If you could create a new Q & A app, what features would be essential to you? What makes it answering here so special?

Me
The crafting a response pencil thing
Avatars
Sarcasm
Banter
Gullible yanks
Laughs

A lot of us have been here for years and it feels like “home.”
Fluther is a great little online community and and many of us are loyal flutherites. Logging onto fluther with our morning coffee or before bed is a great way to start or end the day.
We also love getting new members.

Welcome @JellyFishResearcher Hope you stick around and give Fluther town a chance. Don’t be seduced by cheap imitations, we’re the real deal here. haha

An app is a phone thing right? I really am not into my phone. I bought a cell phone about 3 months ago, it’s still in the box. I like the old fashioned way of doing things.

- An intuitive interface with an attractive layout and colours that don’t induce eye-bleeding.
– All features of the site work as advertised.
– An appreciation for high-quality content (with citations!)
– An active community that feels like a community.
– A fairly open acceptance of content (no unnecessary censorship of language or subject matter).
– Desktop access. I can use a phone, but I didn’t spend half my life learning how to type 80 words a minute so I could go back to 15 words a minute on a phone.

Familiar experience. Like home.

Simple layout, easy to follow, not a lot of crap all over the site and the main thing is the friends and community. Sometimes I can guess accurately who asked a question or posted a response before I even see their name, based upon the way they write.

The eye is new isn’t it? Over the “observing members.” If it isn’t I have never noticed the eye in all these years. lol

This question reminds me of a fantasy I used to have. In that dreamland, I was able to set up a Q&A site in my language that has similar features to Fluther: a catchy and user-friendly interface and formatting, funny auto-generated comments here and there, active and fair moderation, and most of all, a closed knit community. The idea started with my frustration at Yahoo!Answer and the Q&A community of my language in general, and this was a way to gather intelligent and conscientious people into one place and also this site can be too American sometimes and I need a site that is culturally closer to me.

But then I realized that my culture isn’t ready for that kind of site.

What makes Fluther different from the other Q&A sites that I’ve seen (and which don’t interest me enough to spend any time with) is that the questions become a continuing conversation between the asker and the answerers, with each person adding something to the whole. Presumably, this is because the answers remain in sequence; none rise to the top, breaking the flow.

And yes, the fun and clever things, like “crafting a response”, which @ucme referenced; like the Fluther greetings, and the awards, and Neptune eating deleted accounts, and Dr. J himself. There’s whimsy here; it doesn’t feel like ad-man-designed gimmickery.

And, although many of the first Fluther users have gone now, looking back at early threads, it seems to me that the spirit of the place came into being because the core users already knew each other a little – they were friends of friends or relatives, and just nice people; their characters shaped the community that became Fluther. Of course, it has shifted over time, but I think that the essence, the attitude of Fluther is unique because of those origins and the specific people who were here.

I’m here for the nekkid pancakes. Pass the butter, please.

@dappled_leaves Agree. Ben and Andrew are super-smart and creative people (I’ve seen Andrew act) and the first members were friends and relatives like Gailcalled and so it engendered a very special membership.

There has to be a community. when asking serious questions without an easily googled answer it is very important to know a thing or two about the responder so that you can weight the response appropriately.

The lack of idiots. Not saying that everyone is a genius, and there are some fights and whatnot, but people here are actually smart, and give clever answers with a will to help.

You don’t just ask the question, get an answer and move on. Most of the questions turn into discussions and exchange of opinions and experiences, not just answering.

Friendliness. Most Jellies, if not all, are friendly and willing to help. Most of the time, the atmosphere is very relaxed and friendly.

Come for the answer, stay for the members hehe.

Party at my place tonight! Bring your good nature and I’ll supply the rest, of course my house is small so some of you may have to sit on each others laps. lol