4 min read
Before everyone ‘Google-ed’ questions to find the proper answers, there was a platform called ‘Yahoo Answers’. The platform being one of the longest-running and web Q&A platforms in the history books of the internet will officially end on May 4th.
After May 4th, the Yahoo Answers website will redirect users to the Yahoo homepage. Moreover, all of the platform’s archives will cease to exist later on. Yahoo is currently a part of the Verizon Media Group as it was sold to the telecom for nearly $5 billion in 2017. In case of any queries or concerns, a FAQ page has been launched on the platform to help users better understand what to do when the platform ends.
Moreover, users will also have until June 30th to request their data otherwise it will be inaccessible. This includes “all user-generated content including your Questions list, Questions, Answers list, Answers, and any images,” Yahoo says, but “you won’t be able to download other users’ content, questions, or answers.”
Yahoo also sent more details to active Yahoo Answer members to better understand their reason behind the shutting down of the platform. The message is as follows:
Dear Yahoo Answers Community,
We launched Yahoo Answers sixteen years ago to help people around the world connect and share information. With you and millions of other users, we built the best place on the web to ask and answer questions on a variety of topics, creating a community of global knowledge sharing. While we could not have been prouder of what we accomplished together, we are reaching out today to let you know that we have decided to shut down Yahoo Answers on May 4th, 2021.
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. To that end, we have decided to shift our resources away from Yahoo Answers to focus on products that better serve our members and deliver on Yahoo’s promise of providing premium trusted content.
Starting on April 20th you will no longer be able to post any new questions or answers. However, you can still view any posted questions and answers until May 4th. On May 4th the site will be shutting down. If you would like to download a copy of your questions and answers you have posted, you can do this by signing into Your Privacy Dashboard and requesting a download. You will be able to do this until June 30th, 2021 after which your Yahoo Answers data will be securely deleted and no longer available. The closure of Yahoo Answers will not affect your Yahoo account or other Yahoo services. For further information and instructions on how to download your data, please visit our Frequently Asked Questions or copy and paste this URL into your browser: https://help.yahoo.com/kb/SLN35642.html
Thank you for contributing to Yahoo Answers — we’re proud and honored to have helped you connect with and learn from the Yahoo community these past sixteen years. If you’d like to provide feedback, please feel free to reach out to our team at [email protected].
Sincerely, The Yahoo Answers team
Yahoo Answers will surely be missed as it was the standard of getting information on numerous topics and staying connected with other individuals. Apart from just the intellectual side, the platform has had its fair share of silly yet popular questions such as:
Is an egg a fruit or a vegetable?
Was Abraham Lincoln really a vampire slayer?
Will my laptop get heavier if I put more files on it?
All in all, this surely seems like the end of Yahoo as the world of the internet advances even further.
