What are the main guidelines and guides for responses to Quora?
Quora’s goal is to make each question page the best possible resource for someone with the same question.To this end:
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Guidelines for answers
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Answers should make the page more useful for someone interested in the question asked.
- Add comments on the question or other answers in the appropriate comment boxes, not as new answers.
- Answers that challenge a basic pre-acceptance of the questionare allowed, but they must also be helpful for those who are looking for the answer to the question.
- Humorous answers must also be helpful, offer meaningful explanations and not give the impression that they misinterpret the intent of the question.
- For responses containing information copied from other pages, this should be clear by inserting the copied content as a citation with a pre-precise mention of the source.
- Use images only if it makes answers more helpful.
Avoid in particular meme images and sex-related or sexually provocative imagesthat do not directly answer the question.
Answers that cannot be understood without access to an external website, and if apparently for advertising purposes, may be considered spam.
Self-expression is only allowed if it is part of an honest, helpful and direct answer to the question.
- Self-expression is only allowed in responses in the context of an honest, helpful and direct response, otherwise it is considered spam.
- Responses promoting products or services must disclose affiliations that could influence the interpretation of the answer.
- Links to self-promotion that are not part of a direct and helpful answer to the question are not allowed in answers.
- Partner links are not allowed.
Replies must follow the page’s guidelines.
- Answers must not violate the be kind, be respectful policy, e.g. if someone is personally attacked, if they attack the question or other answers disrespectfully or insultingly or hate tirades.
- Answers should be written in German with correct spelling, use of punctuation andgrammar, as well as case.
- Answers that support certain harmful behaviors (currently: child abuse, intentional murder including genocide, suicide) are not permitted.
Answers that do not comply with the above guidelines may:
- hidden due to negative user ratings,
- be hidden by the moderators (reviewers, administrators),
- they are deleted if they are clearly distracting from the question page (e.g. clear spam or vandalism) even when it is folded in), or if they are potentially harmful to the site or its users.
Positive reviews do not validate a response that violates the guidelines—Answers with many positive ratings can be hidden if moderators agree that they are not following the guidelines described above.
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Guide to answers
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All users are asked to follow the following guide when writing answers to help make the question page a valuable resource:
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Answers should be honest and authentic
- Incorrect, outdated, or otherwise misguided answers are not helpful.
- Responses should cite sources of data, scientific evidence, external research or other factual information that can be verified by a third party.
Answers should provide explanations
- Good answers explain why they answer the question.
- The opinions or advice described in an answer should be supported by argument so that the reader understands them.
- Nonconformist and non-obvious answers are more useful when they acknowledge conventional wisdom before offering a new perspective.
- Answers that lead to another page or include embedded videos should provide a summary and an explanation of why the content is relevant to the question.
Answers should contribute information to the question page
- Publish informative and helpful answers, even if you wrote the question.
- Distribute positive reviews for existing responses instead of publishing duplicates.
- Avoid memes and insider jokes that make question pages less helpful and less clear.
- Send personal messages to the author of the question as a private message.
- Add personal messages to the authors of other responses as comments on their responses, use the ‘Say thank you’ feature, or send a private message.
Answers should be carefully formatted
- Understandable and well-written answers are more likely to be read, understood and positively evaluated.
- Use paragraphs and intermediate headings to divide large blocks of text.
This improves readability.
Do not use block font.