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The downfall of Quora (2013)

thegoodones.quora.com

11–20 of 123 posts

Re: The downfall of Quora (2013)

#12
"more fast money could be madeby starting a for-profit version of Wikipedia with the end game being to eventually IPO-it."

The whole "Zero to One" campaign by Thiel et. al. seems to be an attempt to thrust a stake through the heart of this kind of thing.

Re: The downfall of Quora (2013)

#13

This struck me as more representative of other sites. Like, the one we're on now: The No Humor Rule: Humor is a de facto taboo on Quora. While the occasional demonstration of witwill evoke no more than a scowl and shake of the head from the community, more regular use will draw a barrage of down votes and risk the possibility of banishment. The staff attempts to deny that this istrue but fails to convince anyone. Man…

I've found that HN is overall tolerant of the occasional bit of humor or even snark, definitely to a point where you do not feel constrained.

I've found it to be a viper pit of humorless aspies

Re: The downfall of Quora (2013)

#14
A surprising fierce critique of quora.

I'm not sure there's anything someone wanting to build a community can learn from this article. Which is a shame, because we should really be trying to learn from experience. It would counter the fuckin stupid ideas some people have. (ie: real names only to combat hostility and trolling. The obvious counter would be the comment sections of most newspapers.)

Re: The downfall of Quora (2013)

#15
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ego. just like wikipedia it runs on the precious recource called 'mansplaining'. men really like to show off. just like this comment.

Is the sexism really necessary?

In this case,

looks up definition of mansplaining

Yes. Yes it is.

It is necessary to show his point. Not saying it is necessary in society. Cool your jets.

Re: The downfall of Quora (2013)

#16

This struck me as more representative of other sites. Like, the one we're on now: The No Humor Rule: Humor is a de facto taboo on Quora. While the occasional demonstration of witwill evoke no more than a scowl and shake of the head from the community, more regular use will draw a barrage of down votes and risk the possibility of banishment. The staff attempts to deny that this istrue but fails to convince anyone. Man…

I've noticed the lack of humour enthusiasm on HN too. I guess maybe as the article suggests it does not translate well internationally.

Re: The downfall of Quora (2013)

#17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is the sexism really necessary?

In this case, looks up definition of mansplaining Yes. Yes it is. It is necessary to show his point. Not saying it is necessary in society. Cool your jets.

Sexism is never necessary.

And what point would that be?

Re: The downfall of Quora (2013)

#18

"Quora's philosophy can be summed up as why should the serfs get a share if they were dumb enough to work for free in the first place?" Different currencies. The owners of Quora are being paid in US dollars, the content creators in both attention and reputation. Both attention and reputation are currencies that will translate to dollars more and more as we progress towards an, in-part, reputation-based economy. With…

> Different currencies. The owners of Quora are being paid in US dollars, the content creators in both attention and reputation.

I think this is spot-on. I answered questions on quora for a while, but eventually left once I realized I was getting nothing out of it besides (some) "reputation" on a closed-off website. The reputation (and any associated ego/self-esteem boost) might be enough of a reward for some to justify continuing, though.

> Both attention and reputation are currencies that will translate to dollars more and more as we progress towards an, in-part, reputation-based economy.

I am not sure this is or will be univerally true. It does work for some people, though they seem to be a minority. Not every twitter-celebrity can convert that status into a way to support themselves financially.

Re: The downfall of Quora (2013)

#19

"Quora's philosophy can be summed up as why should the serfs get a share if they were dumb enough to work for free in the first place?" Different currencies. The owners of Quora are being paid in US dollars, the content creators in both attention and reputation. Both attention and reputation are currencies that will translate to dollars more and more as we progress towards an, in-part, reputation-based economy. With…

"A reputation based economy is what we're moving towards", we should be resistant to that. I think it would be fair to say a "reputation based economy" is a synonym for crony capitalism -- I'll only do business with you if I know you.

This is a socially unfair economy at best, and at worst will generate inequality as social cliques will continue to preserve and enrich themselves and "the people they know". If we're going to move more toward social and economic fairness this isn't the direction to go.

I'm comfortable knowing that Whole Foods takes dollars rather than Klout points or retweets. That way anyone who can make a dollar can eat and not worry about starving because they failed to impress some arbiter of social currency. Reputations aren't fungible hence they are flawed as a just economic currency.

Re: The downfall of Quora (2013)

#20

From the article kindly submitted here: "Quora's philosophy can be summed up as why should the serfs get a share if they were dumb enough to work for free in the first place?" That's a good question. What is the incentive to be a content creator on Quora? AFTER EDIT: Aside about the other comments wondering if Hacker News has a no-humor rule. I find comments from time to time on Hacker News that are laugh-out-loud fu…

Ironically, Quora is a great place to look for an answer to that question.

[1] http://www.quora.com/Answers-Quora-feature/Why-do-people-ans...

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