They have scaled from scrappy outsiders into significant players. They have millions of faithful users. While it’s true they have succeeded well within their founders’ wildest dreams, they are still among the best of the best, or they wouldn’t have gotten to where they are today.
"Scrappy outsiders?" I always felt Path and Quora were overhyped Valley darlings heavily funded right out of the gate.
As for the comment that they are "still among the best of the best", I think it's only possible to make that claim on narrow criteria -- for instance, Quora's Q&A quality in a few verticals, and FourSquare for its check-in data.
I think the point of Quora was just to get engagement up with whatever it took to keep people posting and upvoting. It was addicting, but forget getting answers to questions unless you were one of the sites better known users. Quora is the Zynga of the Q&A format, and created about as much value.
I asked just two questions and they were answered in a really great way by people much more involved in the topic than I expected. But I am speaking as someone who grows a slight addiction to Quora. I think the trick is that you have to engage with the community then you can promote your question with credits.
>forget getting answers to questions unless you were one of the sites better known users
That doesn't match my experience. I have only ever asked one question on Quora, and at the time I had only written a single answer on an unrelated subject.
My question was about the value of staying in the official hotel vs an Airbnb when attending a conference and I got a quality response from a cofounder of Lanyrd.
It is indeed hard to get (good) answers to your questions - but there are tons of great answers to questions that have already been asked. Especially for anything related to tech or Silicon Valley etc.
I loved Quora for a long time. Great community, great atmosphere, lots of learning to be had. Slightly different culture/atmosphere from HN, which is interesting. It's been through a few changes and has had to cope with a flood of new users, but it's still a decent place to look for good answers to interesting questions.
That was an amazing answer, condensing various sources and incorporating author's own knowledge.
However, for each answer of this level, you get 100 ridiculous questions and answers:
Sampling from quora spam in my inbox:
I am in my early 20s, earning between $110-180k/yr depending on my bonus. Would it be inappropriate for me to drive a $50k Mercedes Benz?
What is the bravest or riskiest high school graduation speech by a student? What made it so? (suppose this is important to HS student attempting to oneup it)
How did recruiting so many brilliant mathematicians help Goldman Sachs to earn so much money?
A 12-year-old with cancer wants you to take their virginity because they will not live long enough to experience it normally. You are the only person they trust. Is it ethical to agree?
"Scrappy outsiders?" I always felt Path and Quora were overhyped Valley darlings heavily funded right out of the gate.
As for the comment that they are "still among the best of the best", I think it's only possible to make that claim on narrow criteria -- for instance, Quora's Q&A quality in a few verticals, and FourSquare for its check-in data.