Just conjecture on my part, but this seems like it will help keep the Quora ecosystem content quality high. Any Quora user that is even slightly active will always have enough credits to use the site without having to think about them, but people who just ask, maybe not always good questions, and don't continue in any meaningful way might hesitate before posting the 5th iteration of the same question.
the real killer feature of credits though is being able to get access and attention from people you don't know. It's easy enough to ignore emails from strangers or at replies on twitter, but getting asked to answer on Quora gives a bigger social obligation. Like "hey not only does this guy want to know my opinion, but he thinks lots of other people will, too".
I think Charlie and Adam are building a great platform and great community at Quora. Bravo.
I've been noticing a sharp uptick in bad questions in my Quora feed recently (questions that are poorly spelled, difficult to understand or just exhibit a lack of thoughtfulness) - maybe this change is Quora's way of encouraging people to think a little harder before posting their questions.
Quora sent me a daily digest email this afternoon, where the highlighted question was "What's it like to be in a bar fight?" I figured that was the jumping the shark moment, if I'm not too late to it already.
Yeah - I'm fed up of all the "What does it feel like to..." and "Which Quora users like to" questions. Haven't figured out how to get them out of my stream yet.
There's been a recent surge in users I believe. I've seen the same thing. And this new feature isn't a big change. Previously when u as ken a question then the only way to how it to others was y paying wih credits for that feature. They've just taken one step out.
The quality of e questions is a Function of new users who don't realize that quora requires well formatted questions. They will either learn or they won't be able to add anymore as they will run out of credits.
Quoras incentives align so that the most popular answer gets to the top and also answers by celebrity get to the top - this one problem with the present incentives.
The first step is letting people spend their credits/karma. Then they can start selling credits.
I know for reddit there are people selling accounts which can be used to upvote things all the way to the front page. I can almost see that happening to Quora.
Im pretty sure reddit does not have "power users", sure someone could sell a ton of accounts or a service by which they upvote posts through a large number of accounts.
There is no easy way to get to the front page of reddit.
Well… The same 20-30 people control most popular subreddits.
insert ominous music here
On a related note, there's money to be made by being on the top of reddit, ergo there are a lot of people actively trying. I would not be surprised in the slightest if people have cracked it - albeit it may not be as easy to manipulate as the Digg of yore.
Im not sure where the money is coming from but the moderators of the major communities do have a lot of power. I dont think it would be hard to create a upvote (or downvote) brigades plus the way reddit has done it with fuzzing the votes its very hard to tell.
I think they are giving new users way too many hoops to jump through before they can start having fun with the site. First, get a Fb account, then get an invite, then use a real name they are comfortable with, then get some credits, and enjoy!
Consider this finding:
"I think I just accidentally discovered a Quora Credit goldmine: www.quora.com/DeathByPuns I went from about 500 to over 1800 in less than two days. Now I can actually afford to ask people to answer questions; it's pretty cool."
I understand that the goal is to keep the signal-to-noise ratio high, and discourage low quality questions.
However, it also will encourage users who contribute low-quality but easily-upvoted content, which creates a feedback loop encouraging the Quora-hive mindset.
>“Quora is this place that gives you access to people who are interested in particular topics and an audience for things you want to share,”
How is this any different from one million other internet forum-type places? Like, say, Hacker News or Reddit or Stack Exchange or Seeking Alpha? Only, when I venture into smaller, more specific communities, I can escape some noise(as opposed to Youtube comments).
I never understood how Quora thought they'd overcome this problem, or why everyone (read: Techcrunch) was making such a big deal about what Quora was doing. I suppose it was really exciting for the SV echo chamber, but I don't find it to be a spectacular resource. And the fact that there are now a bunch of hoops to jump through to even ask a question?
I think I know why. It's not the service that it offered, it's the silicon valley celebrities using the service. As soon as average everyday people joined Quora, the whole hype just died down. Overnight we all just stopped caring because we realized Quara is just a better designed Reddit with tech celebrities.
I've often wondered how many people, outside of the tech realm, actually use Quora. I don't know anyone that has even heard of it. But plenty of non-tech categories seem full of questions and answers- is it just techies talking about their other areas of interest or has it actually spread?
I've never really cared about credits (I have about 13000).
The problem with all of this is that the main content I love is when a deep subject matter expert or insider writes a single answer to a question. Getting someone like Larry Summers to write about economic policy during his tenure, or various PayPal Mafia to write about their experiences at PayPal, etc. is worth a lot more than someone else answering "What is the best way to dump my girlfriend". I don't think those guys care about credits, and any hoops they have to jump through are good many.
Quora should focus entirely on recruiting real experts or people with deep insights to make 1-10 answers or posts. Have a Quora staff member edit or otherwise guide the process, and maybe give real-world benefits to those people. Probably the best benefit is link juice for a personal blog, Amazon book, etc. -- Quora is great for that.
Avoiding being taken over by social media douchebags (which was the big threat around January 2011) is the other problem, though. I'm not sure how Credits helps with that either.
23 comments
[ 159 ms ] story [ 221 ms ] threadthe real killer feature of credits though is being able to get access and attention from people you don't know. It's easy enough to ignore emails from strangers or at replies on twitter, but getting asked to answer on Quora gives a bigger social obligation. Like "hey not only does this guy want to know my opinion, but he thinks lots of other people will, too".
I think Charlie and Adam are building a great platform and great community at Quora. Bravo.
The quality of e questions is a Function of new users who don't realize that quora requires well formatted questions. They will either learn or they won't be able to add anymore as they will run out of credits.
Quoras incentives align so that the most popular answer gets to the top and also answers by celebrity get to the top - this one problem with the present incentives.
I know for reddit there are people selling accounts which can be used to upvote things all the way to the front page. I can almost see that happening to Quora.
There is no easy way to get to the front page of reddit.
insert ominous music here
On a related note, there's money to be made by being on the top of reddit, ergo there are a lot of people actively trying. I would not be surprised in the slightest if people have cracked it - albeit it may not be as easy to manipulate as the Digg of yore.
Consider this finding: "I think I just accidentally discovered a Quora Credit goldmine: www.quora.com/DeathByPuns I went from about 500 to over 1800 in less than two days. Now I can actually afford to ask people to answer questions; it's pretty cool."
http://www.quora.com/Quora-Credits/How-do-I-earn-Quora-Credi...
I understand that the goal is to keep the signal-to-noise ratio high, and discourage low quality questions.
However, it also will encourage users who contribute low-quality but easily-upvoted content, which creates a feedback loop encouraging the Quora-hive mindset.
Sounds like Hacker News. It seems to me that only the StackExchange people have avoided this.
How is this any different from one million other internet forum-type places? Like, say, Hacker News or Reddit or Stack Exchange or Seeking Alpha? Only, when I venture into smaller, more specific communities, I can escape some noise(as opposed to Youtube comments).
I never understood how Quora thought they'd overcome this problem, or why everyone (read: Techcrunch) was making such a big deal about what Quora was doing. I suppose it was really exciting for the SV echo chamber, but I don't find it to be a spectacular resource. And the fact that there are now a bunch of hoops to jump through to even ask a question?
I don't know. But, I'm open to being surprised.
The problem with all of this is that the main content I love is when a deep subject matter expert or insider writes a single answer to a question. Getting someone like Larry Summers to write about economic policy during his tenure, or various PayPal Mafia to write about their experiences at PayPal, etc. is worth a lot more than someone else answering "What is the best way to dump my girlfriend". I don't think those guys care about credits, and any hoops they have to jump through are good many.
Quora should focus entirely on recruiting real experts or people with deep insights to make 1-10 answers or posts. Have a Quora staff member edit or otherwise guide the process, and maybe give real-world benefits to those people. Probably the best benefit is link juice for a personal blog, Amazon book, etc. -- Quora is great for that.
Avoiding being taken over by social media douchebags (which was the big threat around January 2011) is the other problem, though. I'm not sure how Credits helps with that either.