Adventures in “Elder Delurking”

Lurked on forums like this for 40 years. Every decade I’d post for a while. There are folks my age still sharp enough to contribute on a platform like this. Should we?

My findings:

1. Stay anonymous - there is zero upside to IDing yourself, and major downside. No email, no personal identifiers, fuzz up your stories (as if we need help). Anonymous means you won’t become a target or an intimidation.

2. Post but don’t discuss - one and done. When you engage, you will enrage...yourself. Don’t read any responses. If you’re wrong on details, let the youngsters clean it up. It’s more about making an intellectual market than building a grand cathedral.

3. Upvotes aren’t your friend - don’t “manage” an online persona. Upvote totals show if the voters think you’re OK. Or you share the core values of their cult. Hard to tell sometimes. Channel your inner rebel, and model orthogonality for the young.

4. Keep it positive and kind - your race is almost done, their race has only just begun.

5. Critique, but keep to specifics - and support your criticisms with facts. Wise saws and modern instances. You have the time for it.

6. Perhaps a nice group activity - fun to discuss together a shared response. Easier to ignore downvotes.

The kids need training on critical thinking. There aren’t the cultural taboos against eye-rolling rhetorical devices. Probably because there is no common formal education requirement for rhetoric and media studies in high school. More projection (“this is that, thus saith me”) and “soiled diaper” (“here’s a problem...why isn’t someone else fixing it”) posts/comments, rather fewer facts.

It boils down to the moderators. They do OK here.

Now to return to lurking. Can I contribute my upvotes to charity? Need to get back to that book by sudo-Macarius...