I'm genuinely curious as to why people leave comments on forums, reddit, HN, social media (YouTube, Instagram, etc.).
The problem is: Most comments will not be read by anyone (or read by only a few), so what's the point of expressing your thoughts and opinions through comments?
For example on HN, sometimes there are hundreds of comments on a post. HN doesn't notify you of replies to your comments. And yet, people write comments, maybe hoping that someone will reply to them. I just don't know what the "utility" is in these situations.
Is it just to get it out of your system? To document your own thoughts for your future reference? And how does that work? I believe if people want their comments to be seen, they may put them at the top, possibly in response to other comments (and sometimes it can be annoying when a reply has nothing to do with the parent).
And btw, what makes this even more surprising is that most social media, forums, HN posts, etc. have a short life time. What is the benefit of the comment you put on an Instagram post—that gets forgotten in a manner of seconds? Worse yet, IG doesn't even keep all your comments on your profile, so it's like writing on the walls of a city you're never going to visit again.
Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32983581
Points: 8
# Comments: 16
Continue reading...
The problem is: Most comments will not be read by anyone (or read by only a few), so what's the point of expressing your thoughts and opinions through comments?
For example on HN, sometimes there are hundreds of comments on a post. HN doesn't notify you of replies to your comments. And yet, people write comments, maybe hoping that someone will reply to them. I just don't know what the "utility" is in these situations.
Is it just to get it out of your system? To document your own thoughts for your future reference? And how does that work? I believe if people want their comments to be seen, they may put them at the top, possibly in response to other comments (and sometimes it can be annoying when a reply has nothing to do with the parent).
And btw, what makes this even more surprising is that most social media, forums, HN posts, etc. have a short life time. What is the benefit of the comment you put on an Instagram post—that gets forgotten in a manner of seconds? Worse yet, IG doesn't even keep all your comments on your profile, so it's like writing on the walls of a city you're never going to visit again.
Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32983581
Points: 8
# Comments: 16
Continue reading...