Author: Deano

Deano’s answer to: “After you interact with someone you know on Quora, do you sometimes check back on their page to see what questions they asked based on your interaction?”

Posted on by Deano in Q & A

This so perfectly describes the totality of my interaction with the site last week and the week before, it isn't even funny.

The real scary bit is how much all behaviors on Quora that show up in a feed are like Horoscopes – you can easily read your influence into just about anything someone else does on the site – so when they start asking questions totally unrelated to you, like

  • "What are some good ways to relax after a rough day?",
  • "how do I get creeps to stop email/txting me?", or
  • "who is that guy in the window, is that you Dean?",

you just kinda start magically imprinting yourself everywhere, with all the associated effects of thinking yourself the subject of the question/answer/post/restraining order… Don't worry though, most of the time it isn't about you at all, and I'm sure all those legal notices were delivered here by mistake. I'll talk to the postal carrier tomorrow, and see what's up with that.

After you interact with someone you know on Quora, do you sometimes check back on their page to see what questions they asked based on your interaction?

Deano’s answer to: “How can I quit Quora?”

Posted on by Deano in Q & A

Cold turkey, or "quitting", is a very high bar to meet. It's like cutting out your caffeine intake, or losing a specific amount of weight – measured in the face of an absolute end state, anything that moves you away from the goal is instantly regarded as failure.

Instead of asking "how can I quit Quora", I would instead ask the following:

  • How much time do I spend on Quora each day on average?
  • How much does my Quora time directly take away from other important things, that I would actually do? If you're futzing on Quora instead of getting to that quilting project that never seems to get off the ground, well… No big. But if it's interfering with sleep, cooking, keeping the house tidy, making out with your loved ones, etc… That's worth looking at.
  • What other factors around my Quora experience upset me? Am I making too many new friends too quickly? Am I feeling pressure to perform? Does my pursuit of a good reputation in an online community freak out the part of me that wants the same thing in real life? Am I falling in love with other peoples' words, and then having weird sex dreams combining internet porn bodies with the unmoving headshots of the Quoran Elites?

Once you have a better idea of exactly what's bothering you, you can then identify the actual outcome you want to achieve… Perhaps you simply want Quora to be something you can "play with for an hour" without becoming obsessed. Perhaps you want better signal to noise – a few great answers, instead of a plethora of alright ones. Perhaps you want to stop comparing yourself to other people (some of whom are paid to write all day, or earn money directly in topics you share in common), and just enjoy reading and writing for your own benefit. Perhaps you just want me to change my headshot to one with a more obvious "O Face".

Then, look at a good next step towards achieving your end goal – if it's really to leave Quora entirely, then plan a good "methoduora" program, cutting your intake by, say, 30-60 minutes a day for a few weeks. When you remove time from Quora, remember to put it somewhere else, and to know what that is in advance. Set a hard deadline for climbing into bed (without that iPhone! Keep that late night finger-tapping to your relevant genetalia, or those of your bedmate(s)). Or, if you're sleeping okay, make that "de-Quora hour" the time you spend on cooking something pretty sophisticated, or doing some laundry. Hit the gym, and vent that mental stress by forcing your focus from your brain to your body. Stop thinking, and start being.

Once you're solid on that plan for a few weeks, try doubling it. Whatever your first step was, work out the next one. Try to simplify and "take back" those other parts of your life that have been languishing. If you need the mental stimulation, force yourself to read a printed book – preferably a longer narrative like a novel. Set an egg timer next to the book, and read for a set period each day, and resist the urge to get to "just the next page/chapter". What we're trying to control is most likely impulsivity, so just try to hang with it, and "let the program do the thinking".

Eventually, you may find an equilibrium point – a place where you feel okay/good, and you've still not extinguished your Quora participation completely. Feel free to stay there, and see what happens. Most of all, observe and report – just jot down a quick Quora post each day about how you feel, whether it's fear of backsliding, or fear that you really do need to quit because you're just too addicted to my headshot. Again, this is a lot like "Weight Watchers for Your Curiosity Gene" – if you're keeping an eye on yourself, simply knowing that will help you moderate and find your "happy place" – and a lot of the time, that place exists outside the path/program you initially draw out.

So, you know, just be open to the idea that there may be a place for Quora in your life, that being happy and healthy need not require the exclusion of an addictive substance, merely control over it. Unless it's sex dreams about me – that stuff is unstoppable if left to its own devices. CUT. IT. OUT. It's making the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

To sum up: All(*) good things in moderation. Track it to control it. And don't beat yourself up if it's a struggle to get where you want to be. Don't look for a way out of Quora – that just leaves you many other pits to fall into. Instead, look for a way to be the best possible you, and then model your behaviors on that person.

(* Okay, almost all. Seriously, get it out of your mind. Never gonna happen. Unless you have Indecent Proposal dollahs. In which case, call me.)

How can I quit Quora?

Deano’s answer to: “What should Quora be called in the Rage Comic universe?”

Posted on by Deano in Q & A

Dean sits motionless,
phosphorous glow reflected
in beads of Derp sweat.

Quick brainstorming produces:

  • Quorpa,
  • Quorp,
  • Querpa,
  • Querp,
  • Duerpa,
  • Duorpa,
  • Quderpa,
  • HerporDerpa,
  • Derorpa,
  • Derpora,
  • Derpuora,
  • Quorderp

It's interesting, if I didn't know better, I might think that Quora was intentionally named in such a manner as to prevent exactly this kind of silliness.

The Qu provides an extra half-vowel defense against any phonetic attack…

The presumed logical construction attack, based on the origin of the name as a contraction of it's purpose – "Question or Answer", also fails pretty miserably –

  • either you retain logical consistency while losing all recognition of the "derpstination" term (Heord, for example),
  • or you sacrifice in the name of art, and have trouble retaining a link to the origin word (Herporderp, say).

If I had to pick something immediately, just to "get 'er done" a rage comic, it'd probably be Querpa, since it seems to come closest to evoking both the proper name and the meme.

  • Ex. "I went on Querpa to figure out what to do with my sherpa who got derpa'd."

Second to that, I'd honestly try to create a competitive meme-term, something like Quorp, which could be used as a more highbrow, insightful alternative to the Yahoo! Answers-like derp.

  • Exs. "I Warped until I Quorped", or "My boyfriend gave me Quorpies".

Overall, to the querent I say this: give yourself a round of applause – not only have you asked a truly insightful question of the absurd on Quora, but it's actually a bit of a stumper at that. Braverp!

What should Quora be called in the Rage Comic universe?