I’ve been a chronic lurker on many platforms for my entire life, but the amount I actually contribute on the internet is VERY little. I want to change that, so I thought I’d ask the experts of the internet. What does your engagement with the internet look like? On which platforms, and why? How do you find your communities through the “noise”?
For me personally, I deal with a lot of anxiety sharing myself with internet strangers. I struggle to think anything I would say is valuable, interesting, or hasn’t already been said. Any tips on how to grow confidence and trust that my input has merit, or could be useful to someone?
Thanks for any responses. I’m really enjoying kbin and lemmy (came from reddit) and its the first community that I really want to participate in and help further its success.
I mostly lurked on Reddit as well. In the large communities, you could predict what the responses would be already and anything that wasn’t tailored to what the hive wanted to hear would be buried. And why bother posting your journeyman-level knowledge of a topic when some expert in the field (real or imagined) was surely right behind you?
My advice - find a topic you care about, a hobby you have, and talk about it. Maybe you won’t be the best comment on the thread. Who cares? This probably won’t be the best reply you get either. If you helped one person out, even a little, wasn’t it worth your time?
Love that attitude. And you’re right, the large Reddit communities felt like there were so many voices that I couldn’t really be bothered to give my “take” when there were already so many takes. So far the interactions here feel more authentic, which I appreciate.