It was always amusing to think about the Google Answers service.  People paid to get answers to questions, some of which were really absurd at times. 

However, Google shutting down this service signals the fact that Google is wary of not running services that do not make sense from a revenue standpoint.  This should be new to Google fans who have probably never seen this happen before.  No wonder it has sparked off a lot of news and discussion.

Some discussions on the Google Answers site itself: http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=786508

Arzoo.com, a Sabeer Bhatia venture did the exact same thing and shut shop even before the world knew about it.   Of course, Arzoo.com has re-launched as an online travel portal and it remains to see how well that will do.  

Google is reported to be cutting down many other services that do not make sense and do not have large user bases to make themselves focussed.  If you ask me, that is a signal to all other Web 2.0 startups there creating several online applications, many of which are meaningless and have no revenue direction.  Watch out - if Google thinks it is wise to shutdown a service that has been running for 4.5 years and risk a loss of reputation among a small user base - they must have really thought about it.  So it is time, many of the new dotcom startups put on their thinking caps as well.