Ask HN: Why do people write comments?
The problem is: Most comments will not be read by anyone (or read by only a few), so what's the point of expressing your thoughts and opinions through comments?
For example on HN, sometimes there are hundreds of comments on a post. HN doesn't notify you of replies to your comments. And yet, people write comments, maybe hoping that someone will reply to them. I just don't know what the "utility" is in these situations.
Is it just to get it out of your system? To document your own thoughts for your future reference? And how does that work? I believe if people want their comments to be seen, they may put them at the top, possibly in response to other comments (and sometimes it can be annoying when a reply has nothing to do with the parent).
And btw, what makes this even more surprising is that most social media, forums, HN posts, etc. have a short life time. What is the benefit of the comment you put on an Instagram post—that gets forgotten in a manner of seconds? Worse yet, IG doesn't even keep all your comments on your profile, so it's like writing on the walls of a city you're never going to visit again.
81 comments
[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 148 ms ] threadMaybe I wasn't clear enough! I meant HN posts are temporary; they get out of the spotlight in a manner of hours (or a couple days). Plus, HN doesn't allow replying on comments of older posts.
And how many posts have 900 comments? Even the heavy traffic posts I see rarely approach those numbers usually we're talking 100-300.
I write comments not for the ages, or for the engagement, I want to share my perspective in the hopes that it will give others the same joy I've received from their comments.
How many published books actually get widely read? I mean, if you're uncomfortable throwing your words out on the net, then what forum is worthy of your work? Why publish anything if it won't be forced into the minds of every schoolchild by government backed indoctrination systems?
If you think of yourself as a writer, if you think written communication is important, even; what better opportunity to practice the craft? Would you respect a musician who never took up their instrument unless there was a large attentive audience? Or is it still worthy to play the trombone out on the back lot for no one but yourself and the cows?
If I leave a comment, it's because I feel it might be useful/interesting to the topic being discussed. It's also nice to read similar experiences from other commenters and there are nearly always some handy links that take me off on a whole new Internet journey (a bit like catacombs). QED!
In a high-traffic site it's almost guaranteed that at least one lost soul will read you comment, maybe vote/flag it, and maybe maybe reply to it.
But like you said, someone sometimes replies and you get pulled into threads like this - which is somehow way too much fun lol - so agree about commenting to start/participate in such convos.
Personally, more often than commenting, I forward the articles I know will be interesting to people in different group chats. And there is a lot more back-and-forth there.
On Reddit, where threads seem to hang around for longer, I might comment on an older thread if I think my response will be helpful to others, but not just to voice my opinions.
As for HN replies I think a lot of people use a service like this: https://www.hnreplies.com/ to get notified, it's what I use.
Sometimes it does feel like screaming (or whispering) into the void if it's a post with a ton of comments on it already, though often if there are that many comments then my viewpoint is already represented so I just upvote that instead or expand on it if I have something to add. Rarely will I post a top-level comment if the thread (on HN or Reddit) is already large since I know it will get lost in the shuffle.
You say posts have a short life and that's kind of true but not always. It's less the case with Hacker News (though I do enjoy perusing the "previous discussions" of a link that's reposted years later) but Reddit (rightfully) comes in most search search results for things I'm looking for. The top example being video games for me. I can't tell you how many 7-10+ year old threads I've read to find answers to the questions I have. I've even commented on some of those "ancient" threads to give an update or "how it works today" for the next person that finds that post via search/google. Not all content is evergreen but a lot of it is. Home improvement, cooking, and city-specific questions are some more examples of things I've found years after the fact on Reddit that were exactly what I was looking for.
If a person knew their comment would definitely never be seen, it's probable most people wouldn't write them. But on most sites, people are notified about new comments, and even here, it's possible to look at your own comment history and see replies long after the fact.
People post comments because they have questions and hope for answers--as you did with this post--or because they have comments and hope someone reads them and finds value in them. Same as any other form of communication.
I like to read comments just to see another perspective. I write comments to give my thoughts. Sometimes writing them down makes you recheck your own opinions and you think more about a topic.
Of course sometimes I also write comments because I am angry at the internet and the internet has to know.
That is a non-trivial distinction. It's the difference between talking to one person (or a few people) and talking to yourself.
> HN doesn't notify you of replies to your comments
No, but hn-replies does (http://hnreplies.com/)
> most social media, forums, HN posts, etc. have a short life time
So does the information exchanged in a face-to-face conversation. But face-to-face conversations have value. Comment exchanges are the 21st-century version of a casual conversation.
Sometimes I comment because happen to know a lot about the topic or can add something useful or insightful that isn't common knowledge, but that is not that often.
Some people are chasing "internet points." I see the allure and understand why it works.
Over the years, I've gotten more selective about commenting. I've mostly grown out of commenting just because "someone is wrong on the internet" and I will usually skip commenting if the thread is old and no one will see my comment anyway.
I'll never comment on popular FB/Instagram/etc posts where the comments are read-only trash and there's no chance of being heard.
Hacker News is really the only forum outside of IRC where I bother to do this these days. I am also somewhat perplexed as to why you frame writing comments as wanting exposure and permanence. All I want is brief exposure to peers whose opinions I respect and whose feedback I can rely on. I get that here, but pretty much nowhere else. Permanence is manifested in the gradual betterment of my mind; my comments are but a means to an end.
On the internet comments are the mean of communication as part of an online community. That is no different to talking to a bunch of friends in the pub. It's like asking "why do people talk to each other in a pub. Most conversations in pubs will not be heard by almost everybody in the world. Conversations with one person are only ever heard by one person, so what's the point of talking to them and expressing your thoughts and opinions?"
Do you see what I mean? There is no point in the same sense as there is no point in life if that is what you think.