Rod HiltonJun 3, 2023

Replies on Mastodon seem to come 80% from the kind of folks that panic when a conference call is ending and they realize they haven't spoken, so they just think of anything at all to say in order to participate. Or folks who submit formatting nitpicks to a code review just so everyone can see they didn't rubber-stamp approve.

They aren't offensive trolls like on Twitter, it's more well-intentioned and sincere but also totally irrelevant and annoying.

Show threadMichael KnepprathJun 3, 2023
@rodhilton that’s “I want to be a part of this community but don’t know how” energy
Show threadRod Hilton

@mknepprath yeah, exactly. There's like a "I just want to participate" vibe that just creates a lot of replies that are already addressed in a thread (or in the original link), or hall monitoring shit like complaining about content warnings or alt-text, or just generally irrelevant observations.

It's so well-meaning and socially awkward that it's hard to be super angry about it but at the same time when a post blows up and you get flooded with dumb-as-fuck reply notifications it's enraging.

Jun 3, 2023 at 1:42pmWeb
Show threadRod HiltonJun 3, 2023
@mknepprath Also kudos to you for having the guts to reply to that post, it was a very easy set up for a "see, this is what I'm talking about?" response to any reply and you went for it anyway 😂
Show threadMichael KnepprathJun 3, 2023
@rodhilton Oh, I’m totally empathetic - I see the same dynamic at conferences. The issue here is you can’t just be present, you’re invisible unless you say something.