How often to you bail on a half-written post or response?

I have had a tendency since my earliest days on social media where I will get halfway or more through a response, and end up just cancelling it. Sometimes I feel like I’m just being to over the top with snark or otherwise don’t want to be that kind of person, but a lot of the time I’ll decide I just really don’t care enough to finish it. Sometimes I just know it’ll be an argument and I know what the person is going to say, and just have no interest in continuing the discussion. I did it on Reddit, I did it on bulletin boards, I even did it in my teens and twenties on Usenet - and I’ll probably go on doing it for as long as I continue using this medium. I probably do it a bit more than half the time. I know that lemmy benefits from more content and I have had some great discussions, but sometimes it’s just not worth it for me.

How about you? Do you hit publish or cancel more often?

Tattorack,
@Tattorack@lemmy.world avatar

A lot of the time.

I often don’t comment on things in the first place, because someone else already covered the points that I want to make. So I do an updoot and leave.

Then there are times I want to write something funny, realise it’s only funny in my head and doesn’t translate to text at all, then just leave it.

Then there are the many times I’m thinking of putting a lot of research and effort into a response to some really stupid take… But I realise it would just be a complete waste of time. Efforts wasted to try and educate someone on science when all they want to do is continue believing in whatever nonsense they believe in.

LemmyKnowsBest,

i do this increasingly often lately.

qyron,

Often.

Minarble,

Ok, so well I made this several weeks ago and well, you know…

https://aussie.zone/pictrs/image/8f1579b1-3573-458a-bb3c-1be792a86777.jpeg

mack7400,

This, definitely.

ChiefSinner,

Can’t put a number on it, but I’d wager it happens the majority of the time

Jaeger,

I find people online tend to have a lot more passion for arguing than I do so I often rethink posting any responses I come up with.

chicken,

This is what I hate the most about the practice of using a very “scorched earth” style of rhetoric focused on shaming and berating and making things uncomfortable for opponents. There’s probably a lot of people with objections but they just don’t feel like dealing with that stuff so they don’t say anything.

numberfour002,

Quite often.

I start organizing my thoughts by writing them down. Then I’ll realize it’s going to be impossible for me to succinctly yet accurately convey my point.

If what I’ve written is too long or too convoluted, I don’t bother posting it, as the intended audience is usually the least likely to actually read it. If what I’ve written has too many caveats or too many points of contention, I don’t bother posting it because I generally don’t have much interest in connecting with pedants or those being intentionally obtuse/ignorant/etc.

Honestly, my experience has been that this place is mostly just a slightly different iteration of the same shit as the alternative it is modeled after when it comes to discourse. And I have minimal interest engaging in much of that. So, definitely more likely to lurk and/or to bail on a response than to actually post here.

Donut,

I can relate to this so much. I’m active in tech support communities and sometimes there’s so many scenarios involved that being concise, accurate and still trying to sound human is quite difficult.

I’ve been trying to shift my perspective in treating replies as the start of a conversation, where a shorter post with less information or caveats makes more sense to start from so you can narrow down the direction of the comment thread later.

I realize my feelings might be highly specific to support/question threads, but your words really resonated with me regardless.

chicken,

I’ve been trying to shift my perspective in treating replies as the start of a conversation, where a shorter post with less information or caveats makes more sense to start from so you can narrow down the direction of the comment thread later.

This is how you do it, put the most important details and fill in the rest if it comes up. The more words in a row the less anyone is going to read them.

Stamets,
@Stamets@lemmy.world avatar

80% of my comments. I try to set a baseline and be kind/respectful (not that I am always successful) but I’m not particularly a kind or respectful person. A lot of my comments are bitter and bitchy and I end up deleting them. This place isn’t reddit and I’ll be damned if I participate in inflicting my negativity on this place.

SuddenDownpour,

I mean, backing down on your hostility is an effort to be respectful from your part. There’s plenty of people with a very negative inner monologue who just keep the negativity to themselves.

Buizel,
@Buizel@lemmy.world avatar

Virtually every single response I type out gets canceled without posting. It’s extremely rare that I actually feel good enough about a comment I’m making to actually post it. Even if I do make a comment I’ll often come right back and delete it, or make a hundred rapid fire edits to it before usually deleting it anyway. That’s how after 6 months here I’ve only made 5 total comments.

SuddenDownpour,

Virtual hugs.

Amends1782,

Constantly

MargotRobbie,
@MargotRobbie@lemmy.world avatar

Rarely. I made it a point to finish my thoughts here, since I have a tendency to abandon what I write halfway, and I’m going to stop making excuses for myself.

I have had some misses, but people seems to like to read my random thoughts and corny jokes here. Mostly.

skooks,

All the

Deceptichum,
@Deceptichum@kbin.social avatar

small things

HangingFruit,

When do we want it?

slazer2au,

Truth care

steal_your_face,
@steal_your_face@lemmy.ml avatar

Truth brings

Interstellar_1,
@Interstellar_1@pawb.social avatar

I’ll take

b3an,
@b3an@lemmy.world avatar

one lift

sam2099,

Your ride

Tlaloc_Temporal,

Rough estimate, 30%. Either because my point ended up not being worth making, I ended up being wrong, or the message was dumped at some point between switching through 4 apps and 12 websites gathering information and I can’t be arsed to write 400 words again.

Smokeydope,
@Smokeydope@lemmy.world avatar

40% I’d estimate, I tend to write very long and in depth comments and will realize either I dont care enough about the subject to finish my statement or argument point, or I’m likely being baited by someone who doesnt care about having a genuine exchange of ideas and just wants to be “right”.

notannpc,

It’s a good 70% of the time that I’ll cancel instead of post. As I’ve gotten older my desire to be right has greatly diminished when it comes to random people on the internet.

Facebones,

Agreed. Plus, these days, most people just want to rile you into wasting your time compiling an argument and sources to back it up so they can go “fake lul!”

haysupdood,

This is how I feel, but it’s closer to 95% of the time for me. I’ve been on the Internet since its inception and I don’t have it in me to deal with people’s bullshit anymore.

I don’t need to be heard. I don’t need to be right. I only post for help I can’t get elsewhere or to help others. On the rare occasion I deviate from that rule, I usually get a reply that makes me regret engaging.

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • •
  • random
  • uselessserver093
  • Food
  • [email protected]
  • aaaaaaacccccccce
  • test
  • CafeMeta
  • testmag
  • MUD
  • RhythmGameZone
  • RSS
  • dabs
  • oklahoma
  • Socialism
  • KbinCafe
  • TheResearchGuardian
  • Ask_kbincafe
  • SuperSentai
  • feritale
  • KamenRider
  • All magazines
    •