Google Answers
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/* Unconventional uses */
[[Image:Google Answers logo.png|right]]
'''Google Answers''' was a [[knowledge market]] offered by [[Google]] that allowed users to post [[bounty|bounties]] for well researched answers to their queries. It was launched in April [[2002]], and moved out of [[Development stage#Beta|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.<ref>http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/11/adieu-to-google-answers.html Official Google blog post announcing the closure</ref>
<ref>http://news.com.com/8301-10784_3-6139345-7.html November 29, 2006 ''Google Answers: RIP'' Posted by Elinor Mills, [[C-NET]]</ref>
[[Image:GoogleAnswers.PNG|thumb|right]]
==Overview==
After the failure of the [[Google Questions and Answers]] service from August 2001, Google launched 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. Anyone 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 the 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:
* The client's question, on which the Researcher could respond with a request for clarification if any part of a question was unclear
* The answer, which remained empty if the question had not yet been answered. Only a Researcher could post an answer. Any Researcher could answer any question, although askers could specifically request a certain Researcher in the title or body of their question. After the answer was posted, the client could communicate with the Researcher to ask for clarification of the answer; the client could also rate the answer on a one- to five-star system and tip the Researcher for a job well done.
* The comment section, where any registered user, Researchers and non-Researchers alike, could comment on the question. Some questions were "answered" in comments before a Researcher could answer. Naturally, this section, too, could be left empty, if no comments had been posted.
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:
* [[Copyright]] infringement and [[privacy]] violations.
* Plagiarism in homework assignments.
* Discussion of Google Answers itself, or about Google policies and mechanisms ([[PageRank]], for example).
* Links to [[Internet pornography|adult oriented sites]].
* Promotion of illegal activities (for example, how to make a [[bomb]])
==Criticism==
Some [[library|librarians]] have criticized 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,<ref>[http://www.infotoday.com/searcher/oct02/west.htm Information for Sale: My Experience With Google Answers<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> 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.<ref>[http://www.infotoday.com/SEARCHER/jan03/west.shtml Google Answers Back Or How to Become an Ex-"Google Answers" Researcher<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Other reference librarians claimed that the service was not detrimental to libraries, but simply operated in parallel to them <ref>[http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=329159 Google Answers: How does Google affect reference librarians?<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>.
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 regard to sciences and programming.
Google Answers came years after InfoRocket, a dotcom funded for the idea of an Information Ebay. It received 24 million, and failed, only to be sold to Keen.com its competitor.
Google Answers was also criticised because of the cost involved: [[Yahoo! Answers]] offered users a chance to ask questions for free, so Google Answers was much unused and eventually closed down.
==Unconventional uses==
Despite its professionalism, Google Answers had also developed its own unique [[cyberculture]]. One popular non-conventional practice was to ask [[nonsense]] questions, offering bounties in the $2-5 range. One of the most popular questions was “What is [[Meaning of life (philosophy)|the meaning of life]]?” <ref>http://www.google.com/search?as_sitesearch=answers.google.com&q=the+meaning+of+life&btnG=Search+Answers</ref>. Other questions were joke requests or [[Chuck Norris Facts|Chuck Norris "facts"]]. Google Answers Researchers were not always keen to answer such questions.
Because the comment section was open for any registered user, it was sometimes abused by [[spam (electronic)|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 [[Troll (Internet)|trolls]] who would use carefully crafted messages to trigger [[flaming (Internet)|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 dissatisfaction. 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. <ref>[http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9005481&intsrc=hm_list Google questions need for Google Answers<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> In an email sent to registered researchers announcing the closure, Google wrote:
<blockquote>
We considered many factors in reaching this difficult decision, and ultimately decided that the Answers community's limited size and other product considerations made it more effective for us to focus our efforts on other ways to help our users find information. <ref>[http://www.metafilter.com/56634/Google-loses-one-battle-to-the-competition Google loses one battle to the competition. | MetaFilter<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
</blockquote>
Several other free and paid knowledge markets have arisen in its place, including [[Uclue]] (owned and operated by former Google Answer Researchers), which more closely mimics Google Answers than most other sites. <ref>[http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070307-former-google-answers-researchers-get-uclue.html ''Former Google Answers researchers get Uclue''] - Jacqui Cheng, March 07, 2007 [[Ars Technica]]</ref>
== Russian version ==
On June 28, 2007, Google opened a free [[Google Questions and Answers|Questions and Answers]] service as a replacement for Google Answers. Russia is the first country where this new service is available.
== Chinese version ==
On August 20, 2007, Google and [[Tianya]] (a famous Chinese community website) launched a free Q&A service - “Tianya Answers“.
==Notes==
{{reflist}}
==See also==
* [[Yahoo! Answers]]
* [[Google Questions and Answers]]
==External links==
<!--As this article describes Google Answers in particular, please avoid posting links to sites that use the same general concept, rather than pages that directly relate to GA. Use the Knowledge market category, instead.-->
* [http://answers.google.com/answers/ Google Answers]
* [http://www.dmoz.org/Reference/Ask_an_Expert/For_a_Fee/ dmoz reference page for google answers like websites]
* [http://dailycalendar.googlepages.com/ "365 Days of Google Answers"] A calendar with information from answers on the service for each day of the year.
* [http://www.googleguide.com/answers.html Google Guide – Google Answers]
* David Sarokin, [http://www.freepint.com/issues/300605.htm#tips "An Insider's View of Google Answers"]
* Jessamyn West. [http://www.infotoday.com/searcher/oct02/west.htm "Information for Sale: My Experience With Google Answers"], ''Searcher'', Vol. 10, No. 9. October 2002, retrieved November 21, 2006.
* Jessamyn West. [http://www.infotoday.com/SEARCHER/jan03/west.shtml "Google Answers Back Or How to Become an Ex-"Google Answers" Researcher"], ''Searcher'', Vol. 11, No. 1. January 2003, retrieved November 21, 2006.
;Academic research of Google Answers
* Benjamin Edelman of [[Harvard University]] checked the [http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/people/edelman/pubs/googleanswers-011404.pdf Earnings and Ratings at Google Answers] (pdf)
* D Bainbridge, SJ Cunningham, JS Downie, [http://ismir2003.ismir.net/papers/Bainbridge.pdf “How People Describe Their Music Information Needs: A Grounded Theory Analysis Of Music Queries”] (pdf)
* SJ Cunningham, D Bainbridge, M Masoodian, “How people describe their image information needs: a grounded theory analysis of visual arts queries” Digital Libraries, 2004. Proceedings of the 2004 Joint ACM/IEEE Conference, June 2004
* Tobias Regner, “Why Voluntary Contributions? Google Answers” CMPO Working Paper Series No. 05/115 [http://www.bris.ac.uk/Depts/CMPO/workingpapers/wp115.pdf]
* Anne R. Kenney, Nancy Y. McGovern, Ida T. Martinez, Lance J. Heidig, “Google Meets eBay: What Academic Librarians Can Learn from Alternative Information Providers” D-Lib Magazine, June 2003, Volume 9 Number 6 [http://www.dlib.org/dlib/june03/kenney/06kenney.html]
* [[Sheizaf Rafaeli]], Daphne R. Raban, Gilad Ravid "Social and Economic Incentives in Google Answers", [http://jellis.net/research/group2005/papers/RafaeliRabanRavidGoogleAnswersGroup05.pdf] (pdf)
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