Why does Answers.com say ask us anything when they really don't answer anything at all?

Answer 1

Answers says ask us anything because one of our goals is to find answers to the world's questions. Do we accomplish that goal perfectly? Definitely not, but aiming high helps us to accomplish more than if we said "ask us a few questions about Pokemon, and we will answer them." Saying that we don't answer anything at all is inaccurate. There are hundreds of thousands of correctly and sometimes even beautifully answered questions on this site, and we increase that number every day.

Because we are a wiki-type site, we depend on help from the community... including you. Including everyone who comes here. We love it when people join in and help us answer the world's questions, and help each other to find answers. Not everyone has the same vision, and some people type in incorrect answers or even vandalism. We work on catching those people, and if you see someone doing something like that, we urge you to tell us. It takes a lot of people to make a site like this work. We welcome you to join us as we find answers for each other.
You really can post questions on any subject ! However - certain questions may be moved to an area of the site only accessible by us supervisors - if the question is offensive, or asking how to commit a crime etc.

Other than that, there are questions on literally thousands of subjects.
You can ask anything... provided it's suitable to be read by 13-year-old children. Since young people have access to the Answers website, questions should be worded as to not cause offense to anyone. Questions should also be on an appropriate subject matter.
Answers invites you to ask us ANYTHING!

Answers is a wiki, which means that it's a website collaboratively written and edited by the users. The Answers community is made up of thousands of contributors from all over the world, and when you ask a question, you reach individuals in nearly every field, ranging in experience, with various viewpoints! With a resource like this, you can ask us nearly ANYTHING!
It is the phrase Answers uses in the big Ask bar at the top of the screen, it means that you can ask anything on Answers.
We are willing to consider anything that you are curious about. That doesn't necessarily mean that ALL questions asked will be answered, or that all ALL possible questions are suitable for the site. Answers are submitted not by paid staff (there is a small paid staff responsible for maintaining the system and keeping general order) but by ordinary users from around the world. Some questions ask about illegal activities or are violations of someone's privacy. Sometimes people submit questions that are attempts to cyberbully, or that are out and out vandalism. These questions are not acceptable. But for the most part, there is an amazingly wide array of interesting and thought provoking questions for everyone to work on.
Because you can ask us anything and we will Answer it, or not
It means no question is out of bounds---as long as it does not violate TOS/TOU. There are no dumb questions.
It's impossible to know everything. It's better to have no answer at all than one that is wrong. The contributors who answer the questions asked on this site either know much about the subject, but quite a number do research to help find an answer for your questions which is a major reason why not all questions are answered immediately.

Another thing is that some questions posted are either incomplete or are structured poorly (such as yours which should have been something closer to "Why say 'ask us anything' when you can't answer anything?") making them unanswerable, ask personal opinions which differ from person to person, or are otherwise just plain ridiculous.
There is always a possibility that you could receive an answer, but many will not be provided right away, because they are done by a wide base of other users like yourself, a group that is constantly increasing in size. The sheer number of questions means that some new questions will wait some time before being found by someone who can answer them correctly.

However, should you ask a question that is already answered, you have an answer immediately. Or you may find a similar answer that provides information that will help you in researching your question.
Answer 1

Maybe people aren't in the mood to answer other people's problems.

Answer 2

There are hundreds of thousands of questions that are unanswered. The reason for this is that there are not thousands of contributors who are taking the time to answer a hundred questions apiece. As a result, people answer the questions that they see, not every single question.

Answer 3

Additionally, some categories are better monitored than other. Finally, some questions ask for obscure or difficult information to find, so people prefer to leave those for other people. Just because our motto is to "Ask Us Anything", that doesn't mean that we as a community are always knowledgeable enough to answer the question.

Of course, you could also be part of the solution. Please, spend some time and diligently and correctly answer questions to bring the backlog back into balance.

Answer 2

This is a rather common question since there are things you obviously cannot ask on this site. That statement implies that you can ask any reasonable question. It is a bit like pro forma, where people say things a little broader than they actually mean in order to be polite.

WikiAnswers will never accept questions that ask how to commit crimes, or how to harm anyone in any way. Questions designed to harass, bully, or make things less safe for anyone are not allowed either.

Answer 3

"Ask us Anything" is just a tagline. We do have standards and rules about questions and content which you can read about in the Help Center. As long as you follow the rules, then 'anything' will likely be okay. If not, if a person violates the rules, their account can be restricted or banned.

Answer 4

You can ask WikiAnswers about literally anything in the world - provided, of course, that your question is within the Community Guidelines.