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How Quora died

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Re: How Quora died

#191

Post by lupire »

mattmaroon wrote: post #154
temporallobe wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep. As a UI/UX specialist, it’s nothing short of a nightmare. I can’t decide if it’s purposeful (they’re trying to kill the site), negligent (they can’t hire or retain talent, or who they have is making bad decisions), or just full of corporate/organizational bloat (basically all decisions made by non-engineers such as stakeholders or investors designed to maximize profit and ad space).I am leaning towards bloat.

I think it’s just a really logical way for them to monetize. If the UI was good you’d never click on (or likely even see) an ad. I’d bet they just tested it and found that’s how they make money.

People complaining about the site wouldn't pay for the site they say they want.

Re: How Quora died

#192

Post by russellbeattie »

freediver wrote: post #151
matsemann wrote: post #4

When I visit Quora, mainly through it being a result for something I've searched for on Google, I can never quite understand what's the question, the answer, and what's an answer to something completely different. So I've never felt compelled to stay or join myself. Also, for a while I just hit a login wall, which of course makes you not click a link there the next time.

Google sending traffic to Quora, one ad-based business to another, with user being secondary and content on both being incentivized by ad clickthrough rates, is a dying paradigm. It had a good run though but I do not imagine it will be missed.

Google needs to nerf their rankings. It's essentially a near-useless click bait website for ads. Any new site with such horrible signal to noise ratio would never get such a priority in results. I can't imagine any other website linking to it, so I can't imagine how Quora remains so high anyways, even if page rank is long gone.

Re: How Quora died

#193

Post by scarface_74 »

nonrandomstring wrote: post #175
scarface_74 wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He’s right, people who always talk about they don’t use sites that require Javacript adds about as much to the conversation as people who show up in television conversations and say “I haven’t owned a television in 20 years, do people still watch TV?”

Forget about me for a moment. Does Javascript really mean something important to you?

Not running JavaScript in 2024 is like putting a speed governor on your own car that limits you to going 35 miles an hour.

It serves no useful purpose

Re: How Quora died

#194

Post by ho_schi »

This awkward thing was never usable? It a bad clone of Stackoverflow.

And Stackoverflow works. But it needs a new owner which has a clue what it is about. Even better - the old owners and creators buy it back :)

SO lost a little through the initial AI-Hype but probably most people know already the AI is feed with SO. And SO needs humans with new knowledge. So the main problem are the new owners. Why they did even removed the job adds linked to the questions. That made sense :(

Re: How Quora died

#195

Post by wonderfulcloud »

passion__desire wrote: post #38
keiferski wrote: post #31

I think the upvote/downvote model for evaluating content is fundamentally not a good one, and this deficiency is the root problem for a lot of sites (Reddit, Quora, etc.) that were founded around the same time, circa 2005-2012. It lends itself too much to groupthink, popularity contests, and self-promotion. X/Twitter has a million other problems, but I do like their new Community Notes of fact-checking claims. It's e…

Anyone who shares an article or news which has been community noted gets an immediate downvote in recommendations for me.

Community Notes could just be an expansion of a good tweet to clear up some ambiguity.

The up/down feature tends to create echo chambers that eventually exclude half the population. Reddit is worse at this because of excessive moderation combined with doomscrollong incentives.

Re: How Quora died

#196

Post by nonrandomstring »

scarface_74 wrote: post #162
nonrandomstring wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That really flipped your wig didn't it? I'm intellectually curious, what you're so deeply invested in that was just threatened?

He’s right, people who always talk about they don’t use sites that require Javacript adds about as much to the conversation as people who show up in television conversations and say “I haven’t owned a television in 20 years, do people still watch TV?”

If we stick with that analogy, then since HN requires no Javascript, it's more like we're having a discussion on a radio show, and I am saying "I don't really watch much TV", no?

What I hear is that Javascript is a means of speed and power to you. And for you, forgoing that power would serve no useful purpose. Do I understand that correctly?

What I am wondering is, do you think that for other people, they should, maybe even must, feel the same way? Even if they are very pleased just listening to the radio?

Re: How Quora died

#197

Post by nonrandomstring »

scarface_74 wrote: post #193
nonrandomstring wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Forget about me for a moment. Does Javascript really mean something important to you?

Not running JavaScript in 2024 is like putting a speed governor on your own car that limits you to going 35 miles an hour. It serves no useful purpose

> It serves no useful purpose

No useful purpose to who?

Re: How Quora died

#198

Post by lupire »

seadan83 wrote: post #60
ivanmontillam wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wikimedia is a non-profit that operates like a for-profit when the yearly round of donations comes around. They literally hoard money[0]. I will get downvoted for this, but it's my perception. -- [0]: https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/wikipedia-millions-bank-beg/

Interesting reference. Non profits cannot hoard money. I believe it becomes taxable and they can lose their non profit status (i am not an expert) Though, hoarding seems like a mischaracterization. Per the article linked, the cash burn rate is on the order of $100M/yr, having $150M in the bank is 18 months worth of funding. The biggest gripe I read in the article is the "high" expenditure rate and how necessary it is…

Citation needed for your claim about hoarding money, which is refuted by simple observation of the many, many endowments that exist.

Re: How Quora died

#199

Post by kstrauser »

mp05 wrote: post #166
kstrauser wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most smart people I know oppose neo Nazis. That's not a very controversial position.

So you don't see the irony of people raving about how innately superior they are because of their IQ but hate on people whose core tenant was being innately superior? "Smart" is very much a function of the work you put in, though of course not the only factor. I don't feel the need to have to explain this more than I have. Edit: I have to ask... what about the smart people that don't oppose them? What's their deal?

I find anyone bragging about their intelligence to be intolerably obnoxious.

100% of the smart people I know oppose Nazism. It seems there are too many politicians around who are objectively intelligent but are a bit comfortable with at least some of the Nazi Party’s ideas.

Re: How Quora died

#200

Post by nonrandomstring »

scarface_74 wrote: post #173
BlueTemplar wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not completely unrelated I think. It's hard to me to see how a site with a vision like Quora (had) can continue existing for long after they start ignoring accessibility issues. Sounds like I should be looking for a Stack Overflow alternative too. (I'm suspecting that this might be related to the recent issue of better accessibility also making it easier to abuse for neural network based abusers, and it certainl…

Accessibility is important. But it doesn’t relate to success of a company. Besides, modern screen readers and even accessibility affordances on modern cell phones - at least iPhones - don’t struggle or care whether the site uses JavaScript

> But it doesn’t relate to success of a company.

I am wondering what you mean by "success" of a company here? Is that purely financial success? Or rate of growth or something like that?

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