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Why Not to Use Quora
- vtesucks 8y agoQuora logs you in automatically if you're logged in to google. Also makes it extremely hard to log out. Not to mention they have no respect for users.
- scrollaway 8y agoI don't know how you think this is actually possible. It sounds to me like you just logged in using oauth… Edit: Hey, downvoters, it's not possible to just use Google's login mechanism without prompting an initial OAuth flow at some point in time. If it is, instead of proving me wrong here, tell Google how and you can make some good money out of it. As was said below, if you want, you can revoke tokens here: https://myaccount.google.com/permissions https://myaccount.google.com/permissions
- vtesucks 8y agoI did, once. But after that one entirely new sessions, they automatically "click" the sign in to google button behind the scenes and log me in with the token. Very creepy
- AYBABTME 8y agoI don't like Quora, but... that's just how OAuth is meant to work.
- ceejayoz 8y agoI will say I appreciate Facebook's approach to this - after 60-90 days, you have to affirmatively reconfirm your initial authorization when they send you through the OAuth flow.
- Crosseye_Jack 8y agoRevoke the auth with google and clear any cookies you have with Quora. Worse that will happen if they redirect you to google to login.
- caseysoftware 8y agoThe first time you logged in with Google, you were presented with a User Consent screen that said "this website wants access to this information, do you agree?" and you clicked yes. To break the link, go into Google and see what sites, apps, etc you granted access to. That's a good thing to do regularly anyway with every social provider. I wrote about the implications of poorly implemented and abusive social authentication practices last month: https://www.scmagazine.com/home/security-news/using-social-auth-with-your-app-4-steps-to-protect-your-users-and-mitigate-security-concerns/ https://www.scmagazine.com/home/security-news/using-social-a...
- wallnuss 8y agoYou can revoke OAuth tokens at https://accounts.google.com/b/0/IssuedAuthSubTokens?hl=en https://accounts.google.com/b/0/IssuedAuthSubTokens?hl=en
- derangedHorse 8y agoWhen a service typically uses an external identity provider, they usually still have local accounts that are created and linked to that form of authentication. Of course the user will always need to authenticate using that same external identity provider ,but it can be forced by the application server by initiating oauth without provocation in the backend. What this seems like is after the user initially logged in and consented with Google, Quora went ahead and decided that they would initiate the oauth flow whenever the user visits the page regardless of whether the user explicitly hits the login button or not.
- anonu 8y agoI agree with the view... But how do you get non HN people to stop using Quora? Ultimately it's that much larger audience that determines if it lives or dies.
- askafriend 8y agoAll 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. The site has lost the character that drew many people to it in the first place. * The machine learning models terribly over-fit to user signals, creating a frustrating experience. These 3 core issues with the site are what got me to gradually stop using it as someone who was initially an early adopter.
- zenexer 8y agoI 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 number of promotional answers. Anytime I end up on Quora, I'm usually stuck scrolling through a long list of "Use my product, it's the best!" answers. It appears to make no effort to discourage or remove such content, and, for whatever reason, those answers tend to get heavily upvoted.
- anonytrary 8y agoSE 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.
- zenexer 8y agoThat's definitely true, though I find that the less technical platforms are laxer. However, that level of quality control is exactly what keeps me coming back. If you ask a stupid question, SO is going point it out rather bluntly. Quora will give you a best-effort answer so someone can plug their latest product. Ask a vague question on Quora, and you'll get a vague answer. Ask a vague question on Stack Overflow, and you'll get downvoted along with comments to the order of, "You haven't provided enough information for us to give you an answer."
- King-Aaron 8y agoI never signed up to Quora, but they made me an account and started sending me notifications anyway. Several of my peers found the same thing.
- smt88 8y agoSomeone probably signed up using your email address. It happens to me weekly.
- felipemnoa 8y agoDon't they verify that you own the email address?
- anonbluecc 8y agodo me a favor and up vote this comment so i can verify this account on my keybase. I will love you forever felipemnoa
- anonbluecc 8y agoYou can even remove it after i verify lol
- smt88 8y agoMost sites don’t, at least outside EU. They have to let you unsubscribe, but can otherwise email you all they want.
- dawnerd 8y agoSame here. It’s likely a Facebook partnership since for me at least the email was one I used on fb only. Not sure how someone else would guess that email.
- rkho 8y agoI 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, ones asking me to compare "X coding bootcamp vs Y coding bootcamp" (like, how would someone know if they only attended one?), or just ridiculous comments from entitled people who expected the world with their questions. I eventually deleted all of my answers and deactivated my account. It's just no longer worth contributing to a site that's very obviously devolved to "Yahoo Answers, with influencer spam"
- fourstar 8y agoWhat more did you expect from sharing your experience from attending a coding bootcamp? Get off your high horse.
- praneshp 8y agoI wish you had phrased your answer better, but this is exactly what I thought of the OP's comment (and the vast majority of former power users' complaints, as someone that used to hang out there since the early days).
- fourstar 8y agoSometimes the truth is hard to swallow. EDIT: (as you can tell by the amount of downvotes both of my comments have already received). Hive-mind in effect.
- wglb 8y agoThis comment is not in line with the site guidelines.
- fourstar 8y agoAnd what exactly are those? Please share. HINT: I've been here for 10 years.
- gurumeditations 8y agoQuora was great years ago, but now it’s just a glorified Yahoo Answers full of Indians giving non-answers and fake stories in broken English.
- StavrosK 8y agoWhat's wrong with Indians?
- system2 8y agoWell, in the tech world (especially online), they tend to provide low-quality service and bad codes. Quora is an free Indian-web-service-provider advertising platform. Nothing else. It is frustrating to see all off-shore "developers" coming up with a solution to your problems.
- ryanmccullagh 8y agoIt's pretty ironic, that 2 of the top tech companies have Indian CEOs.
- system2 8y agoStatistically, it is very insignificant.
- Apocryphon 8y agoMarket cap-wise, not quite so insignificant.
- system2 8y agoAccomplishments of few people are not enough to fix the epidemic.
- TheArcane 8y ago
- moltar 8y agoTo be honest, most hits on Google with Quora results are spam. I don’t see any value, unless it’s tucked away in some industry specific topics that I’m not interested in.
- NoPicklez 8y agoOne part of the article that I really disagree with is the part about the Wayback machine. As much as I believe it's important we retain the information we put on the internet, I fully support that if I put something on the internet and I am the creator of such content, I should be allowed to remove that content I created if I wish. This is closely aligned with the GDPR's "Right to be forgotten", yes this is in relation to different information but I'm simply describing its intent. But eventually, this level of control should be given to all of us who share content on the internet. That we the curators of such content can ask of the provider to take reasonable steps to remove such content. And that if a provider wishes to restrict how widely dispersed its creators content travels then that's fine. Just because something has been posted online, doesn't mean it needs to travel far and wide. Now yes, if I post something on the internet and I never touch it again I'm happy for it to hit the Wayback machine. However, I believe it to be important that if I did ever want that information I created to be removed, I'd have the ability to do so. Now if the Wayback machine does not allow this replication, then I understand why Quora do not allow them to use it. If anything its a battle on both sides, a battle to provide control to the content creators around the content they create. And a battle with trying to archive everything that exists on the internet and making it publicly available regardless of the content creators current wishes. Don't get me wrong, if you post something online expect it to be on the largest most accessible encyclopedia of information of all time. But times are changing, and we are starting to implement controls to protect our digital identity and the information we create online. My argument, is that if a content provider wishes to restrict how far and wide the information I curate on its service is spread, then there's nothing wrong with that. We should not be shaming content providers who wish to provide as much power to the curator as possible.
- Barrin92 8y agoI agree. It also aligns with the 'right to one's own image' for example, which is important in jurisdictions like Germany and gains increasing relevance with the prevalence of facial recognition and finding oneself on social media without having given consent. There is a real danger of the internet becoming a macabre and voyeuristic zoo where people lose control over their own data in the name of ever more transparency or public interest. It has always been particularly interesting to me that this is an especially big issue in the US, where you would expect the opposite given how it handles these matters of privacy and non-interference in the analog world.
- AndrewKemendo 8y agoHonestly, in the last few years Quora answers are just terribly bad. It's basically turned into yahoo answers but instead of the top answer being vapid, it's vapid and an ad for some service.
- ryanmccullagh 8y agoI used to enjoy browsing Quora about 4 years ago. Then It started showing up in Google search results for any obscure thing I would search. Most of the time I view a question, there is some type of product placement in the answers. It's not of high value to me anymore. Stack Exchange is much, much better, and even reddit. How do these guys honestly have a real business? I know the founder was Zuck's friend.
- cauldron 8y agoThe Chinese copy of it "Zhihu(Did you know?)" has become a distribution center of misinformation and misconception, a haven for "folk-science", all driven by financial gains, why would "clever ones" waste time on the internet if they can't make a buck out of it afterall, and if it's not a pragmatism populist hangout, how can they make their most valuable eyeballs keep coming back. But the sin of it is it makes you think your are "clever" too, and both the website and the answerers are willingly fabricating, promoting and propagating deleterious garbage.
- thecleaner 8y agoJust block answers by Indian users. It will be alright again.
- system2 8y agoSad but true, but it will never happen. Quora is traffic hungry and get millions of visits (if not all) from India region. It is literally cancer at this point.
- thisisananth 8y agoI used to lurk on quora. Once I read an answer to anonymous question, my feed started to full of those anonymous questions. I tried hard to curate my feed, by closing the questions I didn't want to see. But I got the same kinds of things still, albeit with different questions. Agree I saw some of those questions, but it seemed as if I could no longer curate the feed with what I wanted and the algorithm especially popular on quora feed couldn't be avoided. So I started logging out and viewing answers of users I am interested in the answers of by directly going to their profile. But quora started pestering me to login if I viewed more than two questions, so I gave up and stopped using the site. It is a shame as there are some good writers whose content is only available on Quora as far as I know but now I cannot read it without reading all the crap answers in my feed.
- sonnyblarney 8y agoThe other reason is that it's turning into Yahoo answers ...
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- mr_puzzled 8y agoDoes the root cause of all these problems with quora come down to being vc funded and needing high revenue numbers and growth rates? Imagine quora was a site driven by the community... It's a conundrum, only a vc funded site can reach such scale, have great growth etc but when the time for monetization comes, everything starts going downhill. A site driven by a foundation for example, rarely ever gets to any sort of scale. How can this problem be solved?
- zenexer 8y agoI do get a sense that they put more effort into marketing and growth than actually fostering a solid knowledge base. However, an interesting point was raised in another comment: comparable sites that focus on quality often come across as unwelcoming because they have strict guidelines. I'm not sure it can be entirely blamed on the fact that they're VC-funded--to some extent, it seems they're more interested in being newbie-friendly than producing quality content.
- hn_throwaway_99 8y agoTBH, I'm actually quite impressed that Reddit has lasted as long as it has and is still as vibrant as it is. Yes, of course there are tons of cesspool and misogynistic/racist/tribal areas, but I've found that I still like and frequent my niche smaller subreddits, my city subreddit (tons of trolls there but they are always downvoted and good content bubbles up) and the larger "eye candy" subreddits like r/aww. My guess is that Reddit explicitly did not try to put VCs number 1 in their priorities, unlike, say, Digg.
- baroffoos 8y agoReddit was ruined with the redesign. Its buggy and slow. I get stuck on a loading screen on mobile for about 20 seconds before the page loads and half the time just shows an error. The desktop version also keeps logging me out randomly and forgetting I opted out of the redesign.
- hn_throwaway_99 8y ago
- techsin101 8y agospammers with Indian sounding names killed it. Question how much is 3*3? You'd get 40 answers spamming their website, 20 life stories of completely uneventful event, and then answer 9 repeatedly posted like 11 times.
- zenexer 8y agoI know I shouldn't, but I'm awfully tempted to test this.
- java_script 8y agoHoly shit I just logged in for the first time in years and on my homepage was pretty much that. No life stories but way more than 40 answers. https://www.quora.com/If-14x-14-14-what-is-x https://www.quora.com/If-14x-14-14-what-is-x
- burtonator 8y agoThis 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.
- endre 8y agoi agree on that
- wDCzI78WRQaC1e3 8y agoMy favorite is when a product bends over backwards to make it easy to import data. And then pretends that it's never heard of the word 'export'. Export data? Yes, it's very easy to import data!
- dinkudunk 8y agoIt's sold to Russians unwillingly and taken by the US willingly
- breck 8y ago> Contrast that with Q&A competitors Stack Overflow and Stack Exchange, which offers an API, a wealth of user-made tools and support community for it, a powerful Data Explorer for querying and exporting data, a liberal crawling policy, and doesn’t attempt to hide questions and answers behind authentication. They even proactively upload anonymized data dumps of all user-contributed content to the Internet Archive for posterity under a Creative Commons license. I was unaware that Stack Overflow/Stack Exchange did this. I'm very happy that I deleted my Quora account a couple months ago and that I've been contributing more to the SE sites lately.
- stevebmark 8y agoWhat? 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.
- Nuance 8y agoAnyone 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.
- manigandham 8y agoThose credentials are just a textbox. You can say you're an expert in anything.
- Nuance 8y agoI believe there’s a verification process if you say you’re a PhD.
- joostshao 8y agoWhy Not to Use Zhihu ? ---- from a netboy from china ... 2018-12-12 10:40:02
- joostshao 8y agoWhy Not to Use Zhihu --- from a cute netboy from China , 2018-12-12 10:40:01
- hmans 8y agoQuora is a marketing platform, just like Medium.
- sidkhanooja 8y agoQuora used to be good before 2012-13(?), what with its credit system and all. You had a fixed pool of points to ask questions. Potential people who wanted people to ask them questions could arbitrarily set their points, and these points were deducted from questioner's pool, and added to the answerer's pool. When this was removed, it was the beginning of the end. Clickbait, self-promotion, rabid people-centric cults, unrelated answers (no person X, you should not answer with a sob story for 'what's the weather like in Seattle these days?'), no question details allowed, answers catering to the lowest denominator, crappy feeds, and (imo) the worst - fabricating actual relationships, sob stories, and credentials (IIT/MIT/etc.) to garner more views and become a top writer (w/e that's worth). And the rabid and toxic community is nauseous, to say the least. No enforcement of community standards means that every non-mainstream opinion (or even an opinion that goes against the Quora mainstream) is lambasted as if you had insulted the commenter's family. Although HN's moderation policy may seem caged to some, it is the reason for the quality of the community's discussions. Quora is a textbook example of what happens when users are given freedom to do whatever they want to. It is the reason why I deleted my Quora account happily (even though I had 1M+ views on my answers, and I liked answering the most mundane of questions) - the site is not worth the time you devote to it.
- Cyclone_ 8y agoI really don't see why not choosing to archive their data for privacy reasons is that big of a deal. I personally find it much better than having everything stay forever. I've always found the notion that everything must be shared with the whole world quite strange.
- Noumenon72 8y agoQuora is one of my top Internet destinations at the moment -- you can find anything from [why farmers don't use silos any more](https://www.quora.com/What-was-very-useful-when-it-first-came-out-but-is-useless-today/answer/Jonathan-Johnson-41?ch=99&share=b2364c7e&srid=OUaT https://www.quora.com/What-was-very-useful-when-it-first-cam...) to [true facts about Jeff Dean](https://www.quora.com/What-are-all-the-Jeff-Dean-facts?ch=99&share=bcf83cba&srid=OUaT https://www.quora.com/What-are-all-the-Jeff-Dean-facts?ch=99...) to [how to compensate salespeople](https://www.quora.com/What-should-a-CEO-know-when-he-designs-a-compensation-system-for-the-employees/answer/Stan-Hanks?ch=99&share=43b79ec0&srid=OUaT https://www.quora.com/What-should-a-CEO-know-when-he-designs...). I don't care about getting my data out any more than I care about not having transcripts of the conversations I had last month. What I do care about is that Quora lets people delete comments on their own answers, meaning they can just lie with no way of being shamed and there's no point contradicting them.
- madmax108 8y agoI was a hardcore user of Quora till a few years ago. In fact I was in the top 50 or so most followed users back when the site was growing (mostly thanks to a couple of my answers that ended up blowing up) For me personally, Quora was special because the people on it were so different from each other. My first few follows were a NASA engineer, a published author, a student with radical views on theology etc. But over time, with popularity, the site has devolved into a homogeneous mixture of people with similar views on most topics, from the same strata of society, mostly from the same country(/ies), with the same educational backgrounds, same sense of humour (My friend used to joke that the average writer on Quora is INTP Engineer from IIT who is working at a MNC but wants to change the world through NGO-work). I think the change came about when Quora stopped charging for asking questions. This led to a flood of nonsense questions and a flooding of experiential questions over factual ones (eg. What is it like to be an older sibling vs. Why is the Attack on Normandy considered a turning point?). And of course experiential questions have waaaaaay more people who want to share their experiences on the same. I think the day I lost hope entirely was when I was A2A "If Pakistan kidnaps Sachin Tendulkar, what would India government's response be?" (Yes, I'm Indian, but this question is silly in itself and the chest-thumping answers on this were even sillier). Today, I still use Quora, though the last answer I wrote was about 3 years ago. I still have about 9K followers, but I follow a carefully curated list of about 70 accounts. It's utility as a website to "share knowledge" is very limited and I look at it today as essay-Twitter (Similar noise, similar debating, but just like Twitter, once in a while something good shows up)
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- farazzz 8y agoWhat is a good alternative to Quora? I know of Stack Overflow/Exchange however you can’t ask open ended questions there
- piyush_soni 8y agoI asked it directly to Quora, but they didn't answer (so wondering if someone knows the answer here). According to GDPR, if I request them, they have to delete all of my data they ever had - Is my understanding true here? I want to do that, but I'm afraid if they'll actually do it.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- joelthelion 8y agoI don't like Quora. But I'm still looking for a good alternative.
- haskal 8y agoA proper subreddit.
- jasonwen 8y agoI have been a passive user on Quora for a while now. At one point several years ago it forced me to sign up for reading an answer. This sucked. However, I started receiving weekly digests, which included interesting questions and answers. I enjoy reading those digests and learned a bunch, professionally and personally from life experiences from other people. I never interacted until this year. It's good Sunday afternoon reading material for me. Since I started answering questions this year (I became a top writer in certain topics), I've seen the other side too. I usually do not answer questions for pleasure only. I sometimes plug my business at the end of the answer but always make sure I answer the question and add value. I usually spend 1-2 hours on a question and I make Quora specific graphics to support my answer. Sometimes I do need to do extra research so this is where the 1-2 hours come from. I can see not everyone can spend this amount of time if it's not your business. The way I see it, people don't mind if you plug in your business if you provide value first. Generally I'm a bit more positive than the average commenters here, as I received invaluable knowledge which changed and also solidified some of my own views. I've never compared Quora with SE, probably due to my use-case as to soak up experiences from other people instead of a source as factual information. The value Quora provides for each individual depends on the selected topics when signing up and what you click-through in your digests. Somehow I ended up with interesting life experiences topics and never technical topics. I like airplanes but no aviation expert, but somehow I ended up receiving experiences from travellers, pilots, and crew. I find those experiences amusing to read. I suggest to try to read and follow some of the niche topics outside programming, I think that's a better use-case for Quora.
- piyush_soni 8y agoI had decided to close my Quora account permanently when they just outright denied the ability to read answers on mobile (even if you're logged in) to force you to use an app instead. May be it's right time to do just that.
- MistahKoala 8y agoHas Quora not peaked already? I was a fan of it in the early '10s, but around 2013/14 it seemed to experience an influx of users who turned it into an alternative to Yahoo! Answers. With no way of filtering them out, it seemed pointless continuing to use it.
- skilled 8y agoThese are some good points. I find it particularly annoying that answers get blocked out unless you're logged in. Stinks like a dark pattern from a mile away. And I agree with a lot of the comments made so far. The quality of answers has detoriated a lot. In all fairness, this has largely to do with the fact that so many people now see Quora as the 'go-to marketing platform'. As a result, people write crappy answers in hopes that someone will click their 'educational and informative' links to full blog posts. And it's unlikely this is going to go away, since moderating at this scale isn't possible without losing a lot of money in the process. Another thing that really annoys me about Quora is that the site promotes the same people and answers almost exclusively. You have a lot of 'self-made experts' who happen to have had exposure on a large TV network or something of sorts, and all of a sudden their answers have become the gospel of knowledge. This approach makes the site feel one-sided without any real depth to answers. That being said, it's not all bad. I enjoy writing answers on topics I know about (200k answer views in 4 years), and you can generally get someone to answer something for you rather quickly.
- bachmeier 8y agoI haven't used Quora much over the years, so maybe it has an actual reason to exist, but I was under the impression that it's a site with fake/barely real questions, with answers by folks trying to sell something. I don't think I've ever had a search result where I clicked on a Quora link and there wasn't an attempt to sell/market something in one or more of the answers. Then you click on other questions, and you're supposed to register. I've always assumed it's a junk site.
- dhimes 8y agoOne of the original draws was asking a question and getting an answer from a guru. Like asking a question on SO and having Torvalds politely respond. It was actually a feature, not too far removed from Reddit's AMA.
- brogrammer2018 8y agoI am a bit late to the party, but I also dislike how Quora blurs the text if you are not logged in. Sometimes I am incognito mode so this is a problem.
- dandare 8y ago> Nearly every major online service has had a security breach: Facebook, Google, Twitter, Yahoo, Tumblr, Uber, Evernote, eBay, Adobe, Target, and Sony... Security breaches like these are a strong argument for using a password manager... I don't recall a major password manager security breach, but I am afraid it is only a question of time. And the consequences will not be just compounded, they will be multiplied.
- kokx 8y agoThis is why most password managers use encryption to store your passwords. They should never be sent to the provider of the password manager in plaintext form. And if you are still afraid of that, use a password manager which does not store it's data on somebody else's server.
- peter_retief 8y agoFor me Quora has improved, I get really interesting answers emailed to me on topics I find interesting, Roman history is one
- michalu 8y agoI agree, while I don't visit or use the site anymore, I enjoy the newsletter. Also fan of history so in that aspect it improved. Not in some other areas though.
- cauldron 8y agohttps://www.theverge.com/2018/10/5/17940650/how-history-gets-things-wrong-alex-rosenberg-interview-neuroscience-stories https://www.theverge.com/2018/10/5/17940650/how-history-gets...
- peter_retief 8y agoindeed
- tw1010 8y agoBecause every question is some variation of "What should I do to become rich or financially independent before 30?". The whole site stresses me out, and is probably counter productive if that's the goal I even wanted to achieve.
- anjc 8y agoIt shows questions based on what you've looked up previously. You must have looked this up. I only see questions about research methodologies, for example.
- tw1010 8y agoI guess I'm stuck in a bad equilibrium/filter bubble then (which only hurts Quora because I haven't been on the site for ages, precisely for this reason).
- tjpnz 8y agoIt's interesting that StackOverflow is mentioned. They make no secret of the fact that they set out to kill Experts Exchange - they recognised early on that locking up content was going to hurt their longterm prospects. They also recognized that traditional online advertising wasn't going to work for their kind of content and pursued other monetization strategies to supplement it. Which is why I'm surprised that the founders of Quora continue to beat down the same tired path that has killed so many startups before them. Do they seriously believe that what worked for their previous company is going to work for them at Quora. For a platform that's all about discussing big ideas they seem surprisingly bereft of them on the business side.
- luord 8y agoWell, as far as Quora's excuse for opting out of the archive goes... It is an admittedly great one.
- codedokode 8y agoI 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?
- mettamage 8y agoControl. Or is that answer too simple? I think control, final answer. I don't know why control though.
- anonymouzz 8y agoCan you explain? Whose control over what?
- audiometry 8y agoYeah ditto. Same reason I '-pinterest' on most google queries.
- maceurt 8y agoI 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.
- robertsd247 8y agoI agree with this article 100%. I have posted answers on quora to only have them disappear. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason on posts, moderation, and who sees what answer.
- exotree 8y agoIt’s a bit odd that the author did not seem to take on Quora’s legitimate concern over a writer’s ability to edit or remove content from Quora and to then see that reflected in Archive. There are consequences to that, sure. But honestly that makes me want to contribute to Quora more.
- tokyodude 8y agoI'm curious, doesn't the GDPR require sites allow users to download all their data, in other words their questions and answers on Quora? The article claims they don't allow this.
- todd8 8y agoQuota 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).
- rchaud 8y agoIn 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.
- kkarakk 8y agoseeing 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"
- firexcy 8y agoI 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.
- dakial1 8y agoMy 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.