[randomdata]

There is most definitely a cost in preparing the comments I write. I have to pay for my energy, pay for the lost opportunity, and I have to pay to recoup past investments that came together to allow me to formulate the comment. As I find entertainment in writing the comments, I am willing to pay the price, but it absolutely does not come free.

Other people don't enter the picture. There is no hate towards them, they simply don't exist in the sphere the comments are created in. It is a false premise to think that they are involved.

[crazygringo]

Then why do you post comments in the first place?

It would be easier to write them and then close the tab before hitting the button to post them. If you truly only derive value from writing them and none from anybody reading them.

And then it still "costs" you to delete them, by your logic. What is the value you get from that? If it's not from a desire to remove value for others, which you claim it isn't?

[randomdata]

I would say that 90% of the entertainment is in formulating the comment. On that front, yes, writing and then closing the tab would be sufficient. However, 10% of the entertainment is in seeing the silly outputs from the forum software after pressing submit.

The forum software which outputs those silly outputs does provide value. For instance, Reddit and I established an agreement where if I pay even more of my time to look at their ads, which gives them value, they will provide me with those silly outputs, which I find valuable. It has been a mutually beneficial trade.

Should the cost of using Reddit go higher, as it seems it will, then the calculator will come out and I will have to determine if the cost is still in line with the benefit. With only 10% of the value coming from there, there isn't a whole lot room for them to play with, especially when you have HN graciously offering essentially the same service for a much lower cost.

[crazygringo]

OK, so you do post them for the benefit of replies from other people. Other people who are contributing back to you. Makes sense.

I still don't understand why you delete them afterwards when that takes effort. That has a cost, and it negatively impacts others.

[randomdata]

I post for the benefit of the silly outputs produced by their software.

It is quite possible that those outputs originate from people, but there is nothing in the service to indicate that they do come from people. They could just as easily come from a cleverly designed random number generator (think GPT). There is no real way for me to really know for sure, and it really makes no difference so long as I am sufficiently entertained by the silliness of the software outputs.

Such implementation details are well beyond my concern and not a part of the value being exchanged between me and Reddit. As they say in the world of software, "nobody cares that you used language X". While the developers writing the software may find value in "X", it makes no difference to the end user. The same applies here.

Cleaning out your fridge takes effort. I have never been happy any time I have relaxed on those efforts, though. While I am sure there is someone starving in the world that would enjoy the food about to be tossed, that does not provide sufficient reason to hoard that which is past its prime.

[crazygringo]

But a clean fridge provides benefits, because space is limited for you. And food rots.

Deleting your comments provides no benefit. Comments don't take up space of yours. And comments don't rot.

There must be a reason you're deleting comments, but it's doesn't make sense that it's because of a flawed fridge analogy.

[randomdata]

Comments that are left to rot can continue to produce unwelcome silliness long after it is no longer entertaining. There is value in removing it from the metaphorical fridge before you have to subject yourself to the foul stench that can emit out of a comment that is past its prime.

[butlike]

Your bot didn't pass the Turing test.