Want some solid evidence that Ask.com is dead and webmasters don't care about it? Just check the date of the last post in the WebmasterWorld Ask Forum and you will see, the last post was just over six-months ago. Yes, it has been half a year since a webmaster asked a question or pointed out a change with Ask.com. Why? Because webmasters don't care about a search engine that is not a search engine and sends them little to no traffic.
I have been giving Yahoo a hard time but Ask.com also deserves a new anti-Ask.com post from me. I am sure the PR people will reach out to me to try to schedule a meeting that will never happen but hey - that is the PR game. I look at webmasters for them to tell me what they find important. To not have a post at WebmasterWorld for over 6 months, well - that is just embarrassing. In Jim Lanzone's days, you would never have seen that, never!
Here is some history on why I am so fed up with Ask.com. I think Ask.com is not about search, their technology is falling apart and they try to monetize everything as best as they can. They tried to drive more life into Ask in the UK by bringing back Jeeves, soon later Jim Safka left for personal reason (but joined a new company shortly after). Yes, and they recently killed Ask Japan. I believe since Diller ripped the soul from Ask.com, Ask.com would ultimately be a failure. And looking back, I am sad to say, my prediction (as well as others) seems to be dead on. Diller should just give it back to Rutgers already.
Forum discussion, sadly - none.
