Yesterday Benjamin Kuo of SocalTech posted his interview with Russell Fines of Opposing Views, a soon to be launched site based in Southern California. I had the opportunity to briefly talk with Russell several months ago about his business and they are filling an interesting gap (between user centric "answer" and forum sites like SodaHead and Y! Answers, and the more traditional "expert" publishers like CNET).
I haven't seen a demo of the platform but it will be interesting to see the level of interaction between the "experts" and the masses, and how the platform encourages / promotes experts to emerge (which is one thing that Y! Answers has done fairly well). Also, the challenge in "second opinions" is that the variables are often quite numerous and dependent upon personalized information (i.e., in his example of Lipitor, for instance, a second opinion might be quite different for one person versus another. - with age, family history, weight, etc as all factors that help a doctor make the appropriate decision). Regardless, I am betting the site will be very engaging for current affair junkies, or anyone looking for guidance on key issues or second opinions. Moreover, the vertical nature of the discussions makes them an ideal business to not only maintain a core site, but also integrate in with other vertical publishers.
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