Hey guys, why didn't you tell me there's a **Q&A platform built on Steem**? That means you can earn money by asking and answering questions. Three days ago, while checking out `introduceyourself` posts, I happened to read [a post about Musing](https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@jonching/a-new-era-for-musing-io), which started 6 months ago, and I started using it this weekend. I love sharing knowledge and learning new things, so I've thought about doing something like Quora manually on Steemit. But a dedicated website is much better. It's a fun thing to do when you don't feel like reading or writing blog posts. So I have a [Musing profile](https://musing.io/profile/edb) now, and I'm a *Muser*.

The [Musing.io](https://musing.io/) interface is similar to Quora, but less cluttered. It's easy to sign up when you already have a Steem account. If you're not already on Steem, the signup experience must be [horrible](https://steemit.com/bitcoin/@edb/the-early-days-are-almost-over). Questions are are recorded on Steem as comments on a special post, while answers show up as a link in your comment feed. You could also check the 'Post on blog' option to post your answer as a blog post, but I don't know whether that's a good idea. For voting, there's a small slider to choose a percentage.

<center>
![question-mark-1495858_640.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmc83iqx5Yp3pRBtpEgnBCS9DWnKQX8czUo7zbw5yyCg4M/question-mark-1495858_640.jpg)
</center>

Although I like the general concept of Quora, it's annoying how it tries to **manipulate users**. You have to sign up to keep reading, you have to use your real name and Quora keeps throwing reminders, notifications and requests at you in order to grab your attention. Musing doesn't have all that. And users are making money directly, so they don't have to spam their website or company. I didn't notice any abuse so far. One nice detail is that you can upvote questions, not just answers.

Of course, answers are upvoted more often than questions, turning the balance between posts and comments on Steemit upside down. I must add that it's not so easy to ask a good question. Many questions are rather vague and asking for opinions rather than facts. Maybe the name invites philosophical questions?

There are some inevitable downsides of the **limited scale** (50,000 questions and answers): you're unlikely to find an expert in medieval locksmithing or the mating habits of the betta fish, and the list of similar questions isn't as relevant as the rabbit hole on Quora or StackExchange. Well, maybe it's a good thing that it's not so addictive yet. All questions and answers I've seen are in English, although no one could stop you if you wanted to use another language.

Then there are some **technical issues** that could be improved:
- I accidentally upvoted some answers that were older than a week. This is already an issue on Steemit, but you won't read older posts so often here. I think Musing.io should make it clear when answers/questions are too old to receive rewards.
- My upvotes don't change the reward immediately, until I refresh the page.
- I can't find the link to a specific answer. 
- When you try to vote without being logged in, the site forgets what you where doing after you log in or sign up.
- There's no Musing app. Is it technically a Dapp?
- There's no way to post links, which makes it difficult to cite sources or refer to more information.

Maybe the best thing about Musing.io is that it's a good way to get to know Steemians you wouldn't meet otherwise. For example, I followed @markgritter because of his excellent technical answers. Actually, the most interesting answer I read was his gossip about tech billionaires losing touch with reality, in answer to the question: [What does one learn from being exposed to the wealthy?](https://musing.io/q/coinsandchains/f3tu2hcd5?r=profile-markgritter)

If you want to know more, ask a question on https://musing.io/ 

<HR>

*Stock image from [Pixabay](https://pixabay.com/nl/vraagteken-stapel-vraag-mark-stack-1495858/)*