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"Quora is a new social question and answer website that\u2019s receiving plenty of buzz.  It functions on a simple premise: Ask a question (either to the community or an individual) and wait for the answers. You can also follow questions, topics, or people and read all the updates related to them on your home page.  It's simple enough, but beyond that, some of Quora's features can get murky.\nOne questionable feature is the \"pop quiz.\" Quora gives an impromptu grammar exam to all members who post a question for the first time. The quiz asks users to select the correct sentence out of a list of grammatically incorrect sentences. This is intended to keep post quality at a high level, however future use doesn't require a quiz, so the grammatically-challenged could continue to post if they can guess correctly the first time.\nAnother point of contention is the ability of users to edit others' questions. For example, I recently asked, \u201CWhere can I find the best Hawaiian food in New York?\u201D  Another user edited my question to read, \u201CWhere is the best Hawaiian food in New York?\u201D  In this instance, I don\u2019t think my question was ambiguous enough to warrant an edit. Plus, if users can edit each other's questions, why the need for the grammar quiz in the first place?\nIn order to implement quality control on the answers people give, Quora employs a system of \u201Cupvoting\u201D and \u201Cdownvoting.\u201D  Upvoting a response displays it higher up in the queue of responses. With enough upvotes, an answer will appear first in the queue, implying that its content is of the highest quality because the community approved it.\nAll of these measures have so far made Quora more attractive and valuable to a smart but small user base of entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and technologists.  As the site grows, it will be interesting to see if the dynamics that make it useful today will still be in place. Will the popularity of certain users influence what gets upvoted and what doesn't?\nDespite some shortcomings, I\u2019d still recommend that anyone interested in Quora sign up and give it a try.  If you don\u2019t like it, you\u2019ll know right away. If you do like it, you can find yourself getting sucked into the site and jumping from question to question, checking out topics that you never even knew existed.\nHave you tried Quora?  What was your user experience like? Let us know in the comments below.\nMore How To Resources from Mashable\n- HOW TO: Use Advanced Twitter Search To Find a Job [VIDEO]- HOW TO: Use Twitter\u2019s Advanced Search [VIDEO]- HOW TO: Get More Out of Your Fonts- HOW TO: Customize the New Facebook Profile- HOW TO: Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2011/01/27/quora-video-guide/>