On May 4th, Yahoo Answers, one of the longest-running and most storied online Q&A sites in internet history, will shut down.
The Yahoo Answers website will begin redirecting to the Yahoo homepage on that date, and all of the platform’s archives will appear to be lost.
The platform has been around since 2005, and although its utility as a forum has dwindled due to the emergence of Reddit, Quora, and other rival internet hangouts, its popularity as a meme haven has remained intact.
With a brusque update on Yahoo Answers’ homepage, the Verizon-owned website confirmed the platform’s closure.
Yahoo explained on its support page that the portal will go into “read only” mode on April 20 and that avid users will have until June 30 to download content.
“While Yahoo Answers was once a crucial part of Yahoo’s products and services, as our members’ needs have changed, it has become less common over time,” Yahoo said.
The company “decided to move our resources away” from the product to “focus on products that better serve our members,” according to a note sent to active Yahoo Answers members.
The site “has become less successful over the years” and the company “decided to shift our resources away” from it to “focus on products that better serve our members,” according to the note.
Yahoo was purchased by Verizon (VZ) for $4.4 billion in 2017 and is now part of the Verizon Media Group, which also includes Aol.
Yahoo Answers, like many other parts of the internet, has become a breeding ground of conspiracy theories and bizarre questions, which has weighed down Yahoo’s reputation as it seeks to step upmarket.
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