[_hao]

Recently I nuked my Reddit account. I didn't delete the actual account, but I purged everything I've posted as a comment or submission in the past 10 years. I don't think it's a loss even for the cases in a thread where I was being helpful to someone. Most interactions, even this comment I'm typing right now should be considered a conversation in a coffee shop or a small convention where the topic at hand that gathered us is the OP link/post. As soon as the convention is done we all go home. Whether we want to remember the conversation and what was said is up to us. Most threads devolve to single-to-single interactions anyways or at most 3 people exchanging ideas in a sub-thread.

In my view these conversations should be ephemeral, but in reality the internet can keep them (barring digital or natural apocalypse) forever. I truly don't think there's value for keeping the vast majority of online interactions stored forever. There are actual physical limits here as well. At some point in the future there might be a case for which types of information has to be stored for future generations and which shouldn't etc.

All of us as humans have some inherent capacity of comprehending and analyzing information. The internet turns out is not like a second brain for us, but more like a crazy neighbor screaming at us at all times.

Maybe I'll nuke my HN account at some point too. Don't get me wrong I've searched old HN/forum/reddit threads to great success, but like I said above, I think we're not capable of handling all that information maturely. Who decides what's useful or not I can't say, but I'm at least responsible for my own comments so I can make that decision for myself.

[BeFlatXIII]

I'd quit Reddit in the opposite direction: delete my account and leave the content. What was said is the important part, not who said it.

[Though Reddit archiving sites make this largely a moot discussion]