What are the causes of cognitive dissonance?

What are some examples of cognitive dissonance on the internet?

• There is, of course, the typical examples such as buyer's remorse, Ben Franklin effect, etc... What are some specific manifestations where people's beliefs, thoughts, and/or actions are simultaneously conflicting?

• Answer:

  Quora sustainability. If you read what many very passionate and active people who use Quora say about Quora you find that they really want this site to thrive and remain active for a long time, as they have invested countless hours in creating content to share here. But if you ask these same people about a different aspect of Quora, you have to wonder if they really support the long term sustainability of this site. I have not met any active participants who want to pay a monthly fee to use Quora -- in fact many people are upset that you even have to register to see answers. I have not met any active participant who wants to see ads on high-traffic Quora pages, nor sponsored content. No one seems to express joy at the thought of Quora ever being acquired by a media/content internet company that would put ads or sponsored content here either. I don't know anyone one who wants Quora to syndicate their content to other sites for a fee. I'm sure no one would want their interest graphs to be sold to a social network or their sentiment analysis and political affiliations to be sold to market research firms or lobbies. Basically, without being so explicit, people who use Quora want to make sure that Quora wont make money directly or indirectly, but will live on for a long time for them to use and enjoy. I find this perplexing. It's more the "tragedy of the commons" problem than a classic dissonance, but if you think about it, maybe it fits too.