Quora is a great Q&A platform that has teething problems. One of them is the character of its moderation. I wouldn’t mind so much except that I get a bit of mad money from them through their Quora partner program. I used to ask questions (paid activity), answer them (unpaid activity), and comment (unpaid activity). After being suspended for two weeks without any actual content being marked as being a problem, I’ve decided to let people know that I am solely changing my behavior because I can’t figure out how to paint within their lines or even figure out where their lines are to determine whether I want to write there anymore. Here’s the profile update in case that goes away.
I got the message Quora.
I can be suspended without any answers or comments being moderated and appeals won’t necessarily reverse it. I’m currently limiting my Quora fun to questions until I get clarity on how to participate within the rules and not be subject to sanctions. As in so many other parts of my life, I’m apparently a minority in ways that matter.
I actually am interested in your answers and only ask questions I have a personal or professional curiosity about. If you would like to discuss my questions, I am generally reachable on social media as TMLutas. My personal email is dbrutus -at- mac -dot- com
I do ask questions that come in large data sets. Examples of what attracts my attention might include:
* Who are all these people/groups that the US has sanctions on and why are they there? Do they deserve it?
* Is this true?
* What things that people think are constants are actually variables?
* What are the fixed points of human nature and how do they express themselves?
I have a personal goal to ask twenty questions a day as it exercises my brain and keeps my thinking from getting too much in a rut. If I can do that inside an hour, I’m upping the number.
What we have here is failure to communicate. Which is also a form of communication. Good luck with Quora and watch out for moderation algorithms in dark alleys.
I used to answer a good deal over at Quora because the same questions kept coming up and I thought it was the work of angels to keep getting the true answer inserted in there somewhere.
If anyone complains about your answer they are automatically assumed to be correct. You can fight the first few by directing an arbiter to the actual discussion in context, but if you are a repeat offender, that is somehow picked up, even if your name is repeatedly cleared.
Their criteria allows enormous freedom to insult some groups. You can’t say that that conservatives are mostly child molesters, but you can say that conservative policies protect child molesters because they don’t really care about children and there are lots of conservatives who have been evil, like Caligula and Attila the Hun. Any generalisation about PC groups will be immediately reported. Individual criticisms are also forbidden. If a commenter lies about the facts – and I am quite clear on the distinction between getting it wrong, being biased, and flat-out lying – and you point out that they lie, you will be found in violation of their rules of conduct.
I seldom answer now, but when I do, I am intensely aware that I am answering for that minority of people who want an actual answer and are willing to translate “I think that it is generally known that the study you quote has been discredited, even though it is still used by prominent figures” really means “You are lying or stupid. Your choice.” The others will be unaffected, and you simply have to swallow that, unfair as it is.
It is meant to be an open forum, but we are still part of the Underground.
“Conversation” is a nice theory, but some folks are happiest when they are offended. And keyboards make it worse. Person-to-person, you can see the bulging eyeballs when you hit a hidden trip-wire. Still, one neighbor would not talk to me because I sounded like I was “up to something”, like when we were discussing another neighbor’s dented wheel rim that was leaking air.
“Conversation” websites don’t want to deal with “offended”, so it is easy to get evicted. Even useless “mush” comments can draw fire since you were not supportive enough of somebody’s pet obsession. I guess they need something to do, so they are a hazard on the information highway.
Good luck.