Wow. You nailed it. I was wondering just yesterday why I'm commenting so much on this site and others. I thought it was a need for social interaction due to my current isolation, but if that were the case, I'd comment a lot more on Facebook than these anonymous sites, which I don't.
It is rage. That's why I was hooked on an anonymous message board for the last 7 months (for the 3rd time). I quit last month, thankfully, but I did end up just posting more on other sites. I couldn't get away with being as direct on these sites, but it's still an outlet for negativity.
Incidentally, I find the best way to quit a site I'm hooked on is with a vacation (one in which I don't use the internet much, if at all. Try a remote island). I always come back with a new mindset; everything I was heavily into before the trip is suddenly perceived as "old." I just quit cold turkey and don't return at all, and it works. That's how I've quit every site I was hooked on in the past.
For me, it's practice. Every month or two, I'll write a comment of high enough quality that I'll turn around and re-post it elsewhere because it captures whatever point I was trying to make much better than I've ever seen it said or previously written. HN delivers the right amount of quality and pseudonymity to give me both the motivation and feedback on how I communicate ideas.
That's similar to what I tried to do, or rather what I thought I was doing for awhile. I'd consider HN a place for "early drafts" of blog posts, idea being that I'd stumble upon something thought-provoking here, be inspired to make a novel observation, and then use that as the seed for a full blog post.
In practice, I just kept writing more and more of these "early drafts" and didn't write any blog articles for nearly a year.
In practice, I just kept writing more and more of these "early drafts" and didn't write any blog articles...
-- Is this a net positive? Or Negativer?
Seems like it could go either way. HN inspiring you to write down an idea/develop it you otherwise would not have. And perhaps providing feedback/criticism (on a point-by-point-basis). Both of those are good things. OTOH, if the idea ends up only partly-developed, never fully, and you move forever on ("itch=scratched"), then perhaps it is worse, because in effect it keeps you from developing /any/ ideas fully. Did you write other blog posts (from other motivation)?
I'd suggest writing down all of your ideas in a separate file, along with the "early draft" HN comment, and then making it a point to dequeue them into full-blown blog posts on a regular basis.
Commenting is for engagement, rather than broadcasting, no matter how much lurkerbaiting you tell yourself you're doing.
It is rage. That's why I was hooked on an anonymous message board for the last 7 months (for the 3rd time). I quit last month, thankfully, but I did end up just posting more on other sites. I couldn't get away with being as direct on these sites, but it's still an outlet for negativity.
Incidentally, I find the best way to quit a site I'm hooked on is with a vacation (one in which I don't use the internet much, if at all. Try a remote island). I always come back with a new mindset; everything I was heavily into before the trip is suddenly perceived as "old." I just quit cold turkey and don't return at all, and it works. That's how I've quit every site I was hooked on in the past.