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Why Quora is in trouble

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Re: Why Quora is in trouble

#91

Post by nl »

jaredmck wrote: post #74
cletus wrote: post #2

You can count me as one of the long-term Quora detractors. To me, it's a good example of the "bubble effect". Everyone in the Valley thinks its huge because everyone in the Valley uses it. No one outside the Valley does (figuratively speaking). It's a thin social layer on what's just a Q&A site not that different to Yahoo Answers, which I guess is fine but I just don't see it going mainstream. As an aside, I've alway…

Isn't stack overflow in the top 100 sites in terms of traffic? While it might not be mainstream, it's already huge.

You are basing that on Alexa? Alexa will always over-report sites like Stackoverflow, because lots of SEO people (who use the Alexa toolbar) use it.

Google trends gives a better view. Here is is related to other sites that (according to Alexa) have similar traffic: http://trends.google.com/websites?q=stackoverflow.com%2C+dou...

Re: Why Quora is in trouble

#92

Post by redthrowaway »

jsavimbi wrote: post #85
1va wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok. I'll bite: What problem do you feel Twitter solved?

To date, it's the most reliable, worldwide accesible, short-messaging, real-time propagation system that we've developed. Hands down, it has no competition. Not radio, not TV, not satellite communication and certainly not through any corporate-owned mouthpiece. It discounts trends, rumors, celebrity-induced Mass Sociogenic Illness or cheap propaganda. It solved the problem of truthful dissemination through independen…

>then you are one ignorant summbitch. Downvote for stupidity.

You couldn't have answered the question without that bit?

Re: Why Quora is in trouble

#93

Post by catshirt »

jsavimbi wrote: post #85
1va wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok. I'll bite: What problem do you feel Twitter solved?

To date, it's the most reliable, worldwide accesible, short-messaging, real-time propagation system that we've developed. Hands down, it has no competition. Not radio, not TV, not satellite communication and certainly not through any corporate-owned mouthpiece. It discounts trends, rumors, celebrity-induced Mass Sociogenic Illness or cheap propaganda. It solved the problem of truthful dissemination through independen…

ah yes how did we forget. thanks to twitter all the information we receive is unfiltered from the source and no one lies.

Re: Why Quora is in trouble

#94

Post by anncaryn »

code_duck wrote: post #44
edanm wrote: post #14

Here's what I don't understand about Quora - at the end of the day, all of the arguments in favor of why Quora is so good, especially arguments put forward by Robert Scoble, boil down to one thing: lots of interesting people post to it. Now, I'm not saying that's necessarily bad or easy to pull off - hell, Hacker News itself is the same, in that I only use it because of the great people here. I just don't see how you…

It's a decent position to be in - perhaps not if you have dreams of mass market grandeur, but otherwise, Quora is a success.

Totally agree. It's about direct "to the source" answers, not about the functionality. Adoption versus adaptation.

Re: Why Quora is in trouble

#95

Post by johnx123-up »

Quora is very useful with real entrepreneurs contributing (similar to HN). SO is nowhere near to Quora on quality of startup topics. The UI is also pleasing and friendly for FB users.

The only threat to Quora as of now is Prizes.org from Google.

Re: Why Quora is in trouble

#96

Post by clb22 »

cletus wrote: post #2

You can count me as one of the long-term Quora detractors. To me, it's a good example of the "bubble effect". Everyone in the Valley thinks its huge because everyone in the Valley uses it. No one outside the Valley does (figuratively speaking). It's a thin social layer on what's just a Q&A site not that different to Yahoo Answers, which I guess is fine but I just don't see it going mainstream. As an aside, I've alway…

FYI, I'm very engaged with Quora, and I live in Chile http://www.quora.com/Carlos-Leiva-Burotto and through Quora I made networking with a guy who works on Mauritian Island.. that's in the front of Madagascar!!!! Not even through Twitter, Facebook, Digg, Flickr, etc I engaged with someone from that place!!

So Quora is definitely a worldwide tool and the active members are not only people from SV.

You should definitely open your mind to not see only the things that you want to see.

Re: Why Quora is in trouble

#97

Post by revorad »

cletus wrote: post #2

You can count me as one of the long-term Quora detractors. To me, it's a good example of the "bubble effect". Everyone in the Valley thinks its huge because everyone in the Valley uses it. No one outside the Valley does (figuratively speaking). It's a thin social layer on what's just a Q&A site not that different to Yahoo Answers, which I guess is fine but I just don't see it going mainstream. As an aside, I've alway…

How does a 9-figure exit prediction make you a Quora detractor?

Re: Why Quora is in trouble

#98

Post by adrianwaj »

Quora: look at the homepage (without being signed in) and tell me it's not the web's proudest gated community.

"New Users. Sorry, you must have an invitation to create an account on Quora."

I'm not upset. Every time I visit the site through a backlink I feel alienated, and don't want to contribute to those feelings in others by signing up with an invitation if I had one. I'll just be content occasionally peering in at people who want to be seen.

Not even a search box on the homepage.

Re: Why Quora is in trouble

#99

Post by skrebbel »

sgdesign wrote: post #27
skrebbel wrote: post #18

Sorry to nitpick, but is this guy really making a point that a site with a bland design ( = no rounded corners and gradients) isn't fun to use?

My point is that some sites are fun to use because of their visual design, some because of their interactions, some because of game mechanisms… but Quora has none of these.

I can imagine that sites appear to be fun to use, initially, because of a great design, but I really have a hard time believing that they really become fun to use.

Like a game with awesome graphics and sucky gameplay, people play them for a day and then get rid of it.

Re: Why Quora is in trouble

#100

Post by blasdel »

jaredmck wrote: post #76

The thing that annoys me most about Quora is how many of the questions are leading questions.

…and they're usually asked anonymously too!

I always just assumed that most of them are rhetorical setups asked using a sockpuppet by the user that made the long and involved answer ranked at the top of the page.

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