Generally what I do on HN is write most of a comment, get distracted by something, come back a few minutes later, think 'I don't care enough to finish this thought' and close the window. I find myself doing the same on Twitter fairly often, as well as Reddit, and it's proven an effective way to stop adding worthless noise to the internet. If I'm not really invested in what I'm trying to say, why would anyone else care? If I'm not passionate about writing it why would anyone want to read it?
That 'sober second thought' has saved me maybe an hour a month, if that, but I'm sure it's saved dozens of people a minute or two of mindless tripe each, and that's a pretty big win.
I have found myself typing out responses in an argumentative way more lately that result in me saying "what will this achieve? I've gotten the satisfaction of writing this message, sending it won't really do much." Then just deleting the message and moving on. It's not as satisfying at the time but I'd prefer that over starting pointless arguments.
That 'sober second thought' has saved me maybe an hour a month, if that, but I'm sure it's saved dozens of people a minute or two of mindless tripe each, and that's a pretty big win.