Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin, a Russian mystic born in the 1800s, supposedly survived being poisoned, shot, and beaten (though a subsequent drowning did him in). Now Google Answers is also proving hard to kill, and it has resurfaced in the same part of the world.
According to a rough translation from Google’s official Russian blog, the Mountain View-based company stated, “We are particularly pleased to announce that Russia – the world’s first country where we are launching this service; It is not even available for English language users.”
This isn’t quite the same old Google Answers, however – the words “new” and “beta” are used in the blog entry, and it appears that the service’s name is actually Google Questions and Answers.
Furthermore, Tony Ruscoe notes on Google Blogoscoped, “Nowhere does the announcement mention paying for answers, which was the basis for the old Google Answers site. Instead, it’s free to ask questions, like at Yahoo! Answers.” That may make the new Google site more competitive than its predecessor.
“However,” Ruscoe continues, “when asking a question, you must specify how many points you wish to spend on asking the question – and you must have these points available. Presumably, these points then get awarded to the best answer.”
As determined by Alex Moskalyuk, users can also get points by simply logging in on a daily basis.
Although no official plans have been announced, we can probably expect this reincarnated Google Answers to show up in the US soon enough; more options are nice to have, so we’ll welcome it with open arms. If you see ol’ Rasputin, though, a better option would be to run away.
