Say "goodbye" to one of the internet's favorite dinosaurs.
Yahoo announced today that its' social Q&A platform, Yahoo Answers, will shut down on May 4.
In addition to the shut down, users will no longer be able to post questions or answers on the site beginning on April 20.
Head on over to Yahoo Answers right now — what that's not a site you already visit daily? — and you'll find a message at the top of the page explaining the sunsetting of the service.
"Yahoo Answers is shutting down on May 4, 2021 (Eastern Time) and beginning April 20, 2021 (Eastern Time) the Yahoo Answers website will be in read-only mode," reads the prompt. "There will be no changes to other Yahoo properties or services, or your Yahoo account. You can find more information about the Yahoo Answers shutdown and how to download your data on this help page."
According to a FAQ page linked in the announcement, the "read-only" version of Yahoo Answers will only be available between April 20 and May 4. Then, Yahoo Answers will completely cease to exist, redirecting users who try to access it to the main Yahoo page.
Yahoo Answers first launched in June 2005. The site often provided internet comedy gold and was a source of funny memes due to the poorly-worded questions and flat-out wrong answers. Probably the best example is the 2006 post from user kavya asking "how is babby formed? How girl get pragnent?"
Today, the front page of Yahoo Answers is filled with conspiracy-fueled questions about George Floyd's death, Joe Biden's presidency, and the Holocaust.
Prior to the site being shut down, users can download all of their Yahoo Answers data by going to this link. In short, you need to go to the "Privacy Dashboard and Controls" page while logged into your Yahoo account. Then click "Download My Data" located under the "Download and view your Yahoo data" section. You will need to select the Yahoo Answers service and provide the email address where you'd like to receive a notice that the data archive is ready.
Upon receiving your email, the Yahoo Answers data will be available on the "Privacy Dashboard and Controls" page. Yahoo says it can take up to 30 days for the data archive to be ready for download.
"Your content must be requested before June 30, 2021," Yahoo says.
According to The Verge, Yahoo Answers sent an additional note to active members of the Yahoo Answers community explaining the shutdown.
"We launched Yahoo Answers sixteen years ago to help people around the world connect and share information," begins Yahoo's message. "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," the note continues. "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."
Yahoo also provided an email address -- [email protected] -- to users who would like to leave feedback about the company's decision. (Verizon purchased Yahoo, in 2017 for almost $5 billion.)
So, farewell Yahoo Answers, a relic of the old Internet. May the Fourth be with you.
Topics Yahoo
