Would you consume your own content?

..and do you think that you posting it has a positive, neutral or negative effect on the world?

By content I mean what ever you're posting online. The pictures you post on Instagram/Pixelfed or messages you're writing on Lemmy, YouTube comment section, Facebook and so on.

If you look back at what you have posted in the past year for example, do you consider it to be the kind of content that you would gladly consume if it was coming from someone else? If not, then why are you posting it in the first place?

gedaliyah ,
@gedaliyah@lemmy.world avatar

Lemmy has actually made me more thoughtful about this. Like a lot of people here, I was previously on reddit, where most interactions were pretty toxic. Now I do try to think about how my contributions make the platform better or more useful for others.

I was a "top 1% poster" on reddit (according to them), but it was mostly garbage and reposts and "zingers" so even though it got a lot of updoots, it was not really helpful to people. There were some communities that were exceptions, where I put a lot of effort, research, etc., but they were more niche.

all-knight-party ,
@all-knight-party@kbin.run avatar

If it's any consolation, reddit sort of trains you to post things like that because that's what the masses like and recognize the most.

HobbitFoot ,

Generally yes. If I didn't want it, I wouldn't post it.

kionite231 ,

Should not it be "I would not have posted it?"

I am confused because my english isn't good

otp ,

Nope, those mean different things!

If I didn't like it, I wouldn't post it

Means (or implies)...

"I didn't like it, so I won't post it", but it's phrased as a conditional statement.

It also means that it's hypothetical -- nothing was posted!

But...

If I didn't like it, I wouldn't have posted it

Means (or implies)...

"I like it, so I posted it", again phrased as a conditional statement.

It also means that the thing actually happened (because the commenter liked it).

So they have similar, but different meanings. The key difference is whether the commenter is saying they have already posted something or not. One is hypothetical, and the other is more of a reflection of something that did happen.

Also, I think this part of your comment is incorrect.

Should not it be

This should be...

Shouldn't it be

(This is what people say probably 99% of the time)

Or

Should it not be

(This is less common and more formal)

And yes, I know that it looks like the "not" should be directly after the "should" because of "shouldn't", but it doesn't happen that way. I think this happens when forming a question with conditional verbs (should/would/could), but I have no idea why.

As I'm sure you know, English is crazy. Sorry about that. Hope this helps!

kionite231 ,

Thank you very much for the in depth explanation.

Crackhappy ,
@Crackhappy@lemmy.world avatar

Nah. I am wayyy too stupid. I would just start and then leave.

OpenStars ,
@OpenStars@discuss.online avatar

img

And since this is Chidi:

img

Imma ultimately decide:

img

Nemo ,

Yes, and I often reread my own comments and feel a deep sense of satisfaction.

MajorHavoc ,

You're not alone in that.

I also reread your comments sometimes with a deep sense is satisfaction.

(I'm kidding. Although I did check your comment history to make sure you weren't a monster before even making that joke.)

v4ld1z ,
@v4ld1z@lemmy.zip avatar

I am vegan (pull out the pitchforks) and am pretty vocal about it on here and used to be on the other website. I wouldn't say I'm an activist per se, but every comment and post I make about the subject whenever it's brought up makes me feel like I'm making a difference. If the comment resonates with someone reading and leads to fewer animals and animal-derived products being consumed, I'm happy. So yea, for sure.

Same goes for the two communities I created and mod (c/sekiro and c/bloodborne if anyone's curious). A bot has recently helped me fill the communities with content since engagement isn't super high from community members themselves. Before the bot, I tried to make daily posts in both communities, thinking it's content that I enjoy so others would likely too. Since they're still quite niche and don't have a massive following, I think it's definitely a good start for people interested in the games

Cool post btw. I think it's easy to lose oneself in the daily monotomy that is life and work and stuff, so reminding oneself that participating in communities such as Lemmy is making a difference in one shape or form

MajorHavoc ,

My comments are pure Internet gold. I'm actually only here to read my own comments. It helps me remember how brilliant and humble I am.

My posts help people discover MineTest. It's pretty great, and it's free.

tal ,
@tal@lemmy.today avatar

and open-source.

MajorHavoc ,

True. I don't post the license prominently, but my comments are Creative Commons, Attribution, Share Alike

Okay, I'm actually kidding about misunderstanding which bit of my comment your reply was to.

Yes, it's great that MineTest is open source! And the mod community is impressive.

PlexSheep ,

What is minetest?

MajorHavoc ,

MineTest is an open source game engine that allows running various open source Minecraft clones.

vaionko ,

You actually did reminde me to try minetest again right now! I tried it last like a decade ago and been meaning to try again

Hedup ,

I don't post almost anything online. I mostly just comment. But even the comments I make I sometimes consume as content - I really like comming back and rereading them to enjoy how good and smart I've been.

Kolanaki ,
@Kolanaki@yiffit.net avatar

Depends on the content. I'd play games I make. But I wouldn't read my own stories outside of proofreading. What would be the point? I already know the story because I wrote it!

As for my SM posts: Same as the writing. But if someone else was posting what I post, then yeah. I would follow that person because we are practically the same person.

writeblankspace ,

Yeah why not. My entire feed would be full of shower thoughts, fangirling over things, existential crises, mh, and tons of infodumps. I would love that but at the same time that would make me go senile.

Thorny_Insight OP ,

What made me think about this is my girlfriend, who is quite vocal about the harms social media can have on the mental health of young girls, especially when influencers post heavily edited photos of themselves and their lives, which for the most part are fake.

However, she's active on social media as well, and being quite an attractive woman, she seems oblivious to what I consider a factual statement: her own content is also causing the same kind of concerns for other women who are not as genetically blessed as she is. What she's posting is not fake, but it is heavily curated nonetheless. She obviously knows this herself, but do her followers?

I don't personally follow her social media, but I'd be willing to bet she hasn't posted about being sick for a week and not taking a shower for four days. I don't mean that as a criticism per se, but I think it highlights how little we think about the effect our own content has on others while still being quick to judge others for what they post.

Vanth ,
@Vanth@reddthat.com avatar

"She's hot, but really ought to keep it on the DL for me to enjoy and no one else to see because think of the children".

What a weird little humble brag while also putting down your girlfriend and blaming her for broader society's behavior. If she's not lying, advocating for unhealthy habits or trends, encouraging parasocial relationships, or spreading misinformation, she's not the problem.

Thorny_Insight OP ,

What's up with the quotation marks when you just came up with that "quote" yourself? I don't feel the need to defend views I don't hold.

gedaliyah ,
@gedaliyah@lemmy.world avatar

But if you don't thoughtfully respond to every strawman, then the internet WINS!

Now what were we talking about? Something about how content impacts us or what?

Carrolade ,

If you look at the Trump candidacy and things like qanon, it'd be hard to argue that the internet isn't making inroads. My generation let this go on for long enough, it's not about the lulz anymore. Lots of people are getting hurt, and it can still get worse.

otp ,

I hope that's not the only lens you see the world through. I don't think anybody else saw that comment the way you did.

Vanth ,
@Vanth@reddthat.com avatar

Multiple upvotes on my comment indicates I'm not the only one tired of Boomer "shit on my partner" humor.

bear ,

Yes. Positive. It won't be a big difference but everything matters in its own small way. Posts that piss off dozens of people can still have one person who loves your perspective. That one person can be you. Ignore the haters.

Thorny_Insight OP ,

If it pisses off dozens of people but there's one person loving it, wouldn't it still be accurate to say that the effect is net-negative?

bear ,

No because we ignore the haters.

Thorny_Insight OP ,

Do you apply that logic to the people posting content that pisses you off as well?

bear ,

Yes, ignore the ragebait.

willya ,
@willya@lemmyf.uk avatar

Yeah, block and move on.

Stern ,
@Stern@lemmy.world avatar

I only post links on the one place I mod on lemmy that interests me. Occasional links elsewhere if theyre relevant.

My commentary I just post. If folks like it, great, if they hate it, great. There's no karma here so idgaf.

Thorny_Insight OP ,

There’s no karma here so idgaf.

What does karma have to do with it? Worthless internet points shouldn't affect the way you communicate if you're an honest person. You make it sound like you used to either self-censor when you know your views to be unpopular or alternatively say things you don't actually believe in just for the upvotes.

Stern ,
@Stern@lemmy.world avatar

Karma matters early on posting on reddit cuz many subreddits blocked negative karma posters via automod. Later it became more granular with subreddit specific karma. After several years there I had 6 digit karma spread across all my regular haunts which granted me a degree of freedom to get downvoted wherever cuz I had stockpiles to dip into.

On lemmy that doesn't apply.

gedaliyah , (edited )
@gedaliyah@lemmy.world avatar

The first thing you learn when you start using Reddit is that karma matters. Lots of communities have a minimum. There are communities dedicated to building karma. There are secret clubs for high karma earners.

It is the great unspoken secret that everyone knows.

Stern ,
@Stern@lemmy.world avatar

The first thing you’ll learn when you start using Reddit is that karma matters.

To an extent, but not really that great of one. Once you're past like... a hundred, you're fine basically everywhere of note.

Lots of communities have a minimum.

Basically every community of note that I modded did. Kept out a lot of shitters. Sure some regular folks might've gotten hit in the crossfire but omelettes, eggs, and nothing better from the admin side to stop the previously mentioned shitters.

There are communities dedicated to building karma.

We'd ban people who used those ngl, cuz guess who else used those subs?

There are secret clubs for high karma earners.

They aren't as interesting as you might think. Source: Was in several. Lot of similar names shooting the shit. Secret mod subs were like that too tbh.

gedaliyah ,
@gedaliyah@lemmy.world avatar

All true.

Why don't communities on Lemmy require "karma" minimums? Because admins remove bots and trolls. If reddit were not a completely toxic site, they could have done so as well.

Reddit uses karma as an underlying status symbol and reinforces it because it is driven by profit and "engagement." It's the same with likes on Meta platforms, subscribers/followers on other platforms… the gamification of social interaction. It's one part of social media that causes the kinds of harms we've been talking about here.

Stern ,
@Stern@lemmy.world avatar

Why don’t communities on Lemmy require “karma” minimums? Because admins remove bots and trolls. If reddit were not a completely toxic site, they could have done so as well.

  1. From a technical standpoint: There's no karma, just tracking amounts of posts/comments.
  2. There's no automod to enforce it (Well maybe idk, not integrated I know that much.).
  3. There's also the fact that the entirety of of the lemmy fediverse probably gets less posts overall each day then r/funny gets in just spam. It's really easy to manually boop 5-10 spammers in a given day. 5-10,000 though? Not happening. Top that off with even a small percentage who might be trying to dodge technical hurdles put in their way? Lot harder.
tal ,
@tal@lemmy.today avatar

Sure. Heck, occasionally I do actually do that, like if I post a piece of information that I've looked up and then refer back to it later.

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