> Even writing this comment, I can feel the waste of time it is
Commenting somewhere like HN may feel like a time waste...but I like to believe many of us are drawn to it because we can somehow feel it's not. Your comment here connected with me enough that several thoughts crystalized in my mind. I could appreciate that that may not be super important or rewarding to you, but it IS valuable to me.
Additionally, there is a long tail during which an internet comment can become useful -- as long as the comment is up. It's hard to say for any given comment when it will last provide value for someone.
In a world of intellectual loneliness that could approach starvation, a given comment may be a drop of water in the desert to someone very important and we'd never know.
Commenting somewhere like HN may feel like a time waste...but I like to believe many of us are drawn to it because we can somehow feel it's not. Your comment here connected with me enough that several thoughts crystalized in my mind. I could appreciate that that may not be super important or rewarding to you, but it IS valuable to me.
Additionally, there is a long tail during which an internet comment can become useful -- as long as the comment is up. It's hard to say for any given comment when it will last provide value for someone.
In a world of intellectual loneliness that could approach starvation, a given comment may be a drop of water in the desert to someone very important and we'd never know.