A hello world post

> I’ve always felt a bit guilty. That particular feeling in the gut when you owe something to someone.

So, firstly, everything this guy got was freely given. There was no expectation of reciprocation, so he doesn't owe anyone anything. That's part of the beauty of the internet gift economy.

But, i bet that he has given something back. Maybe not contributing content of his own. But has he ever voted up a post? Voted down a comment? Flagged something? Reported a bug? Enabled usage statistics reporting in some software? All of those are tiny, but non-zero, contributions to making the web better.

Yes, in fact my 2017 website re-write stalled because I wanted to keep a blog, but I'm fundamentally shy about sharing things. These words could have been written by a more confident me. Maybe it's time to have another go.

I have the opposite problem - I worry that I comment too much. It takes a lot of effort for me to recognise which of my opinions are baseless and unworthy (probably most of them), and to leave them unsaid.

> Do you ever feel guilty being a lurker?

Well, I expect zero lurkers to actually respond to this, hehe.

In a way, yes. I tell myself somewhat often that I should write more, yet each time I don't. The blog I have sits empty, in large part because I'm not sure how interesting others might find the content.

The internet doesn't create the content, people do. I feel your guilt is misplaced.

You shouldn't be wanting to give back to the internet, you should be wanting to give back to other people.

So long as you're a genuine-at-heart and mindful person, this should be a regular occurrence for you regardless.

Every human interaction you have is an opportunity to give back :)

So when i listen to music you also want me to sing. You have writers and readers, im a reader and a huge fan of writers, who i support when i can.

I only feel guilty when, through hard work, I find a solution to a problem that I couldn't find online... but then I don't publish the problem and solution.

Generally though, I feel I don't have anything profound enough to say to add to the noise that already is the internet. I don't mind people who do add noise (as long as I'm not forced to consume it).

I don't feel guilty, but the topic of writing a blog comes up in my journal quite often.

I have a dev blog I post to every 2-3 months. Nothing regular, but if a thing costs me a lot of time to figure out, I'll write a post and hope it'll save others time when they search for that particular topic.

I think this is really the only way for most people. Nobody knows me, nobody gives a shit about me, why would they follow me as a person?

Giving back to the internet is a good thing, but only if the stuff is read by someone. So either post in a community or have your blog be found through Google.

Everything else is just noise.

The problem I have is that I like consuming information so much more than producing it that I never have the willpower to stop reading, watching videos, etc, and start producing something.

I do feel that I would have a fair amount to share back of what I learn. However, when I think about the limited time we all have to live, and how nasty people can be online for even the most trivial matters, I always reach the conclusion that my time is better spent learning. As an Italian friend of mine used to say, “my objective in life is to die wise”.

I've been a serial lurker on a few internet communities for a long time. On one or two of them, I've gotten over the initial shyness and in one or two cases even become an extremely prolific contributor.

It's quite organic, never a deliberate decision, but I guess if you find a particular community very rewarding over time you may slowly grow comfortable enough to contribute very actively.

I always think about writing a blog. Maybe just rattling about the everyday things I am learning or doing and share it. Just there's a huge mental barrier of "I am still so very novice" and I postpone it to when I will be at some better level. I guess I will say fuck it and start someday.

I lurk on Twitter all the time, but I don't tweet mostly because I don't know what to tweet about, or just forget to do it. When I have some thoughts about something, putting them on the internet is the last thing I remember about. Maybe it's a matter of habit

> Do you ever feel guilty being a lurker?

No, not when it comes to the decision not to have a blog, or a facebook page, or a twitter account, or a non-throwaway HN login.

Others may disagree, but I see profound narcissism in the popularity of these (plat)forms of expression, which are mostly about signalling.

If you feel guilty about "not contributing" then contribute in some meaningful way. Contribute features, support, and/or bug fixes to open-source projects (or start one from scratch if you've an unreachable itch.) Teach people how to do stuff. And have enough self-confidence not to need to "share" literal or metaphorical selfies.

Best to get the first grammatical error out the way early, relieves a lot of pressure :)

Heh, I myself was a very quiet internet persona for most of my life, though I've been on the internet for longer than I remember myself as an adult (my parents first got a dsl in 1998). The last two years though... I've been personally affected by Canada quietly denying renewing work permits to a hundred or so Russian nationals and I began to turn way more emotional in internet conversations since then.

When I was a child, I was of no high opinion of 30+ plus adult men with families wasting time on vain talks in place where their opinion mean nothing. Now, I myself will soon become one of them.

How ironic.