21–30 of 79 posts
I'm still unable to get a clear answer to the basic question "Why should I use Quora?" I work at a startup in Austin, I read HN daily, I enjoy news about SV startups, etc. Still, I haven't found a compelling reason to spend any substantial time on Quora. I'm happy to read a particularly insightful answer when I see the occasional link pop up on another site, but that doesn't make me want to search Quora for other inf…
This article makes Quora sound almost like Digg back in the day, with a select few users who work together to ensure they control most of the content on the site.
I can definitely understand being frustrated however if I wanted to contribute and felt like I was being continuously rebuffed for not being an 'insider'. That's pretty annoying.
This article is false. (Regardless of whether Quora will or will not grow.) Many of the arguments should have been tested against Facebook: elitism didn't slow the spread of Facebook. In fact, it was likely a main driver of growth in the world's most popular website. It's not surprising Quora has been modeled after Facebook since Quora is made up of early Facebook alumni. Many of the rest of the arguments apply to di…
A subjective article cannot be false, silly person. It is evidently well-research and supported by evidence; that's as much as one can ask. You may disagree with it's stance, but that's another point. Get over it.
As you note, the article was obviously well-researched.
Sounds like the author got banned for excessive complaining on Quora and is exceptionally butthurt. I'm a hard core Quora addict and have never encountered most of the things in this post. He's way off about the "elite". Yes there are people who get tons of upvotes and have huge followings but in every case I've seen it's because they are well known off of Quora or they give consistently amazing answers, often both.…
That said, Quora has obviously cracked a nut whereby it is getting very high quality/value content from well-placed individuals.
I wanted to like Quora. I really did. Theoretically, Quora should be a wet dream for me: insightful discussions, check. Answers from bright people, check. A place to learn, to read, to spend hours on soaking in information, check. I never could have guessed that spending time on Quora would turn out to be more of a nightmare.
As the article points out, Quora is a dictatorship, which doesn't really care about what the community wants. Which would be fine, except that the dictators don't know what they're doing. Their policies, and the general vibe of the community, just aren't welcoming. I don't contribute to Quora because I self-moderate myself out of posting. Why shouldn't I post? I have insights to contribute, as much as any other person. The problem is that Quora allows so little room for free expression in a world that is crying out for originality. Don't use your real name? Your account is locked and you can't post. Didn't directly address the question? Your answer downvoted into oblivion. Spelled something wrong? Here let me edit your post. The community they've attracted doesn't help either. There are a lot of nice people they've somehow convinced to stay on Quora, but I can't help but get the vibe that a lot of users think they're the sh, and how dare you disagree with them.
The founder of reddit once said that the philosophy he had towards running reddit was like hosting a party - he couldn't just allow users free reign to do whatever they pleased, but he had to make it an inviting and fun place for users. Otherwise the party would suck. Well, if reddit is a fun party with alcohol, humor, entertainment, and cat pictures, along with the occasional smart person to learn from, then Quora is like hanging out with a group of bitter, pretentious intellectuals who wield their answers like weapons, at a party with no alcohol allowed.
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Sigh. Here we go - bring it on Quorans... I wanted to like Quora. I really did. Theoretically, Quora should be a wet dream for me: insightful discussions, check. Answers from bright people, check. A place to learn, to read, to spend hours on soaking in information, check. I never could have guessed that spending time on Quora would turn out to be more of a nightmare. As the article points out, Quora is a dictatorship…
Are there lessons to be learned from Quora? I think so. I've thought for a long time about what kind of site I would enjoy spending time on. It would definitely have intellectuals, like Quora has, but they'd need to be more of a reddit or HN variety. Ie. treating each other civilly and unpretentious. I've written up my thoughts here for a new startup that will fill a niche Quora and Wikipedia are not serving:
Wikipedia doesn't allow pages about just any topic. See: Kate Middleton's dress. Also, it's incredibly hard to become a mod for them. Finally, there is no room for self-expression, as editors and contributors are mostly anonymized through its process. So Wikipedia is a great encyclopedia, but not a good place for a discussion.
Quora fills the niche of intelligent communal discussion, only its vision doesn't allow wit, misspellings, anonymity, or humor, and seems to have been taken over by domineering powers-that-be, so much so that the party just isn't fun anymore.
Pozium can attract not only intellectuals, but laymen looking to learn as well. First, there are all the ex-Quorans who were put off by the site. Pozium will be a party of intellectuals who don't have a stick up their behind. You will learn, as well as have fun. Everyone will be able to contribute, and no one will feel shamed or intimidated.
This will attract the second type of user: the more casual intellectual. I remember a post from Quora by this college girl who, while obviously not an Einstein, could still have contributed insights of value. In what seemed to be her last post, the girl said she was intimidated by others and wondered if Quora "was for people like her". So there is a niche being unserved, filled with people like this girl who don't feel welcome. If Quoran's mean IQ is in the 130s and 140s then perhaps the 110-130 IQ crowd is not being served.
Anyone interested in potentially starting something up? Read more here: http://pozium.com
I'm still unable to get a clear answer to the basic question "Why should I use Quora?" I work at a startup in Austin, I read HN daily, I enjoy news about SV startups, etc. Still, I haven't found a compelling reason to spend any substantial time on Quora. I'm happy to read a particularly insightful answer when I see the occasional link pop up on another site, but that doesn't make me want to search Quora for other inf…
I'm still unable to get a clear answer to the basic question "Why should I use Quora?" I work at a startup in Austin, I read HN daily, I enjoy news about SV startups, etc. Still, I haven't found a compelling reason to spend any substantial time on Quora. I'm happy to read a particularly insightful answer when I see the occasional link pop up on another site, but that doesn't make me want to search Quora for other inf…
Quora is just so much better than Ask MetaFilter, Reddit's Q&A/advice subreddits (/r/askreddit, /r/answers, /r/doesanybodyelse etc.), or (dare I say it) Yahoo Answers for nontrivial, factual answers dependent on expertise. Quora is for people who benefit from or enjoy such questions and answers. The longtime existence of all these Q&A communities shows that there is a market for it. There's the most overlap with Ask…
I would modify that to be "dependent on certain very limited areas of expertise".
There are entire realms of questions not well served by Quora at present, and we have yet to see evidence that they're ever going to be.
I'm still unable to get a clear answer to the basic question "Why should I use Quora?" I work at a startup in Austin, I read HN daily, I enjoy news about SV startups, etc. Still, I haven't found a compelling reason to spend any substantial time on Quora. I'm happy to read a particularly insightful answer when I see the occasional link pop up on another site, but that doesn't make me want to search Quora for other inf…
Quora is just so much better than Ask MetaFilter, Reddit's Q&A/advice subreddits (/r/askreddit, /r/answers, /r/doesanybodyelse etc.), or (dare I say it) Yahoo Answers for nontrivial, factual answers dependent on expertise. Quora is for people who benefit from or enjoy such questions and answers. The longtime existence of all these Q&A communities shows that there is a market for it. There's the most overlap with Ask…