In the end, short of asking for e-mail receipts, which many consider rude, our only hope seems to lie in philosophical repositioning. I acquired some of that entity when [P.M. Forni] told me that, online, “we communicate because we can and not because we have something important to say.”
“We invest in the swapping of trivialities,” he said, “precious time that we could use for serious reflection. I want to believe that when we stumble upon black holes of silence on the net, that depends at least in part on someone reacting against the tyranny of hyperconnection.
“There must be brave and smart souls who came to realize that thinking is more important than communicating,” he continued. “I see them in my mind’s eye a brave minority, sitting in silence, pondering and planning — the way it used to be.”
I like this guy's style.
Superbly written article by the way. Thanks for sharing @chaosmachine.
I am guessing people downvoted you because you just included excerpts from the article and said "superb" etc. Your comment did not add any value. Hence the downvotes.
I highlighted an interesting part of a 2 page long article, pointing out it's worth the read, for those who skipped the article or part of it. I believe it does add value. I understand not voting up, but voting down without any explanation isn't constructive.
Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy the quality of top hn comments in general, and we have to thank 'moderators' for that.
I didn't downmod, so I can't say why others did it. But if I were to think of a reason: your comment did not add anything new to the discussion. The section quoted was in the relatively short article anyways. I guess quoting could be forgiven if one were to say something about it, reflect upon it, expand it, or confront it. Your comment felt like a long 'me-too' http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/me-too
I discovered a little while ago that it's hazardous to post opinions, because of 'random drive-by downvoters'. In a sense, these are the real trolls: misusing the voting system... to what end? Or is it just sheer laziness?
Downvoting should be employed against spammers or trolls; for everything else, write a sensible reply!
“We invest in the swapping of trivialities,” he said, “precious time that we could use for serious reflection. I want to believe that when we stumble upon black holes of silence on the net, that depends at least in part on someone reacting against the tyranny of hyperconnection.
“There must be brave and smart souls who came to realize that thinking is more important than communicating,” he continued. “I see them in my mind’s eye a brave minority, sitting in silence, pondering and planning — the way it used to be.”
I like this guy's style.
Superbly written article by the way. Thanks for sharing @chaosmachine.