Why Not to Use Quora • Hacker News Board

Re: Why Not to Use Quora

#191

Post by todd8 » Mon, Dec 10, 2018, 4:03 PM UTC

Quota and Stack Exchange fail me in a particularly noticeable way. A few years ago I decided to really learn Java, I think this was around Java 7 time frame. I’ve programmed now for over 50 years, so naturally I knew Java well enough to read most of it even though I’d never developed with it.

This is where Quora and Stack Exchange seem like they would be very useful for answering questions about say type erasure or why my Eclipse configuration was giving me problems. What I discovered was that because of the almost universal use of Java by universities, the answers to every basic Java question were all over the place. So many questions, so many answers of questionable quality. It was like strolling thought a College stopping random students and asking them for help with Java. Somewhere, there is that really bright CS student providing good advice, the problem is finding him.

For just slightly more difficult Java questions (like “what does this Hibernate error message mean”) there might be no answers. Apparently, not to many students are using Hibernate.

Anyway despite having to take Java related answers with a grain of salt, Stack Exchange (and spin-offs) have been great for answering so many of my questions (LaTeX is actually fun to use because of Stack LaTeX Exchange).

Re: Why Not to Use Quora

#192

Post by rchaud » Mon, Dec 10, 2018, 4:13 PM UTC

In my experience, Quora was a godsend in the early 2010s when we were all still reeling from the prevalence of Yahoo! Answers results on the first page of Google. Quora was new and contributors worked hard to provide high quality answers.

Then people's worst instincts crept in. High profile users with lots of views in popular topics realized they could use Quora as a "brand building vehicle".

Within maybe a year (2014?), Quora was a very different experience. What used to be simple, to the point responses became lengthy, thought pieces peppered with references to one's own website, ebook or online course.

Unsurprisingly, the replies to people's responses dried up around this time as well. I remember seeing real discussions in the comments and the authors constructively discussing issues with the commenters. I rarely see that now. Usually it's just a display of view and likes.

There isn't really a Quora community anymore, just self-styled experts.

Re: Why Not to Use Quora

#193

Post by dinkudunk » Mon, Dec 10, 2018, 4:16 PM UTC

burtonator wrote: post #68

This applies to Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and every other major 'social' platform today. Data goes in - it doesn't come out. Can't explain it! They're walled gardens. What's frustrating is that users don't care. They simply do not care. Their data leaks, it's sold to the Russians, and they keep coming back.

It's sold to Russians unwillingly and taken by the US willingly

Re: Why Not to Use Quora

#194

Post by stickfigure » Mon, Dec 10, 2018, 4:25 PM UTC

masonic wrote: post #115

akritrime wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eternal September. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_September What happened in India was from mid-2016 usable internet access became super cheap. This suddenly added at least a hundred million new users to the Internet in a short span of time, people who were being exposed to totally new communities beyond their facebook friend circle. This is not about India, this happens whenever there is a clash between new u…

When AOL first created its portal to Usenet newsgroups in the 1990s, there was a similar effect.

Very true. Funny anecdote:

I used to be an avid reader of alt.best-of-internet. When AOL put newsgroups online, alt.best-of-internet was at the top of the alphabetical list and suddenly got a deluge of nonsense. Please to AOL went unheard.

Someone got the brilliant idea to keep a thread bumped to the top whose title was:

OFFICIAL MESSAGE FROM AOL: WE WORSHIP SATAN

I don't know if this was cause/effect, but shortly afterwards alt.best-of-internet was hidden or moved to a less conspicuous location in the UI and the deluge stopped.

Re: Why Not to Use Quora

#195

Post by rapind » Mon, Dec 10, 2018, 4:29 PM UTC

TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #156

zenexer wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never found the quality to be anywhere near as good as Stack Exchange, even when Quora first launched. Why anyone would knowingly use Quora over Stack Exchange is a mystery to me; I suspect that most Quora users simply aren't aware that Stack Exchange exists, since SE traditionally catered primarily to a technical audience. Edit: One of my biggest gripes with the platform is that it's always solicited a large numbe…

SE and Q do different jobs. Q is better at "soft" knowledge - psychology, personal history, experience, opinion. SE is better for "hard" knowledge - clearly-defined problems with specific solutions. Having said that, I find SE very, very frustrating. Given any problem, the answers invariably seem to include multiple takes with distracting or irrelevant side points; show-boating comments, often nit-picky, about very m…

Yes my biggest pet peeve with Stack Overflow specifically is that instead of an answer to the question, you'll often see a lecture about how the poster is doing it wrong. Usually this is because the responder didn't actually read the question and is trying to get their internet points in before someone else answers it.

It's not a bad idea to outline a different approach, but it's almost always better to first answer the question and then add your opinion afterwards. I've even seen questions where they poster will state "I'm not doing it the accepted way because..." and still see useless responses saying "You should do it this conventional way instead" etc.

I think this is just a negative of having a points reward system that encourages answer sniping. However, without a points system you'd see far less content. I've accepted it as a necessary evil, and overall I'm pretty happy with the quality of SO content once you learn to filter out the nonsense.

Re: Why Not to Use Quora

#196

Post by askafriend » Mon, Dec 10, 2018, 5:01 PM UTC

markus_orlandis wrote: post #42

askafriend wrote: post #6

All philosophical views aside, there are some really core issues that got me to stop using Quora and unfortunately the case to stop using it is made by the site itself: * The content quality has deteriorated significantly since the site's inception. The content is far cheaper than before and far less interesting in very obvious ways. * Moderation systems have not done a good job of growing the site as a community. Th…

Can you expand on your last point? What makes your experience frustrating?

The moment you engage with Topic X, you will be inundated with Topic X in the feed, in your email digest, in additional follow ups asking "Are you still interested in X" and so on.

It leaves little room for true exploration and discovery because 1 mis-click on a topic could change your entire content experience for days or weeks.

Re: Why Not to Use Quora

#197

Post by peter_retief » Mon, Dec 10, 2018, 5:26 PM UTC

cauldron wrote: post #180

peter_retief wrote: post #159

For me Quora has improved, I get really interesting answers emailed to me on topics I find interesting, Roman history is one

https://www.theverge.com/2018/10/5/17940650/how-history-gets...

indeed

Re: Why Not to Use Quora

#198

Post by smt88 » Mon, Dec 10, 2018, 6:01 PM UTC

felipemnoa wrote: post #38

smt88 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Someone probably signed up using your email address. It happens to me weekly.

Don't they verify that you own the email address?

Most sites don’t, at least outside EU. They have to let you unsubscribe, but can otherwise email you all they want.

Re: Why Not to Use Quora

#199

Post by shakestheclown » Mon, Dec 10, 2018, 6:15 PM UTC

robocat wrote: post #141

rkho wrote: post #13

I used to be a power user on Quora. It's how I learned about the coding bootcamp that eventually became the catalyst for a huge career change in my life. I'd spend countless hours answering questions about my experiences and the school I attended, with the intention of just helping give back to the community. Over the years, Quora became an relentless flood of "ask to answer" questions that were already on the site,…

Why delete all your answers?

Personally, I've considered deleting all mine because quite often years old posts will get flagged for spam or inappropriate material or some other rule despite it being the top voted (and often only) answer. I used to reply and send them their own rules back that they claim I violated and get 90%+ lifted, but after a couple old answers got flagged in the same week and it locked my account for x amount of time I stopped dealing with them. And often I'd have to appeal the same post over and over again anyway. It would get blocked, I'd get it reinstated, and then it would get blocked again so it was just frustrating.

I used to be top 7 in a specific niche but it wasn't worth dealing with their moderation appeals constantly. It's not quite as bad now that I am not in the top lists.

Re: Why Not to Use Quora

#200

Post by idoescompooters » Mon, Dec 10, 2018, 6:38 PM UTC

askafriend wrote: post #6

All philosophical views aside, there are some really core issues that got me to stop using Quora and unfortunately the case to stop using it is made by the site itself: * The content quality has deteriorated significantly since the site's inception. The content is far cheaper than before and far less interesting in very obvious ways. * Moderation systems have not done a good job of growing the site as a community. Th…

I can tell you why the content quality deteriorated. The Partner Program... Encourages weird questions with primary purpose of gaining most viewers. I happen to be selected as one of these people (not too sure why), and I refuse to take part in that nonsense.