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?

  • TehBamski@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    36
    ·
    1 year ago

    The irony is that there might have been a fair amount of replies to this, but people bailed on them. I guess we’ll never know.

  • shadowSprite@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    25
    ·
    1 year ago

    I cancel more often. Because who cares what I have to say? And sometimes I realize it’s been more therapeutic to just type a comment out than it is to hit post and deal with people’s potential responses.

    • Sparky678348@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      13
      ·
      1 year ago

      I care what you say ❤️

      You, yes you reading this, have a valid perspective and a unique insight and the world is enriched by you sharing your thoughts with other strangers.

    • Thelsim@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      1 year ago

      As @[email protected] already so nicely said, I too would love to hear what you have to say. Whether it’s something profound, something nice, or just that you like or enjoy someone else’s comment/post.
      It is always so nice to hear from someone else, so don’t put yourself down. Let yourself be heard and join the fun :)

    • can@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      1 year ago

      I realize it’s been more therapeutic to just type a comment out than it is to hit post and deal with people’s potential responses.

      Yeah, but on Lemmy if you get sick of the replies you can delete yours and take theirs down with it.

  • Quazatron@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    11
    ·
    1 year ago

    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.

  • notannpc@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    10
    ·
    1 year ago

    It’s a good 70% of the time that I’ll cancel instead of post. As I’ve gotten older my desire to be right has greatly diminished when it comes to random people on the internet.

    • haysupdood@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      This is how I feel, but it’s closer to 95% of the time for me. I’ve been on the Internet since its inception and I don’t have it in me to deal with people’s bullshit anymore.

      I don’t need to be heard. I don’t need to be right. I only post for help I can’t get elsewhere or to help others. On the rare occasion I deviate from that rule, I usually get a reply that makes me regret engaging.

  • dsemy@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    9
    ·
    1 year ago

    Like 95%. Almost cancelled this one before I erased most of it.

  • Timecircleline@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    7
    ·
    1 year ago

    Funny enough, I almost replied to a comment here and then deleted it.

    I’ve been trying to do it less since migrating to Lemmy because I recognize that the smaller userbase means that my interaction is more valuable, even if it’s scary.

  • kaffiene@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    7
    ·
    1 year ago

    Absolutely. Sometimes you know your post isn’t going to do anything worthwhile. Sometimes you’re just being a dick. Sometimes the other person is clearly not going to listen to you. Sometimes your post adds nothing of value. That kind of self reflection is a good thing IMO. I wish more people did it

  • numberfour002@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    7
    ·
    1 year ago

    Quite often.

    I start organizing my thoughts by writing them down. Then I’ll realize it’s going to be impossible for me to succinctly yet accurately convey my point.

    If what I’ve written is too long or too convoluted, I don’t bother posting it, as the intended audience is usually the least likely to actually read it. If what I’ve written has too many caveats or too many points of contention, I don’t bother posting it because I generally don’t have much interest in connecting with pedants or those being intentionally obtuse/ignorant/etc.

    Honestly, my experience has been that this place is mostly just a slightly different iteration of the same shit as the alternative it is modeled after when it comes to discourse. And I have minimal interest engaging in much of that. So, definitely more likely to lurk and/or to bail on a response than to actually post here.

  • Richard@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    6
    ·
    1 year ago

    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@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      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.

  • jacktherippah@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    5
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    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.

  • qooqie@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    5
    ·
    1 year ago

    Eh not that much. Who cares about points? I’ll edit my response if I mistyped or made it difficult to understand, but why not contribute to the convo? Again points matter way less here than on Reddit and even on Reddit it didn’t matter a whole bunch