What is the role of the OP in post comments on any social platform?
What is the role of the OP in post comments on any social platform?
Something feels different about people's reactions to an OP in comments IMO. It is not always a thing, but more of a broad pattern. How do you personally view this? Do you see it too? Do you have some clear picture in mind as to why this difference exists? I have a few ideas, but don't want to taint your takes on the subject.
Well the OP is the one who made the Post so they obviously have more of an interest in the question/topic/image etc. Imagine someone posts a photo of their dog and a comment asks for what kind of dog it is for example. Then you would give a comment of the OP more credence than some person who knows neither the Dog nor OP and only has a single image to go off.
Same with your post here, if you answer to my comment "that's not what I'm asking" I might be more inclined to amend my statement/make another comment than if any "random" that showed up to a thread saying "that's not what OP was asking".
Tl;dr: OP starts a post and might have the most interest/immediate knowledge of the subject matter. I wouldn't say they "own" the post but they just have another relationship than a passerby commenter.
To me, the pattern seems to be that OP comments tend to get less interaction overall, less voting, and less reply engagements. It is almost like there is an expectation that they are a host and not an actively welcomed participant in further conversations on more discussion based posts. I'm not talking about my own in isolation. It seems to be a general pattern with others too. Perhaps it is isolated to the content I am most interested in, but a pattern none the less.
Less so in Lemmy than previous websites, but I still anecdotally find OP comments to get more traction.
I wonder if OP's comments are often clarifications or even polite "thanks, I'll try that!" kinda comments. Which are useful and appreciated, but aren't adding a major new response and so less likely to be upvoted.
Also, people often up vote what they consider the "best" response to the question or issue of the post. And usually OP doesn't provide the best response to their own post.
That’s not what OP is asking
I'd say it varies based on the community/topic. Is the subject about the OP, or is it just sharing content?
Like, a question thread vs a news thread. In the question thread, it makes a lot of sense, you're trying to answer/solve the question. For news, I guess the motive for posting it can make OP a bit more important than the rest of the comments, or not.
But also, I'd imagine that the mere fact that OP comments are distinguished in some way by color or labeling brings more attention to it which in turn is more likely to be interacted with.
If I'm asking a question, I only comment to thank users for particularly helpful answers, clarify the question, or ask for clarification on confusing answers. Otherwise I risk guiding discussion and getting lopsided answers or justifying accusations of agenda-pushing. If it's a general question and I'm answering it personally, I'll leave my own answer as a comment rather than in the textbox, so votes on my answer aren't lumped with votes on my question.
If I'm sharing content, I try to engage with all replies if substance, since I shared it with the goal of discussing it.
If I made a shitpost that people liked I will continue to shitcomment.
I think you're right. There's this sense that you need to strike a balance between introducing and participating in a discussion, but not monopolizing it or monologuing. I think it depends on the topic, too.
I wrote more, but just ended up saying the same thing as someone else here. Suffice to say, I try not to comment on my own posts unless I'm responding to a specific comment because I've probably already made my points in the post text.
It depends where I am. Here, I generally upvote comments and try to ask questions that lead to deeper conversation. In contrast, I've seen a lot of people not participate at all. I find that to be rude since, if I'm asking a question, I feel that the responders deserve some form of attention.
I have no stance on this subject. I am sorry 😂