Imagine having a conversation with a good friend of yours, and you tell them about your weekend, the things you did and the people you talked with, how it made you feel, and what it might mean to you - and their response was something along the lines of;
I enjoyed what you said about doing things and it is important to do things with people. I hope you will do more things in the future.
Feel supported?
I get a lot of comments like that, where people are obviously looking for a vote, but don't care enough to actually engage with the content or add their own experiences. What they don't seem to understand is that while I might give a vote to start with as encouragement, if the conversation doesn't progress, I will start cutting them off, because it is useless and adds nothing to the content collateral. It is just a transaction on the blockchain, but meaningless to humans.
For some of course, I have been talking with them for many years and the conversations have ranged across a myriad topics and they have added their own experience and expertise, their personal views, and bits of themselves to the conversation for years on end. Those people, I support regardless of whether their comment is long or short, because they add value to my life experience.
If someone isn't even trying to add value on my article to my world or that of the other people commenting and reading comments, why would I reward it?
What is interesting is that those who have commented for years, while I am sure they appreciate getting the vote on their comment, aren't driven to comment by that vote. Those who don't even bother to put in the effort, are those who seem to want and need the vote in order to comment. And what this means is that they will continually go about targeting who gives them a vote, but will never build up a solid audience for themselves, meaning they will forever be reliant on others. Not that they will see forever, because they rarely last long.
What I find societally interesting about this isn't the behaviours incentivised by vote value, but the lack of social understanding in how humans operate. It is like people have no skills to hold a conversation, nor do they have any experience worth mentioning to be interesting. At least from the mundanity of the comments I get from some people, they must be the most boring, uninteresting people in the world, with the social skills of a wet towel heaped in the corner.
What does their real life look like?
I am not talking about what they have or whether they are rich or poor, but how are they as people and how do they interact with others? Do they behave well, do they have good friends, are they personable, do people like them, are they reliable and trustworthy? But I get no sense of this from them and instead, I just find them inauthentic, calculating and conniving. They might believe themselves to be doing what they need to do, but what they are apparently doing is attempting (poorly) to manipulate others for a short-term result, rather than building long-term growth.
I find it pathetic.
But this is the view I get of it through the way they interact with me, and without any other kind of baseline or relationship built over time, this is what my opinion is. What annoys me in myself is that I feel that I should still comment on it and give it a vote for at least adding some effort, but why should I? Why should I put my time and effort into doing something that they don't have the courtesy to do themselves, when there are other people who do put in effort and add value?
Experience counts for a lot on Hive in my opinion, where the people who tend to get the most engagement, are also the ones who have been willing to put their own experiences into their work and interactions. People who have views and opinions, and are able to hold a conversation over the space of time. This also tends to be the people who have a bit of age behind them, as the younger people tend to not be able to commit to anything for long enough on Hive to make an impact. And making an impact is important in relationships, because without it,
no relationship forms.
The internet is an interesting place, because anyone can take part, even if they have no skills in a particular area. However, Hive is also an interesting place because those who have no skills or experience to interact and be interesting with others, tend not to do very well. As I see it, humanity is better when people are willing to learn skills and share their experiences, rather than interact at such shallow levels, that it would be more rewarding to speak to a wall.
Or lay on the floor and stare at the ceiling.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
Be part of the Hive discussion.
And you may be rewarded.
