Why do some questions stay in the system for three years?

All questions asked on this site, except those removed as violations or deleted by the asker, stay on this site forever. The site is only 3.5 years old (December 7, 2005 birthdate).

There are 3 stages of a question: OPEN, IN VOTING, and RESOLVED.

Stage 1 (OPEN) lasts 4 days or 8 days (if extended one time only for the additional 4 days). OR, it lasts until the person asking 'closes' it by choosing a Best Answer themselves any time after 4-5 hours after posting.

Stage 2 (In Voting) happens when the asker either does not choose a Best Answer before 4 (or 8) days, or when the asker does not WANT to choose a Best Answer and sends the question to voting earlier. In voting questions show up with all the answers made 'anonymous' so that voters (users like us) can vote for a Best Answer. Questions stay in voting for 2 days, if there is a clear winner at that time. If there is a TIE in the voting, the question stays in voting until somebody breaks the tie. That is why some questions there are over 3 years old -- they are still 'tied' and waiting for voters to end the tie.

Stage 3 (Resolved) are those questions that have had a Best Answer chosen. These are the questions under the 'Discover' tab and again, they will run 3-3.5 years old, back to the very beginnng of the site.

Yahoo! Answers has no site where you answer unanswered questions. A question is open for answers for 4 days. On the 3rd day you are sent a notice from Y!A that time is about to run out. That is when you should go back to your question and choose a Best Answer. If you don't choose a Best Answer within that time period, your question goes to voting, where the community (other Y!a members) vote for Best Answer. At this point, questions are closed to answers. If there is a tie for votes, a question can remain in a tie and in voting for indefinite periods, sometimes over a year. That's why some of us try to vote to clear up those ties and resolve those old questions that are sitting in a tie for votes. You can choose a Best Answer for your own questions after 4 hours have elapsed from the time you posted the question, and up to the 4th day.

The only thing you did wrong, was to not get back to your question within' that 4-day period the question is open, so you can choose a Best Answer. It's really not a big deal. It's a learning process. Early on, many people don't even know there's such a thing as Best Answer, and many don't know how or when to choose.

Usually questions still in the system that long are up for voting - in a tiebreaker, no best answer chosen yet, or never voted on. But, they are not usually able to put a new answer on such a question. I'm curious now.

incase someone researches the internet the questions can come up as a search result in google for example