Farewell, Quora

People participate in social stream media as both producer and consumer of digital content.

One of the fundamental aspects of social media is that there is an uncomfortable triangle relationship between content producer, content consumer, and platform owner. The fundamental reality is that the producer creates digital content that is contributed to a pool, which is then ladled out by the platform owner, as a "feed".  The composition of this feed is entirely at the whim of the platform owner, who can, in ways subtle and obvious, insert his own preferences into the matter, by suppressing some content, promoting others, and by inserting his own editorializations into the mix.  This is furthermore compounded by the ability to abusively suspend or ban people, often on thin pretext, and often at the instigation of adversarial parties. 

I have, working in my lab, a solution to all that, but that is a topic for another day. 

Today, I am voluntarily deleting my Quora account and content, as a matter of principle.  The straw the broke the camel was the permanent banishment of Quoran and colleague in liberty Dennis Pratt, a gentle soul dedicated to peace, harmonious human voluntary society, and freedom. He is the author of first rate content, which deserves a venue that respects it. 

It is high time to stop contributing to people, organizations and institutions that do no respect us, and in fact go out of their way to exploit and abuse us. 

With respect to Quora, I will paste here the short essay that I pin to my profile:

Why is the Bill of Rights Important to Americans?

The Bill of Rights is important to Americans because it is the objective measure by which we judge the safeguard of our rights and prerogatives as a free people. It is the yardstick by which all other acts of legislation, governance and aspirant to office are judged.

Structurally, and philosophically, it spells out certain essential subjects of liberty which were determined to belong to the People, denied to the government, and not to be subject to any political or democratic process.

It is also a shared declaration of common values: These are the things for which we stand, these are the things we will defend, and these are the things that Americans will fight, kill and die for, singly or en masse.

No one tells us what to say, or be silent of. No one tells us to pray, or to what god. No one tells us with whom we must, or must not associate, for any purpose, high or low. We Assemble as we see fit, forming governments where none exist, and call them to account where they do. We are an armed people; we will see to our own security, defending our lives, property and liberty directly if needed. No soldiers or agents of the government will intrude into our homes. Our persons, our homes, our property and our effects are not subject to unreasonable searches and seizures, unless someone is willing to stake their honor, by oath and the swearing of a warrant of probable cause. In matters of crime, there shall be justice and fairness: fair public trials by jury are the norm, as also in suits of common law when significant dollar value is at stake. Punishments will be within reason, proportional to the crime. Cruelty and bizarre punishments will not be used. The rights of the People are expansive; just because it isn’t listed here, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. The powers of the government are NOT expansive; if they aren’t listed in the Constitution, they do NOT EXIST.

That is who and what we are: we do all of these things, on our own moral authority as free humans of decency, honor, and valor.

Not only is every element of the Bill of rights normative, it is also definitive; we are rightfully very suspicious of those who are not willing to accept the Bill in its entirety, picking and choosing a la carte from whatever serves their purpose on a given day.