I used to be on the side of “why do we need Quora” camp but over the last few years I see that they have some really good content that no one else has, particularly content about obscure questions that wiki is not meant for. So I end up visiting often. The problem is they don’t have a way to monetize the content. They can only survive on cash so long.
Layoffs hit Quora
91–100 of 283 posts
Re: Layoffs hit Quora
#92Any company that relies on SEO content is basically going to disapear. Google search and their new NLP technology is just extracting the question and answers from content like that on Quora, significantly reducing their page hit volumes. Not only that, other lower ranked content can be verified to be "true" using neural network based NLP, meaning that the value of content has gone down. Google stole the business of q…
Is it actually theft, or do you actually mean it's something more mundane like copyright infringement or a TOS violation?
Re: Layoffs hit Quora
#93Earlier quoted context omitted.
The newest research out of the Google AI labs is all centered around extractive summarazation. Led by a researcher from CMU named William Cohen. Their next big business is content extraction.
What the R&D dept aspires to maybe do in the future is hardly the same as what they do in the present.
The extracted content on their search page is just the beginning. They are spending huge efforts to get better at it. Specifically, extracting information from multiple pages at the same time. Eventually it will mostly be a query interface that surfaces information for fact based queries.
Re: Layoffs hit Quora
#94According to the article, the number of layoffs is unknown (though I assume we'll know shortly since they're required by law to report it in California). They have approximately 200 employees, it also mentioned.
According to a quick search, they were certified for 57 H1B visas. You read that right: 57 employees, in just 2019, of an approximate 200 person workforce, are foreigners that CEO D'Angelo claimed he was required to hire because he could not find US workers.
It looks like another 50 or so in the previous two years.
So half their employees are foreigners? How many US citizens are being laid off?
Some of these jobs, according the Department of Labor's data, are paying as low as $60K... in Mountain View.
Truly disgusting that this company is abusing the system like this. A fair punishment for these companies, along with all their visas being immediately revoked and a massive fine to discourage others, would be for the executive board to be forced to move their company to S. Asia, since apparently that's where their talent pool originates. If they aren't willing to hire US workers, they shouldn't be allowed to enjoy the infrastructure, laws, capital markets, etc. that are provided by US taxpayers.
* ReportH1BAbuse@uscis.dhs.gov
* https://www.myvisajobs.com/Visa-Sponsor/Quora/1096469.htm
* https://h1bsalary.online/extended_lca_data.php?LCADataID=781...
Re: Layoffs hit Quora
#95Quora is a site that is somehow successful despite its product development decisions. They seem to constantly make the site and community worse with every update. There's still a decent amount of amazing valuable answers from real verified experts but the experience of using it is horrendous and I've completely stopped trying to write anything anymore.
I can't decide whether I hope that whoever decided that iOS Safari users on Quora would get a blocking "F you; use our mobile app" experience after scrolling a short distance is included in the layoffs or will be allowed to stay on and continue the destruction of the company.
Yeah, do you want them to take that stratagem to their next company/product?
Re: Layoffs hit Quora
#96Not sure if a bit of confirmation bias on my side but seems like there is a recent big uptick of layoffs at Silicon Valley companies? Popular ones like Quora, TripAvisor, Ebay, Mozilla, Uber, 23andMe, etc we hear about but among my own network, i am even hearing it from smaller startups & businesses. Just wondering if it is just me but I am surmising that it seems to indicate a wider systematic.. issue? Maybe issue i…
The Fed is pumping money, the yield curve inverted, job openings are flat/declining, people have been predicting recession for 2 years... the precise date of an actual recession is not declared until long after the fact, but I certainly wouldn't bet on the recession not having started already. And there are strong political reasons to avoid any mention of recession, so we might see economic indicators getting distort…
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Re: Layoffs hit Quora
#97I used to be quite active on Quora, but have noticed a decline in content and ux quality - seems like they are trying to 'growth hack' in a way that is not benefiting users, e.g.: - Links to other questions open in new tabs - Most content is not shown unless you login, they are really trying to push being logged in and their mobile app - Answers with images seem to be ranked higher (even if poor quality) - Clickbait-…
The ads are also very well-disguised, as if they were native content. I understand they’re trying to stay alive, but at some point you end up driving people away.
Re: Layoffs hit Quora
#98Not sure if a bit of confirmation bias on my side but seems like there is a recent big uptick of layoffs at Silicon Valley companies? Popular ones like Quora, TripAvisor, Ebay, Mozilla, Uber, 23andMe, etc we hear about but among my own network, i am even hearing it from smaller startups & businesses. Just wondering if it is just me but I am surmising that it seems to indicate a wider systematic.. issue? Maybe issue i…
For what it’s worth, I came to say the same thing, then saw you already did. It’s hard to disentangle the effect HN has on our thinking, though. Just because layoffs have popped up on HN, are we both imagining that it’s part of a global trend? Or do global tech trends inherently appear on HN? Hard to say.
I doubt on the later part. You might wanna check this thread out: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1025681
Re: Layoffs hit Quora
#99In the past few days, Quora, EBay, 23 and Me and TripAdvisor all announced layoffs. Coincidence or early sign of something bigger?
My thoughts exactly. Two scenarios: - the WeWork IPO-that-wasn't has caused most VC's to decide that you really need to demonstrate profitability before you can IPO, which is when they get paid, so lots of companies are now doing layoffs instead of just getting more VC money - or, the economy (which hasn't had a real recession in a long time, since not even 2011 was quite a recession) is just due for a recession and…
> Quora, EBay, 23 and Me and TripAdvisor
Ebay and TripAdvisor are public companies.
Re: Layoffs hit Quora
#100It's genuinely hard to believe that Quora is still running.
I get where you're coming from. But I have to admit, I read my Quora digest email really often. I'm impressed how often I not only click through to read an answer, but enjoy the answer and find it valuable. Quora definitely does some questionable things nowadays, but I'd also argue they are still getting some key things right too.
The difference I'm seeing in the comments seems to be between actual Quora users and people who just keep stumbling on Quora via search. My impression is that Quora does well at tailoring content for its users while being obnoxiously aggressive about getting non-users to sign up.