I think the point of Quora was just to get engagement up with whatever it took to keep people posting and upvoting. It was addicting, but forget getting answers to questions unless you were one of the sites better known users. Quora is the Zynga of the Q&A format, and created about as much value.
I asked just two questions and they were answered in a really great way by people much more involved in the topic than I expected. But I am speaking as someone who grows a slight addiction to Quora. I think the trick is that you have to engage with the community then you can promote your question with credits.
>forget getting answers to questions unless you were one of the sites better known users
That doesn't match my experience. I have only ever asked one question on Quora, and at the time I had only written a single answer on an unrelated subject.
My question was about the value of staying in the official hotel vs an Airbnb when attending a conference and I got a quality response from a cofounder of Lanyrd.
It is indeed hard to get (good) answers to your questions - but there are tons of great answers to questions that have already been asked. Especially for anything related to tech or Silicon Valley etc.
