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Most of What We Read on the Internet is Written by Insane People

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Re: Most of What We Read on the Internet is Written by Insane People

#31

Post by emilsedgh »

flexie wrote: post #11

People come to Wikipedia to get an answer. Many users of Wikipedia are kids, or non-native English speakers for whom contributing is a challenge. Or laymen that don't know about the subject and naturally don't feel like they could contribute anything. Or people who simply don't know how to contribute. Or people visiting via mobiles where it's really difficult to research and contribute. If you adjust for all those us…

You Danes generally speak real good English right?

I think that may be a problem for Wikipedia in such countries. People can read/write English good enough that they just go directly to English.

It's pure speculation on my end though. But I'm a non-native English speaker but I never go do my native language's Wikipedia.

Re: Most of What We Read on the Internet is Written by Insane People

#32

Post by vanviegen »

Kaveren wrote: post #20
sigttou wrote: post #10

Am here for over 2 years now, rarely upvote something, haven't submitted anything and this is just my 2nd comment... Pretty sure this rule holds for close to all kind of forums.

I don't know if you're willing to make a 3rd comment, but I'm trying to understand the lurker mindset from the perspective of someone who posts quite actively. Is is just that you don't care enough to reply, feel like your opinions are unpopular, don't feel like you have anything to say, or something else?

I'm kind of a lurker as well. I read HN comments to gain a broader perspective on issues. Sharing my own thoughts on the matter doesn't really help with that.

Of course, sometimes when reading comments I get the feeling that you people are all entirely, inexcusably wrong, and I feel an urge to set the record straight. Normally on HN, it doesn't take long for someone to step up and explain exactly what I was thinking with an eloquence I couldn't have matched. And the world is right again. :-)

Re: Most of What We Read on the Internet is Written by Insane People

#33

Post by dyadic »

Kaveren wrote: post #20
sigttou wrote: post #10

Am here for over 2 years now, rarely upvote something, haven't submitted anything and this is just my 2nd comment... Pretty sure this rule holds for close to all kind of forums.

I don't know if you're willing to make a 3rd comment, but I'm trying to understand the lurker mindset from the perspective of someone who posts quite actively. Is is just that you don't care enough to reply, feel like your opinions are unpopular, don't feel like you have anything to say, or something else?

I check the site maybe once every couple of days, and I don't comment or reply because it usually seems like the post is "old" by then and the discussion has died down.

Your comment now is marked "5 minutes ago" and seems game for a reply, but later today when it's "5 hours ago" or longer, I'd feel like it has expired and any reply would be lost and never seen.

Re: Most of What We Read on the Internet is Written by Insane People

#34

Post by ndnxhs »

Kaveren wrote: post #20
sigttou wrote: post #10

Am here for over 2 years now, rarely upvote something, haven't submitted anything and this is just my 2nd comment... Pretty sure this rule holds for close to all kind of forums.

I don't know if you're willing to make a 3rd comment, but I'm trying to understand the lurker mindset from the perspective of someone who posts quite actively. Is is just that you don't care enough to reply, feel like your opinions are unpopular, don't feel like you have anything to say, or something else?

I have lurked on forums before. Usually its because I just check them sometimes on my phone and can't be bothered making an account.

Re: Most of What We Read on the Internet is Written by Insane People

#35

Post by dendrobate »

chrisco255 wrote: post #6
keithwhor wrote: post #4

Yes. Most of the content you watch on TV was written and acted by outliers. The products you use and consume were crafted, marketed and even distributed by outliers. First, when zoomed out, outliers in all possible tasks become more common — internet commenting is just a subset for silly folks like me. Secondly, the emergent human social fabric is built to recognize and amplify outspoken and / or talented outliers, v…

I still think it's surprising that there are so many lurkers who literally never engage in the discussion, considering the barriers to do so are so low.

Time is a big factor: usually I can only spend some 30 minutes per day for HN/reddit, barely enough to only have a look at a few of the interesting posts, let alone contributing. I feel like you need to be willing to commit a meaningful part of your time to internet communities to contribute frequently.

Re: Most of What We Read on the Internet is Written by Insane People

#37

Post by ishikawa »

Even on a social network such as Facebook, a minority creates content. By creating I mean taking their time to write something or post their own photos. Most just share links. For a website like reddit or any other kind of site relying on user content, you can see that as an opportunity. It's not that 97% are not posting. It's that your user base attracts 30 times more other users to consume the content and therefore giving you great traffic.

Re: Most of What We Read on the Internet is Written by Insane People

#38

Post by TheOtherHobbes »

Kaveren wrote: post #20
sigttou wrote: post #10

Am here for over 2 years now, rarely upvote something, haven't submitted anything and this is just my 2nd comment... Pretty sure this rule holds for close to all kind of forums.

I don't know if you're willing to make a 3rd comment, but I'm trying to understand the lurker mindset from the perspective of someone who posts quite actively. Is is just that you don't care enough to reply, feel like your opinions are unpopular, don't feel like you have anything to say, or something else?

It's almost a natural law - IME lurkers outnumber active commenters on forums by a minimum of 10:1.

Not commenting is the natural state for most people. Maybe the question isn't why these people don't post, but why active commenters do.

Re: Most of What We Read on the Internet is Written by Insane People

#39

Post by Kaveren »

pjc50 wrote: post #28
Kaveren wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know if you're willing to make a 3rd comment, but I'm trying to understand the lurker mindset from the perspective of someone who posts quite actively. Is is just that you don't care enough to reply, feel like your opinions are unpopular, don't feel like you have anything to say, or something else?

I'm not sure one needs to make an argument for not posting.

Of course not, there's nothing wrong with not posting. My question was just out of curiosity for why people never feel "compelled" (not a great word here) to post while actively browsing quite a bit.

Re: Most of What We Read on the Internet is Written by Insane People

#40

Post by expertentipp »

The world of contributing, moderation, the fury of non-casual individuals (various sponsored trolls, agitators, marketing professionals, legal overzealots), and how the ownership of platforms is centralised (most platforms are owned by US based companies, and/or media broadcasting hegemons) are dark and full of terrors. No wonder people stay the heck away to preserve their sanity.
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