Quora has found its niche among intellectuals who don't mind the stringent rules, and that's great. It's just not for me, and I suspect from what I've observed that it's not for a lot of other people too. Which means that "Quora will never grow to to the size of facebook or reddit". Let's temper our expectations, people. Quora is fine for what it is.
Are there lessons to be learned from Quora?
I think so. I've thought for a long time about what kind of site I would enjoy spending time on. It would definitely have intellectuals, like Quora has, but they'd need to be more of a reddit or HN variety. Ie. treating each other civilly and unpretentious. I've written up my thoughts here for a new startup that will fill a niche Quora and Wikipedia are not serving:
Wikipedia doesn't allow pages about just any topic. See: Kate Middleton's dress. Also, it's incredibly hard to become a mod for them. Finally, there is no room for self-expression, as editors and contributors are mostly anonymized through its process. So Wikipedia is a great encyclopedia, but not a good place for a discussion.
Quora fills the niche of intelligent communal discussion, only its vision doesn't allow wit, misspellings, anonymity, or humor, and seems to have been taken over by domineering powers-that-be, so much so that the party just isn't fun anymore.
Pozium can attract not only intellectuals, but laymen looking to learn as well. First, there are all the ex-Quorans who were put off by the site. Pozium will be a party of intellectuals who don't have a stick up their behind. You will learn, as well as have fun. Everyone will be able to contribute, and no one will feel shamed or intimidated.
This will attract the second type of user: the more casual intellectual.
I remember a post from Quora by this college girl who, while obviously not an Einstein, could still have contributed insights of value. In what seemed to be her last post, the girl said she was intimidated by others and wondered if Quora "was for people like her". So there is a niche being unserved, filled with people like this girl who don't feel welcome. If Quoran's mean IQ is in the 130s and 140s then perhaps the 110-130 IQ crowd is not being served.
Anyone interested in potentially starting something up?
Read more here: http://pozium.com
You describe some dire, humorless Quora, not the one I use. I've seen plenty of misspellings. Founder (and Harvard grad) Charlie Cheever used "its" instead of "it's" several times in one answer. I've made typos that I went back and corrected myself.
You briefly mentioned Reddit, it sounds like there's a lot of potential overlap in the demographic (and certain subreddits, especially AskReddit). You might want to add a "How is it different from Reddit".
Also, I'm still struggling to understand the vision from your description here and there. I hope you can find a way to be more succinct. The main example I see here is Kate Middleton's dress, which afaict would be fine on Quora.
There is definitely overlap, which is why I mentioned reddit :)
Overlap doesn't have to be a bad thing. Reddit is one my favorite sites. users can visit reddit as well as visit pozium.
Pozium wouldn't be link-based. Users would publish essays or insights or ask questions. Pozium is based around concepts. Not article links.
Sorry I didn't want to go into pozium on HN. I linked to a more articulate description of the vision.
There is certainly humor on Quora. I wasn't sure 'jokes' were appreciated. Your examples show that I was wrong. But then from where did I get that impression that overall the site just felt too serious for me? I don't think they're managing the user experience very well.
> But then from where did I get that impression that overall the site just felt too serious for me? I don't think they're managing the user experience very well.
I am sorry but that is exactly the kind of overall experience that I would like on Quora. For everything pun-ny and funny, I can visit the dozens of forums that are out there already, like Reddit for example. Unfortunately, for me at least, I am unable to find very articulate and brilliant threads, content and not humour, on Reddit - either they do not exist or the admins do a very poor job at SEO. More importantly, nearly always are there people who would mess with the mood of the thread using a lame-ass pun or in most cases dumb wordplay initiating a series of similar worthless replies all over. Of course, you would mention that in some of the more serious forums they would be downvoted to hell but then they are no better than Quora anyway, according to your standards.
> "intellectuals who don't have a stick up their behind"
And please stop calling names.
I think that Quora obviously is loved by many, otherwise it wouldn't have grown to the size it did.
But for every wonderful experience you have, I can point to others who've had a poor one. Can we agree that both of us could be right?
I agree though. Something about the way responders write just rubs me the wrong way. Like everyone is trying their hardest to sound intelligent. It's just not fun and doesn't seem authentic to me the way HN or reddit do.
Are there lessons to be learned from Quora? I think so. I've thought for a long time about what kind of site I would enjoy spending time on. It would definitely have intellectuals, like Quora has, but they'd need to be more of a reddit or HN variety. Ie. treating each other civilly and unpretentious. I've written up my thoughts here for a new startup that will fill a niche Quora and Wikipedia are not serving:
http://pozium.com/vision.html
Wikipedia doesn't allow pages about just any topic. See: Kate Middleton's dress. Also, it's incredibly hard to become a mod for them. Finally, there is no room for self-expression, as editors and contributors are mostly anonymized through its process. So Wikipedia is a great encyclopedia, but not a good place for a discussion.
Quora fills the niche of intelligent communal discussion, only its vision doesn't allow wit, misspellings, anonymity, or humor, and seems to have been taken over by domineering powers-that-be, so much so that the party just isn't fun anymore.
Pozium can attract not only intellectuals, but laymen looking to learn as well. First, there are all the ex-Quorans who were put off by the site. Pozium will be a party of intellectuals who don't have a stick up their behind. You will learn, as well as have fun. Everyone will be able to contribute, and no one will feel shamed or intimidated.
This will attract the second type of user: the more casual intellectual. I remember a post from Quora by this college girl who, while obviously not an Einstein, could still have contributed insights of value. In what seemed to be her last post, the girl said she was intimidated by others and wondered if Quora "was for people like her". So there is a niche being unserved, filled with people like this girl who don't feel welcome. If Quoran's mean IQ is in the 130s and 140s then perhaps the 110-130 IQ crowd is not being served.
Anyone interested in potentially starting something up? Read more here: http://pozium.com