Understanding Question Ownership and Merging on Quora

When you post a question on Quora, the concept of ownership and merging can be a bit confusing. This article aims to clarify these ideas and their implications for both creators and community members.

Question Ownership: My Question, Your Question?

When you post a question on Quora, it becomes part of the community pool of information. Unlike traditional forums or platforms, Quora does not recognize individual ownership of questions once they are published. Initially, if you are the original poster (OP), you have the ability to delete your question. However, once a question is submitted, it belongs to the Quora community and not just you.

Merging Questions on Quora

Merging questions on Quora is a common practice to ensure that related questions are consolidated. This process can have several implications, including the distribution of views, answers, and overall question management.

Impact on Views and Answers

When a question is merged, the new combined question will receive the total views and answers from all the merged questions. This means that if your question is merged, the new question will have more engagement. Additionally, the banner of the question will indicate that it has been merged, and you can remove this banner if you wish. However, you will not gain new views beyond those already attributed to the merged questions.

Question Merging and View Ownership

If you are merging based on the Quora Partner Program (QPP) considerations, the merged question stats will be added to the question that it is merged into. This means that if your question gets merged, the other question will benefit from the views your question already had. From a general perspective, your question once merged will belong to the Quora community, not to you.

Preventing Mergers

Before merging, it's important to check whether your question has already been asked. If you believe your question is different enough and is being merged unfairly, you can submit a reason for unmerging by showing how your question is distinct from the ones it merged with.

Quora's Community Approach to Questions

Quora takes a communal approach to questions. Once a question is published, it's a shared resource for the community, and you have very limited rights to it beyond initial actions like deletion or merging. For instance, even if you are the original poster, you can suggest edits but cannot force them through. The community can edit the question directly due to its communal nature.

Conclusion

In essence, your question on Quora is never strictly "yours" once it is merged and published. It belongs to the Quora community and is managed collectively. While you can influence its journey initially, once it's out there, it's a shared responsibility.

For bulk-askers, merging aggressively can help maintain the quality and relevance of questions. Always consider the broader community when merging questions, and strive to avoid duplicate or redundant content. Remember, the goal is to provide the best, most accurate, and most helpful information to Quora's vast audience.