I have been a sometime contributor to Quora for a few years now. Quora is a site in which questions are posted (on any topic) and members are invited to answer those that they deem worthy of a response. There are a lot of thoughtful people writing questions and just as many responding, but lately there has been a marked increase in nationalism and partisan commentary. Questions are appearing that inappropriately 'lead the witness' together with answers that are blatantly inflammatory, deliberately misleading or just plain ad hominem attacks. So my visits are fewer and fewer.

Before the internet this kind of thing occurred in pubs or over the back fence and was not taken all that seriously, just 'so-and-so' sounding off. But computers and connectivity and the capacity to say anything anywhere without consequences is a scourge. It drives away the thoughtful and the interesting and drags everything into a mediocre, sometimes poisonous squabble.

I can't see any way it can be fixed except for pulling the plug.