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Comment by hathym | Hacker News Reader

Why pay when quora is free?

We think there is a market for information somewhere in between free, open sites like Quora/StackOverflow, and expensive, closed sites like Experts Exchange.

Our hypothesis is that by adding bounties to the equation, the quality + speed of the answers you receive will increase due to competition for the bounty.

I often find Quora answers to be thinly veiled marketing by "growth hackers". They are getting paid indirectly and it lowers answer standards.

> Our hypothesis is that by adding bounties to the equation, the quality + speed of the answers you receive will increase due to competition for the bounty.

Well, either that or maybe the opposite. When there's a financial incentive people will respond to as many questions as possible just out of hope that they'll be awarded for any of the answers. If that happens then that will kill the quality of the answers. Good answers take time to research or require knowledge that only a minority of people have for any specific question. Spewing out garbage answers takes no time and no skill so it's more likely that more people will be doing that.

Also, what I'd you receive a satisfactory answer and agree to pay the bounty.

Now the ten better answers never get posted.

Currently, the default timeframe for answering and voting on a question is 24 hours. This may change in the future, and we may also allow question askers to choose their own time durations.

What happens if my question receives no answers?

If your question receives no answers and the answering period has expired, you will be re-funded the bounty amount less any transaction fees. Keep in mind that Cent is all about timing - try posting your question again when you feel the moment is right.

I live in Tasmania (+10hrs). How am I going to know when global domain experts are awake and ready to respond?

But How likely is it that the Bounty is going to be remotely near what a subject matter expert is worth? If I'm going to spend my time providing an in-depth answer for someone is the fact that I'll get two bucks really going to motivate me? Once you introduce money you're putting a definite value on someone's time and knowledge and it just seems like the amounts won't be enough to make that a positive experience.

But if there was a way to reach experts and offer enough serious compensation in an easy to do way, it could take off. There's been plenty of times where I'd be willing to toss fifty or a hundred bucks to get a quick answer, something that only take a couple minutes from someone familiar with the subject.

It might help if you find a way to piggyback off of something like stack overflow. I wish you success.

Why answer on quora if you can get paid on cent? (assuming it ever gets any traction)

The most valuable answers I've seen on Quora were typically written by people who don't need (and probably wouldn't notice) small tipped amounts.

True, it's like if someone helps you with a favor, say helping you to move, then you turn around and offer them three bucks for their help, you're likely to get a rather negative reaction. Small tips are really not going to provide any more incentive for people who can provide valuable answers. But I'd love a way to attract attention to questions even if it meant having to put up significant money. Stack Overflow sort of does this with the reputation bounties.

Exactly. We see this as a new type of income source for many people. You provide cognitive value to the network and the network rewards you financially.

Because the psychology of doing something for free vs. doing something for 10% of your usual hourly rate.

Plus answering on popular sites for making connections, building personal brand and even SEO.

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