Recently launched an implementation of StackExchange for startup questions:

http://answers.onstartups.com

I'm surprised some of those sites felt that it was worth paying $129 a month for it. It's cool software, but those strike me as some small niches.

Right now it's free during the beta. (I setup a stackexchange for startup questions: www.ExplainBusiness.com).

It took about 2 hours and you don't need to provide a credit card yet. It will be interesting to see what % of these trials convert to paying customers though.

Oh cool, I didn't realize that. Maybe I'll check it out as well. Thanks!

Yeah, i took a look at 3 of them and questions seem to have very few views and answers, but i guess it will evolve somehow.

Yahoo Answers and Vark.com don't always get the answer i need, for dev related questions stackoverflow does it a lot better, integration with niche websites might be a good idea, such as automotive portals.

Also don't underestimate localization, facebook really took off in mexico and spain once there was a spanish version.

yeah I'll just wait for a $29.99 script that does the same thing

What a plague! So now there are a bunch of sites with horribly oversized text and numbers?

Oh no! And all of these sites will be generating useful content, fooling their users into thinking that's more important than text size and kerning! What will we do?

There is also a new site for BlackBerry smartphones, let's see if this will indeed be a serious competitor to the many other BlackBerry forums out there.

You can check it out a http://know.bbhacker.com

It took me less than 1 hour to set it up and get it going. This could be really helpful for everyone who wants to create a custom support site.

Aside from PR, what does Stack Exchange offer over Slinkset[1] (now Posterous) ?

1- http://slinkset.com/

Not to be snarky but-

you have obviously never used stackoverflow, nor have read any article covering stackoverflow internals.

Not to be any more snarky, it seems to me that you're confusing the stackoverflow site with the Stack Exchange platform. Put simply, the latter "powers" the former much the way news.arc "powers" Hacker News or Wordpress "powers" countless specific blogs.

Perhaps I should rephrase my question: what makes Stack Exchange worth the price they charge when Slinkset is free?

I think my comment still applies. The comparison is not even equal in my opinion. Not to take credit away from slinkset at all, I have an account there =).

You are right, I have not used the stackexchange platform, but seeing the end result of both makes me fail to see how there is even any comparison.

Slinkset says it creates social news sites. StackExhange says its a knowledge exchange platform.

To me I read that slinkset intends to be a handy social media tool. Stackexchange intends to be wikipedia for questions and answers.

Hardly similar.

So to answer your question. All the people stackexchange is likely targeting and intended for, probably don't even put slinkset in the same conversation based on their needs.

Although it's clear each describes their service differently, setting aside their public relations it appears to me the basic service they offer is basically the same: they make it easy to setup community sites where people can post things, vote on things and accumulate karma. Whether those things are news articles, answers to questions or other things (like reviews of silly iphone applications e.g http://iphone.lockergnome.com/ ) makes little difference technically.

What I'd really like to know, ideally from someone who has worked with both, is if there are any particular features one or the other offers that actually do matter.

Or perhaps this is an example of where developing good PR is more important than focusing on features?

Paid advertisements (PR BS) on HN? =) Did I miss something?