Just don't expect too much of it. Yes, as a reliable reference source, its a disaster. For most information, its better to look at wikipedia or other web sources. But what Answers is good for is certain kinds of personal advice and knowledge. It's basically like just asking a bunch of random people for their two cents, and its about as reliable, but there are times when that is useful. Say, for example, you want to find out about visiting a certain tourist destination. Answers may give you personal experiences by people who have been there, and what they thought of it, which is useful.

Answers really is serving one of the purposes Usenet traditionally did and still kind of does, in spite of its prolonged decline. One thing it doesn't allow is that usenet does is responses to answers. These could sometimes spiral into prolonged discussions that eventually had nothing to do with the original question, but it also made it easier for the other posters to criticize one posts incorrect information.

Probably, regarding it as a reference source is incorrect. Its basically a specialized type of discussion board or chat group.