Yahoo Answers, But What Is the Question?

At first blush it's hard to pinpoint exactly what unique niche Yahoo is trying to fill. Yahoo Answers enables people to ask questions about "facts" or opinions and uses others to provide the answers, but its niche is hardly unique.

For facts, there are plenty of relatively trustworthy sources, including the recently maligned Wikipedia. For opinions, there are countless blogs and user groups that have dedicated followings and expertise on every subject imaginable. For the ability to query in everyday language, there's AskJeeves. And of course good old search can answer most questions.

I realize I'm rushing to judgment because Yahoo Answers just came out, but this service has to greatly evolve to gain enough of an audience to attract advertisers. The questions are listed from most recent backwards, but you should be able to filter by the most viewed or commented on (taking a page from social bookmarking sites).

Also, wouldn't it be more useful if there were recommended places where answers might be found? For example, if you want to find out about the aboriginal peoples of New Zealand, where might I look if the answers listed are incomplete?

A secondary listing of sites recommended by users would be expedient, for example, adding ratings to the Yahoo directory. And I'm expecting that an ad supported set of search results will be out in the near future.