this post was submitted on 22 Feb 2024
694 points (97.0% liked)

Showerthoughts

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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. A showerthought should offer a unique perspective on an ordinary part of life.

Rules

  1. All posts must be showerthoughts
  2. The entire showerthought must be in the title
  3. Avoid politics
    • 3.1) NEW RULE as of 5 Nov 2024, trying it out
    • 3.2) Political posts often end up being circle jerks (not offering unique perspective) or enflaming (too much work for mods).
    • 3.3) Try c/politicaldiscussion, volunteer as a mod here, or start your own community.
  4. Posts must be original/unique
  5. Adhere to Lemmy's Code of Conduct

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[–] [email protected] 157 points 10 months ago (17 children)

Lemmy could definitely use a bit more comment activity on a lot of posts.

I think it’s because nobody really wants to be the first to comment and offer an opinion that might end up going against the grain when a thread develops. There’s no ‘reading the room’ as it were.

I’m doing my part by commenting on threads. Like this one.

[–] [email protected] 44 points 10 months ago (1 children)

That, and when switching from reddit to Lemmy I realized how toxic the relationship there was, and I just use all social media way less now.

[–] [email protected] 33 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Reddit for sure is toxic. Generally, it’s much easier to be toxic in a large, anonymous group with an endless amount of subreddits to retreat to. Here, it’s maybe 10-20 people talking, so there’s not much room to hide, as it were. You keep running into the same faces, so it’s a bit more important to stay polite.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 10 months ago
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[–] [email protected] 32 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (3 children)

It's not even just "the first" post. Lemmy is exactly like Reddit where any comments or posts, no matter how high quality, that can be interpreted as "against the grain" will be attacked. Lemmy has the same strong tendency towards group think that Reddit does, it's just lower volume and the bias runs even farther left. Shrug.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 10 months ago (3 children)

Unfortunate but true, I wonder if it's the upvote system on comment threads

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 10 months ago (13 children)

I don't often feel like I have something to say that would contribute to the conversation.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 10 months ago (5 children)

I always tell people, hey, I'm not a bot here posting things, I'm trying to share things I feel you guys would enjoy. If nobody comments, it doesnt incentivize me to continue posting, it makes me feel like a crazy person talking to themselves. I encourage people to say something, even if it's just "I really enjoyed this, thanks for sharing!" or something. I do that from time to time on others' posts. If they're showing me something new, of course I don't know anything about it coming in, but I can let them know now I do know thanks to their contribution here.

All these posts pop up all the time, "dang, it's so dead here" but if instead of making, liking, or commenting on that post, you could thank someone that did post, or share something that you think others might like. I was never a poster on Reddit. I'm no expert on what I post on. I just find stuff I think people would like, and now after doing it for the last few months, now I do know a lot more and can give people better insight than I could in the beginning.

Comments have been feeling low on my posts, and I think when is the point where me making 2 or 3 posts a day isn't worth my time anymore, but then someone will say "oh this post really made my day" and so I come back the next day and post again.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 10 months ago (1 children)

This is why I comment so much, I want regular posters to feel they’re not shouting out into the void. Also, having conversation starter comments on most posts helps new people feel like Lemmy isn’t “dead”.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 10 months ago

I never let that stop me!

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 10 months ago (3 children)

I have also noticed that once a few people "break the ice" it really helps (like you did here). Comments beget comments.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Here's me doing my part:

...

Penis

...

How was that?

[–] [email protected] 22 points 10 months ago

Kinda short.

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[–] [email protected] 146 points 10 months ago (6 children)

Lemmy has so few comments that people actually read my comments occasionally, which is wild.

[–] [email protected] 43 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Seriously, that comment got, like, an updoot every two minutes so far. Crazy.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 10 months ago

I hr and 7upvotes in and Im here to give you another handjobby...good work

[–] [email protected] 10 points 10 months ago (5 children)

Jojo you have the best takes, everybody knows that

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[–] [email protected] 81 points 10 months ago (1 children)

It is just nice to be able to comment and have it read instead of buried 3000 comments down after the memes and one-liners.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 10 months ago (6 children)

That's what she said... or something.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 10 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 16 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Thanks for the gold kind stranger.

(This is the part where I get 50 gold for no reason)

[–] [email protected] 14 points 10 months ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 9 points 10 months ago

Edit: thanks for the gold kind stranger

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[–] [email protected] 43 points 10 months ago (3 children)

In a way, thats a win, no ?

[–] [email protected] 40 points 10 months ago (5 children)

Considering a big problem with conversion on Reddit is people just reacting to the headline I’d say it’s a win. I’ve noticed here when people do comment it’s more nuanced because they actually read the article.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 10 months ago (3 children)

The article summary bot helps my lazy ass lol

[–] [email protected] 9 points 10 months ago

Hey nothing wrong with that. I like it myself

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 10 months ago (3 children)

Not really. People may talk shit about comments, but if it was just a matter of getting just articles, you might as well stick to the news sites. Even as far as pure news aggregation goes there are better options than relying on whatever a handful people decide to share here.

There's value in public commentary too. It may not be as polished as these articles but it provides a variety of perspectives, questions and criticism that might be pertinent, and for as lacking or biased as they may be, it's much easier to tell compared to sources trying to pretend impartiality.

There's a reason why we are here and not on, say, Feedly. This particular community only highlights it further, since it's entirely based on the interpersonal element. Ain't nobody looking for journalism or scientific articles on !Showerthoughts

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[–] [email protected] 41 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (4 children)

It's alright. Lemmy has good content and the comments are far higher quality than Reddit.

Also you can actually have a conversation and people tend to respond a lot more than on Reddit.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I'm finally over the feeling of going into comment sections thinking "there's too many bots, no reason to try adding to the conversation"

reddit had no middle ground between new posts that get buried and overinflated posts that have a thousand regurgitated phrases plastered all over it

[–] [email protected] 21 points 10 months ago

True. I regularly finish all the comments in a Lemmy thread. On Reddit the pile of garbage is far too big and 90% is people saying the exact same thing.

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[–] [email protected] 32 points 10 months ago

I also really appreciate about Lemmy how there can be a 2 day old thread on everything and I throw in my 2 cents and even after 2 days, that comment gets read. It really beats the endless reposts (and bots reposting top comments!) of reddit.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 10 months ago (3 children)

I'll sometimes comment on stuff but overwhelmingly I don't. I was the same way on reddit. I just feel that I don't have anything meaningful to say so why say anything.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I find myself commenting a lot more here. It's more conversational than reddit. Comments are longer and not just one liner's, and the smaller community means my comments won't be buried. It also feels like a gateway drug to posting. I should post something today. I won't, but I should.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (8 children)

And that's the right way to approach it, but in a platform were niche communities are so empty, even a meaningless comment counts

But yeah, I try to follow the same approach, I'm interested in many things, and subscribed to a lot of communities, but why should I comment if it doesn't help or adds anything to the theme of the post

Well, If anyone reads this, keep this as a good habit, even if it feels a bit weird in here, comment when you are of help, and learn from others when you have nothing to say

Edit: I love how the replies to this are doing the exact opposite lol, take care boys, I actually got a good laugh from this

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Impossible. I post too many comments for this to be true.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 10 months ago (2 children)

You really do. I'm pretty sure I see your comments in every thread I read.

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Moving to Lemmy made me realize how much time I wasted lurking on Reddit. I didn't bother to participate because someone would have already said what I thought. Sometimes I could even read one thread for days because there was just so much to read.

But I don't know if it's good or bad if there are so many comments. Maybe it's good if you learn something useful but I don't think it's that useful to read for days about random subject you don't need. At least it's a some form of entertainment. I think I just read less now that I'm on Lemmy.

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 10 months ago (4 children)

I delete about 80% of the comments I write before posting. Even if I took the time to write a long response. This is because of the general nature of the Internet and reddit culture is definitely here on Lemmy. But, like this comment, I'll try to engage more because I also miss the discussion aspect on posts.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I refuse to comment on this post, it's blatantly pandering. Drink Coca~cola.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

Has @showerthoughts ever been about silly shower thoughts on Lemmy or is it just hot takes here.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 10 months ago (3 children)

We had a brief period where it was actual shower thoughts.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 10 months ago

I consider it a plus. I do value also being able to read most, if not all, comments on lemmy too.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 10 months ago (1 children)

"I wonder what people's opinions are, or of there's something more to learn about this topic!"

"Oh, there's nothing here..."

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Come on mate, it might have been the case at the inception of Lemmy but now there's interesting content everywhere, even in your bait post 😁

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 10 months ago (1 children)

i usually just wait on the comments. articles are dry and boring, comments have opinions and views and emotion and juice

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (5 children)

The quality of comments on Lemmy, I've noticed, are far better than Reddit comments on average.

When you remove all the fluff, there's about the same if not more useful stuff in comment threads here, however on Lemmy there's way less fluff (again just what I've noticed).

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 10 months ago

Good on one size, you get more info, bad on the other since a big part of this is sharing opinions and discuss

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