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Google Answers was a Knowledge Market offered by Google that allowed users to post Bounties for well researched answers to their queries. It was launched in April 2002 , and moved out of Beta in May 2003 . In late November 2006, Google reported that it planned to permanently shut down the service, and it was fully closed to new activity by late December 2006, although its archives remain available.http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/11/adieu-to-google-answers.html Official Google blog post announcing the closure http://news.com.com/8301-10784_3-6139345-7.html November 29, 2006 ''Google Answers: RIP'' Posted by Elinor Mills, C-NET OVERVIEW After the failure of the Google Questions and Answers service from August 2001, Google launched a new service called Google Answers in April 2002. It was designed to be an extension to the conventional search-- rather than doing the search themselves, users would pay someone else to do the search. Customers could ask questions, offer a price for an answer, and Researchers, who were called Google Answers Researchers or GARs, answered them. Researchers were not Google employees, but contractors that were required to complete an application process to be approved to answer for the site. They were limited in number (according to Google, there were more than 500 Researchers; in practice, there were fewer active Researchers). The application process tested their research and communication abilities. Prices for questions ranged from $2 to $200; after a question was answered, Google kept 25% of the payment, with the answering Researcher receiving the rest. In addition to the Researcher’s fees, a client who was satisfied with the answer could also leave a tip of up to $100. If a question was not answered, the client would not pay the question's price. However, in addition to the question's price, determined by the client, Google also charged a non-refundable $0.50 listing fee. Naturally, the higher the fee and the simpler the question, the more likely it was to be answered. Once a question was answered, it remained available for anyone to browse and comment on for free. Each question page had three parts:
Researchers with low ratings could be fired, a policy which encouraged eloquence and accuracy. Also, Google stated that people who commented might be selected to become Researchers, therefore inspiring high quality comments. In practice, however, hardly any new Researchers had been hired since the original process in 2002. The service came out of beta in May 2003 and received more than 100 question postings per day when the service ended in December 2006. For a Researcher, a question was answered by logging into a special researchers page and then "locking" a question they wanted to answer. This act of "locking" claimed the question for that researcher. Questions worth less than $100 could be locked for up to four hours, and questions worth more than $100 could be locked up to eight hours at a time in order to be properly answered. A Researcher could only lock one question at a time. CONSTRAINTS Google's policies prohibited answering questions that would obviously lead to or contain:
CRITICISM Some Librarians have criticised Google Answers as a service selling services that are part of the tasks of public librarians (in the United States ). The most vocal of these critics has been former Google Answers Researcher Jessamyn West,http://www.infotoday.com/searcher/oct02/west.htm whose contract was terminated after she violated the site’s terms of service by publishing an article about her experience as a Google Answers Researcher.http://www.infotoday.com/SEARCHER/jan03/west.shtml Other reference librarians claimed that the service was not detrimental to libraries, but simply operated in parallel to them http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=329159. Other critics claimed that the service encourages Plagiarism . The official Google Answers policy was to remove questions that appeared to be school assignments. However, some journalists expressed concerns that sometimes it is difficult to distinguish between a “legitimate” question and a homework assignment, especially in regards to sciences and programming. UNCONVENTIONAL USES Despite its professionalism, Google Answers has also developed its own unique "facts" . Google Answers Researchers are not always keen to answer such questions. Because the comment section was open for any registered user, it was sometimes abused by Spammers , attempting to promote a site’s PageRank by mentioning their sites. However, much of this content was removed by Google's Answers team. The site was also infested with Trolls who would use carefully crafted messages to trigger Flamewar s or make political statements. CLOSING OF THE SERVICE On December, 1, 2006, Google officially ended Google Answers. No new questions were accepted after November 30, 2006 and no new answers were accepted after December 31, 2006. All previously asked and answered questions are still available for anyone to view. Possible factors contributing to the retirement of the service include fewer people using the Google Answers service, the fact that it was no longer linked from Google's home page, and the fact that Google did not notify people when their question had been answered which thus resulted in user non-satisfaction. Some experts have suggested that in light of its shortcomings, it would be better for the Google Answers service to be shut down, rather than to remain in a languishing state. http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9005481&intsrc=hm_list In an email sent to registered researchers announcing the closure, Google wrote:
Several other free and paid knowledge markets have arisen in its place, including On June 28, 2007, Google opened a free Questions And Answers service as a replacement for Google Answers. Russia is the first country where this new service is available. NOTES SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS
;Academic research of Google Answers
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