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How Quora died

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Re: How Quora died

#301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I rage quit Quora some years ago publicly here on HN, I dont recall now the exact reason (something to do with unwanted profile/content/privacy change or some such... It was quite a while back, but I have never really gone to quora since, especially since its basically a paywall (I also never go to NYT unfortunately because their paywall is so BFY;TW I cant stand it.

Wow what is that acronym?

Because Fuck You; That’s Why

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=BFYTW

Somehow having an acronym with a semicolon actually makes a vulgar rage explosion seem controlled and even educated.

Where did we all go so Wrong?

Re: How Quora died

#302

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What purpose do you have for removing functionality that has been part of the web since the 90s?

Of course. What I do not want or need is code that's been part of the web since about 2016-2020, which is arbitrary code execution by complete strangers. Not even in a sandboxed disposable web browser. Now I suspect you'll want to tell me how actually Javascript is perfectly safe... and that's a conversation we can save for another day for the sake of both our dignity and friendship. I'm afraid it's my job to know ot…

Well despite your appeal to authority…

If you knew about that many exploits in the wild, surely you could (white hat) tell the company who created the browser or (black hat) make a lot of money by selling it to three letter agencies or private companies that sell it to three letter agencies.

However, in the real world, a fully patched Android or iOS operating system - especially one that is in “lock down mode” is not any more susceptible to Zero day exploits than the number of other exploitable parts of the OS that you also don’t have any control over.

And even if you only run open source software, how long was the OpenSSL bug in operating systems before it was discovered?

Do you use your mobile’s messaging system? That’s been one of the primary targets of exploits that will target you directly.

Re: How Quora died

#303

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I will get downvoted for this, but it's my perception. I will always downvote a comment when someone writes something like this. It is irrelevant to the conversation and screams insecurity.

It's also tinged with a "People can't handle the based truth I'm laying down" attitude, which is annoying to read.

[deleted]

Re: How Quora died

#304
It's very evident how bad it got the moment you go to a question. Here's their layout:

[ Question ]

[ads]

[ads]

[ads]

[related questions]

[related questions]

....scroll farther...

[related questions]

[related questions]

[actual answers]

Like WTF?! Whose decision was this?

Re: How Quora died

#305
post #33
post #7

If your core business product is content contributed by users... I'm turning to the opinion that you need a C-level ombudsman- / dean of contributors-type role. Whose sole job it is to (1) figure out what contributors are thinking and want & (2) advocate for them inside the company. Every contributor-driven platform has eventually jumped the shark, and all in exactly the same way. Management begins to take contributi…

Perhaps VC backed businesses aren't really ideal for these type of sites.

YouTube does very well ? .

Re: How Quora died

#306

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah it's a really big problem with StackOverflow. The mods are all crazy. I can't find it now but the StackOverflow Devs proposed actually fixing (or at least improving) question closing by allowing the asker to reopen their question once. I can't remember the exact details, but it sounded like a good first step. Downvoted to hell by the existing mods of course. They're a bit screwed because they rely so much on vol…

Doesn't sound like either of you know how SO works. Very little is done by mods, mainly it's votes by normal users. Like I could be voting to close something as a duplicate, off topic etc with my privileges. It's the community doing this, not moderators. And the community is tired of people asking for help with their homework or doing very little effort themselves before asking. Why do these people deserve others spe…

That’s great. You haven’t addressed my point: who do you think is asking questions about their homework? A community needs a steady influx of new users to remain vital. You’re not going to get that with _often incorrect_ references to duplicates.

Fact is, nobody wants to go to Stack overflow anymore for answers because the experience sucks. And they don’t mind using ChatGPT. Thanks for all the training data, Stack!

Re: How Quora died

#307

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And the community is tired of people asking for help with their homework I don't think anyone objects to closing those questions. That's not really what this is about. My questions are very clearly not asking for help with homework and trivial "how do I write a for loop" or "it doesn't work" questions. Still get downvoted/closed frequently. Most often: * It gets closed as duplicate because there's a vaguely similar…

Feel free to drop links to your said questions. Often it's just vague allegations with little evidence. Getting something closed as a duplicate shouldn't be taken as a slight. It's often good that various formulations of a question then can point to the same answer. Or if the answer to the other question answers yours, isn't it just good that you and other people will be directed there? It's a Q&A site, not a forum.…

And the site is dying as a result. That fact alone makes your point moot.

Re: How Quora died

#308

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You must agree that for almost every web-based product, designers and product managers can safely decide to completely ignore all people who have requirements like yours without it ever affecting their success.

Yes I absolutely do agree with that. Designers and product managers may completely ignore people like me, trample all over our needs and ignore us. Why would they care about the one percent. All good luck power to them and their values. But I am also not the least bit concerned with whether their products are a success or not. Why would I care if they do not? Yet I cannot concur that "almost every" site does. No, the…

My experience running websites tells me that ignoring people like you is actually mandatory because they'll take up all your time and have opposite tastes of contributing users.

Re: How Quora died

#309

I'm waiting for the inevitable counter-culture pushback against AI, where suddenly humanity realises how valuable it's "pure, non-AI polluted" content bases are/were, as a unique and critical data class in their own right.

This doesn't matter, it's not a real problem for AI and can be used to improve them. It's already happened though, because it's the first thing people think of.

Re: How Quora died

#310

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And the community is tired of people asking for help with their homework I don't think anyone objects to closing those questions. That's not really what this is about. My questions are very clearly not asking for help with homework and trivial "how do I write a for loop" or "it doesn't work" questions. Still get downvoted/closed frequently. Most often: * It gets closed as duplicate because there's a vaguely similar…

Feel free to drop links to your said questions. Often it's just vague allegations with little evidence. Getting something closed as a duplicate shouldn't be taken as a slight. It's often good that various formulations of a question then can point to the same answer. Or if the answer to the other question answers yours, isn't it just good that you and other people will be directed there? It's a Q&A site, not a forum.…

Not the person you replied to but StackOverflow is ridiculously hostile to new users including formerly me. I have over 2k points on HN and much more on reddit. I've spent much more time on SE than on HN but I don't even bother contributing because the times I tried it, it went nowhere.
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