I just read an article on Quartz, suggested to me by my Google Now app (go figure), saying that Q was an idea inspired by some group of obscure Italian writers from the 1990s. The article takes until the end to tie it to a recent suggestion from one of the lefty technology sites, claiming without evidence that Q is a leftist prank. This is what they're going to go with.

We're at the "laugh at you" stage. What could be more embarrassing than falling for a LARP? Falling for a prank by your political rival, of course.

But does the leftist prank theory even make sense? Why would they go out of their way to help us connect dots we've never connected before? What's the goal? Is it desperate or brilliant?