Scribd and Quora considered harmful • Hacker News Board

Re: Scribd and Quora considered harmful

#21

Post by koios » Sun, May 25, 2014, 6:54 PM UTC

bsenftner wrote: post #10

Quora is dangerously close to being a nuisance with all the pointless emails they send. I think I browsed the site a half dozen times max, and contributed to two-three questions. Now I get daily emails about distant friends activity on Quora. LinkedIn this the only site I've been tricked into joining that is worse with their spammy emails.

You can turn off these emails though, surely? At least, you can with linkedin, as I have. I am not a quora user, so I can't talk there.

That said, I usually go with the email-alias trick. Not all websites like emails with a + in their name, so I have a postmap file on my server to map service@domain to my real address. If I want rid of that sites email because they won't respect my unsubscribes, I just remove that alias.

I've also heard of people using the likes of maildrop to /dev/null email they don't want. I have maildrop set up, but no rules in force to delete stuff, just to move.

Re: Scribd and Quora considered harmful

#22

Post by bambax » Sun, May 25, 2014, 6:54 PM UTC

mercer wrote: post #15

I don't like Quora, and yet I find myself on Quore surprisingly often because a lot of the questions and answers highlighted in the emails that I still get in my inbox are so interesting. Does anyone know of a less unpleasant site with Quora-like content?

Okay, but if you didn't get those emails, would you ask those questions?

I end up at Stack Overflow after seeking answers to questions I'm actually asking.

Quora is just entertainment, and a very evil version of it.

It's funny (in a sad way) that YC which wants to "kill Hollywood", presumably because of DRM and such, would end up backing up properties like Scribd and Quora.

Re: Scribd and Quora considered harmful

#23

Post by sferoze » Sun, May 25, 2014, 6:57 PM UTC

Quora is an extremely useful service. Whenever I am learning about a topic and want to clarify something, I post the question to Quora. And it is amazing how fast I get a response.

Once I was wondering how the dragon capsule got into orbit with the ISS. Robert Frost and another person spent a lot of time with me in the comments until I finally understood.

I've asked many other questions about where to find certain resources, how to accomplish certain task, etc. and the answers have generally been quite useful!

The great thing about Quora is the site has an active community who spend time on the site. Also you will find experts in certain fields who are willing to spend time answering questions and clearing up misconceptions.

It is an extremely useful and valuable site for me, I really appreciate the Quora community and the help I get from users who answer my questions.

I use Stack Overflow mainly for programming questions instead of Quora. Stackoverflow is amazing.

I have noticed the Stack Exchange network with so many different topics. I think I will start asking questions in the Stack Exchange network as well in addition to Quora and see how they both compare.

Re: Scribd and Quora considered harmful

#24

Post by throwaway5752 » Sun, May 25, 2014, 6:57 PM UTC

It works better when Dijkstra says it.

As far as pricing, isn't that what the uploader of the document sets, not scribd? And yes, quora is unfriendly to use IMO, but do you really feel like they'll make it through the next industry shakeout?

Re: Scribd and Quora considered harmful

#25

Post by csandreasen » Sun, May 25, 2014, 6:59 PM UTC

Scribd is a nightmare to use on a mobile device as well. I can't count the times I've open an article on my phone and wanted to view the linked PDF, only to get a brand new web page whose text is too small to read, can't be resized, and zoom buttons are unclickable because they overlap. Oftentimes there's a tiny "download PDF" link located in a the upper right corner which is incredibly difficult to press; after repeatedly attempting to press it for an inordinate amount of time, I can usually finally load it into a native PDF viewer.

In short, just supply a PDF link.

Re: Scribd and Quora considered harmful

#26

Post by jds375 » Sun, May 25, 2014, 7:07 PM UTC

spindritf wrote: post #16

What is a good alternative to Scribd? One that allows viewers to download the source file without too much hassle and displays the text properly? Google Drive?

I really don't think there is a good answer for this that a lot of people use right now. It's definitely a project or startup waiting to happen.

Re: Scribd and Quora considered harmful

#27

Post by tambourmajor » Sun, May 25, 2014, 7:07 PM UTC

shurcooL wrote: post #20

tambourmajor wrote: post #14

It would actually be great to have something like a web services donation flat rate. Basically something like http://flattr.com but but also for web services and apps, not only for creators and artists. A place where you can spend some money on the places you enjoy online without having to think too hard about it. For example, I would happily pay maybe $10 a month for reddit, Less Wrong and HN, just to cover independ…

What if I told you that already exists, and you can be giving $10 a month or whatever to many websites or individuals right now? Most people who say "wouldn't it be great" like above end up changing their minds about donating after they find out it's actually possible. Anyway, if you're still interested, feel free to reply here and I'll forward you to what I'm referring to. FWIW, I do think it would be great and I'm…

It would be great if it all was bundled in a single place and not many separate services I need to keep track of.

Re: Scribd and Quora considered harmful

#28

Post by zokier » Sun, May 25, 2014, 7:08 PM UTC

tambourmajor wrote: post #14

It would actually be great to have something like a web services donation flat rate. Basically something like http://flattr.com but but also for web services and apps, not only for creators and artists. A place where you can spend some money on the places you enjoy online without having to think too hard about it. For example, I would happily pay maybe $10 a month for reddit, Less Wrong and HN, just to cover independ…

I thought there was no limitations on who can use Flattr, ie services and apps would be free to use it as well.

Re: Scribd and Quora considered harmful

#29

Post by justincormack » Sun, May 25, 2014, 7:14 PM UTC

chanux wrote: post #6

I think my continued use of these sites rigged with all dark patterns are just a nod of acceptance. Deleted Quora app from phone long ago and logged out. It's probably time I delete my account. Update: Oh well. There's no delete feature implemented. You have to email Quora support. https://www.quora.com/Quora-product/How-do-I-delete-my-Quora...

they do delete your account after this though... so its worth it.

Re: Scribd and Quora considered harmful

#30

Post by tambourmajor » Sun, May 25, 2014, 7:19 PM UTC

zokier wrote: post #28

tambourmajor wrote: post #14

It would actually be great to have something like a web services donation flat rate. Basically something like http://flattr.com but but also for web services and apps, not only for creators and artists. A place where you can spend some money on the places you enjoy online without having to think too hard about it. For example, I would happily pay maybe $10 a month for reddit, Less Wrong and HN, just to cover independ…

I thought there was no limitations on who can use Flattr, ie services and apps would be free to use it as well.

It doesn't seem to be encouraged either. The site seems to be mainly directed at individuals and it's mostly micropayments.