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by soylentcola 3795 days ago
Fellow comment discarder here. You wouldn't guess by some of the long-winded replies I've made across various sites but that's a big part of it I think. I often write comments as if I'm having a conversation in my head so there's not a clear structure like you'd find in an essay or "proper" written piece. Then I start thinking of all the ways someone could miss the point and end up rambling.

See? Almost doing it now.

2 comments

Yeah. I find that I usually don't submit my comments (despite writing them out and over-editing them, typically in a JOURNAL.TXT style file, as well) because I start thinking about how they'll be perceived or interpreted, how they'll be judged. Which is also essentially why I've been 'shy' my entire life around strangers. That and I genuinely feel like 90% of the time I'm not adding much substance to the topics (which is exacerbated on HN).
As Clive James once said, "No amount of careful writing can overcome careless reading" ;-)