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Comment by chriskelley | Hacker News Reader

I rarely initialize my use of Quora by visiting the website - I have found immense value in the digest emails they send. They are a mix of things they know I'm explicitly interested in, and generally "interesting" things (presumably defined by popularity). Probably 90% of the time after receive a digest email, I open at least 2 or 3 of the links within.

I have tried visiting the site directly and am rarely able to find content as stimulating as the links they send in the digest emails.

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Agree about the digest emails. That's the only reason I go on Quora anymore but they have about 100% CTR for me.

I've never signed up to the site, but find this quite interesting. Does that mean you only consume the content via email or do you click through? Sounds like a massive headache for Quora in the first case.

You really have to visit the site, the emails only contain snippets of conversation.

That being said, the emails are brilliant. I don't know how the content is selected, but almost every time I open one I see something eye-catching enough that I click through.

Yeah - I second that. Quora is one of the few sites that sends me weeklyish emails that I haven't unsubscribed from because the content is fantastic. I always seem to learn something from clicking through it.

It's kind of a bummer that they're needing to pivot and find a way to revenue - from a non-business, purely consumer perspective I find the site really enlightening and valuable.

Well not feeling the same. At first it was ok but now in the mails I get the 50 answer to "what are good advices for a good life?" And the nth reply on topic China by a user who regurgitates the western party line that I know already, in the same time and depth that you'd have in a newbie backpacker bar near the most spoiled tourist spot in Thailand.

Same here. 100% CTR, then end up spending ~30 minutes on the side. I would love to know how they put those emails together.

Like russell_h said, the email includes just a teaser snippet so you have to click through - and I've never encountered the BWoD (Blurry Wall of Death) after clicking through.

That would mean you signed up and so have no restrictions. But they are knowledge base, does not matter how they got the information or who posts them. Asking to sign up to see content is like asking to sign up to see google results. Also their traffic through google must be higher that their traffic coming from YC crowd. So I cannot imagine why they would restrict their site like that.

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