End of an Era: RIP Yahoo Answers
Break the Internet ®

End of an Era: RIP Yahoo Answers

There are few sites that hold a special place in our hearts like Yahoo Answers. A part of the mid 2000s-era of earnest internet idealism that arguably put way too much stock in the idea that free exchange of information could only be a net positive for humanity, Yahoo Answers was a site where users could pose any question that had been nagging them to the larger public in the hopes that some collective consensus might be reached. Suffice to say, this was not the case and instead Yahoo Answers became a comedy gold mine of bad advice, trolling and memes in the making.

Now, after almost 16 years since it first went online, Yahoo has announced that they will be shutting down Yahoo Answers for good come May 4. Ahead the full shut down, the site will stop accepting new questions starting April 20 and any users looking to save their best answers or digital punchlines before they are unceremoniously shunted off into the ether will have until June 30 to download their content. Afterwards, Yahoo Answers will just redirect to the Yahoo homepage.

According to the Verge, active Yahoo Answers users were sent an email on Monday informing them of the site's impending closure and explaining the decision behind the move. "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 company writes. "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 Answers will join the graveyard of online cultural archives shuttered by the one-time Google competitor such as Geocities, Yahoo Groups and pre-porn ban Tumblr. In fairness, a quick trip to modern day Yahoo Answers does reveal that the site has become kind of a cesspool of right-wing conspiracy-peppered discussion with questions like "Will America survive 4 years of Joe Biden?" and "Will this summer be record riots by BLM and antifa?" comprising a good portion of the homepage. With debate over Section 230, the part of internet law that allows companies to not be held liable for the content posted by their users, kicking back up, it might also be that Yahoo didn't want to open themselves up to possible legal headaches should it get repealed or overturned.

So as we watch the flaming husk of Yahoo Answers get cast off towards the sunset, let's take a trip down memory lane and remember some of the site's greatest hits.

Photo via Getty

Fashion

Coolest Person in the Room: Jacques Agbobly

Story by Andrew Nguyen / Photography by Diego Villagra Motta