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Quora vs. StackExchange: Why, Joel, Why?

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Re: Quora vs. StackExchange: Why, Joel, Why?

#41

Post by linker3000 »

andywhite37 wrote: post #22
statictype wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're right, thanks. I'm giving my nod (for whatever that's worth) to the Stack* sites for putting questions right on the home page

I agree, Quora has a pretty bad first-time user experience.

Totally. StackExchange sites welcome you with a display of their goods as soon as you approach the front of house, but having just headed over to Quora for the first time ever, I felt like I had been chased up a blind alley and couldn't find a doorway. I managed to sneak in through a crack in the fence (by going to another page as suggested in this thread, but the site front end seems to be designed to put off visitors.

Re: Quora vs. StackExchange: Why, Joel, Why?

#42

Post by ceejayoz »

Ygor wrote: post #17

"they ought to clean up their very Web 1.0 UX" SO has one of the best UX on the web. I don't care if you call it Web 1.0, 2.0 or Blue Oranges 35, but don't clean it. And also - "clean up by letting people log in with Twitter and Facebook"? How do you clean up by adding stuff?

Clearly, StackOverflow needs more colour gradients.

Re: Quora vs. StackExchange: Why, Joel, Why?

#43

Post by tastybites »

moe wrote: post #40
TomOfTTB wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're a little harsher than I would be but you make a good point. The problem with online reputation on this type of system is most people won't verify the answers before they upvote them. At the same time an insular community creates a competition for status. So you get people who try to find and answer questions as quickly as possible regardless of whether the answer is right or not. As someone who goes to Stack O…

I think your description of the problem is about right. But: As a SO-consumer this particular problem doesn't phase me. The better answers usually have more votes and sometimes the green checkmark is even on the best one - but when it's not, who cares? To me as a SO-consumer a bigger problem recently has been the duplication. For any given question there may be dozens of threads which makes it harder to track down th…

It's faze. Read more books.

Re: Quora vs. StackExchange: Why, Joel, Why?

#44

Post by bryanlarsen »

TomOfTTB wrote: post #16
ojbyrne wrote: post #7

I briefly liked Quora (partly because its the first site I've seen that serves up minified HTML). Now I find it boring, insular, and full of group think. Much like this article. And the valley. The concept that some non-valley site, that doesn't have all the cool kids behind it, might actually be successful is just not allowed within the techcrunch world-view.

You're a little harsher than I would be but you make a good point. The problem with online reputation on this type of system is most people won't verify the answers before they upvote them. At the same time an insular community creates a competition for status. So you get people who try to find and answer questions as quickly as possible regardless of whether the answer is right or not. As someone who goes to Stack O…

It's usually not that hard to tell. The answerer from #2 may have a bunch of upvotes and a check mark, but it usually also has a few comments saying "you're wrong".

And who doesn't read the top few answers, if not all of the answers, anyways? Even if you expect the top answer to be the right answer, subsequent answers often help you understand the problem space a lot better.

Re: Quora vs. StackExchange: Why, Joel, Why?

#46

Post by true_religion »

brown wrote: post #8
wccrawford wrote: post #3

I never understood this 'There can be only one' attitude. I'm fine with thousands of these sites existing. There doesn't have to be 1 that's better than all the rest, and I don't have to spend every waking moment finding it, or making sure I'm already using it. Sites also don't have to be 'important' for them to matter to people.

My guess is that we're seeing the results of the tech blogger echo chamber. These self proclaimed experts need methods to legitimize their existence and quantify their awesomeness. What better way than a big fat number on the one end-all-be-all site? See also: Scoble was biggest contributor on Quora. Of course, it's all ridiculous (for now). Most people in the real world have better things to do than troll around on…

Karma the number will never be converted to a competitive paycheck because there are too many ways to game the system.

What is good about sites like StackExchange is that they encourage public discussion, and knowledge sharing. So if you have a StackExchange account, an HR rep doesn't have to just take your word for it that you're a well spoken, helpful individual---they can peek over on StackExchange and actually see your answers, comments, and questions. The karma attached to them is a meaningless indicator of popularity and not quality.

Re: Quora vs. StackExchange: Why, Joel, Why?

#47

Post by adrianwaj »

TomOfTTB wrote: post #16
ojbyrne wrote: post #7

I briefly liked Quora (partly because its the first site I've seen that serves up minified HTML). Now I find it boring, insular, and full of group think. Much like this article. And the valley. The concept that some non-valley site, that doesn't have all the cool kids behind it, might actually be successful is just not allowed within the techcrunch world-view.

You're a little harsher than I would be but you make a good point. The problem with online reputation on this type of system is most people won't verify the answers before they upvote them. At the same time an insular community creates a competition for status. So you get people who try to find and answer questions as quickly as possible regardless of whether the answer is right or not. As someone who goes to Stack O…

Having the right answer does help later onlookers into the question.

Moreover, the person asking the question has the most interest, but the least capacity to be patient. And, likewise the initial status-seeking answerers can get edgy for a quick tick.

Re: Quora vs. StackExchange: Why, Joel, Why?

#48

Post by adrianwaj »

cheald wrote: post #26
ojbyrne wrote: post #7

I briefly liked Quora (partly because its the first site I've seen that serves up minified HTML). Now I find it boring, insular, and full of group think. Much like this article. And the valley. The concept that some non-valley site, that doesn't have all the cool kids behind it, might actually be successful is just not allowed within the techcrunch world-view.

I'm curious why you're impressed by minified HTML. Usually, given the CPU cost to minify a page and the fact that savings are in the tens of bytes after gzip, it is nearly certainly an overall performance and user experience loss.

I think it makes the browser's job faster and easier. Minifying for me has improved the speed of my sites.

Re: Quora vs. StackExchange: Why, Joel, Why?

#49

Post by cristoperb »

Aqwis wrote: post #18
neutronicus wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mathoverflow is awesome. I don't know if the stack exchange guys run it (it certainly uses their software), but it is already professionally relevant for practicing mathematicians.

I believe he is referring to Math StackExchange (math.stackexchange.com), a site which was created to serve as a MathOverflow-equivalent for mathematics students or others who aren't professional mathematicians. I've found Math StackExchange to be highly useful, and the quality of the answers you get is higher than anywhere else.

But there is also http://mathoverflow.net/

Here's a meta question asking about the differences between the two sites:

http://meta.math.stackexchange.com/questions/41/differences-...

Re: Quora vs. StackExchange: Why, Joel, Why?

#50

Post by taylorbuley »

Maro wrote: post #10

I think online reputations work and matter a lot in Silicon Valley and the startup world, but anywhere else, not that much. Also, the attack on the "other" SE sites is lame. I regularly visit and am active on the Physics SE, and Quora's got nothing on it.

Agreed. The author: a hodgepodge of sites focused on photography, mathematics, Apple, video games, board games, role-playing games, and science fiction. Interesting? Sure. Important? Hell, no.

All these "other" SE sites are built around the things that real people are passionate about. That stuff is quite important!

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