That's... A fairly long rant answering a short question ("what I think about Quora and its latest pivot").
Not that I'm here to defend Quora, but this level of heat makes me wonder whether the unnamed VC has some ongoing beef with it.
The downfall of Quora (2013)
21–30 of 123 posts
Re: The downfall of Quora (2013)
#22This article nails it. I remember when Quora first came out, I thought that it was a great idea, like a stack overflow for the masses. Fast forward to now though and I find myself avoiding it at all costs. Quora seems willing to try any and everything to fix itself except for solving its most glaring and obvious problem, its closed ecosystem. On mobile it is ridiculous when you do a search in browser and click a Quora link it forces you to install the app to see the answer. If you do make the mistake of installing the app you are then inundated with useless notifications about things you don't care about. I know that there is good information hidden in there, but its a terrible strategy to make people jump through hoops to access it. Meanwhile Stack Overflow became Stack Exchange with sub-sites for more and more topics thus transforming itself into what Quora could have/should have been in the first place. Its open nature has driven its growth to a top 200 Alexa rank while Quora seems destined to continue its semi-annual pivoting.
Re: The downfall of Quora (2013)
#23I'm acquainted with the founders of Quora, and I don't think making "fast money" was a primary motivation in founding Quora. They set out to create a question/answer site with a better user experience and a better community.
The business model seems, from the outside, to be the belief that, like Facebook and Twitter, they will make money somehow eventually after becoming a runaway success, even it takes years to monetize.
Re: The downfall of Quora (2013)
#24From 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...
Absolutely none of the responses to that question (thanks for sharing that link with the group here) distinguishes why I should post on Quora, with its annoying user interface and smarmily self-congratulatory culture, rather than posting here on Hacker News. I can get any of the benefits of posting on Quora with less friction, more civility, and more Google visibility here on Hacker News than I can on Quora.
Re: The downfall of Quora (2013)
#25Quora's auto linkification of text seems to be excellent. clueless.it indeed.
I clicked it. :(
Re: The downfall of Quora (2013)
#26I'm acquainted with the founders of Quora, and I don't think making "fast money" was a primary motivation in founding Quora. They set out to create a question/answer site with a better user experience and a better community. The business model seems, from the outside, to be the belief that, like Facebook and Twitter, they will make money somehow eventually after becoming a runaway success, even it takes years to mone…
They set out to create a question/answer site with a better user experience and a better community.
Their user interface choices always looked seriously weird to anyone familiar with almost any other website. It's beyond annoying to me to see a Quora link shared by friends (and actually quite rare for me to see a Quora link shared by anyone), because I never know if I will be able to read the Quora thread without logging in or not. Today, in this Hacker News thread, both the OP and the links submitted so far have been instantly visible to me, but that is not my usual experience with Quora. Rather, my usual experience, through several changes of Quora policy, has been to see nag screens asking me to sign up before I see any of Quora's content.
Re: The downfall of Quora (2013)
#27Earlier 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?
how is that sexism - look at the stats behind who edits wikipedia, who posts here or at quora.
prove me wrong, with science.
it is the opposite of sexism - it is an uncomfortable truth.
Re: The downfall of Quora (2013)
#28I thought Quora's philosophy was "blur the page and cover it with a modal signup form".
Re: The downfall of Quora (2013)
#29"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 g…
this is an intriguing criticism but assumes a corrupted reputation economy. wouldn't a perfect meritocracy be a reputation based economy?
Re: The downfall of Quora (2013)
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
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?
(a) What sexism are you seeing? Is Money for Nothing really homophobia to you?
That little faggot with the earring and the make-up
Yeah, buddy, that's his own hair
That little faggot got his own jet airplane
That little faggot he's a millionaire