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by johnnyanmac
775 days ago
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>look at all the top-level comments on this HN post with no engagement, by users who have repeated the same pattern discussed about quora. So responding to a post but not getting responses is the same as responding to slop with a financial incentive? I'm not sure I fully follow. I only very slightly agree in the fact that I rarely make top level comments unless I feel I have something unique to share. And I know that's not necessarily a common enough sentiment (lest, very few people would make top level comments). But given how I usually check the front page or active, my retort 99% of the time is already posted elsewhere. Half the time it already has responses too. So most of my activity is more responding to other comments to try and start a discussion. And ultimately that is my goal in a forum: 1) ask about and understand others' experiences and 2) try to share my own experinces where appropriate. I have my share of https://xkcd.com/386/ as well, so I'm not perfect in regards to "hearing myself speak" or falling for the occasional flamebait. But I'd like to think that most of my engagement no forums like this passes a few basic tests: - does this comment contribute to the conversation?
- do I have a goal in mind with my comment? (e.g. if I'm asking a question, am I asking that user? Do I hope anyone at all chimes in with an answer? If I'm sharing a story, does this story hold potential value and lessons for the community?)
- Is the comment civil? Can I make this comment without involving the person (unless the person is the goal)? |
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HN doesn’t have financial (?) incentives (but does Quora?). The point was mostly about the quality of content, the type of content, etc. I don’t mean to criticize anyone, I think it’s human behavior.
The root question of my claim is: When you create a (top-level or other) comment, how do you measure if it “contributes to the conversation”?
Most comments probably have zero engagement, while the top few comments drive the conversation. Part of that is the UI driving people towards the top. My claim is that most commenters, just like most quora users, are answering out of their own need to speak. I think the XKCD link describes the behavior well - and my claim is that it also includes sharing personal anecdotes and opinions and similar, not just “correcting misinformation”.
I have my own share of comments with no upvotes and no replies, which I can only assume means no one found it to contribute. I mean no disrespect towards others in similar positions. But does its presence in the database for casual passersby’s mean anything despite that? Despite the goals and intentions, does it matter? Should it just be routed to dev/null to silently fill my desire to speak? Should an LLM just entertain me with artificial conversation for entertainment?