What's the point of sharing a post without commenting? My best experiences on Hubski have been in discussion with those whom I don't agree with. If anything, I like simply reading through what others have to say. This isn't me trying to promote the popularity of a thread, but rather I'm trying to promote discussion. If I post a link, sure, I'd like for others to see it. But it's also an invitation for you to express your opinion on the matter. Even if you agree, say something. Someone who disagrees will comment and thus a discussion is born. I don't want Hubski to become a just another link aggregator. Hubski is a place for thoughts.
I can appreciate your desire to have Hubski be about conversation. My favorite moments on the site come from my interactions with others. That said, there are plenty of posts that I "share" but don't comment on. Sometimes I just don't have anything to add. I'd rather someone not say something than say something just for the sake of it. I will share a post if I enjoyed it and think someone else might too. Something might be extremely interesting and I just don't have anything to say about it. There are lots of posts that get full hub-wheels but have no comments and I think that this makes sense sometimes. edit: I apologize BLOB_CASTLE, I think I may have misunderstood your post/comment. Do you mean that if you are going to take the time to post a link, you should have a description/comment in the "text" field? If that's what you mean, then I tend to agree. Even if you don't have anything to add, I think it's great when people put a snippet from the article in there to get a taste of what I'm in store for. You can often get an idea of the overall feel of an article from just one paragraph.
That isn't necessarily what I meant but I completely agree with that and that's what mk said in another comment. I think a post becomes much more susceptible to discussion when the person posting the link adds their perspective. But I'd like to think that even if someone says something for the sake of it, someone else will have something to say in response and they'll discuss the topic more than if the initial person hadn't said anything at all.
Indeed. I don't think that comments should mandatory by any stretch, but a culture of more discussion would be wonderful! It's one of the reasons I don't share very many posts, despite being on hubski all the time. I just don't comment very often, and as a result I don't share.
I say "share". I follow you and if you think something is interesting it is not unlikely that I will too. I don't think one is tethered to the other (sharing/commenting).
A healthy balanced model I think we can all learn from.
I'm on board. I'm all for commenting. I've never been accused of talking too little. I enjoy a nice conversation and it does often require that first spark.
I can appreciate that. I have noticed that when I comment or editorialize on a link, it tends to generate more conversation. It would actually be interesting to look at the data, and see if links with commentary do have more comments. At any rate, I think the poster can go a long way to stimulating conversation by providing some context or thoughts on the post. So in that regard, you could ask: What's the point in posting something without discussing it? On this topic, I do challenge everyone to try to use Hubski in creative ways. IMO there are a number of preconceptions that people bring to the site that unnecessarily influence their interactions.
What's the point in posting something without discussing it?
That's a very good point. I can think of at least one time in which I've posted a link without posting any sort of comment on it. But in those instances, I think the article speaks for itself. Regardless, writing some sort of thought on the matter I would argue would facilitate more discussion.
Sometimes I don't know what I want to say about a link, and just throw it out there, hoping for feedback. I think many people assume that the poster is endorsing the content of any given link. However, sometimes I post things that I disagree with, just because the perspective interests me.
And that's awesome! That controversial topic will get people talking and perhaps have someone think of something they've never thought about. Through discussion on a few threads that's happened to me often. It's an incredible feeling to have thought a new thought and it's an experience I'd love for others to have.
I like Hubski for its discussions, but if some people join and don't want to discuss what they post, Hubski can handle that without disturbing you. People who don't mind will gravitate towards the empty poster, people who do mind will be repelled in varying degrees by the severity of their pleasure/annoyance. I think if Hubski is going to mature as a site it's going to come from accepting more than just the community that's here now. Seems like an innocuous suggestion, since obviously you have to add people to grow. We have a nice bunch of people who want to talk about how a site like this works and computer stuff and how the future's going to be. We need to be more accepting of adding communities. If I wanted to post exclusively about #anime, I could. If the circlejerkers want to do nothing but #circlejerk, they can. It doesn't hurt anyone to have a lot of disparate communities bumping around in the petri dish of Hubski. If you like to keep your Hubski as a place for thoughts, that's great and I tend to agree with you. But some people really like puppies. Maybe they find puppies interesting, maybe they just wanna look at them for whatever reason, but those people shouldn't be stigmatized here. Ignore them, never follow them, comment against them respectfully when you can, Hubski's platform can handle the rest. Let their community grow, too. Don't tell people what Hubski is, tell them what you use Hubski for. Sometimes I post links with little to no comment because I post it as "this is interesting, huh?" But that's about all I have to say about it. Like the action park think I posted early today. I don't have much to say about it! It's ridiculous, it's something that happened/is happening, and that's kind of that for me. But if people want to talk about it, that's fine.Hubski is a place for thoughts.
Is it? Maybe your Hubski is a place for thoughts, but I doubt ytknows' is. I think one of the best things about Hubski is that it doesn't have enough limits to clearly push itself in any direction, but it has given its users plenty of tools to encourage or discourage the content they see.
I completely agree with everything you said. This is a place for people to find their own niche. I guess I posted this out of a certain annoyance and, I hate to admit, a desire for others to use Hubski in a similar fashion that I do. But I do see how flawed that view is. I suppose I just feel that if I'm going to share something, it's meant to facilitate some sort of discussion. But that's not to discredit a post put up simply to share something interesting (although, I would think that if others found it interesting they'd give their input). I'm not saying I don't want #puppies or #herpderpityderpsville. What I'm saying is that regardless of the Hubski community, discussion is always beneficial. Sharing thoughts is an incredible thing and this site has done a good job in creating a wonderful platform for that. I think it'd be poor use of Hubski not to discuss everything. And I must say, I always enjoy reading your responses and thoughts. They're always very well formulated and thought provoking. I enjoy following you.
Thanks! I don't think that the sentiment of "a desire for others to use Hubski in a similar fashion" to oneself is by any means limited to you- I see it all over the #hubski and #askhubski posts. And it's not like your post was that against it. Just been meaning to bring it up somewhere, and thought here was a good place. Like I said, I tend to agree with you. But it would be interesting if Hubski spun out a community of people who never talked, and only shared. Instead of lurkers they would be like pushers. Almost a sort of newspaper you could check certain sections of.
I'd like to just point out that you seem to have a very good grasp of how this site can function. It's encouraging. I think right now what we're experiencing is just a very small community, once the site scales Blob_Castle, and others, would likely not notice an absence of conversation. "Pushers", like certain sections of a newspaper... I really like the analogy.
I... I really like Hubski.
I have a close friend who loves tumblr and we may or may not spend hours talking about the ins and outs of social networks, the benefits of encouraging/discouraging dialogue, how to defend against Eternal September, and whether or not "Well-Kept Gardens Die by Pacifism" is still relevant. Having some trouble getting my head around Yahoo! Pipes or you can guarantee I would have some cool data for this place.
if Hubski spun out a community of people who never talked
I would hope that that would be only a certain community of Hubski, while others based on discussion remained. Otherwise, we end up with the front page of Reddit.
sometimes you don't have anything new to add to the discussion.
I disagree in that I believe anything always brings some sort of insight. If a bunch of people post that they agree with a certain point, it'd be interesting simply to see how many people agree with that. And that only comes with many people posting what they think on a certain topic.