What question/answer sites are most similar to this one?

None are really comparable. Fluther is moderated well and promotes great conversation!

Fluther is based on the conventions established by the big Q&A sites out there.

Here are a few:

Yahoo Answers
WikiAnswers
Ask MetaFilter

No, those are Q&A sites…This is a bit more ask & discuss. The only site I know that was similar is Askville. Considering the mods on that site are odd, inactive and ineffective, it does not come close to Fluther.

Fluther.com Tap the collective

Instead of just an answer, you’ll get opinions and insight.

Welcome new jellies @ruanua & @eat!

In the spirit of Fluther’s discussion prowess then, would you care to elaborate on how Fluther is not a Q&A site? I don’t see much difference between this thread, and say, one on Ask MetaFilter.

I agree that the moderation is quite active here, and things feel a tad more “real time” than a typical discussion site.

@eat MetaFilter is probably the one that’s most like Fluther, just for the high level of discourse. However, there are some differences. As you mentioned, real time interaction is a big one. Also, Fluther learns about you as you use the site. Your history of answering is combined with whatever information you provide in your profile to get a good idea of what questions to send your way. The more you use the site, the better it ‘knows’ you. Welcome to Fluther!

@eat This is not a great question to compare sites by. No offense to @ruanua, but the best Q’s often come from more experienced jellies and promote great discussions and more in depth probing questions.

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WikiAnswers is like two sites in one, a question and answer site, and a separate section for comments. I don’t know if that counts as being ‘similar to’ Fluther, because it’s pretty inconvenient.

WikiAnswers is not similar to fluther. I spent a couple of years as a regular there. The format is extremely limiting, the level of questions is just astoundingly low, and vandalism goes on constantly despite the best efforts of some very dedicated supervisors. I got sick of the vulgarity, the base ignorance, and the experience of having my good work repeatedly trashed. Eventually I had enough and left and found Askville (an Amazon project sounded great). A month in its grim, cold hallways was enough. Fleeing denizens were coming here, and I followed them. I look in on WikiAnswers now and then—a good concept that went awry after it was taken over by Answers.com and went big—but I no longer participate. I just shake my head.

@Jeruba—The reasons you give are the reasons I do not continue to participate with Wikianswers, either. However, it is similar in that the General Public can ask questions and receive answers, and there are moderators and discussions. They are not as well run as Fluther, but I’m afraid that is because they have a much larger input from people. If Fluther ever gets that much activity, I anticipate it would experience similar problems.

One thing that can never happen on Fluther is for good answer to get ruined, like they do on Wikianswers, since one user cannot change the content of another.—