[lifeisstillgood]

These are aspirational course sign ups, and are of course similar to aspirational book purchases (where I will learn a new language through psychic connection between the desk the book is on and the my hands on the desk) and aspirational gym membership (where calories will be burnt simply because my body knows it might go to the gym and so gets all worried and sweaty anyway)

[komali2]

Yea, gym membership is a good comparison, actually. I know tons of people who signed up for a gym and never went, which means we could use the same argument the article does to insinuate that "signing up for a gym on your own is an ineffective way to get fit."

Clearly there are more effective (and more expensive) ways to get fit, but some people manage on their own with a gym membership and access to /r/fitness or whatever, so it's not exactly ineffective.

[InitialLastName]

> some people manage on their own with a gym membership and access to /r/fitness or whatever, so it's not exactly ineffective.

Some people manage to get fit on their own without a gym membership or any equipment at all, so it's not exactly effective either.

[realharo]

There is also the meme of having a lot of never-played games in one's Steam collection, that were purchased during sales. So it affects entertainment too.

[MisterOctober]

That hits where it hurts! I'm the worst offender when it comes to aspirational book purchases. To the topic: On udemy, I see tons of folks leaving reviews who have purchased hundreds of courses [why udemy displays this info is obscure to me - maybe to generate some kind of courseload-envy?]