Yahoo Answers, a Haven for the Confused, Is Shutting Down

People used Yahoo Answers to ask weird questions, seek help and make jokes. But the service offered “real human reaction, for better or for worse,” one longtime observer said.

At times on Yahoo Answers, the people asking questions of strangers lunged for the hallucinatory limits of human curiosity: What would a heaven for elephants be like? Should scientists give octopi bones? It helped people identify their sense of self: Why do people with baguettes think they are better than me? Is being popular in high school a good skill I can use in a job interview? It sought explanations for the unexplainable: Smoke coming from my belly button? Why is everything at my grandma’s house moist?