When I was young, when I reposted things (retweet on Twitter, and Reblog on Tumblr, etc.), I reposted them because I enjoyed viewing that post.
Nowadays, I would say 40% of the stuff that I repost, I repost because I was about to act like a "reply guy" to the author of the post.
I guess my motivation for doing this is a form of substitution.
That is, ditch my bad habit of being useless in someone's comment section, and instead give the author a little bit more exposure to someone who might be more suited at providing a useful response.
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@manlycoffee Sounds like a step backwards to be honest... "reply guy" sounds like 'provide healthy respectful opinions to a discussion".. the fact that you are avoiding doing this, likely due to the toxicity of the environment and not you, is sad, and a step backwards not forwards.
You didnt ditch a bad habit, you ditched a good and crucial one for a society that advances. You ditched a good habit for popularity. Understandable, so not trying to attack you. But I think its important to say.
@manlycoffee Ok yea, by reply guy i thought you meant "voicing counter-opinions is bad"... i see now you mean "providing stupid opinions you dont take time to fact check is bad"... and on that we agree... Kudos on recognizing that.
All I am suggesting is dont let that stop you from jumping in and providing a reply or even a disagreement (politely)... just, do a little fact checking first :)
@freemo you make a good point.
Some neurotic people hold back from posting, and these same neurotic people are even more cautious about posting because of this recent open disdain for "reply guys".
That said, I definitely needed to tone things down. I'm definitely not like the neurotics.
@manlycoffee Everything needs the right balance of course.
But there is a real problem where a certain group of people, usually the toxic ones, loose their shit over a respectful and polite difference of opinion. They seem to feel **their** post int he replies is not a place for respectful discussion, that it is rude... Its mostly those sort of people that are ruining society.
I see the effect on so many people, being scared to speak their mind and saying little to nothing online and when they do its so curated and fake that it almost comes across obnoxious...
We need more reply guys with good intents :)
@freemo
Trust me, my behaviour was not acceptable at all.
Here's a silly example: someone makes a post asking for help with parsing JSON-LD. In spite of me having no idea what JSON-LD even is (back then), my response was naively to tell that person to "use a JSON parser". Not helpful at all, and makes me come off as an idiot.
What's even more sad is that no one called me out on that behaviour, leaving me always wondering why is my engagement online is useless, and wondering why I had no real friends.
Just being a guy who knows how to listen makes my social network slightly more broader than having no social network at all. Friends—even if it's just one or two friends—are necessary for a decent life.