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When experts exchange first launched, it seemed like a clever concept to me, in the abstract; a way to get paid for your expertise (although you couldn't buy an

by 6ren 13y ago

When experts exchange first launched, it seemed like a clever concept to me, in the abstract; a way to get paid for your expertise (although you couldn't buy anything with it except answers to other questions). And they take a wee percentage (but they're not greedy). However, in practice, I only ever asked one question (they gave a free $50 credit at launch, worth 5 questions or something). I got a great answer - I think better, and more insightful than I'd get on SO. But it was a horrific experience, and I never used it again after that. I guess, in the bigger picture, they were trying to monetize people's goodwill in helping each other. Helping feels more valuable when done purely out of goodwill; money can devalue. Not sure how big that factors in their failure - but to the extent it created a competitor, it's a real factor. Your customers disliking you is serious business problem. Although it's the way of the world, there's something hollow and unsatisfying about being motivated primarily by money. Most entrepreneurs - e.g. Elon Musk - have visions bigger than themselves and their riches. Many of the best developers, like many academics, believe everything should be free, or at cost. I'm inclined to think the above is the root problem, and the SEO tactics etc are just a symptom. But hard to say.

codezero 13y ago
Out of curiosity, how was asking a question and getting a great answer a horrible experience? Or more specific, what made you not want to ask more questions?
- 6ren 13y ago
  In general, I always felt a bit nervous about money being involved - additional importance, security issues, etc. A certain seriousness, a complication distracting from the actual technical issue. But specifically, I couldn't log back into my account to mark the answer as correct. The help people gave me a new password a couple of times, but they didn't work. I eventually realized it was hopeless, and gave up. Later, I tried again to find the question and reward the person (this time paying out of my own pocket), but couldn't find it after intensive searching, many keywords etc. It seems that my question and the answers had been lost. I feel that the initial problem was to do with money being involved - additional security around logging in, because mistakes with money are so serious. Maybe combined with teething troubles. It was very very strange and bizarre. In contrast, I haven't had such problems with StackOverflow (or reddit or HN etc), so other purchases online. I still feel bad about this, after 10 years. :(
  - codezero 13y ago
    Very interesting, thanks for clarifying!
    - 6ren 13y ago
      Just a quick thought: the help I got on EE was different from SO, so maybe there's a niche for EE. Let me describe the help: I'd been stuck, and pretty much given up. A friend wondered if there was someone I could ask - but it was virgin territory, no one had done it before, and so no one would know. I only tried EE because what the hell. I didn't get a specific answer, but "X does that - why don't you see how X does it?" This was a clever, insightful, lateral point of view. I didn't think I'd be able to use X's technique - but amazingly, it turned out I could! The suggestion might seem obvious in hindsight, but it wasn't to me. It was just what I needed to hear - a great answer. I'd describe this as "micro-consultation" or "micro-mentoring", which differs from SO's aim of specific concrete answers to specific concrete questions. I think the money-motivation of EE helped encourage someone to spend a few moments creative thought on my question. It's the kind of insight you get from having many contributors to an open-source project - but who's going to bother, for the case where only one person benefits? So... I do think this kind of service, sort of halfway between SO and full-on consultancy, is valuable and has a role - but micro, like Amazon's mechanical turk. I think Google Answers tried this (now defunct). A little bit like that logo design site SO used (http://99designs.com.au/logo-design/contests/logo-stackoverflow-6774 http://99designs.com.au/logo-design/contests/logo-stackoverf...) - a sort of eBay for consultancy, but a micro version. Because consultancy is very question-specific, they'd be almost no question reuse (unlike SO), which also fits with a money motive (i.e. people love karma/fame; but if not available, fortune is OK). So I'm suggesting a micro-consultancy facilitation site, where the asker pays the answerer and EE takes a wee percentage (a similar amount to crowd-sourcing sites). A different niche from SO. Maybe I should try EE again next time I'm stuck!

by 6ren 13y ago

codezero 13y ago

Out of curiosity, how was asking a question and getting a great answer a horrible experience? Or more specific, what made you not want to ask more questions?

6ren 13y ago
In general, I always felt a bit nervous about money being involved - additional importance, security issues, etc. A certain seriousness, a complication distracting from the actual technical issue. But specifically, I couldn't log back into my account to mark the answer as correct. The help people gave me a new password a couple of times, but they didn't work. I eventually realized it was hopeless, and gave up. Later, I tried again to find the question and reward the person (this time paying out of my own pocket), but couldn't find it after intensive searching, many keywords etc. It seems that my question and the answers had been lost. I feel that the initial problem was to do with money being involved - additional security around logging in, because mistakes with money are so serious. Maybe combined with teething troubles. It was very very strange and bizarre. In contrast, I haven't had such problems with StackOverflow (or reddit or HN etc), so other purchases online. I still feel bad about this, after 10 years. :(
- codezero 13y ago
  Very interesting, thanks for clarifying!
  - 6ren 13y ago
    Just a quick thought: the help I got on EE was different from SO, so maybe there's a niche for EE. Let me describe the help: I'd been stuck, and pretty much given up. A friend wondered if there was someone I could ask - but it was virgin territory, no one had done it before, and so no one would know. I only tried EE because what the hell. I didn't get a specific answer, but "X does that - why don't you see how X does it?" This was a clever, insightful, lateral point of view. I didn't think I'd be able to use X's technique - but amazingly, it turned out I could! The suggestion might seem obvious in hindsight, but it wasn't to me. It was just what I needed to hear - a great answer. I'd describe this as "micro-consultation" or "micro-mentoring", which differs from SO's aim of specific concrete answers to specific concrete questions. I think the money-motivation of EE helped encourage someone to spend a few moments creative thought on my question. It's the kind of insight you get from having many contributors to an open-source project - but who's going to bother, for the case where only one person benefits? So... I do think this kind of service, sort of halfway between SO and full-on consultancy, is valuable and has a role - but micro, like Amazon's mechanical turk. I think Google Answers tried this (now defunct). A little bit like that logo design site SO used (http://99designs.com.au/logo-design/contests/logo-stackoverflow-6774 http://99designs.com.au/logo-design/contests/logo-stackoverf...) - a sort of eBay for consultancy, but a micro version. Because consultancy is very question-specific, they'd be almost no question reuse (unlike SO), which also fits with a money motive (i.e. people love karma/fame; but if not available, fortune is OK). So I'm suggesting a micro-consultancy facilitation site, where the asker pays the answerer and EE takes a wee percentage (a similar amount to crowd-sourcing sites). A different niche from SO. Maybe I should try EE again next time I'm stuck!