I am new to Yahoo!Answers. Why would asking a question cost me 5 points?

That's done for 2 reasons. One is to keep down the spammers and trolls, by charging them (so they would run out of the ability to ask). The other is to stimulate participation -- in order to ASK, you must earn points by ANSWERING.

However, if you return to your question AFTER 4 hours but BEFORE 4 days, you can choose a Best Answer to your question (and earn BACK 3 points!). So, you are really just trading one question for one answer -- which seems to be a fair deal.

Ooohhh .. I have read the "explanation" posted just below ..its amazing. First you answer question/s and then ask one . If you have earned no mark, you may not answer. BUT, really, answering a question with elaboration and necessary in-puts is really a
tough job
than to a
"ask a question". Thanks

I think it is a good thing.
Or this would be full of Q only.

People ans for points mostly

Yahoo set the rules. Anyways you won't even miss them, well once in a while you look @ how many you have asked and regret that that could have been points.
Anyways, it's not like generating a lot of points gonna nominate you for a Grammy, or Nobel Peace Prize.

As you continue, you'll barely pay attention to points until certain questions are asked or promotions from Yahoo.