I’ll be honest, I didn’t even know what a Quora session was until someone asked me to do one. Today, as a public service, I will tell you how you can ask me questions on Quora, what a Quora session is and what is Quora. I posted something very similar on The Julia Group blog but I have had people (humph, family, I’m looking at you) tell me that they never read that blog because I write too much about statistics. Personally, I consider posts about statistics as a plus. Oh, well, there’s no accounting for taste.
So, fine, here is an explanation of Quora and Quora sessions with very little statistics. I’ll start in what is probably the order of usefulness.
What is Quora?
Quora is a question and answer site. You can select areas of interest to show up in your feed. For example, I’m interested in international travel, education, JavaScript, SAS software, parenting and statistics, to name a few. You can also follow specific people who interest you. Some people call Quora a combination of Twitter, Facebook and reddit. I think that’s a good description.
What is a Quora Session?
It’s very similar to a reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything). If you don’t know what an AMA is, that doesn’t help, does it? Basically, a person volunteers or is asked to host a session and answer questions on his or her area of expertise. People can post questions once the session is announced and then the session host sits down and answers whichever have the most upvotes/requests/ personal interest. It just gives you a little more probability of having that person answer your specific questions. Some people are on Quora all of the time – I notice Peter Flom (he’s a statistician, by the way( has answered over 1,700 questions. I have answered 49 (I’m a slacker). Those answers have been viewed over 400,000 times. (Hmm.) Mark Cuban has gotten three times as many as me because he is presumably way cooler (also richer). You may not get a person to answer your question, especially someone who doesn’t answer a lot. I read a lot more of other people’s answers rather than write my own and I have never posted a question on Quora. I’m just busy. For example, I wrote this in the Minneapolis airport in the few minutes before running to catch a plane.
How can you ask me questions on Quora?
Well, you can ask any time but I don’t often answer because, see previous paragraph. However, I am hosting a session this week. Check it out. I’m taking questions on parenting, startups, work-life balance, judo. I assume you have to join Quora to ask a question, but joining is free, quick and easy. I’d recommend joining. You’ll learn stuff and there are far fewer jerks and trolls than on Twitter. I don’t know how they police it, but I’ve noticed a much higher level of discussion and fewer insults and ignorant comments.
See what I’ve been busy doing lately – download Aztech: Meet the Maya for your iPad. Learn to love statistics. Experience Latin American history. Learn Spanish.
