i've been adding a lot of "rules" to my posts on here about what kind of replies I want ("no starting arguments!” "no explaining what a git commit is!”)
Here's a thread about why! Some of my goals are:
1. have nuanced discussions & stay on topic
2. hear from a diverse set of people
3. learn new things about how people use computers
let’s talk about each of them!
(1/11)
goal 1 is: have nuanced discussions! stay on topic!
When I started writing about git on here, every single time I made a post, people would reply with a HUGE range of thoughts and opinions about git which were totally unrelated to the question I asked.
This was a problem because it meant we could only have extremely surface level-discussions, and people’s hot takes were VERY repetitive. It felt like I was in a time loop — I even made a bingo card about it https://wizardzines.com/comics/git-discussion-bingo
(2/11)
@b0rk I don't mean this in a derogatory way but more in a "you're probably wasting your time trying to push a rope" way: there's something that can be learned from all of this, and I'm sorry to say that it isn't that all of those people are wrong.
If you don't want to see thoughts and opinions on topics that a lot of people have thoughts and opinions about, the only way to avoid it is not to post about those topics in public where absolutely anyone can respond.
Expecting human behavior to change is setting your expectations way too high. There's little to no evidence that human beings at-large have any substantial capacity for nuanced communication, especially on social media.
Related: it might be nice if Mastodon had a feature where you could simply disable replies to a post; that way you COULD post on a topic like Git, where you know you're just going to hear a lot of the same tedious responses, and not have to deal with the incessant chiming from your notifications nor to wear out your BINGO stamp.
Julia Evans
Nicklas Johnson 🏳️🌈