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The Problems of Scaling and Scoble at Quora

6 points by domino 16y ago

tzs 16y ago
I fail to "get" Quora. If I go to the site directly, they want me to register before I'm allowed to do anything. I can't find any reasonable way to search there or browse the questions and answers. However, if I go to Google and search for something, and toss in a "site:quora.com" it will show me the Quora results, and Quora lets me see the questions and answers (although not the comments). Those pages even have a search on them so I can look for more. None of those pages seem to have any monetization. So where do they plan to get their money? Seeing no apparent monetization makes me suspect that they plan to use their user information for monetization, and wonder if that is why they say you have to use your real name. I know they've received a lot of buzz, including here, so assume they are probably on the up and up, but that's sure not the gut feeling a get when I compare what I see as a non-registered person with, say, what I saw at, say, stackoverflow. Anyone else here not getting it or am I the only one?
- fooandbarify 16y ago
  I'm on Quora and I like it there, although I visit with decreasing frequency. I think they are trying to emulate more of a Twitter/Facebook thing with their user base - a more "social" experience than stackoverflow, I guess - and I assume their monetization strategy is as undefined as it was for either of those two when they started.
- EllieAsksWhy 16y ago
  I've wondered where Quora plans to obtain monetization too. I've seen no clue of that, and the company has been in beta for six months, followed by "production" for another six-seven months up through the present. Facebook requires you to use your real name too. Which is not a great sign, given your point about Quora! One thing I'd mention regarding Quora, which I've used. When you answer a question, you have the option to make your answer anonymous, or, make it "not for redistribution" which means I presume no linking to it. I don't know if that also means it is unavailable to Google search crawls, as you referred to when mentioning "site:quora.com". That doesn't show EVERYTHING I've written on Quora, but it does find almost everything!
fooandbarify 16y ago
There's an entire website outside of devoted to discussing Quora? Weird. Beyond the title, what does this article have to do with Robert Scoble? After reading it, I did a quick Cmd-F... his name doesn't seem to appear in the article at all.

6 points by domino 16y ago

tzs 16y ago

I fail to "get" Quora. If I go to the site directly, they want me to register before I'm allowed to do anything. I can't find any reasonable way to search there or browse the questions and answers. However, if I go to Google and search for something, and toss in a "site:quora.com" it will show me the Quora results, and Quora lets me see the questions and answers (although not the comments). Those pages even have a search on them so I can look for more. None of those pages seem to have any monetization. So where do they plan to get their money? Seeing no apparent monetization makes me suspect that they plan to use their user information for monetization, and wonder if that is why they say you have to use your real name. I know they've received a lot of buzz, including here, so assume they are probably on the up and up, but that's sure not the gut feeling a get when I compare what I see as a non-registered person with, say, what I saw at, say, stackoverflow. Anyone else here not getting it or am I the only one?

fooandbarify 16y ago
I'm on Quora and I like it there, although I visit with decreasing frequency. I think they are trying to emulate more of a Twitter/Facebook thing with their user base - a more "social" experience than stackoverflow, I guess - and I assume their monetization strategy is as undefined as it was for either of those two when they started.
EllieAsksWhy 16y ago
I've wondered where Quora plans to obtain monetization too. I've seen no clue of that, and the company has been in beta for six months, followed by "production" for another six-seven months up through the present. Facebook requires you to use your real name too. Which is not a great sign, given your point about Quora! One thing I'd mention regarding Quora, which I've used. When you answer a question, you have the option to make your answer anonymous, or, make it "not for redistribution" which means I presume no linking to it. I don't know if that also means it is unavailable to Google search crawls, as you referred to when mentioning "site:quora.com". That doesn't show EVERYTHING I've written on Quora, but it does find almost everything!

fooandbarify 16y ago

There's an entire website outside of devoted to discussing Quora? Weird. Beyond the title, what does this article have to do with Robert Scoble? After reading it, I did a quick Cmd-F... his name doesn't seem to appear in the article at all.