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LOL. Quora is such a Crunch-whore. I swear, the only people who know of it or use it are Arrington junkies. Why is this still a "hot" startup? It's just Yahoo!

LOL. Quora is such a Crunch-whore. I swear, the only people who know of it or use it are Arrington junkies. Why is this still a "hot" startup? It's just Yahoo! answers with VC and less illiterates.

gojomo 14y ago
"Just?" Quora's still 'hot' enough to talk about because it's like Yahoo Answers, with VC and fewer illiterates. Being like Yahoo Answers isn't so bad: Q&A is a strong category/mechanism, always drawing attention and triggering interactions with useful byproducts. Reliable information (with or without authorial personality) is evergreen on the web, and the big funding indicates a level of resourcing and longevity. Just fix the issues with Yahoo Answers and you'd have a big winner.
- VonGuard 14y ago
  I dunno. Hasn't About.com kinda been like this for 10 years? Sure it's still around, but does anyone go to About.com on purpose? It's just articles specifically crafted to be Google bait. I find that these q/a sites aren't sticky enough to make money. You don't browse Y!A looking for answers to random questions. You come there from Google, read the top answer, try it if you can, then leave the site. At least Yahoo! stuff comes up in Google. Quora is locked behind its wall of logins. And, srsly, what's the end goal here, advertising revenue? Brand research? Do I really need to pay Quora to tell me people have trouble figuring out the directions on my hair care product? How much $$ have they taken so far? For what'll end up being just another ad platform? The quality of answers will degrade over time, just as the quality of any community degrades with size. Why, look at Reddit. It's a steaming pile of shit these days. Even the pedophiles on 4chan left 4chan to go to Reddit! Consequently, 4chan is actually a nice place to have a discussion, if you ignore the interspersed racism and anti-semitism. Those things are far worse on Reddit right now...
clicks 14y ago
> I swear, the only people who know of it or use it are Arrington junkies. Reading that was such a coming-of-age moment for me. In having me realize that HN is not the place I always thought of it as: of adults so much smarter than me, who hold nuanced take on things and discussed issues thoughtfully. No, Quora is not full of 'Arrington junkies' -- or whatever else you want to call it to feel superior over another part of the web. Questions answered, and answers questioned are often so full of insight that I just very often browse around to pass time. It's like reading an interesting book. I thought the description 'Jimmy Wales’ site serves as an objective reference guide for the world, while Quora offers subjective answers to popular questions.' was quite fitting -- Quora serves its purpose quite well, and I do think it can comfortably grow and evolve into its newly stated goal of becoming a platform for users to publish their writings on. Tone down the knee-jerk cynicism please.
- gojomo 14y ago
  Notably, also, if you want Jimmy Wales to answer a question, it's easier on Quora.
- VonGuard 14y ago
  LOL. OK, simple question: Do your parents know what Quora is? Do they know what Wikipedia is? Quora is unknown outside of the valley. Is there some switch they're going to hit to open the flood gates into this site, and suddenly overnight the entire country know what it is? Honestly, I don't know anyone outside of the valley who's even heard of Quora.
mgummelt 14y ago
fewer* illiterates

LOL. Quora is such a Crunch-whore. I swear, the only people who know of it or use it are Arrington junkies. Why is this still a "hot" startup? It's just Yahoo! answers with VC and less illiterates.

gojomo 14y ago

"Just?" Quora's still 'hot' enough to talk about because it's like Yahoo Answers, with VC and fewer illiterates. Being like Yahoo Answers isn't so bad: Q&A is a strong category/mechanism, always drawing attention and triggering interactions with useful byproducts. Reliable information (with or without authorial personality) is evergreen on the web, and the big funding indicates a level of resourcing and longevity. Just fix the issues with Yahoo Answers and you'd have a big winner.

VonGuard 14y ago
I dunno. Hasn't About.com kinda been like this for 10 years? Sure it's still around, but does anyone go to About.com on purpose? It's just articles specifically crafted to be Google bait. I find that these q/a sites aren't sticky enough to make money. You don't browse Y!A looking for answers to random questions. You come there from Google, read the top answer, try it if you can, then leave the site. At least Yahoo! stuff comes up in Google. Quora is locked behind its wall of logins. And, srsly, what's the end goal here, advertising revenue? Brand research? Do I really need to pay Quora to tell me people have trouble figuring out the directions on my hair care product? How much $$ have they taken so far? For what'll end up being just another ad platform? The quality of answers will degrade over time, just as the quality of any community degrades with size. Why, look at Reddit. It's a steaming pile of shit these days. Even the pedophiles on 4chan left 4chan to go to Reddit! Consequently, 4chan is actually a nice place to have a discussion, if you ignore the interspersed racism and anti-semitism. Those things are far worse on Reddit right now...

clicks 14y ago

> I swear, the only people who know of it or use it are Arrington junkies. Reading that was such a coming-of-age moment for me. In having me realize that HN is not the place I always thought of it as: of adults so much smarter than me, who hold nuanced take on things and discussed issues thoughtfully. No, Quora is not full of 'Arrington junkies' -- or whatever else you want to call it to feel superior over another part of the web. Questions answered, and answers questioned are often so full of insight that I just very often browse around to pass time. It's like reading an interesting book. I thought the description 'Jimmy Wales’ site serves as an objective reference guide for the world, while Quora offers subjective answers to popular questions.' was quite fitting -- Quora serves its purpose quite well, and I do think it can comfortably grow and evolve into its newly stated goal of becoming a platform for users to publish their writings on. Tone down the knee-jerk cynicism please.

gojomo 14y ago
Notably, also, if you want Jimmy Wales to answer a question, it's easier on Quora.
VonGuard 14y ago
LOL. OK, simple question: Do your parents know what Quora is? Do they know what Wikipedia is? Quora is unknown outside of the valley. Is there some switch they're going to hit to open the flood gates into this site, and suddenly overnight the entire country know what it is? Honestly, I don't know anyone outside of the valley who's even heard of Quora.

mgummelt 14y ago

fewer* illiterates