Why is yahoo answers shutting down?

Technically, Yahoo/Verizon doesn't have to give a reason why the are closing it down.

As they put it:

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

They'd probably just stick with "cost" and "low traffic" and "outdated" (ie: we had plans to update it or the site, but it would have cost too much).

In addition with Reddit and Quora and other services, who is to say just how low of traffic YA really gets.

I wouldn't be surprised if it was a way to avoid potential legal issues due to the laws some countries are coming up with regarding internet usage.  Remember when Australia had a law against allowing certain kinds of articles to be posted that Facebook had to basically censor any articles going into Australia.  You had other times that websites just basically stopped offering service to a country while a particularity phrased law was on the books.

By removing Yahoo Answers, it removes one avenue of litigation since it is an open forum and so people could post virtually any topic here.

Also, if you look at some of the questions ... you also see "why is [group] retarded" and "does this make me look [insert description]" and you get into heavily ..... biased .... questions .... that don't really spark any sort of debate or looking for a real answer to something.

Finally, given the amount of info on the internet, there is less and less need for an "Answer" when sites like Wikipedia or dedicated wikis exist for almost everything and people post so much there is likely an answer for your question.

This is the reason:

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. 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

Everyone has own life and consistent feelings regardless of day . So it's up to one person to say they have to live to live life and not care