For the Internet Points, obviously.

I have been doing so for more than two thirds of my life (back then it was independent web forums). Hardly know a world in which that isn’t part of my habits.

I do it because it is fun, kills my boredom, gives me meaning in life and often provides intellectual challenge. It also helps others and generally contributes to society by making more information available.

Ideally I’d just lurk but I chip in every now and again to help the place keep ticking over. Without interaction these places would be wastelands.

Thanks for asking the question.

I want this place to be active, so I post things that might be relevant to others. And the little dopamine boost if I notice that something I posted received some upvotes is nice as well.

Everytime I think there’s nothing going on here, I post something myself. Or if the posts I see are mostly negative, I’ll post something positive. Be the change you want to see.

This comic sums it up for me.

Honestly to hang. Its like hanging anywhere. What ya gonna do tonight. ah figure I go hang out at those federation folks.

Because I value community, and I’m not interested in a community filtered through the interests of a profit driven company

This is most my contact with others who read what I read and write what I write or think about what I think about. And, I vent here. Sure. I’ll admit it.

The North American town I now live in is decidedly not like me. I work with youth. I parent young children. 21st century parents, and those who marry into my partners social orbit, need to book engagements five months to a year in advance.

So, this is just easier.

Also: Fuck Reddit. Fuck Xitter. Fuck Meta. That’s the venting. I quit, gave up, or got hacked on all of them. Admittedly, I use WhatsApp to appease my extended family, workplace, and some friends. I’d dip back to T9 SMS if I could.

And I use Bluesky to microblog — keeping a timeline of the tragicomic decline and fall of the Western empire. And books.

I got permbanned from Reddit for anti-Nazi rhetoric lol. This place is nice though. I don’t really want to go back.

The only other social media I regularly participate in is hanging out at a decades-old art-centric chatroom in a niche corner of the internet. It’s just a nice comfort because it’s so small that it’s not on the radar for bots or enshittification.

All of those, subsumed by the intent to be sociable. As an autistic person with my particular set of idiosyncrasies, it’s so much easier and more fun to be sociable in text form than in person.

Generally, I post either hoping to inform others, or be informed by others. Unfortunately, the lack of discussion/activity here is a pretty major disincentive to continue posting.

Same reason I used forums or the tildeverse meet people and give and receive insight from my fellow humans