As Zeibura S. Kathau notes, I did coin the term. I coined the term after my shock at the banning of Jimmy Liu, the first popular Quoran I saw banned, which sent me researching into how moderation on Quora worked. I found Scott Welch‘s articulation of the problems with moderation the most compelling, particularly I’m taking a voluntary break from Quora while I reassess my future here by Scott Welch on Scott’s House O’ All-Purpose Answers, written in the wake of RunOverChinesePedestrianGate.
What is most characteristic of use of dissatisfaction with Quora is that it is not a unified movement. In fact, I deliberately used the suffix –ite, used to describe factions (Jacobite, Blairite), as a joke, to highlight that there is no unified movement. (Even if Tatiana accused posters of forming one, just before she shut down Rage Against Quora.)
Inasmuch as there are any common threads, I would suggest they are the following:
- Belief in at least some of the stated aims and principles of Quora. Welchites, I believe, are disillusioned idealists rather than nihilists.
- Knowledge of the ins and outs of Quora, its community history, and its corporate history. Welchites seek to be informed critics. They are not “oh my god how could they ban X” or “if they keep this up, they will run out of writers”.
- Sarcasm against Quora, particularily its design and moderation arms. Scott used the expression The Mensa of Mountain View often.
- Mistrust. Welchites have been disinclined to give Quora the benefit of the doubt.
I don’t know that I can say much more than that, given that only 4 or 5 people have ever adopted the label.