AskMe.com to close free expert advice Web site; had attracted 10 million registered users

BELLEVUE, Wash. (AP) _ Where is Bali? What is a good substitute for eggs in a cake recipe? What are some good places to take young children while visiting in Paris? <br><br>AskMe.com was one place to get

Tuesday, October 15th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

BELLEVUE, Wash. (AP) _ Where is Bali? What is a good substitute for eggs in a cake recipe? What are some good places to take young children while visiting in Paris?

AskMe.com was one place to get the answers, but not for long.

The privately held company in this Seattle suburb announced in an e-mail Monday that its free expert advice Web site will be shut down by Nov. 25. AskMe will now concentrate on selling software to enable rapid transfer of information between employees within large companies such as Boeing, Ford and Honeywell, said Hossein Mousavi, AskMe vice president of marketing.

``It just didn't make business sense for us to continue having the consumer site,'' Mousavi said.

No employees will be laid off, he said.

AskMe users are being referred to alternatives such as AllExperts.com, Abuzz.com, ExpertCentral.com and Keen.com.

At its peak, AskMe attracted more than 10 million registered users. Questions listed Monday ranged from ``Where is Malta located?'' to ``How do I free Diddy on Donkey Kong 64?''

The shutdown was a blow to Michelle Hardenbrook of Renton, AskMe's top-ranked expert with 23,005 questions answered, usually 20 to 30 a day, on relationships, parenting, women's health and dating.

``I feel like I have done some really good work, and I have helped an awful lot of people through some really traumatic things in their life,'' said Hardenbrook, who works at a property-tax company.

``This has been a real big part of my life for almost three years, and now it is going away,'' she said. ``It is sort of like a death.''