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?

jacktherippah,

I wrote out a comment to answer you but halfway through I decided that my opinion wasn’t worthy of sharing on Lemmy so I deleted it and wrote this instead.

liztliss,

I cancel a lot more lately. As I’m writing my response I’m also thinking about what they might respond with to my response and as I’m doing this I realize this discussion is going to take more energy and engagement than I really initially cared for or than it’s worth and at that point I’m like… why even bother, nevermind

ViscloReader,

I even do this in real life. I do this thing where I say my whole next phrase between my teeth and only then I say it out loud and almost 50% of the time I don’t repeat it out loud.

SomeoneElse,

This is something I started doing fairly recently and it’s really cathartic! I’d say 90% of the replies I write to people who are rude or looking for an argument, get deleted without sending.

ricdeh,
@ricdeh@lemmy.world avatar

For me personally it’s when discussing controversial topics, I know I’m right but I’m too lazy to get into an argument to elaborate on my points in detail.

franklin,
@franklin@lemmy.world avatar

It’s hard for me to self evaluation how often I’m right but if I’m asserting something with confidence I hold myself to rigorous proof.

If I’m just chatting about beliefs it’s a bit different but if I’m asserting something as fact I try not to say anything I can’t show the receipts for to check myself for misinformation.

If this process is too much work I just say nothing.

papabobolious,

I wanna say half the time. Lot of times I catch myself posting about something not worth my time and energy.

Quazatron,
@Quazatron@lemmy.world avatar

Here I am writing my opinion, only to realise that many of you have already posted most of the valid points I was going to make. So now my comment is pretty much worthless and adds nothing to the discussion.

I cancel most of the time, but today I’ll open an exception to prove my point.

Have you somehow become more enlightened by my post? Yeah, should have cancelled it.

Aussiemandeus,

I think that this answer really is great. It’s truly provided me with…

Eonandahalf,

When you think about it, you sort of proving the point that…

This took to long to formulate, so I gave up. But at least I posted it 🙃.

xc2215x,

Rarely I will do it.

weariedfae,

Hahaha I saw this after bailing on another post. Like 80% of the time I think better of it. My comments tend to actually get posted when I’m in bed half asleep. Apparently I’m more willing to share when I’m mentally impaired from tiredness

Tolstoy,
@Tolstoy@lemmy.world avatar

Aborting short ones like this, maybe every third. Longer ones 9/10

tierelantijntje,

There’s a high barrier for me to even start typing a comment, but I try to contribute more on lemmy. Haven’t really participated on social media in years. I guess about 20% of the time when I think I should comment I actually do it.

thelsim,
@thelsim@sh.itjust.works avatar

I know how you feel, I’ve had that same problem when I joined lemmy and really had to force myself to comment. But you know, I’ve told myself that in the end it’s more about just saying what comes to mind than worry if you’re really contributing to the conversation.
Even if it’s just agreeing with someone or just saying you like something, I prefer to write it out in a comment instead of clicking on some arrow. I like to think that whoever wrote the comment/post I replied to appreciates a personal response instead of an upvote. I know I do :)

Rentlar,

Yeah, I’d say it happens fairly often (~15% of the time). I try to stop myself from being too snarky at people when it’s not warranted. I try to save that for internet assholes, not confused people or people making a small mistake.

Another instance is if I’m 2 replies into a back and forth convo with an individual, I might write a 3rd reply but often just cancel it, because most times by that point the discussion isn’t worth me continuing.

PS you will find I often edit replies right after publishing to fix stuff, add stuff to fully answer the question, or change my tone if it sounds too aggressive. Sorry about that.

reisono_,

I delete probably half of all posts/responses I start (across many accounts). Sometimes it’s because I realise the answer to my question while typing it but more often than not it’s because I realise what I’m saying is ambiguous/opinionated and I get too anxious about someone taking it the totally wrong way and getting offended or annoyed.

Annoyingly this gets in the way of a lot of my online communication. Either that or I realise no one cares what my opinion is… Unless they directly ask- thanks OP!

dgmib,

I literally bailed while writing a comment on another post just to scroll down to this post next.

So yea… all the time.

roguetrick,

I have a personality with a low neuroticism and a low conscientiousness, so I usually post.

aeki,
@aeki@slrpnk.net avatar

I’m inverse you.

Genuinely overthinking this very reply.

Luckily, I’m also impulsive.

  • 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
    •