I think more people should consider leaving more (endorsed) short, nice comments on the Forum + LW when they like a post, especially for newer authors or when someone is posting something “brave” / a bit risky. It’s just so cheap to build this habit and I continue to think that sincere gratitude is underrated in ~all online spaces. I like that @Ben_West🔸 does this frequently :)
Agree. Nice (truth-tracking) comments seem high-leverage for boosting morale + reducing excessive aversion to forum-posting + countering the phenomenon where commenters are more critical than the average reader (which warps what authors think about their readers).
IMO these two actions have different purposes, and we could use more of both here. :) In particular, I think it’s more valuable than one might expect to leave a short comment that includes a bit of gratitude. Even short comments often communicate something that reacts cannot. For example, the last comment in Angelina’s screenshot helps enforce good norms in the community.
I agree and am guilty of not doing this myself; I mostly only leave comments when I want to question or critique something. So after reading this I went back and left two positive comments on two posts I read today. (Plus also this comment.) Thanks for the explanation and nudge!
Do you think that it would be better to just add a helpful or heart emoji to the post instead? I used to leave the same sorts of comments as Ben. These got downvoted occasionally. I interpreted this pattern as being due to people not appreciating these sorts of ‘thank you comments’. When emoji react were added, I therefore switched to emoji reacting, as I felt that this would achieve the same outcomes without creating the ‘noise’ of a ‘thank you comment’. However, I could go back to leaving comments if that seems like a better approach.
I think more people should consider leaving more (endorsed) short, nice comments on the Forum + LW when they like a post, especially for newer authors or when someone is posting something “brave” / a bit risky. It’s just so cheap to build this habit and I continue to think that sincere gratitude is underrated in ~all online spaces. I like that @Ben_West🔸 does this frequently :)
Agree. Nice (truth-tracking) comments seem high-leverage for boosting morale + reducing excessive aversion to forum-posting + countering the phenomenon where commenters are more critical than the average reader (which warps what authors think about their readers).
Reactions seemingly serve that purpose better:
https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/oZff425xLnikfxeGD/pat-myron-s-shortform?commentId=HsadBx85nAggb8Q5T
IMO these two actions have different purposes, and we could use more of both here. :) In particular, I think it’s more valuable than one might expect to leave a short comment that includes a bit of gratitude. Even short comments often communicate something that reacts cannot. For example, the last comment in Angelina’s screenshot helps enforce good norms in the community.
Agree the bottom comment is significantly more complex than reactions. The top 2 could be reactions
I agree and am guilty of not doing this myself; I mostly only leave comments when I want to question or critique something. So after reading this I went back and left two positive comments on two posts I read today. (Plus also this comment.) Thanks for the explanation and nudge!
This is so heart-warming! Thanks for sharing Jamie!
Agreed, I try to do that since it encourages authors to continue doing good work (and it’s generally nice).
Thinking something nice about someone’s work and not saying it is like wrapping a gift and not giving it.
Do you think that it would be better to just add a helpful or heart emoji to the post instead? I used to leave the same sorts of comments as Ben. These got downvoted occasionally. I interpreted this pattern as being due to people not appreciating these sorts of ‘thank you comments’. When emoji react were added, I therefore switched to emoji reacting, as I felt that this would achieve the same outcomes without creating the ‘noise’ of a ‘thank you comment’. However, I could go back to leaving comments if that seems like a better approach.