You know what I’m into? Quora‘s efforts at gamification. Because listen, Adam D’Angelo and Charlie Cheever could have chosen to devote their youth to anything on earth and they have chosen to build a database of all content that people want to know. Valid.
Also, last night I was searching the Internet for info for a story on why SF cab drivers are so averse to using credit cards, and wondered if there was a Quora thread about it … Lo and behold there was. Rad.
Imagine being able to do this with any inquiry on earth, people?
I debated sending the entire team a note of thanks, but instead am writing it here. (Hey guys, whats up?)
So now, in addition to getting to “pay” people to answer questions, every time you ask a question on Quora, the site presents you with the incentive to spend 50 credits to “add topics.” The carrot is that you get to show your question to all topic followers. The stick? Well, without being Robert Scoble or something it might be hard to get people to look at your questions, unless you cough up some credits. Eh, hem.
Also, the topics are now aligned on the right rail.
This is obviously one way Quora can get users to think twice about asking questions that don’t add value (for example) while keeping the quality of the site up. Also, I guess they’re really serious about this credits thing and are trying to find new ways to implement the structure. Fine.
For those of you who plan on being Quora cheapskates; Users can still see non-paid for questions if they’re still following people who ask the question or follow the question. On a somewhat hopeful note, if a question now becomes followed enough, it automatically gets added to a topic. Amen.