I'm not saying this app is entirely a bad idea. I had Zuckerberg telling me for 20 minutes that this site is awesome. I just became ridiculously bored after the first week of using it and I'm concerned the founding team isn't gaining real-life perspective as to whether or not the idea is any good.
Perfect example: Someone asked a question the other day "What does Max Levchin look for when hiring", and guess who responded to the question? You guessed it, Max Levchin himself. In the real world, this wouldn't happen and as the user population grows, the celebs roll out and the people looking for questions about brushing their dog's teeth roll in. I don't see the value beyond it's current elitist state.
Why? "Ordinary" non-techie people don't have questions that their friends/others can answer?
Bootstrapping with a targeted and "elite" crowd is pretty much ideal. Then you get the community to be self-sustaining since it has both an organically narrow focus (avoids being spread too thin) and gets attention within that community through a mutually recursive process of being useful to them and attracting people respected in that community.
The one main potential objection is that this site has no value to non-techies (even when the community grows beyond just techies), but I have no idea how one could possibly argue that.
And no, it didn't catch my interest right away either, but I see its utility. (I want fewer "distractions" in my life, not more.)
You're assuming that the product is not going to evolve past its current state. There are many features to be built, and I'm sure they haven't even scratched the surface yet.
Regardless, the primary feed is set up so you're following things you want to follow and your relevant network. This acts as a crucial and necessary filter to avoid too much noise.
Also I've browsed around many topics, and it's definitely not limited to technical subjects. If done correctly, I really think this could be a nice complement to Wikipedia.
I disagree that this is a bad idea. I think it's a good idea that hasn't been done well and it remains to be seen whether quora is up to the challenge. (btw, if anyone has an invite, i'd love to check out the site: [email protected]).
so, did anyone try this, this evening? i need to go out for a run, and then get some sleep, but i've got an initial result for the "duct" question that's taking 6s on my laptop, but it's quite possible i have some bugs (ie i may be completely wrong). i should have written some tests on the way... :o)
and if anyone is thinking of trying, i'd recommend it - it's not a huge amount of code and requires at least one smart idea (i think - had me bashing my head against a wall for a while...).
[if anyone wants to compare results - just the final number, no spoilers please - then drop me an email]
Python seems to be the preferred programming language, I find it interesting given that the founding team is from Facebook which I hear was originally built using a lot of PHP.
I see some of you have accounts. Anybody willing to explain how this is different from Wikipedia and Yahoo Answers? I didn't find the About page enlightening. Thanks!
I guess when tiny unknown Yahoo Answer clone based startups with nothing to offer except a lot of worthless stock options that will probably never be worth anything put up an interesting programming puzzle, talented engineers will magically fall out of the sky and beg on their hands and knees to get a chance to work there.
They appear to have a solid team, but this is bad idea that keeps being re-tried and re-failed again and again. It occasionally works in University Recruiting, but otherwise companies eventually realize that top, highly skilled people have jobs and are generally busy and have the right to be a little picky, and are not about to spend an hour solving puzzles for a job they know very little about.
Who does have lots of time to jump through these kinds of hoops are people who dont have jobs or spend a lot of time in their jobs notworking.
Have you used Quora? And/or seen who is using Quora? :) They have built what is simply the most addictive Q&A site. It remains to be seen if the usefulness persists once users start coming en masse. However, the potential is definitely there.
Also the team is very well-respected (previously at Facebook) and I think A LOT of people would love to work and learn from them. Maybe even for free for a limited time.
[+] [-] jasonwilk|16 years ago|reply
I'm not saying this app is entirely a bad idea. I had Zuckerberg telling me for 20 minutes that this site is awesome. I just became ridiculously bored after the first week of using it and I'm concerned the founding team isn't gaining real-life perspective as to whether or not the idea is any good.
Perfect example: Someone asked a question the other day "What does Max Levchin look for when hiring", and guess who responded to the question? You guessed it, Max Levchin himself. In the real world, this wouldn't happen and as the user population grows, the celebs roll out and the people looking for questions about brushing their dog's teeth roll in. I don't see the value beyond it's current elitist state.
[+] [-] jey|16 years ago|reply
Bootstrapping with a targeted and "elite" crowd is pretty much ideal. Then you get the community to be self-sustaining since it has both an organically narrow focus (avoids being spread too thin) and gets attention within that community through a mutually recursive process of being useful to them and attracting people respected in that community.
The one main potential objection is that this site has no value to non-techies (even when the community grows beyond just techies), but I have no idea how one could possibly argue that.
And no, it didn't catch my interest right away either, but I see its utility. (I want fewer "distractions" in my life, not more.)
[+] [-] adora|16 years ago|reply
Regardless, the primary feed is set up so you're following things you want to follow and your relevant network. This acts as a crucial and necessary filter to avoid too much noise.
Also I've browsed around many topics, and it's definitely not limited to technical subjects. If done correctly, I really think this could be a nice complement to Wikipedia.
[+] [-] retro|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] andrewcooke|16 years ago|reply
and if anyone is thinking of trying, i'd recommend it - it's not a huge amount of code and requires at least one smart idea (i think - had me bashing my head against a wall for a while...).
[if anyone wants to compare results - just the final number, no spoilers please - then drop me an email]
[+] [-] yoga69|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] senthil_rajasek|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] three14|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] adora|16 years ago|reply
It's a good rundown. What's your email? I'll send you an invite.
[+] [-] pclark|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|16 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] btipling|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] john_lewin|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] adora|16 years ago|reply
Also the team is very well-respected (previously at Facebook) and I think A LOT of people would love to work and learn from them. Maybe even for free for a limited time.
[+] [-] jkincaid|16 years ago|reply