Quora



Quora is a Q&A and blogging site created by Adam D'Angelo and Charlie Cheever (two former Facebook employees) in June 2009. While some Quora users support science, the site is kind of just a more formal version of the now-deceased Yahoo! Answers. Quora used to allow anonymously asked questions, some of which concern matters of pseudoscience.

Cranks on Quora

 * Eva Glasrud, She is the biggest TERF on Quora, she is Also a SWERF. She believes that transgender people are grooming minors. She believes that trans women are not real women. She also supports the famous transphobe JK Rowling, saying that J.K Rowling supports women's sex based rights.
 * Christopher Langan, though he has been banned
 * Abd ul-Rahman Lomax
 * Daniel Kinch, who believes that a clathrate gun is going to cause global warming to such a degree that humanity goes extinct.
 * Whale.to, mostly posts anti-vax propaganda
 * Lou Liu and his Meether Concept, which appears to be somewhere between energy and matter.
 * Alexander Finnegan, a tankie who supports Russia. He used to be saner before the Russo-Ukrainian war, but ever since that war he became a crank magnet. He thinks that Ukraine is a neo-Nazi state, citing articles from the pro-Russian propaganda site The Grayzone. He believes that Russia is invading Ukraine to remove Nazis and Russophobes from Ukraine, that Ukraine joining NATO is a security issue, and that Ukraine deserves to be annexed by Russia. . He also loves the Chinese dictator Mao Zedong saying that he ended slavery in Tibet and doubled life expectancy in China. He believes in conspiracy theories about George Soros. Alexander Finnegan also thinks that COVID-19 was engineered in a lab, that the COVID vaccine doesn't work, and that efforts to combat climate change is intended to depopulate the world.
 * Rome Viharo
 * Francoise Marie, a Congolese Afrocentrist. She claims that white people are exiles from central Asia, and claims that black people are the original inhabitants of the Americas. She claims that Moors are black, and that Europeans deny that Moors are black. She claims that accusations of Afrocentrism are denial tactics.
 * Varg Vikernes, mostly inactive.
 * Jordan Peterson, now inactive.
 * Hoang Phan, a Vietnamese tankie. He, like most tankies, supports Russia, and believes that Ukraine is run by neo-Nazis. He also denies the Bucha massacre was done by Russia. He really hates the US, so he constantly calls it "Amerikkka" and is a fan of North Korea. . He, unsurprisingly, is also a huge apologist for China.
 * Bo Thompson, a huge conspiracy theorist who makes Alex Jones look sane. He legitimately believes in QAnon, and is a Holocaust denier. He hates GMO, because he thinks it causes cancer and infertility. He is obviously also an anti-vaxxer, believing that the COVID-19 vaccine causes infertility. He promotes alternative medicine and cites NaturalNews often; He also believes in chemtrails. . He also is an admin of a pro-Trump group, "Jon's political corner".
 * And many more.

Disturbingly, some of these appear to have a large number of followers, such as Abd ul-Rahman Lomax, though he does write about many things other than his crank ideas about cold fusion, such as religion and the Landmark Forum. He even writes some answers based in facts.

The sections with regard to conspiracy theories are somewhat biased towards conspiracy theories. The alternative medicine topics in general tend to be more in line with science, but of course there is great diversity in views among the Quora community.

Questions
Here is a selection of the worst Quora questions. The majority are not like this. Because a majority of Quora's users are from South Asia, these questions mainly cover topics about India, Pakistan and other questions relevant for them.

Is God punishing the people of Kerala with nipah virus for eating beef?

Will the movie "Baahubali" enlighten all South Indians of the ancient South India's might and glory (the real India/Indians)?

Isn't Quora spreading Islam?

How do we protect Quora from Indians?

Which is larger: 0 or 2+7?

Writing God in mathematical form. So how many of you will agree with me?

What is 1+1

Why is it that those on the left don’t understand that if left alone the economy will grow simply because it's human nature to grow

Many bad Quora questions assume things that are often discriminatory.

Propaganda
Quora also hosts propaganda from many states, including authoritarian regimes. Particularly common are questions and answers that echo the viewpoints of the Chinese Communist Party and Putin's Russia.

Quora and RationalWiki
Quora has a topic on RationalWiki with 22 questions in it. For the most part, the questions have to do with comparing RationalWiki, what people think of RationalWiki, and biases in RationalWiki. Some of the cranks listed above, such as Abd ul-Rahman Lomax, Rome Viharo, and Christopher Langan, regularly post in the topic, though some people there try to defend RationalWiki. RationalWiki is occasionally cited on Quora in response primarily to questions about crank views, itself, and religion. Viharo's "The Attack of David Gerard's 50 Foot Troll Farm" website can be found cited in a few different answers. On the other hand, Quora is sometimes cited on RationalWiki, such as on Wind Turbine Syndrome.

Quora Spaces
There are a number of spaces (AKA shared blogs, AKA echo chambers) on Quora that support lots of nonsense. The problem is that Quora doesn't ban these spaces so there are spaces for all sorts of cranks

Alt-right/MAGA

 * War Elephant

The "largest military, politics, and conservative space on Quora."

Named after a meme of the same name, it does exactly what the space name says, and was created by Heather Anderson. They are Islamophobic and promote the White genocide conspiracy theory. They also defend racist regimes. One user there defends Rhodesia, saying that the farmers are defending their property. Heather Anderson posted that it's white people's fault for not reproducing enough that other races are reproducing faster. The same Quoran posted that an unspecified far-right conspiracy theory is based. Another user claims Black Lives Matter is "race-baiting gaslit bullshit". . A Quoran cites Stew Peters, saying that France is a Third World country and also cites WallStreetSilver (a racist Twitter account).
 * It's Ok To Be White


 * Terry's PC-Free Topics

An echo chamber for conservatives to cry about many things they hate, it is run by PC-Free Terry. This space is overrun by many stupid and unfunny conservative memes. One member posted that, if Hillary won, no one would know about corruption in the "Democrat communist Party". Another Quoran there claims that UN and the Clinton Foundation are sending illegal immigrants to America, citing a tweet from DC_Draino. Another claims that gun control is a partnership between Democrats and criminals citing a post from Gun R US (another conservative space), saying that gun control is to control the country. . Canadian Deplorable reposted from Don N., saying that the CDC is a vaccine company. He was citing a quote from Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Don N. posted an image of Candace Owens with a caption basically saying that Joe Biden is an illegitimate president and a dictator that has used the Department of Justice to go after political opponents.

It is riddled with homophobia, racism, transphobia, Islamophobia, and more bigotry. Most of the posts are just reposts from Terry's PC-Free Topics and It's OK to be White.
 * Red Pill Reality

They are conservative space about making memes on SJWs and wokeism. As you would expect, the memes suck.
 * Conservative SJW/Woke Jokes


 * Pro-Trump

Exactly what it says on the tin. It is the de facto largest conservative space on Quora. A Pro-Trump contributor answered a question about Trump being peace loving, he said everyone with Trump Derangement Syndrome thinks that Trump would start World War III, that "even Trump's personality will stop a war", that Biden almost started WWIII, and that globalists want WWIII. A Quoran posted an answer to a question in the space, saying that Democrats are making America communist with 45 steps. Another claims in an answer that Democrat policies cause crime because of defunding the police and George Soros. . One user posted that the Capitol riot was fake, citing Elon Musk (well-known for his reliability).

Tankies
A space for wumaos (who are Chinese trolls hired by the CCP), as you expect the space is filled with Chinese propaganda. One member posts, "the Western media will never let you know: Xinjiang people's love for their motherland & the CPC." They cite tweet from Nina DN, a propaganda account on Twitter. Bill Zhang pinned a post from a space named "China - World Leader", which says that COVID-19 is an American-engineered bioweapon. It cites a video from Gweilo 60, a pro-CCP YouTuber. . A Quoran reposted from Kanthaswamy Balasubramaniam that China has no propaganda, that China is defending itself against Western propaganda (that is, mainstream media and social media).
 * The Wumao Club

A Pro-Russian group run by tankies, Hoang Phan is the admin and Alexander Finnegan is the moderator. Hoang Phan posted that the Ukraine counter-offensive would fail, that Europe was being weakened by the war citing TASS (a Russian government news agency). One member posted that Biden believes that China wants to replace the US; the entire post is a copy-and-paste of a Sputnik article (another Russian government source). Hoang Phan posted that Ukraine was going to destroy the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in an attempt to create a nuclear disaster. Alexander Finnegan linked to his post saying that Latvians hate Russians because of prior border conflicts, that WWIII was about to happen, that the US made COVID-19 in a lab and killed 100 million Native Americans, he then goes on to to say that US runs Ukraine through corporations, and that Putin is just a bogeyman. Hoang Phan posted that Vietnamese-Americans (who he calls "Viet Amerikkkan") are selling out their country "just like Zelensky".
 * GeoPolitical Economy & Multipolarity

A space for tankies to broadcast their communist propaganda (ironically enough) while they sometimes debunk propaganda from conservatives. One member denies the Holodomor for instance. . Cade Ellis dismisses that Stalin killing people as anti-communist propaganda. In response to a post on Ukraine Uncensored, Ellis also says that NATO did a coup in Ukraine and that it is infested with neo-Nazis.
 * Anti-Communist Propaganda

Despite its name, it doesn't provide a realistic view of the war at all. Instead it promotes anti-West, pro-Russian propaganda. Half of the posts are from Alexander Finnegan or Cade Ellis. Alexander Finnegan links to a post by himself, saying that the OP is Satanic and Russia is last remnant of conservative Christian values. He says that Ukrainians were going to do a massacre on February 24 and that Putin is good and honest. Cade Ellis links to a tweet by FriendOfRussia saying that a key goal of the war (which at the late date of July 2023 is here referred to as a mere "special military operation") is to demilitarize Ukraine. Rozza posted a link to her post on Truth About Ukraine Conflict saying that Ukraine is a Nazi state, because Hitler occupied Ukraine. Alexander Finnegan claims God supports Russia because Ukraine:
 * Ukraine vs Russia War of 2022 A Realistic View
 * 1) "Traffics children, organs, and women."
 * 2) "There are wealthy US elites who literally worship Satan. The moral decadence of the West is clear and obvious. The open mocking of God and religion are ubiquitous in the public spaces."
 * 3) "Is filled with Nazis."

Conspiracists
An anti-vax space filled with conspiracy theories, frequently citing The Exposé. Roger Cook who apparently has a PH.D in Physics posted there that the vaccine is a bioweapon, citing an article from a fake news site. . A Quoran posted that life is not that normal after the COVID-19 pandemic that They are spraying us with chemtrails to depopulate us. A Quoran posted a tweet from Paul Oosterhuis linking to another tweet by riseMelbourne saying that the vaccine killed a 38 year old. A Quoran user lniked to a post by him saying that Covid-19 vaccine is ment to kill us citing various fake news sites like: NaturalNews,StopWorldControl,NoBulart, videos from Rumble and Brighteon, The Liberty Beacon ,Alex Jones video from Banned.video, The Exposé and icandecide.org, he says that it's Scientifically proven. A Quoran claims that democrats are falling apart because they are "Censoring" RFK Jr. links to a tweet by The chief nerd a fake news account
 * Choice not Coercion

Climate change denial space as you expect the space promotes a lot of Conspiracy theories, run by a TL Winslow who claims to be world's biggest climate scientist but has no degree on it. A Quora user posted that Climate change is a Globalist fraud by the UN he says that Predictions are made up and that the solutions are aimed to make the middle and lower class poor he finally links to a post by Kevin Loughrey saying that climate change is a fraud. TL Winslow posted that net zero isn't green or good for the environment cites Net zero isn't Clean or green citing Heartland News. A Quoran promotes Iain Davis' climate change denialist book  A Climate Emergency – Fit For A Parasite Economy. A Quoran answered a Question about why Climate Cultists claim there is climate change when John F. Clauser A Nobel prize winner said that it threatens Lives of billions and the economy, he answered it by saying Climate change is a religion that the government is destroying culture by doing this. Conspiracy theorist space promotes illuminati and Nwo conspiracy theories. AMS made a post which is pinned he says that there is child trafficking run by the governments Basically promoting QAnon. A Quoran posted that climate change isn't real while aliens are, he links to a post on ancient astronauts space saying the conspiracy theorist is a snarl word to control the masses, he misinterprets U.S government documents about Unindentified flying objects to be aliens, he says that the U.S hides UFO Technology
 * New real Climate Science
 * The New world order, illuminati and controlling US

Quora and news
Some Quora answers are republished on news sites, especially The Huffington Post and Fatherly. Quora also has news articles embedded in its feed. Romper and POPSUGAR Moms are especially prevalent, though occasionally serious news sites insert articles into a feed. The vast majority of these come from a position based in fact instead of pseudoscience.

Other

 * According to robots.txt in its site, Quora has excluded the Wayback Machine from their website. As we all know, the best way to advance knowledge is to obstruct archival attempts, as well as restrict access attempts.(like Twitter nowadays).