“Yahoo Answers” home to the worst questions on the Internet to close its doors after sixteen years of existence

What to do when you are torn by an absurd question about existence or a medical problem? The answer to asking complete strangers on the Internet for their opinion is obvious … For over fifteen years, it has been the ideal place to ask “Yahoo Questions / Answers” (“Yahoo Answers” in its original English version), or, as its name suggests, Internet users asking questions or Allows others to answer.

But on Tuesday, April 6, Yahoo announced that the platform was living in its final days. On May 4, 2021, “Yahoo Answers” will close its doors for good. “By April 20, you will no longer be able to post new questions and answers, but you will be able to view content that has already been published. On May 4, the site will close, The company announced in a press release. Internet users are encouraged to download their archives so as not to lose their history on the site.

Finally, on June 30, all data on the site will be permanently deleted. According to Yahoo, the number of its users has plummeted and the platform is no longer viable.

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“Yahoo Questions / Answers” are based on a very simple concept. Internet users can ask any question on different categories of topics (politics, cooking, cinema) and vote for other people’s questions to give more visibility to others. Then someone can answer the questions asked and again, vote to bring or hide the answers of others.

Very quickly, the platform became very popular, especially as Internet users liked to make fun of some “crazy” questions. “Is Pepperoni Pizza Vegetarian”, “I baked pancakes in the shape of Jesus. Am I going to hell?” Or “How do I disable capital letters on my keyboard?” “. With its popularity, “Yahoo Questions” also attracted all striped pranks and jokers, leading to a proliferation of absurd questions and answers designed to make people laugh.

But the site also faces moderation issues. Online media in 2018 To the edge Found “Yahoo Questions / Answers” as a search tool Regularly reports results containing racist provisions. Three years later, some searches still make it possible to find publications of extreme right or use racial slurs.