Almost three years ago, back in 2018, Yahoo Messenger shut down after a staggering 20-year-long run. Now, the Verizon-owned web company has decided to shut down yet another Yahoo platform. The popular Q&A platform Yahoo Answers will shut down on May 4.
Recently spotted by The Verge, Yahoo announced the shutdown at the top of the Yahoo Answers homepage (image below). The surprise announcement links to an FAQ page, which further details the platform’s shutdown timeline. Moreover, it states that Yahoo Answers will accept no new entries or submissions following April 20.
Now, for the uninitiated, Yahoo Answers was launched way back in 2005. Since its initial days, the platform has been one of the longest-running Q&A services on the internet.
Yahoo, however, thinks that the platform has become “less popular over the years”. As a result, the company is now planning to shift its resources from the product to “focus on products that better serve [its] members,” Yahoo wrote in a note sent to Yahoo Answers members.
Now, before completely shutting down the platform, Yahoo will let users download their data shared on the platform. They can request access to their data until June 30. This includes “all user-generated content including your Questions list, Questions, Answers list, Answers, and any images” on the platform. Moreover, “you won’t be able to download other users’ content, questions, or answers” on the platform.
Following the May 4 closure date, the data will become inaccessible. There is no word on whether Verizon plans to archive the Yahoo Answers data and make it available as a Q&A guide online. But yeah, you will now have to resort to other credible platforms to get answers to your queries.
