I don't know if you're willing to make a 3rd comment, but I'm trying to understand the lurker mindset from the perspective of someone who posts quite actively.
Is is just that you don't care enough to reply, feel like your opinions are unpopular, don't feel like you have anything to say, or something else?
I'm kind of a lurker as well. I read HN comments to gain a broader perspective on issues. Sharing my own thoughts on the matter doesn't really help with that.
Of course, sometimes when reading comments I get the feeling that you people are all entirely, inexcusably wrong, and I feel an urge to set the record straight. Normally on HN, it doesn't take long for someone to step up and explain exactly what I was thinking with an eloquence I couldn't have matched. And the world is right again. :-)
I realise the irony of claiming I only lurk by writing this, but I'm fighting my habits to help illuminate those interested.
For me personally, I just don't care and don't get any reward in the idea of conversing with some random person on the internet.
The chances are, I'll never see you again on here or irl, remember your online name (I remember faces, not names), or you will have any real impact in my day to day life. This is how I feel about every commenter online. I don't talk to random people on the street, so why would I talk to random people on the internet? To me, there is little difference.
I value face to face communication much higher than text chat. I really enjoy reading peoples faces and expressions when chatting, to the point where I find talking to others online is the equivalent of having a conversation where everyone has a paper bag on their head when.
If I think someone is wrong on the internet, I just don't care. I read their comment, think to myself "They are wrong/an idiot" and get on with my day. I see no value in correcting a stranger on the internet.
I much rather have conversations irl, and I do, so I have no time/energy left for an online conversation. I'd much rather spend my time with my girlfriend, programming or anything else.
Everything feels so permanent online. I know I'm going to regret things I've said in this post in the future, my mind will change, maybe I won't lurk anymore after writing this!? The permanent nature of online communication goes the against how I should be as person, my opinions shifting and changing as I experience more of life, not held back by some random thing I said on a forum 5 years ago.
When I post, I open myself up to being attacked by people online. I can avoid this simply by never saying anything online.
To illustrate a point, I finally got round to creating an account on stackoverflow about half a year ago, and I still have only one point. I just wanted to vote on questions, but I can only do that if I have at least 15 points on my account, and that requires writing comments/questions (I think). For me, that means contriving 15 comments that succeed at playing some social game, that I simply don't have the time or energy for, so I've given up on ever voting on stackoverflow.
The privacy issue is real. I am not a lurker here, but every time I comment anywhere online a voice in my head says “it is not rational to do this. This mostly works against your self-interest.” However, I am not someone who is primarily driven by self-interest.
I check the site maybe once every couple of days, and I don't comment or reply because it usually seems like the post is "old" by then and the discussion has died down.
Your comment now is marked "5 minutes ago" and seems game for a reply, but later today when it's "5 hours ago" or longer, I'd feel like it has expired and any reply would be lost and never seen.
Hello fellow hackers,
This is my first comment since I started reading HN around 4y ago. This comment thread mostly summarizes why I'm a lurker: most of the time when I read an article someone already made a point that I would like to make. Most of the time it would be superfluous ( objectively speaking this comment can be treated as such...). To make it slightly worthwhile let me share why I keep on consuming HN and lurking here: What I really like about HN in comparison to reddit is that HN is way less negative/aggressive. Many years ago I once tried there to discuss something - wanted to share my joy about some feature in some library on proggit. Instead of arguments I've received bunch of profanities and name calling. That effectively 'cured' me from participating in comments there. I really really enjoy that such negativity is missing here. That trait plus curated links makes my time spent here much better spent in comparison to alternatives. Thank you guys!
I follow a discussion I'm in for at least a day. HN commenting is asynchronous - it's not a chat conversation. Work hours, time zones and other "hazards" of modern Internet life all intervene...
First comment here, been reading HN for a few years now (proper actively - I spend way too much of my day here). I also tend to mostly read comments without even opening the article they're commenting on first. I don't need to comment on anything on the web simply because I already know my own thoughts and if I want to discuss something that badly I can always do so IRL. There's also always someone with a similar opinion posting so I could follow that conversation if I wish. I fully understand that if everyone was like me it wouldn't work but the thing is they're not. There's enough people in the comments here and on the web as a whole commenting - and it's enough for me to read those and then discuss IRL if I have the need. I like reading what other people say so much that if I start participating I'll waste even more time on here.
Sometimes I won't add a comment because of the chilling effect of a future employer or online mob finding it and reading something into my words. It's not worth being contrarian on the internet, or there's no space for devils advocate anymore. Most of the time I will comment and it's fine though.
Sometimes, unrelated, I will write a comment and then when my thoughts are formulated, I delete it because I have benefited from the conversation and there wouldn't be any additional benefit or use from me posting it.
Of course not, there's nothing wrong with not posting. My question was just out of curiosity for why people never feel "compelled" (not a great word here) to post while actively browsing quite a bit.
Similarly, I would like to know your mindset like what incentives or motivations do you see? Do you also feel that if you don't post a comment, the discussion won't go in that direction?
As a lurker for me most of the times I feel like I am on window shopping of ideas. Not looking anything in particular.
A fair percentage of my comments are downvoted, so it's not about opinion validation. I'm opinionated on a number of topics, and voice those opinions.
Sometimes I have a question to pose, or I disagree with the premise of the submission (sometimes I'm one of the few people to do so).
I'm a singular, non-influential person. I don't believe I'm exactly changing hearts and minds writing HN comments. I do like the discourse I get, though.
I've been reading almost daily since probably the beginning. I comment very rarely. Most news in general is garbage, but I do enjoy tech + startup news and enjoy reading comments here before clicking on to the source. It's fast, simple and I use http://hckrnews.com as my portal into ycombinator.com.
I almost left during the year of the US primaries as the news was majority political and simply more garbage, so I'm glad that got cleaned up.
Often I don't have anything "more" to say on top of what has been said, so I wont add noise. That may be a common thread with lurkers. When I do have a unique perspective and I feel adds value and not noise I may comment, keyword is "may".
I couldn't care less about karma, popularity, social scores or the like (just more garbage). As long as this site and it's users continue to provide value to me by filtering and aggregating tech news I will continue to use it.
Just another lurker mooching off of non lurkers. Selfish yes, but it works.
No reason to engage. I think "discussing" a topic with another "online persona" is almost always a waste of time. I also find most comments to be speculative, argumentative, uninformed opinions, trolling, jokes or trash. It is great finding a decent comment chain, but usually I'm late to the show(like now)!
When I was young I enjoyed commenting and voicing my opinion, after 25 years online, I no longer derive satisfaction from it.
Is is just that you don't care enough to reply, feel like your opinions are unpopular, don't feel like you have anything to say, or something else?