Answerbag

Answerbag (known colloquially as "AB") was a collaborative online database of FAQs, where questions were asked and answered by users. Instead of the one question—one answer model, multiple answers to a given question were presented, in descending order of user ratings. As of December 2006, Answerbag was the second largest social Q&A site next to Yahoo! Answers. In a comparison with Yahoo! Answers and MSN Live QnA, Cnet declared that Answerbag was neck and neck with Yahoo! Answers.

A user who had created an account can ask and answer questions, comment on answers, rate questions and answers, and suggest new categories. Users had profile pages where their points and submissions are reviewable by other users, and 'leaderboards' show current and all-time contributors in categories such as "Most questions asked" and "Most positive ratings received." Answerbag was removed from usage by OnDemand Media on December 15, 2015. No warning to the users that it was being removed. Just a message on the main page saying Answerbag is no longer available. Thank You for your patronage. Many former users have created accounts on Answermug. Many even keeping their same user name from Answerbag.

History

Answerbag was founded in July 2003, by Joel Downs and acquired in early 2006 by Infosearch Media. However, on October 3, 2006, Answerbag announced it would join with Demand Media. Although there is not a real document for the history of Answerbag ever since its creation in 2003, one of the oldest users has answered some questions by including certain parts of Answerbag 1.0 and 2.0. In late 2006, Answerbag received press attention by announcing that it would release a read/write API for their Q&A database. Answerbag has changed its format and completely overhauled the design of its site recently.

Answerbag released the first Social Q&A API in February 2007, allowing other sites to read Q&A and contribute new Q&A from their users into the shared Answerbag database.

On August 1, 2007 Answerbag publicly announced the creation of community leader roles, who are chosen by site staff to help moderate the site and manage content.

On December 2007, member Kyogre-Stataen presented a special document known as Project Answerbag. This document consisted of a complete series of descriptions of the structure of Answerbag, moderations, and points systems. After a short time, several users have adopted these guidelines as the official structure of Answerbag. It is still uncertain whether Project Answerbag has officially been declared as the official document on Answerbag, since no official authority has been issued at this time.

In late 2009, Answerbag was made over with a new design and features, including a private message system. The redesign did not go over well with many veteran members, as some have voiced their displeasure on the website. As interest in the site dropped, Demand Media stopped maintaining the site and users were plagued by chronic "403 Errors" and other problems. The site also became loaded with low-end advertising for "Russian Girlfriends."

The site was closed on December 15, 2015 without advanced notification to users or advertisers; the website banner was simply changed to say "Answerbag.com is no longer available. Thank you for your patronage."

See also

• Amazon Askville
• Askalo
• Blurtit
• Experience Project
• GirlsAskGuys
• Google Answers
• Quora
• Hunch
• Knowledge Search
• Virtual volunteering
• WikiAnswers
• Yahoo! Answers

External links

• Answerbag
• TechCrunch: Read/Write API Coverage
• Socaltech.com: Demand Media Buys Answerbag.com
• Cnet Review: Answerbag vs. Yahoo Answers and MSN Live QnA
• Hitwise: Traffic comparison for Social Q&A Sites
• Cnet: Answerbag offers video answers
• O'Reilly: Web 2.0 Conference Live Q&A via Answerbag.com
• MIT Tech Review: Social Q&A Roundup
• Press release: InfoSearch Acquired Answerbag.com
• Socaltech.com: Interview with Joel Downs, Answerbag founder
• API Documentation