Quora is a popular question and answer website where you can ask and answer questions about Beaverton, Oregon and more.

One of the great benefits of the Internet is the ability to find information easily. Wikipedia came along in 2001, building on the wiki knowledge base model. Wikipedia can be a great resource, however it does have limitations and peculiarities of its information model. Wikipedia editors often battle over what information goes on a Wikipedia page or employ methods of questionable judgement. One advantage of that model is the rigor of standards, but that advantage also can be a disadvantage if the information presented does not take into account alternative definitions.

What Makes Quora Different?

Quora lets individuals ask questions that are answered by others. You can also vote up or down both questions and answers. Questions can be assigned to multiple topics and you can follow topics to receive updates. You have to judge for yourself just how relevant the answers are from answerers, however Quora does support self labeling by topic. That can be helpful in deciding if an answer has substance or not.

Because some topics and questions can be controversial or invite vitriolic responses like you find on Facebook or Twitter, it is possible to block people from answering your questions or responding to your answers.

What About Beaverton on Quora?

There is a Beaverton, Oregon topic on Quora with over 9,700 followers. Most questions you find there will be specific to the City of Beaverton, however you will also find questions that relate to Beaverton in a general way or by reference.

For example:

What are good reasons for living in Beaverton instead of living in Portland, Oregon?

This is a comparative question I wrote as to why people might want to live in Beaverton instead of Portland. Open ended, non-leading questions that cannot be answered with a simple yes or no provide for greater variation in answers.

You can also find other topics of interest related to Beaverton, such as the Oregon State topic or Portland OR topic. Because you are not limited to a single topic for questions, the question above is listed under all three: Beaverton, Portland and Oregon.

What to Avoid on Quora?

Like most social media venues, Quora has a few negatives, some of which are codified into their terms of use and policies.

They have a policy called Be Nice, Be Respectful which can get you flagged or even account banned on Quora if you engage is non-polite activity and what you write is egregious that you are reported to Quora.

You cannot have anonymous accounts or multiple accounts. It is possible to both ask and answer questions as 'Anonymous' but Quora still knows who you are. If you create multiple accounts or create sock puppet accounts, you can become accounted banned. This in itself can create problems if someone else impersonates you.

There can also be topic gangsters on certain topics that will upvote, downvote or report questions based on how they feel about the topic. Beaverton is not a very controversial topic, however when you get into questions related to Governor Kate Brown or other specific politicians in Oregon, you may see some.