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I'd like to use the web my way, thank you very much Quora

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Re: I'd like to use the web my way, thank you very much Quora

#111

Post by SwellJoe »

bitcartel wrote: post #96
pg wrote: post #49

I think Adam's mistake here is to go too much by the numbers. He presumably has numbers that show that Quora ends up net ahead if they force people to create accounts to read answers. He grew Facebook very effectively by following the numbers. But he may not realize how different this case is from Facebook's. It may well be that for a site like Quora, at this stage in its life, users are not all equal. It may be a mi…

Quora is now 3 years old and has taken $61 million from investors. Are there any numbers publicly available to show user growth over this period?

All the numbers show stagnation, and Quora getting dwarfed by other (less prone to ass-hattery) answers sites, like StackOverflow. Quora traffic hasn't grown in years, according to Alexa and others.

I believe they're simply optimizing the wrong variables. It has certainly driven me away. I use the google personal block list, and Quora was among the first sites to go on it.

Re: I'd like to use the web my way, thank you very much Quora

#112

Post by NamTaf »

walkon wrote: post #93
MatthewPhillips wrote: post #36

This was posted an hour ago and still no one has released a bookmarklet to circumvent? Come on HN!

That's not a bad idea. Here is some bookmarklet code that retrieves and displays the actual answers when hovering over the blurred out answers. The downside is, it cannot do anything about the answers that do not have a permalink (clickable datestamp). javascript:(function($) { var $answerTextDivs = $("div.answer_text:has(.blurred_answer)"); function heal() { $answerTextDiv = $(this); $answerLink = $answerTextDiv.fin…

I have a bookmark on my iPhone that scrolls to the bottom of the page using Java. Is it not possible to hack something together that takes the hidden data (since the OP says it loads the actual info behind the white blocking screen) and reveal it instead of the white?

It's another couple of button presses but if it fucks them over for this scummy tactic I'm all for it.

Re: I'd like to use the web my way, thank you very much Quora

#113

Post by markkanof »

markdown wrote: post #79
pg wrote: post #49

I think Adam's mistake here is to go too much by the numbers. He presumably has numbers that show that Quora ends up net ahead if they force people to create accounts to read answers. He grew Facebook very effectively by following the numbers. But he may not realize how different this case is from Facebook's. It may well be that for a site like Quora, at this stage in its life, users are not all equal. It may be a mi…

Who's Adam, and what is his role in all this?

Apparently Adam is one of the founders of Quora. Depending on what online communities you are part of, Paul Graham's comment may be confusing as he is directly addressing the founder of Quora, not Scott Hanselman who is the author of the article.

Re: I'd like to use the web my way, thank you very much Quora

#114

Post by walkon »

NamTaf wrote: post #112
walkon wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not a bad idea. Here is some bookmarklet code that retrieves and displays the actual answers when hovering over the blurred out answers. The downside is, it cannot do anything about the answers that do not have a permalink (clickable datestamp). javascript:(function($) { var $answerTextDivs = $("div.answer_text:has(.blurred_answer)"); function heal() { $answerTextDiv = $(this); $answerLink = $answerTextDiv.fin…

I have a bookmark on my iPhone that scrolls to the bottom of the page using Java. Is it not possible to hack something together that takes the hidden data (since the OP says it loads the actual info behind the white blocking screen) and reveal it instead of the white? It's another couple of button presses but if it fucks them over for this scummy tactic I'm all for it.

The iOS version should be easy since they actually send all the answers to the client and hide them. This works with my pretend iOS 5 iPhone (via Chrome):

  javascript:(function($) {
	$(".app_promo, .app_install_dialog").hide();
	$(".answer_text").css({'margin-left': '110px', 'width': '88%'});
  }(jQuery));

Re: I'd like to use the web my way, thank you very much Quora

#115

Post by fabian2k »

A second "feature" of Quora that is an absolute deal-breaker for me is that they require real names for the accounts. And I imagine that I'm not the only one who doesn't want to use their real name on just any site on the internet.

And am I the only one who finds the whole interface totally confusing? Navigating the site is anything but intuitive, and I never even found a list of topics/tags.

Re: I'd like to use the web my way, thank you very much Quora

#116

Post by pg »

joshualastdon wrote: post #73

Look, I love Quora and what they are doing. You like quality answers and want to get access to the community of users providing it? Then, at the least make the tiniest contribution back to that community by creating an account. Simple!

How does someone merely creating an account contribute to the community?

Re: I'd like to use the web my way, thank you very much Quora

#117

Post by skymt »

brador wrote: post #95

Who owns the content on Quora? Could someone just scrape all the user contributed stuff and start a new site? Even if it was just all flat text I'd use it. Would this be legal?

Quora's terms of service allow for republishing[0] of any amount of content posted after April 22, 2010, so long as the user didn't mark it as not to be republished. There are a few caveats around attribution and a requirement to update content on request if Quora's copy changes, but it's actually fairly liberal.

0: https://www.quora.com/about/tos (search for "Quora's Licenses to You")

Re: I'd like to use the web my way, thank you very much Quora

#118

Post by shanselman »

vegashacker wrote: post #76

Nitpick on the NY times stuff: In my experience at least, they do not paywall you for links that come from an email, as the author claims. It's only links that originate from clicking to articles when you are already on the site that count against your monthly limit of 10. Links from Google, Twitter, email, etc all take you straight to a paywall-free article.

Ah, good nit, I'll double check. Maybe I've met my limit on all my browsers.

Re: I'd like to use the web my way, thank you very much Quora

#119

Post by mickhagen »

pg wrote: post #49

I think Adam's mistake here is to go too much by the numbers. He presumably has numbers that show that Quora ends up net ahead if they force people to create accounts to read answers. He grew Facebook very effectively by following the numbers. But he may not realize how different this case is from Facebook's. It may well be that for a site like Quora, at this stage in its life, users are not all equal. It may be a mi…

Here comes the mob. Really? Are we all gonna throw up our arms because of this? We use their service, we consume, read and digest their content like blood-suckers and now we get mad they're asking us to sign up? PG you've been reading Quora for "several years" and you think it's unjust they are asking you to sign up?

Quora has let us eat at their house for years and now all they're asking is we take off our shoes before entering. Let's not forget, we're in their house!

As an entrepreneur, how will we ever convince users to actually pay for products when the mob and pitch forks come out when they ask us to sign up?

We are so entitled it's sad. Really hope Quora doesn't bow down here. They aren't asking for your first-born. If you wanna be a member of their community, then be a member. Nothing unfair about that.

Re: I'd like to use the web my way, thank you very much Quora

#120

Post by dolphenstein »

SwellJoe wrote: post #111
bitcartel wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quora is now 3 years old and has taken $61 million from investors. Are there any numbers publicly available to show user growth over this period?

All the numbers show stagnation, and Quora getting dwarfed by other (less prone to ass-hattery) answers sites, like StackOverflow. Quora traffic hasn't grown in years, according to Alexa and others. I believe they're simply optimizing the wrong variables. It has certainly driven me away. I use the google personal block list, and Quora was among the first sites to go on it.

I'd consider over zealous mods as somewhere along the ass-hattery spectrum.
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