Yahoo Answers
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Yahoo Answers was a community question-and-answer platform launched by Yahoo in December 2005. Users asked questions on any topic and other users answered them, building one of the early web largest user-generated knowledge bases with millions of questions answered over 16 years.
02 / Yahoo Answers FAILURE REASONS
Failure reasons
Yahoo Answers became less popular over the years as member needs changed and newer Q&A communities such as Quora and Reddit drew users away, while answer quality and moderation problems eroded its standing. Yahoo said it would shift resources away from Answers toward products that better served its members and delivered premium trusted content. After the April 5, 2021 announcement, posting ended April 20 and the site ceased operations on May 4, 2021; the archive was deleted on June 30, 2021.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Product launch
Yahoo launches Yahoo Answers as a community Q&A platform.
- Closure announced
On April 5, 2021 Yahoo announces Yahoo Answers will shut down, citing declining popularity.
- Operations ended
Posting ends April 20, 2021 and the site ceases operations on May 4, 2021; the 16-year archive is deleted on June 30, 2021.
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN
How the factors connect
- 01
Early giant of community Q&A, launched 2005
- 02
Lost users to Quora and Reddit
- 03
Declining popularity, resources shifted away
- 04
Shut down May 4, 2021 after 16 years