Lemmy could definitely use a bit more comment activity on a lot of posts.
I think it’s because nobody really wants to be the first to comment and offer an opinion that might end up going against the grain when a thread develops. There’s no ‘reading the room’ as it were.
I’m doing my part by commenting on threads. Like this one.
That, and when switching from reddit to Lemmy I realized how toxic the relationship there was, and I just use all social media way less now.
Reddit for sure is toxic. Generally, it’s much easier to be toxic in a large, anonymous group with an endless amount of subreddits to retreat to. Here, it’s maybe 10-20 people talking, so there’s not much room to hide, as it were. You keep running into the same faces, so it’s a bit more important to stay polite.
Fuck you!
I would agree but then I see a lot of toxicity even in small Facebook groups where most people use their real names. It’s just people I guess
I have also noticed that once a few people “break the ice” it really helps (like you did here). Comments beget comments.
Shit just open the post and wait 10-20 minutes and refresh and there will be a butt ton of comments ready.
Exactly. This thread is a perfect example. There’s literally no real topic to discuss, and yet people are talking. And that’s a great thing to encourage if we want to grow this platform 👍
This has been one of the biggest things I’ve taken away from my time here too. Especially when I first joined and it was even more barren. I was probably the first comment on over half the posts I viewed for the first few months. Often nothing substantial but it would lead to insightful comments from users who may have never even opened it if they saw zero comments.
Here’s me doing my part:
…
Penis
…
How was that?
Kinda short.
I’ve written so many comments that I’ve just deleted before submitting thinking “no one wants to read this garbage anyway.”
The last couple years on some other site really reduced the amount I commented. I’m not yet out of that initial instinct of just moving on without trying to engage, it just wasn’t worth it a lot of the time over there, had mostly positive experiences here though, experience wise.
This. I make it a point to comment on all posts I find interesting, especially if they aren’t any. It almost always spurs discussion.
It’s all the botposting
I think it’s because nobody really wants to be the first to comment and offer an opinion that might end up going against the grain when a thread develops. There’s no ‘reading the room’ as it were.
Why offer an opinion when one can ask something about the post instead?
I’ve noticed that this effect is much more positive on my reception and well being.
The same comments on Reddit often feel like a coin toss, between positive reception and getting voted into oblivion and hated at. I welcome this change.
Meh, I expect 90% of what I say to be downvoted and to get called antiemetic too
You are antiemetic though. I feel quite comfortable deepthroating you.
Lemmy has so few comments that people actually read my comments occasionally, which is wild.
Seriously, that comment got, like, an updoot every two minutes so far. Crazy.
I hr and 7upvotes in and Im here to give you another handjobby…good work
Jojo you have the best takes, everybody knows that
My parents and a number of other people in my IRL life would like you to know that they strongly disagree.
Hi Jojo!
You’ve activated my trap card! Autocorrect has used the spelling of a famous singer instead of little old Jojo.
Fuck autocorrect. I fixed it ❤️
Yay!
Ive gotta agree cheese can go on just about anything.
It is just nice to be able to comment and have it read instead of buried 3000 comments down after the memes and one-liners.
That’s what she said… or something.
this
so much this
Thanks for the gold kind stranger.
(This is the part where I get 50 gold for no reason)
🥇
ReDdIt SiLvEr
Edit: thanks for the gold kind stranger
Im not reading all that but congratulations. Or I’m sorry. I don’t know whatever works. (This one is actually kinda funny tho)
This one is good when someone responds with a wall of text with no formatting, bad punctuation, etc.
What, did you need something?
Oh, wait, hey! I actually did say basically this!
In a way, thats a win, no ?
Considering a big problem with conversion on Reddit is people just reacting to the headline I’d say it’s a win. I’ve noticed here when people do comment it’s more nuanced because they actually read the article.
The article summary bot helps my lazy ass lol
Hey nothing wrong with that. I like it myself
I love it too :-) On specific subjects, where I really want my mind or the content like pics etc, because "important " for me (trans, Gaza), i click the link though
Also, I’m often like… there’s one comment and I generally don’t agree with it, but I also don’t want to make an ass of myself, so let’s skim that article first and pick some good parts to slam this dude with. Often I find that I was wrong.
I wonder if the reason for this is not due to having less comments, but instead because Lemmy simply has a different demographic. For one, I’ve noticed significantly fewer bad-faith arguments compared to on Reddit. And discussions topics that would have otherwise been trolled to hell and back ended up having reasonably impartial conversations.
I’ve read that Lemmy users are generally fairly old, compared to users from other social media. I wonder if that has a role in how discussions play out on Lemmy
There are plenty of posts on Lemmy where many of the commenters clearly didn’t read the article. It just depends on how click-baity the title is.
Except with some libs/racists/etc but yeah I agree for the majority.
Not really. People may talk shit about comments, but if it was just a matter of getting just articles, you might as well stick to the news sites. Even as far as pure news aggregation goes there are better options than relying on whatever a handful people decide to share here.
There’s value in public commentary too. It may not be as polished as these articles but it provides a variety of perspectives, questions and criticism that might be pertinent, and for as lacking or biased as they may be, it’s much easier to tell compared to sources trying to pretend impartiality.
There’s a reason why we are here and not on, say, Feedly. This particular community only highlights it further, since it’s entirely based on the interpersonal element. Ain’t nobody looking for journalism or scientific articles on !Showerthoughts
Hey, im clearly in phase with that.
What I’ve told you I’ve seen it though.
An feminist articles attacking the male vision on a pure “male subject” like computers and that’s just a fight like you can see elsewhere.
In that case, for example, the title is enough to tilt some. I’ve seen arguments told but if the articles were read, they would have never used it 🤣🤣🤣
I don’t know if I’m clear. But I agree with you, just told you me feeling BC of you know, experience x)
100%. i’d be more interested in knowing what some guys in a bar in NYC were saying when hitler died versus reading an article about it. articles are just facts put in order. biased opinions make us human.
Thanks for sharing your opinion about it.
A great thing about Reddit is that because of its size you would sometimes get an expert in that field or even the person who wrote the paper popping up. It wasn’t crazy common but did happen a decent bit.
That is ofc balanced by it being full of complete assholes who have no idea what they’re talking about.
It’s alright. Lemmy has good content and the comments are far higher quality than Reddit.
Also you can actually have a conversation and people tend to respond a lot more than on Reddit.
I’m finally over the feeling of going into comment sections thinking “there’s too many bots, no reason to try adding to the conversation”
reddit had no middle ground between new posts that get buried and overinflated posts that have a thousand regurgitated phrases plastered all over it
True. I regularly finish all the comments in a Lemmy thread. On Reddit the pile of garbage is far too big and 90% is people saying the exact same thing.
I really don’t find the conversation any better, I think this place still needs to grow out of its echo chamber stage where it’s a niche place with few commenters or diversity of opinion. I recall Reddit in its early days, different but similar.
Except mine. I’m still an abrupt asshole 😉
ok
I’ll sometimes comment on stuff but overwhelmingly I don’t. I was the same way on reddit. I just feel that I don’t have anything meaningful to say so why say anything.
I find myself commenting a lot more here. It’s more conversational than reddit. Comments are longer and not just one liner’s, and the smaller community means my comments won’t be buried. It also feels like a gateway drug to posting. I should post something today. I won’t, but I should.
Yeah, I comment more and longer. Because I’m more confident it will be seen.
And that’s the right way to approach it, but in a platform were niche communities are so empty, even a meaningless comment counts
But yeah, I try to follow the same approach, I’m interested in many things, and subscribed to a lot of communities, but why should I comment if it doesn’t help or adds anything to the theme of the post
Well, If anyone reads this, keep this as a good habit, even if it feels a bit weird in here, comment when you are of help, and learn from others when you have nothing to say
Edit: I love how the replies to this are doing the exact opposite lol, take care boys, I actually got a good laugh from this
Seconded
+1
this
This
We done fucked up
I just wanted to say I also This
I think it was our lack of coordination…
I have this same issue as well.
I just don’t feel like I have anything insightful or meaningful to say.
But, I feel like I should in the community I mainly frequent since it’s really quiet a lot and the main mod feels like the only person keeping things ticking along.
I also really appreciate about Lemmy how there can be a 2 day old thread on everything and I throw in my 2 cents and even after 2 days, that comment gets read. It really beats the endless reposts (and bots reposting top comments!) of reddit.
Moving to Lemmy made me realize how much time I wasted lurking on Reddit. I didn’t bother to participate because someone would have already said what I thought. Sometimes I could even read one thread for days because there was just so much to read.
But I don’t know if it’s good or bad if there are so many comments. Maybe it’s good if you learn something useful but I don’t think it’s that useful to read for days about random subject you don’t need. At least it’s a some form of entertainment. I think I just read less now that I’m on Lemmy.
Weirdly I’ve somehow adjusted for inflation. On reddit I wouldn’t bother commenting if there were more than 1000 comments, here I don’t bother if there are already 100.
Quality vs quantity.
10 comments here likely means 10 people have unique thoughts. 1000 comments usually means memes and bots.
I used to hate reddit in springtime when the kids got out from school. Now it’s always springtime.
I delete about 80% of the comments I write before posting. Even if I took the time to write a long response. This is because of the general nature of the Internet and reddit culture is definitely here on Lemmy. But, like this comment, I’ll try to engage more because I also miss the discussion aspect on posts.
Most people are guilty of that to some extent. You want to make a good response, but end up overthinking it and moving on. Which is a shame. God only knows how many awesome comments end up in the digital wastebasket.
Besides, what’s the worst that can happen? Who really gives a fuck about downvotes anyway.
I do the exact same thing, once my comment reaches a paragraph long I just think “this is way too much stupid information to add, fuck it all, cancel.” Maybe I should shitpost random thoughts either way and let the chips fall where they may.
Just go for it. At the end of the day it’s only internet points.
I refuse to comment on this post, it’s blatantly pandering. Drink Coca~cola.
Welcome to Costco, I love you.
I consider it a plus. I do value also being able to read most, if not all, comments on lemmy too.
Has @showerthoughts ever been about silly shower thoughts on Lemmy or is it just hot takes here.
We had a brief period where it was actual shower thoughts.
Yeah, it just feels like ask lemmy but with jeopardy rules.
Leopardy.
I recommend not using Lemmy while showering, it’s bad for your energy bill. Also electronics.
Better than Reddit’s “guys, life is like bideo game”
“I wonder what people’s opinions are, or of there’s something more to learn about this topic!”
“Oh, there’s nothing here…”
This is the biggest bummer of Lemmy so far for me. I miss the conversation.
I try to contribute, even if I’m the only one who comments.
Come on mate, it might have been the case at the inception of Lemmy but now there’s interesting content everywhere, even in your bait post 😁
#nocomment
i usually just wait on the comments. articles are dry and boring, comments have opinions and views and emotion and juice
A lot of articles are nothing but opinions and views, usually involving emotions!
