5 ms·

Funny thing, I visited Quora today, for the first time in a while. Years, maybe: Googled something, Quora near top results, clicked link, "signup" nag screen,

Funny thing, I visited Quora today, for the first time in a while. Years, maybe: Googled something, Quora near top results, clicked link, "signup" nag screen, results blurred out, left page. I guess I still don't get it. Curious to see what this will be about.

Fede_V 12y ago
AFAIK, there is a trick involving pasting a specific url after the Quora link that you are interested in to get past their sign up wall, but usually it's a waste of time. I am curious to see what their pivot is, in the current form, I find the site to be incredibly annoying.
jack-r-abbit 12y ago
I've never liked Quora. I guess to each their own but they always seemed like the 9gag of Q&A to me. Maybe I just don't "get it".
alain94040 12y ago
I guess this will be interesting in light of yesterday's Founder Ethics post (http://ycombinator.com/founderethics/ http://ycombinator.com/founderethics/)
- grmarcil 12y ago
  Are you suggesting that putting content behind a registration wall is somehow unethical?
  - rfrey 12y ago
    I think some people find the apparent gaming of Google unethical. They seem to expose the content to Google but hide it from people who click through. That might not be what's happening. It does give that impression though.
  - justincormack 12y ago
    Putting my content behind a registration wall was pretty unethical, so I deleted my account and all my posts.
itsprofitbaron 12y ago
To remove that & avoid logging in / registering, just add "?share=1" to the end of the URL.
- joshdance 12y ago
  But most normal people won't know how to do this.
  - seanalltogether 12y ago
    And the rest of us will forget 10 minutes from now. I really don't understand why people give quora a free pass on this when expertsexchange was nuked by the rest of the online community for inventing these tactics.
    - ohashi 12y ago
      EE moved stuff to the very bottom to get around it. but I agree, quora should get nuked from SERPs for this behavior. Despite having an account, it's a pain in the ass to login to see something with results blurred out.
    - xcntktn 12y ago
      There is a weird hivemind effect on display here and in other various Silicon Valley discussion circles where there is an unstated but very solid agreement that certain companies are "cool" and thus receive the most charitable interpretation of their plans and financial situations, but others which do essentially the same thing are run out of town on a rail, so to speak. Take for example the story from today about Apple supposedly buying Beats. When the subject of Apple trying to compete in the music streaming space came up, everyone only talked about Spotify. Pandora, which has more than 3x the user base and is still growing? Not a mention. IHeartRadio, which was founded two years after Spotify and has more than double the number of paying subscribers that Spotify does? Never heard of them! It's as though Spotify is the only streaming music service that ever existed. In reality, they are near the lower end of the scale when it comes to customer traction, but they have mindshare on HN that is completely out of whack with that.
chriskelley 12y ago
I rarely initialize my use of Quora by visiting the website - I have found immense value in the digest emails they send. They are a mix of things they know I'm explicitly interested in, and generally "interesting" things (presumably defined by popularity). Probably 90% of the time after receive a digest email, I open at least 2 or 3 of the links within. I have tried visiting the site directly and am rarely able to find content as stimulating as the links they send in the digest emails.
- lmb 12y ago
  I've never signed up to the site, but find this quite interesting. Does that mean you only consume the content via email or do you click through? Sounds like a massive headache for Quora in the first case.
  - russell_h 12y ago
    You really have to visit the site, the emails only contain snippets of conversation. That being said, the emails are brilliant. I don't know how the content is selected, but almost every time I open one I see something eye-catching enough that I click through.
    - Alex_MJ 12y ago
      Yeah - I second that. Quora is one of the few sites that sends me weeklyish emails that I haven't unsubscribed from because the content is fantastic. I always seem to learn something from clicking through it. It's kind of a bummer that they're needing to pivot and find a way to revenue - from a non-business, purely consumer perspective I find the site really enlightening and valuable.
      - gbog 12y ago
        Well not feeling the same. At first it was ok but now in the mails I get the 50 answer to "what are good advices for a good life?" And the nth reply on topic China by a user who regurgitates the western party line that I know already, in the same time and depth that you'd have in a newbie backpacker bar near the most spoiled tourist spot in Thailand.
stormbrew 12y ago
Agreed. Though now there's something even worse in my google results that makes me even more annoyed: wiki.answers.com. It's pretty much like being treated like an idiot child.
return0 12y ago
Technically they are spamming the hell out of googles results, but google seems to be fine with it

Fede_V 12y ago

AFAIK, there is a trick involving pasting a specific url after the Quora link that you are interested in to get past their sign up wall, but usually it's a waste of time. I am curious to see what their pivot is, in the current form, I find the site to be incredibly annoying.

jack-r-abbit 12y ago

I've never liked Quora. I guess to each their own but they always seemed like the 9gag of Q&A to me. Maybe I just don't "get it".

alain94040 12y ago

I guess this will be interesting in light of yesterday's Founder Ethics post (http://ycombinator.com/founderethics/ http://ycombinator.com/founderethics/)

grmarcil 12y ago
Are you suggesting that putting content behind a registration wall is somehow unethical?
- rfrey 12y ago
  I think some people find the apparent gaming of Google unethical. They seem to expose the content to Google but hide it from people who click through. That might not be what's happening. It does give that impression though.
- justincormack 12y ago
  Putting my content behind a registration wall was pretty unethical, so I deleted my account and all my posts.

itsprofitbaron 12y ago

To remove that & avoid logging in / registering, just add "?share=1" to the end of the URL.

joshdance 12y ago
But most normal people won't know how to do this.
- seanalltogether 12y ago
  And the rest of us will forget 10 minutes from now. I really don't understand why people give quora a free pass on this when expertsexchange was nuked by the rest of the online community for inventing these tactics.
  - ohashi 12y ago
    EE moved stuff to the very bottom to get around it. but I agree, quora should get nuked from SERPs for this behavior. Despite having an account, it's a pain in the ass to login to see something with results blurred out.
  - xcntktn 12y ago
    There is a weird hivemind effect on display here and in other various Silicon Valley discussion circles where there is an unstated but very solid agreement that certain companies are "cool" and thus receive the most charitable interpretation of their plans and financial situations, but others which do essentially the same thing are run out of town on a rail, so to speak. Take for example the story from today about Apple supposedly buying Beats. When the subject of Apple trying to compete in the music streaming space came up, everyone only talked about Spotify. Pandora, which has more than 3x the user base and is still growing? Not a mention. IHeartRadio, which was founded two years after Spotify and has more than double the number of paying subscribers that Spotify does? Never heard of them! It's as though Spotify is the only streaming music service that ever existed. In reality, they are near the lower end of the scale when it comes to customer traction, but they have mindshare on HN that is completely out of whack with that.

chriskelley 12y ago

I rarely initialize my use of Quora by visiting the website - I have found immense value in the digest emails they send. They are a mix of things they know I'm explicitly interested in, and generally "interesting" things (presumably defined by popularity). Probably 90% of the time after receive a digest email, I open at least 2 or 3 of the links within. I have tried visiting the site directly and am rarely able to find content as stimulating as the links they send in the digest emails.

lmb 12y ago
I've never signed up to the site, but find this quite interesting. Does that mean you only consume the content via email or do you click through? Sounds like a massive headache for Quora in the first case.
- russell_h 12y ago
  You really have to visit the site, the emails only contain snippets of conversation. That being said, the emails are brilliant. I don't know how the content is selected, but almost every time I open one I see something eye-catching enough that I click through.
  - Alex_MJ 12y ago
    Yeah - I second that. Quora is one of the few sites that sends me weeklyish emails that I haven't unsubscribed from because the content is fantastic. I always seem to learn something from clicking through it. It's kind of a bummer that they're needing to pivot and find a way to revenue - from a non-business, purely consumer perspective I find the site really enlightening and valuable.
    - gbog 12y ago
      Well not feeling the same. At first it was ok but now in the mails I get the 50 answer to "what are good advices for a good life?" And the nth reply on topic China by a user who regurgitates the western party line that I know already, in the same time and depth that you'd have in a newbie backpacker bar near the most spoiled tourist spot in Thailand.

stormbrew 12y ago

Agreed. Though now there's something even worse in my google results that makes me even more annoyed: wiki.answers.com. It's pretty much like being treated like an idiot child.

return0 12y ago

Technically they are spamming the hell out of googles results, but google seems to be fine with it