Fluther

I found the people to be bullies, to be honest. Very much in a clique and they seem to prefer just asking each other questions all day. I'd avoid like the plague! (Has a stuffy smell like old shoes).

I had been looking for an alternative to Quora, and did a search online, and found Fluther, and joined.
Firstly, Fluther is nowhere near the giant that Quora is, so there is nowhere near the amount of questions/activity on this site as on Quora. Basically, it's a bit dead, with not very many new posts.

And the programming behind it seems quite outdated and clumsy. For instance, when you type a response, and hit the enter button for a paragraph space, it either does nothing, or it only drops just underneath, rather than a proper paragraph space. Awkward. And I've never had that issue on any website before.

It also seems as though you can only edit your response once, because I tried to edit my response a second time, and the option to do so had just vanished. No pop up box came up to tell me what was going on, either.

And yet, they preach quality in a big way. In fact, I had only been on there a few days, and I received an email from a moderator which I found to be quite patronising, and they were telling me that as they placed great importance on making their site look "spiffy," (they use lots of outdated words on this site, weirdly), that I needed to make sure that I watched my grammar, punctuation, and not use all lower case - the latter of which I tend to do as it's my thing, my trademark, as I've done it for years, and nobody else ever had an issue with it. And there was no issue with my grammar or punctuation, because I know how to write, thanks.

So, I decided to go through other people's posts, and it didn't take me long at all to find that most other posts had several typos or grammatical errors in them, or they were just very poorly worded, as if a child wrote it, and yet, those users weren't told to edit them. Go figure. I guess it's a case of picking on the newbie. Warm welcome guys, thanks.

I also get the impression that the site is very cliquey. You've had people who have been on there for years, and they don't necessarily like newcomers. I also noticed a few responses by users that had been on the site for ages that I found to be quite bullish or mean, and yet, those people didn't have their responses removed.

Finally, one thing that really bothered me was that, on their site, in the top right corner, under your username, there would be some message for you, and it would change every so often. And it would say really creepy things like "you're looking very dapper today" or "please stay on here for a while" or "we love you, even with that wart on your face" or "you make us weak at the knees", bit like messages from some stalker. Maybe some people are fine with it, but again, I found it to be quite unsettling and weird.

They also don't seem to have that many topics available. And again, the interface just seems really outdated. I tried to post a question, and had to retype the entire thing because I couldn't figure out which button was the right one to submit. Which has never happened before, either.

So, if you want to enter the twilight zone and go back in time 25 years, this site would suit you. Otherwise, avoid.

Weirdos.

I have been on fluther for a couple of years now. I haven't left simply because I can't find another website that is comparable. Visit this site if you just want to: muse about philosophy, talk about the meaning of life, get into a religious debate, or congratulate each other on being on the site for a long time. In this regard, it is not so much a Q & A site as it is a discussion site.

Fluther is NOT the place to go for answers regarding technology or a specific field of expertise. E.G. If you ask a question about a new motherboard, chances are your question will go unanswered indefinitely.

Reasons to use it:
Ad-Free
Great Aesthetics
Some good people

Reasons NOT to use it:
Favoritism
User-base is overwhelmingly Liberal (Which is fine if you're Liberal)
User-base is predominantly Atheist (Which is fine if you're an Atheist)
Moderation is extremely strict (to an annoying degree)

I was a member of this website for about 9 months and it was the site I left before joining sodahead. All in all it is not a bad website and the userbase is alot more intelligent than that of sodahead. Unlike sodahead however politics is not front and center of the discussions on there. This site is more geared towards philosophical, science and asking other users for help with a problem. The site is full of both average people and doctors, physicists, cancer researchers, teachers, college professors, etc. This userbase on this site is very secular (mostly atheists) and leans to the left politically. This site, unlike sodahead is specifically designed to engage people into quality debates and/or discussions so there is no blocking function, downraves/thumbs down, posting media and fancy profile set ups. Fluther does have quality moderators that are VERY strict about name calling and harassing, trolling and spam.

Personally my only beef with fluther is the userbase itself. There is little variation unlike sodahead. The fluther userbase is heavily atheistic, materialistic, orthodox and leans very far left. As a result of this it is very difficult to land fair discussions about paranormal phenomena, spirituality, alternative treatment protocols (chiropractic, accupuncture, experimental cancer treatments, etc) and anything else not deemed as 'orthodox' or 'real' science. Just like sodahead the userbase on here is fairly prejediced against those who don't hold their pro vegan, pro feminist, atheistic and pro 'orthodox' views so do not expect massive amounts of support, friends or points if you have dissenting views from this userbase as well.

There are longtime members on Fluther and the ages vary a lot. Knowledge found on Fluther to fit almost any dilemma is freely given.
There are those who have expert knowledge of computers, electronics, finance, and so many things.
Members hail from many parts of the world.
There are opportunities to share opinions, and seek humor.
If someone asks an urgent question and a member knows of another member with experience on that topic, they can refer the question so that it will be seen by the likliest help.
I like being a part of Fluther.

I really am not sure how they agree to spam some accounts and not others, lack of consistency. I answered questions genuinely and provided links of my firm as an additional option. It was marked as spammed, but there were more moneyed competitors quoting link but had great answers marked. Something fishy here..

They make it impossible to get on. The passwords don't work. Tried three times to get in to read, etc., and it's just not allowing me to. The site sucks.