5 ms·

I'm really disappointed by the state of Quora in the last week. There has been a flood of useless answers into once-useful questions and terrible questions into

I'm really disappointed by the state of Quora in the last week. There has been a flood of useless answers into once-useful questions and terrible questions into once-excellent topics. The state of the "Entrepreneurship" and "Startups" topics must be abysmal right now. Quora could remedy this by identifying redundant questions for new posters. Let's say someone asks where to find the best technical founders in City A. Instead of accepting that question, Quora should suggest that they look at topics on "how to find technical founders" and "how to develop enough technical skills to produce a MVP." Many message boards use this right now. I've only posted one (unique) question, so maybe Quora filters posts in this manner and I haven't come across it. Regardless, I'm amazed at how a crowd-sourced site can lose quality as it gains traction.

wushupork 16y ago
That's the problem when a very niche and exclusive product gets mass adoption. Quality goes way down. That's how I felt about Yahoo answers. Their challenge is going to be how to drown/filter out the crap and keep it interesting or engaging. There's a reason exclusivity works. That's one of the reasons I like Dribbble as a designer so much. The quality of the work is so high. Maybe if Quora only let you invite people when enough people like your questions/answers that might work. I don't know how they could go back to that once they've opened the flood gates.
- achompas 16y ago
  Right--Quora needs to set up a walled garden. Either a $5 pay-to-post system (worth it for the exposure and recruiting taking place on Quora), or a QA team that frequently audits questions and answers...something to keep their bottled lightning alive. Quora is at an important point in its development here.
  - kmfrk 16y ago
    Could be interesting with a flattr-like system where people pay a lump sum every week, and the people whom you thank/upvote the most gets a proportionately big amount of your monthly fee (aside from the share Quora takes). Keeps away the tossers and rewards the people who take the time to help. Of course, there's the chance that people start gaming the system in order to earn all the money, somewhat similar to a content farm.
- phlux 16y ago
  >* That's the problem when a very niche and exclusive product gets mass adoption * Personally, I think there is a lot of facebook alumn echo-chamber cocksucking going on in the valley.
ghotli 16y ago
I stopped following entrepreneurship and startups this week. I _might_ follow them again someday.
kmfrk 16y ago
From what I understand, /b/ have been trolling Quora recently and quite enjoyed themselves doing so. Don't know how widespread it is. I think Quora is okay - I don't recall all the answers being great ever - but people need to learn to understand to use the difference between a question comment and an answer soon. Quora is definitely going to lose a lot of what makes it great if the developers don't come up with some filters.

wushupork 16y ago

That's the problem when a very niche and exclusive product gets mass adoption. Quality goes way down. That's how I felt about Yahoo answers. Their challenge is going to be how to drown/filter out the crap and keep it interesting or engaging. There's a reason exclusivity works. That's one of the reasons I like Dribbble as a designer so much. The quality of the work is so high. Maybe if Quora only let you invite people when enough people like your questions/answers that might work. I don't know how they could go back to that once they've opened the flood gates.

achompas 16y ago
Right--Quora needs to set up a walled garden. Either a $5 pay-to-post system (worth it for the exposure and recruiting taking place on Quora), or a QA team that frequently audits questions and answers...something to keep their bottled lightning alive. Quora is at an important point in its development here.
- kmfrk 16y ago
  Could be interesting with a flattr-like system where people pay a lump sum every week, and the people whom you thank/upvote the most gets a proportionately big amount of your monthly fee (aside from the share Quora takes). Keeps away the tossers and rewards the people who take the time to help. Of course, there's the chance that people start gaming the system in order to earn all the money, somewhat similar to a content farm.
phlux 16y ago
>* That's the problem when a very niche and exclusive product gets mass adoption * Personally, I think there is a lot of facebook alumn echo-chamber cocksucking going on in the valley.

ghotli 16y ago

I stopped following entrepreneurship and startups this week. I _might_ follow them again someday.

kmfrk 16y ago

From what I understand, /b/ have been trolling Quora recently and quite enjoyed themselves doing so. Don't know how widespread it is. I think Quora is okay - I don't recall all the answers being great ever - but people need to learn to understand to use the difference between a question comment and an answer soon. Quora is definitely going to lose a lot of what makes it great if the developers don't come up with some filters.