Yahoo has announced that it is shutting down Yahoo Answers, its question-and-answer website, around 15 years since it first launched.
If you visit the Yahoo Answers website, you will now see a notice about the shutdown.
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The website is set to shut down permanently on 4 May.
However, users will lose functionality sooner than that. From 20 April, the Yohoo Answers website will be converted to read-only mode. This means that users will not be able to add new questions or answers to the website.
Yahoo notes that the shutdown doesn’t include any changes to other Yahoo websites or services, and doesn’t affect users’ accounts.
What to know about the Yahoo Answers shutdown
If you’ve used the Yahoo Answers website and would like to download your data, you are able to do so. However, Yahoo notes you need to request yoour data before 30 June.
The data download will include your “Questions list, Questions, Answers list, Answers, and any images”. Yahoo notes you can’t download content from other users, such as their questions or answers.
The content download package can take up to 30 days to receive.
After the announcement, users posted questions asking about theories regarding the shutdown. Some wondered if it had to do with the quality of the site’s content, while others blamed censorship.
In all likelihood, it’s simply a business decision. However, Yahoo did not provide a reason in its FAQ on the closure.
Rather, it said that users should use Yahoo Search in order to check for answers to questions in future.
Meanwhile, some users said they would try out competing services such as Quora.
Feature image: Yahoo
