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Why Not to Use Quora

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Re: Why Not to Use Quora

#201

Post by anonytrary »

nurettin wrote: post #121
anonytrary wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SE is much more difficult to start using than Quora, which is also probably why it has higher quality content. Quora has absolutely no quality control.

quora did SEO right. It has huge visibility, and thus, high quality answers get huge votes, even from people who aren't from that field of expertise. So perhaps post quality is lower than SE, but vote quality is magnitudes higher in my experience.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding you, but I've looked things up on Google and frequently see Quora answers at the very top.

I'd say at least half the time I click on the link, the top answer, it is either highly biased, anecdotal, just plain wrong, or a combination of those things. Many of the answers are also in broken English. Despite this, the answers get thousands of upvotes and it makes me question whether or not the Quora userbase is competent at identifying good content.

Over time, I've grown to not trust the first answer on Quora as I trust the top answer on SE. At that point, the Quora result becomes a waste of an entry on Google's front page.

As others have said in this thread, Quora seems to be suited towards personal questions and opinion-based questions, in which case, maybe Quora and SE are compliments to each other.

Re: Why Not to Use Quora

#202

Post by maceurt »

codedokode wrote: post #171

I avoid Quora links in search results because it hides content from unauthenticated users and I don't understand why I have to register only to read the answers. Stackoverflow is so much better. I wonder what is the motivation for the users to contribute to a site that hides their knowledge from others?

I ignore them, because there are lot of just plain wrong answers/ low effort answers along with the fact that often time the most upvoted answers are not the highest up and I will have to search for the brat answer instead of it being right there. Quora is also very annoying in the way it bugs its users to answer questions.

Re: Why Not to Use Quora

#203

Post by manigandham »

zenexer wrote: post #15
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 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…

Quora still has some incredible gems and answers from people directly involved with the question. Unfortunately, as all content sites, their growth has led to a rapid decrease in quality, and their efforts to inflate questions has only made it worse.

Re: Why Not to Use Quora

#204

Post by manigandham »

Nuance wrote: post #86
stevebmark wrote: post #79

What? Don't use Quora because it's Quora, not because of lack of APIs. Anyone can answer any question about anything. Like Reddit, Imgur, Wikipedia, this crowd sourcing of information leads to constant liquid garbage. People like to teach what they don't know and speak about nothing just to speak.

Anyone can answer, but I’ve found the Quora system to be pretty good at surfacing who knows about a given topic because of credentials attached to names.

Those credentials are just a textbox. You can say you're an expert in anything.

Re: Why Not to Use Quora

#205

Post by Nuance »

manigandham wrote: post #204
Nuance wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anyone can answer, but I’ve found the Quora system to be pretty good at surfacing who knows about a given topic because of credentials attached to names.

Those credentials are just a textbox. You can say you're an expert in anything.

I believe there’s a verification process if you say you’re a PhD.

Re: Why Not to Use Quora

#206

Post by kkarakk »

rchaud wrote: post #192

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 (201…

seeing what medium has become i truly think the methodology behind medium was "you know quora? i think we can do the same with a better UX and more of a focus on a western audience"

Re: Why Not to Use Quora

#207

Post by firexcy »

I followed the “Math” topic and found my feed filled with silly, primary- and middle school- level homework questions.

That’s when I stopped to use Quora.

Re: Why Not to Use Quora

#208

Post by dakial1 »

My experience with Quora is that it is a modern Yahoo Answers. Every time I end up there (because it appeared in a Google results page) the answers are always somebody trying to promote their product, page, etc related to the topic at hand. Not an expert but a biased entrepreneur.
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