So why would I use fluther.com instead of yahoo answers which has a lot more people answering. What is the unique proposition now that there are several others like askville.com (from amazon) and others that have significantly more traffic ?
I want to answer the question, but didnt want to join another site - why can i not answer anonymously ?
Just pointers to questions I ask myself as a potential user
By the way, I have an idea for you as to how you can differenciate yourself. This idea will seem silly, but it's something I've wanted for a long time.
I use ask.metafilter.com. I'm a daily user. What is really the worst thing about it? There is no sense of community. The site forces you to stay relevant to the question, and you cannot interact with the users directly. You cannot go offtopic, even though many questions just BEG to go offtopic. Think of how usenet used to be. After a while, you knew all the regulars, you knew the personalities, etc. ask.metafilter does not have this because no real discussion is allowed, just answers to the question.
Of course, it's clear why they do this. If you allowed discussion, the answers will become irrelevant.
I have an idea how to solve this problem:
Make each user have a personal "space", "blog", "diary", "miniblog", "question area", "twitter" or whatever you want to call it. When an answer goes off topic, it's moved to the personal area of the user. There, the person can rave and rant as he wishes, and the threads can go in any direction he wants. People can also cross link their answers on frontpage items into their personal area.
This is going to unfocus your site, but you will create a REAL community. The frontpage Q&A will be just as relevant, but behind scenes, there will be a lot of general chatting going on.
A bit like the diaries of K5 or the journals of Slashdot.
Do so, and you'll have a winner. A BIG site. Don't do so and in 6 months, you'll have Alexa of 60.000 and having $700 a month.
And when you get big with this idea, don't forget to send the check to maximus klein at gmail.
And by the way, another idea you should follow up on: Occasionally, people post these really interesting questions about breaking up with their boyfriend or something. WE ALL want to know how it goes on. What happened next!? But it never comes, because we lose track of the question. One should have this question as a sort of miniblog or so, so people can post updates, and the interested stay subscribed to the blog. People get notifications that an update or so has been posted.
This is gold I'm giving you here. If you don't get it yet, someday, someone will, and that person will have a huge site.
The core philosophy I am pushing here is that you should not disassociate the person from the question. Human life is all about social interaction. Metafilter kills the social interaction. You should weave it in. Each question should have the capacity to be a mini story, leading to further questions and so on, till you have an interwoven mesh of question and answer, cliques and groups, and real friendships developing on the site. Mirror humanity where you want people to flock to.
Pretty good looking. It could be a nice community. Here's my thoughts on improvement:
Put the active questions on the top of the home page instead of a big blank form. I really didn't know what I was supposed to ask a jelly-fish the first time I loaded the page. Try easing visitors into contributing to your site. They're first going to only read questions, then they'll reply to them, and then they'll start asking their own. Make browsing the first thing to do on the page.
Hmmm, this is interesting feedback. One reason we put the ask in the forefront is to help make it obvious what the site's about, plus to encourage new questions (which is also the best way to get into the site).
But I see what you're saying about flow. I'll have to digest this one. Thanks.
An idea to differentiate and make some money: Take the questions that have good and well thought out answers and then figure out which products/services the answers pertain to.
Example: What is the best alarm clock?
Keyword them and also figure out which Google Adwords they fit with. Also, create an appropriate affiliate link to the product/services mentioned in the answers. Have a script that buys the appropriate Adwords and creates a link to the product that was chosen to be the 'best'. When people search for "alarm clock" on Google they see an ad for the question/answer/discussion at Fluther, they go there to read about it, then buy it via the link. You earn affiliate commissions. Also, you establish yourselves as the "useful, action oriented answer site". Or whatever.
There are many obvious permutations of this scheme.
You seem to have a fixed idea, and you are not listening to feeback. You have a concept, now learn from your users.
Make it that answering a question is possible anonymously with a captcha. To ask a new question, you need to register. You'll hold on to more users this way.
Don't be obstinate. You don't know best. Everyone here is saying the same thing about anonymous answers, do listen.
Don't touch the fonts. They're perfect. The bigger font gives the feeling of simplicity, don't lose that.
If you allow anonymous posting (and manage to control spam at the same time), you could have a winner. People hate to register to do a simple thing like asking or answering a question.
I agree with lizherring. The fonts are just right.
The designer cult has trained people to think small fonts look more professional or classy or something. Big fonts are jaunty and friendly. It suits this interface perfectly.
Otherwise jsjenkins is spot on. Niches can be a valuable place to gain traction.
Great feedback. You can view a list of all the questions you've answers under accounts activity you're following. We'll look into simplifying that navigation.
Tell a friend has been a great boon to our traffic -- especially because we present an interstitial after your third visit. It's significantly boosted our new user registration.
Slick design -- I especially liked the serene, nerdy Cthulhu in the corner. I'm not sure a real-time question preview is especially useful, but it sure looks good.
[+] [-] jobenjo|19 years ago|reply
Now that we finally completed it we're climbing out from our cave and wondering if the site can fly, and how we help attract people to it.
Any comments or advice?
Link: http://www.fluther.com
[+] [-] iamyoohoo|19 years ago|reply
Just pointers to questions I ask myself as a potential user
Hope it helps ...
[+] [-] maxklein|19 years ago|reply
I use ask.metafilter.com. I'm a daily user. What is really the worst thing about it? There is no sense of community. The site forces you to stay relevant to the question, and you cannot interact with the users directly. You cannot go offtopic, even though many questions just BEG to go offtopic. Think of how usenet used to be. After a while, you knew all the regulars, you knew the personalities, etc. ask.metafilter does not have this because no real discussion is allowed, just answers to the question.
Of course, it's clear why they do this. If you allowed discussion, the answers will become irrelevant.
I have an idea how to solve this problem:
Make each user have a personal "space", "blog", "diary", "miniblog", "question area", "twitter" or whatever you want to call it. When an answer goes off topic, it's moved to the personal area of the user. There, the person can rave and rant as he wishes, and the threads can go in any direction he wants. People can also cross link their answers on frontpage items into their personal area.
This is going to unfocus your site, but you will create a REAL community. The frontpage Q&A will be just as relevant, but behind scenes, there will be a lot of general chatting going on.
A bit like the diaries of K5 or the journals of Slashdot.
Do so, and you'll have a winner. A BIG site. Don't do so and in 6 months, you'll have Alexa of 60.000 and having $700 a month.
And when you get big with this idea, don't forget to send the check to maximus klein at gmail.
[+] [-] maxklein|19 years ago|reply
This is gold I'm giving you here. If you don't get it yet, someday, someone will, and that person will have a huge site.
The core philosophy I am pushing here is that you should not disassociate the person from the question. Human life is all about social interaction. Metafilter kills the social interaction. You should weave it in. Each question should have the capacity to be a mini story, leading to further questions and so on, till you have an interwoven mesh of question and answer, cliques and groups, and real friendships developing on the site. Mirror humanity where you want people to flock to.
[+] [-] imp|19 years ago|reply
Put the active questions on the top of the home page instead of a big blank form. I really didn't know what I was supposed to ask a jelly-fish the first time I loaded the page. Try easing visitors into contributing to your site. They're first going to only read questions, then they'll reply to them, and then they'll start asking their own. Make browsing the first thing to do on the page.
[+] [-] jobenjo|19 years ago|reply
But I see what you're saying about flow. I'll have to digest this one. Thanks.
[+] [-] cmars232|19 years ago|reply
Most people will be drawn to this site to ask questions first. Its in the right spot.
[+] [-] iloveyouocean|19 years ago|reply
Example: What is the best alarm clock?
Keyword them and also figure out which Google Adwords they fit with. Also, create an appropriate affiliate link to the product/services mentioned in the answers. Have a script that buys the appropriate Adwords and creates a link to the product that was chosen to be the 'best'. When people search for "alarm clock" on Google they see an ad for the question/answer/discussion at Fluther, they go there to read about it, then buy it via the link. You earn affiliate commissions. Also, you establish yourselves as the "useful, action oriented answer site". Or whatever.
There are many obvious permutations of this scheme.
[+] [-] jobenjo|19 years ago|reply
[+] [-] maxklein|19 years ago|reply
Make it that answering a question is possible anonymously with a captcha. To ask a new question, you need to register. You'll hold on to more users this way.
Don't be obstinate. You don't know best. Everyone here is saying the same thing about anonymous answers, do listen.
[+] [-] cmars232|19 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jsjenkins168|19 years ago|reply
Fluther is a bit hard to say but its unique and sufficiently catchy. I would stick with it.
To expand you should try attacking some focused niche areas.. Make it highly useful to a small group of people first.
Good work
[+] [-] lizherring|19 years ago|reply
If you allow anonymous posting (and manage to control spam at the same time), you could have a winner. People hate to register to do a simple thing like asking or answering a question.
The UI is nice and easy to use. Great job there.
[+] [-] SwellJoe|19 years ago|reply
The designer cult has trained people to think small fonts look more professional or classy or something. Big fonts are jaunty and friendly. It suits this interface perfectly.
Otherwise jsjenkins is spot on. Niches can be a valuable place to gain traction.
[+] [-] jobenjo|19 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dfranke|19 years ago|reply
1. Let me disable live preview. It seems to slow down my entire system.
2. Show me a list of all questions I've answered, not just those I've asked or that I'm specifically monitoring.
[+] [-] semiotomatic|19 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tocomment|19 years ago|reply
[+] [-] semiotomatic|19 years ago|reply
[+] [-] byrneseyeview|19 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tx|19 years ago|reply
Good luck though.
[+] [-] brianmckenzie|19 years ago|reply
Did I do something wrong? Doubtful.
[+] [-] semiotomatic|19 years ago|reply
If you email me at andrew /at/ fluther.com with the discussion I can see what went wrong.
Sorry you had trouble with the site.
[+] [-] tocomment|19 years ago|reply
[+] [-] danielha|19 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pramodbiligiri|19 years ago|reply
[+] [-] semiotomatic|19 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pramodbiligiri|19 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tx|19 years ago|reply
[+] [-] palish|19 years ago|reply
[+] [-] danielha|19 years ago|reply
[+] [-] yubrew|19 years ago|reply