Why Did Google Answers End? An Insider's Answer

Someone asked this question at Uclue, which was a good place to ask, because:

There are currently 43 former Google Answers Researchers registered at Uclue. And realistically, that represents most, if not all, of the Researchers who remained active to the end of Google Answers.

Part of the answer reads:

The GARs who remained until the end, and put up with the failed email notification system (which was supposed to notify customers of activity on their questions, but stopped doing so), and who watched with disbelief when Google took their primary link for Google Answers off of their list of 'More' services, felt that Google Answers might fail simply because it was not only not being promoted and well-maintained, but the opposite seemed to be occurring. Repairs to the system were slower in coming, if they were
made at all. Communication between GARs and Google Answers administrators
dropped off as newsletters decreased in frequency and responses to email
consisted increasingly of only canned replies.

So, in the long run, it seemed clear to the GARs that Google Answers
failed precisely because it was increasingly a non-priority for those who
had developed it, and they were putting their attention elsewhere. It
seemed that it was no longer the shiny, new experiment of two new and
excited software engineers, but a now-familiar distraction from new and
different projects, which simply wasn't worth the time and effort to repair
or maintain.