Qunu
I was browsing Slashdot, and found a reference to a free service called Qunu. It seems to be a search engine that links people with problems with people who are passionate about sharing their knowledge. You search for a topic, and Qunu gives you a list of people who can help and who are online at the time. It then lets you chat to them using standard IM protocols. Obviously it’s based on the premise that hardcore nerds are very altruistic and generous with their time.
I hope this works. It’s a great idea, and the friendliness aspect leads to all the warm and fuzzys you’d expect. I’m (of course) a little skeptical having browsed through a number of public forums in my time. The expression “n00b” and the reaction to them springs to mind… I suppose, realistically, that the people who make the RTFM comments aren’t going to sign up for this, so I’m almost certainly being too harsh. By the way, if you don’t know what I was just talking about, then good. I was nerding it up a bit.
Wow, this has all been a ramble. Let me summarise. I like the idea. I think it could work. It’ll definitely be good for the average semi-computer-literate Joe who needs help with something computer related. It’s only new (still in alpha), but have a look and put friends onto it. I’d love to see this take off.
Damo
damo – thanks for the writeup! we printed it out and put it on the wall.
)))
People are passionate about helping others. That is a short cut to inflate one’s ego. Nothing wrong about it.
Helping people in a forum or mailinglist, some time people can’t choose the questions. It is always exciting when appear to be an expert infront of noob for first few exchanges. Then, the “expert” quickly get bored and want to impress other experts (instead of noobs), yet noob questions keep poping up. It is natural to get emotional over noobs.
Qunu sounds refreshing. With IM, the objective is to impress the one you talks to (through genuine helping). Without the distraction of impressing others (including peer experts), I expect this may work.
However a one to one impression is of less value than one to many impression. So it all depends are there enough nerds that can’t give a bigger impression elsewhere. (I think yes).
Hi Hui,
I take your point, and you’re probably right in that many “experts” that display their knowledge on the web are probably doing it for themselves; to inflate their ego as you put it.
As I said, I think people who do it for these reasons won’t be interested in Qunu.
In case you’re interested, a good friend of mine has established himself as an expert on Qunu and he’s already helped a few people. He loves it and has got good reviews as a result.
Damian