Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Why Good Websites Go Bad

Bigger Is Not Better

Living Sunshine.jpg
Living sunshine

The other day I finally reached the point where I quit (deactivated my account) the community website Quora. When I first joined, it was a pace where educated adults could interact through questions and answers in their fields of expertise and interest.

I could converse with others who had similar backgrounds, experiences, research, literacy and the intelligence needed for us to increase our understanding of the sciences, arts, and history. It was one of the things that I always wanted from the internet.

Sunlit Colors.jpg
Colored leaves in the setting sunlight

To increase profits, Quora was changed into a social network rather than keeping the higher standards of a forum. They began adopting a Facebook like model, complete with upvotes and scores for the most questions answered and the most answered questions. Soon the place devolved into a crowded arena of uneducated competitors.

Yellow w Fly and Red leaves.jpg
Yellow rose with fly

That change got a lot more subscribers and activity which increased its monetary value. Profits became more important than the community of researchers and scholars. The name of the website game is, “How much traffic does your site garner”. It doesn’t matter what kind of traffic, just how much. That determines how much an advertiser is willing to negotiate to put their clickbait on your pages.

Brighter Outlook.jpg
Brighter outlook

How synchronistic it is that I began this post Saturday as a result of deactivating my account with Quora because their greed had poisoned that oasis of discovery, and on visiting the library today, I picked up a book about a much bigger change.

“This Changes Everything” is one of the books I borrowed Sunday from the Redding Public Library. The premise has to do with altering the way we live on a global scale because the way we live is causing worldwide Climate Change.

The same capitalist economic model that is destroying websites, is destroying our planet.

Today’s Video;


Read The Book

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