Here’s another possible—but probably less common or less clearly bad—reason against writing posts for / sharing posts on the Forum:
It could lead to something analogous to a social media “addiction”.
E.g., feeling continually drawn to post or comment, solely in order to get more upvotes, replies, attention etc.
This would basically be bad inasmuch as it might lead to the “reasons against” mentioned in my main post
E.g., it could lead to people writing for the Forum even when it’s not worth the opportunity cost for them, or even when if they often have an overall negative experience when doing so
But I think a mild version of something like this could be not actually bad, or possibly even good, inasmuch as it lead to the “reasons for” mentioned in my main post
E.g., it could help motivate people to capture those benefits
(This can be good inasmuch as someone might’ve otherwise been not very motivated about anything or motivated about less valuable things. It could be bad inasmuch as they’d have otherwise been motivated to do things that make more sense in their situation—e.g., spending more time on a PhD, if that’s what they should be doing.)
In my personal case:
I think I have sometimes been moderately addicted to the Forum, and other times mildly addicted.
I think this was sometimes somewhat bad for me, but mostly about neutral or slightly good
And it’s been more consistently neutral or good since mid last year, since I’ve been more conscious about “managing” the level and results of this “addiction” since then
It’s worth noting that, for me, this is basically replacing a mild “addiction” to things like playing video games, doing stand-up comedy, or becoming a better high school teacher, or a general listlessness
Here’s another possible—but probably less common or less clearly bad—reason against writing posts for / sharing posts on the Forum:
It could lead to something analogous to a social media “addiction”.
E.g., feeling continually drawn to post or comment, solely in order to get more upvotes, replies, attention etc.
This would basically be bad inasmuch as it might lead to the “reasons against” mentioned in my main post
E.g., it could lead to people writing for the Forum even when it’s not worth the opportunity cost for them, or even when if they often have an overall negative experience when doing so
But I think a mild version of something like this could be not actually bad, or possibly even good, inasmuch as it lead to the “reasons for” mentioned in my main post
E.g., it could help motivate people to capture those benefits
(This can be good inasmuch as someone might’ve otherwise been not very motivated about anything or motivated about less valuable things. It could be bad inasmuch as they’d have otherwise been motivated to do things that make more sense in their situation—e.g., spending more time on a PhD, if that’s what they should be doing.)
In my personal case:
I think I have sometimes been moderately addicted to the Forum, and other times mildly addicted.
I think this was sometimes somewhat bad for me, but mostly about neutral or slightly good
And it’s been more consistently neutral or good since mid last year, since I’ve been more conscious about “managing” the level and results of this “addiction” since then
It’s worth noting that, for me, this is basically replacing a mild “addiction” to things like playing video games, doing stand-up comedy, or becoming a better high school teacher, or a general listlessness