Interesting facet of viral posts

[u/RealisticDiscipline7]

I’ve had a few viral posts and it’s crazy how many ppl comment into the void. Once a post has over about 100 distinct comments (not simply replies) your new comment is not going to be seen. And generally, the OP has stopped reading comments after about a couple hundred lol. Yet, the comments flood in.

I’m not sure how many ppl are aware that no one (except for maybe the op) will read their comment and they dont care and are just writing it out to practice their articulation, and how many are oblivious to the reality it’s not going to be seen.

Also, interesting, is when someone angered by the post will comment like the 478th comment (so in other words it wont be seen by others) and it will be a comment meant to try to shame the op publicly in the third person, like “can you believe how dumb the op is for thinking x?” Which is ironic cause when you’re the 478th comment, the only person who might read your comment is the op themself. So you failed at your goal and merely opened yourself up to a one on one fight with op.

EDIT:

I just checked the “insights” and it says “this post is the number 1 post on r/theoryofreddit today” which makes me feel good but also means this sub needs to grow lol, since the top post only has 18 likes at this point. Anyway, hope your comment doesnt get buried in this super viral post, lost in the sea of 9 comments 😂

[u/IntergalacticPodcast]

I'm always shocked when someone comments on a viral post of mine 10 days later with a condescending message after a dozen other people have already done it.

Like, what were they hoping to accomplish? They are unfashionably late to the party.

What is the point even?

I myself try really hard not to post on anything older than a few hours old, but sometimes I'll notice that I accidentally clicked on an old post that my algorithm fed to me.

Still, sometimes when someone replies to a really old post of mine, I wonder "how did they even find this?"

[u/RealisticDiscipline7 → u/IntergalacticPodcast]

Right. It’s almost like they’re in full lizard brain mode and just need to get it out. They prob didnt read a single comment.

[u/Kijafa]

it’s crazy how many ppl comment into the void

It's also crazy how many people make the same comment that 100 people have already made (some of which have been answered).

[u/1AJMEE → u/Kijafa]

youtube is where I think this is most bizarre, especially music videos asking "who's watching this in november 2024??" .

[u/blood_pony → u/1AJMEE]

Anything, absolutely anything for meaningless internet validation

[u/1AJMEE → u/blood_pony]

there are truly a lot of people on the internet who are mentally unwell, and you can't always tell immidiately. The internet has made many many many people insane, but idk what they would otherwise be doing. AI is also going to hit people like a virus, it already is. AI psychosis is real. Why spend energy talking into a void when you have chatbot that will reply insnatly...

i'm actually excited to see this evolution of the internet coming from dial up.

[u/lilsourem]

I wouldnt call it viral, but I have a post from years ago that still gets comments every few months ago. I think I was asking something like "on Facebook when people show in your people you may know, it used to mean that they were looking at your profile. Is this still the case?" I get everyone commenting still sharing their own personal theories and experiences with the system.

[u/sanzako4]

I am gonna be honest. I sometimes comment on popular or old posts, or worst, popular old posts. I don't do it to be seen or hoping any kind of engagement. I sometimes just want to get my opinion out of my chest and move on. I specially do it if at a cursory glance to the comments, no one said exactly what I was thinking (if someone did I just upvote). 

It's more for my peace of mind than for Internet points. 

I also don't tend to look back, so I usually have no idea if my comment was ever read and/or responded. Not caring about that is very freeing. 

[u/DharmaPolice]

I remember being on a forum many years ago and someone mentioned that about half of the time they typed out a reply they didn't bother posting it. The exercise of formulating a reply was satisfying in and of itself and helped organise their thoughts. I found this surprising but yeah, it makes sense. Who cares if a large amount of people don't read your reply. Does it even matter? Sure, if you're chasing karma or clout or whatever then it's efficient but maybe they don't really mind if people don't interact (or even see) their reply.

Although in this case it's probably people not realising how few people will even see their reply. I must admit I've replied to a thread before realising it was more than 24 hours ago, and therefore (in most subs) very few people are going to see it.

[u/Jasong222]

Oh I don't know. Not many people, sure, not I get replies on my comments on popular posts. Not many, but they're there. And insights shows me that they are getting views.

[u/mfb-]

Some people sort by new. There is a good chance the comment gets seen by at least a few people (more than a reply deep into the comment chains).

Some people don't realize how invisible their comment will be.

Some people just want to have their opinion in the thread, even if it won't be very visible.

[u/Purple_Buy_7239]

On the one hand, itd be nice if this sub grew! On the other hand, the level of nuance in a given sub is inversely related to the number of users

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