us and we understand that for many this will be a big disappointment. This change will enable Lycos to provide more and better support to key products and allow us to focus on developing new features and products for the future."

A spokesman for the company declined to say what these "new features and products" might be. Community products Lycos US is keeping include Angelfire, Tripod, Blogs and Matchmaker. ®