Comments on: Using Google accounts to sign up for services is handy, but why would Quora need…

By: Alistair Lattimore

Alistair Lattimore — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 10:36:16 +0000

I think the thing that doesn't make sense about it in my head is that it isn't wikipedia, where the whole root idea is that hundreds of people might contribute effort to a single cohesive article whereby the contributors aren't visible unless you view the change history for the wikipedia article.

That isn't the case for Quora though, the authors are visible because of their comments as opposed to a dozen people editing a single, collaborative answer.

The other part of it that doesn't make sense I suppose is that if you suggest an edit to a comment, which is owned by an individual, as opposed to a wikipedia article that doesn't really have an owner in that sense - there is no guarantee that it'll be accepted by the author whereas there is a much higher likelihood your edit would be accepted on wikipedia I think.

By: Lyndon NA

Lyndon NA — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 10:28:40 +0000

I think the idea is to introduce a new model.
Far to often Forums suck.
Irrelevant, inaccurate, unreliable etc.

So, the gap in the market is cultivated correction.

Personally, I don't like it either – it's why I'm not on it

By: Alistair Lattimore

Alistair Lattimore — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 10:21:44 +0000

I really want to grok Quora but something about it doesn't click in my head. I understand that it is a Q&A style site but the mixing of wiki style functionality breaks the mental model that I'm familiar to.

Scenarios

I decide to participate on Quora - am I editing other people's questions to make them clearer or better categorised for the community at large?

If I have an issue with a comment left by a third party, why would I suggest an edit to their work instead of simply replying with a better answer?

Like I said, I want to be able to get my head around it as there is some excellent discussion happening on there. Maybe I should just ignore the wiki-esque functionalty, dive in & treat it like a forum to see how my opinion changes over a month or two.

By: Lyndon NA

Lyndon NA — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 09:48:15 +0000

It would seem that terms such as
* Invasive
* Obtrusive
* bloody rude
don't seem to occur to some people

By: Richard Hearne

Richard Hearne — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 09:46:03 +0000

Looks like they want to scan your contacts to see if you know other users. They really are hot on this – even after signing up via email they recognised the @gmail account and tried to foist the same thing to verify my account. I declined…

Now just wish there was a way to delete my account. Not a great on-boarding process IMO.

By: Lyndon NA

Lyndon NA — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 09:00:14 +0000

Maybe it's just hangover code/response due to the way G implemented the 3rd party signon?

Or do Quora offer "gamification" systems (X has reached lvl 3 answer wizard?) - inwhich case you can then announce it on G+ (because we all love seeing that *, right?)

By: Alistair Lattimore

Alistair Lattimore — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 06:33:08 +0000

I wonder if the authentication system provides a 'view contacts' permission separately to 'manage contacts'. If it didn't provide a distinction, give that you're leaking private information to a third party – maybe Quora want the contacts to spam them for sign up opportunity. I sure hope that isn't the case and one of their developers has just wrongly configured the request into Google.