RIP Yahoo Answers, will permanently shut down on May 4
After a storied history of 15 years, Yahoo Answers is shutting down. And along with it dies one of the last vestiges of the internet, before it was taken over by faceless corporate pretenders such as Facebook that replaced the human element with manipulative algorithms. Starting April 20, users won't be able to upload new answers, with the site going offline on May 4.
Site couldn't keep up with competitors such as Reddit, Quora
Yahoo cites the site becoming less popular as the reason for the decision to let go of the platform. The site is 840th most visited website in the US and pulls in 60 million visitors a month. To put that into perspective, Quora pulls in 504 million visitors, with another competitor Reddit also doing exceptionally well. Yahoo Answers essentially failed to evolve with time.
Yahoo informs users of shutdown through email
"While Yahoo Answers was once a key part of Yahoo's products and services, it has become less popular over the years as the needs of our members have changed... On May 4th the site will be shutting down," Yahoo stated in an email to users.
Parent company had also shuttered Yahoo Groups citing same reasons
Yahoo was acquired by Verizon Media Group for $5 billion in 2017, but it doesn't seem keen on doing anything with the acquisitions. Last year, Verizon also shut down Yahoo Groups citing the same excuse and claiming to move away from user-generated interactions to "premium, trustworthy content". The political nature of recent content on Yahoo Answers is also speculated to be a deciding factor.
Users have until June 30 to download their data
Yahoo has put up an FAQ detailing the shutdown. But the main takeaway is that users have until June 30 to request their data, which includes "all user-generated content including your Questions list, Questions, Answers list, Answers, and any images". However, you cannot download content belonging to other users, which means the greatest Yahoo Answer of all time will be lost forever.
Internet historian collective slams Verizon for squandering away Yahoo properties
Yahoo's parent company Verizon has a history of either selling or shutting down its properties such as GeoCities, Del.ic.ious, Flickr, Yahoo Messenger, and Yahoo Groups over the years. Jascon Scott of Archive Team, which is involved in preserving internet history was quite critical of Verizon and blamed it of craven complacency while speaking to BuzzFeed News. The Archive Team has already mirrored Yahoo Answers.
Jason Scott of Archive Team blames Verizon's 'craven corporate' greed
"It's clear that Verizon bought Yahoo and never wanted to be in the user content business. And every move they've been doing has been the most craven corporate, reduced liability, reduced exposure move that they can do...We don't trust anything that Yahoo owns, period."
