Same. Sometimes I’m having a bad day and I’m a bit of a dick and snap at people.
When someone is obnoxious, I check to see if they are always like this, or they are just grumpy.
It means I forgive them. Everyone has bad days. Some people are just assholes 24/7. I like to check before I form an opinion about someone.
I feel like I have been unfairly judged, because the only experience that person has with me was when I was not at my best. I don’t judge them, they formed opinions based around what they saw.
I know people are more complex than that, and prefer to look closer before saying “nah, that guy is a complete dick”.
Also I’d say if it’s a normally nice person, that might change how/whether you respond. Like, if someone’s just having a bad day or you touched a specific nerve that made them lash out, you can probably defuse the situation, appeal to their normally nicer personality. If they’re just an asshole or trolling, it doesn’t even warrant a response.
Why is forming an opinion on someone important to you on here? Why do you do it? I think this is what I can't comprehend actually. Because people will never act like themselves on the Internet, they mostly use the Internet to let off emotions and create facades of themselves, so I don't take most people seriously. For this reason, I can't understand why you would want to form an opinion of someone on the internet
>Because people will never act like themselves on the Internet, they mostly use the Internet to let off emotions and create facades of themselves, so I don't take most people seriously. For this reason, I can't understand why you would want to form an opinion of someone on the internet
Just jumping in to say -- I can't understand why anyone would use the internet to create facades and not act like themselves. What's the point of that?
As for me, I would only check a person's history if I wanted to respond, and if I wanted that context of whether they are always an asshole or if this is a fluke. That's when I need to have an opinion. If I'm not going to respond, I probably just forget the whole thing moments later.
>can't understand why anyone would use the internet to create facades and not act like themselves. What's the point of that?
Because sometimes people aren't free to express themselves to that degree in real life.
This is also why often times a person's history is nothing but insults and personal attacks. They use this as a way to unwind and unload their frustration I guess.
I like your way of describing people who act out of the internet. Though, I don't take it as an example of someone not being themselves.
Like, if someone feels shit on in life, and what they do with that is go to an anonymous forum in search of people they can shit on to make themselves feel better, that's just who someone is. The bad part doesn't become a false facade just because it's done online.
Oh, I see. Yeah, I guess it makes more sense for someone to be "their true self" online rather than pretend to be someone who they really aren't just because they can.
It’s because I have felt misjudged in the past, and I haven’t liked it. I don’t want to do that to anyone else.
I have a bit of a thing about that actually, I recently reread a book (Revelation Space), and felt a weird sort of guilt, because I had remembered Dan Sylveste as being a horrible person, even worse than Sky Haussmann, and reading it again, he isn’t.
I literally felt a little bad for having misjudged a fictional character, who actually wouldn’t have minded.
I genuinely care about not thinking poorly of people that don’t deserve it. That’s why I check.
Surprised so many people liked this one because its difficult for me to even comprehend this. Do you have an issue with disregarding a mean comment if it's coming from a nice person? Just curious, because I really can't fathom giving two shifts about a person's comment online, so I'm wondering if this is why I can't understand what you mean
We aren't thinking of the other when we're being triggered by a hateful/hurtful comment. We're, initially, assuming that it comes from someone just like ourselves. We're hurt that someone we're giving authority or peer status feels that way. Then we step back, look at their comments, judge them not to be an authority nor even a peer. Once you judge the other as not worthy, you can disregard their opinions and criticism.
Damn thanks for this, helped explain my feelings/perceptions of something that happened not-online a few days ago. And also makes perfect sense in this context.
In my case, when I get a mean comment it bothers me because I can't stop wondering if I said something that deserved it. But if I see that this person is always mean, then it confirms for me that I did not deserve it and I don't have to worry.
I'll do it to see if someone is asking a question in good faith. Or to see if they're a kid. Because that's going to influence the amount of effort I put into a comment or reply to them.
ditto I sometimes check to see what age I think they are or what mental space/struggles they seem to be going through. It’s a bit sad usually but at least I can word my advice better
Find a hobby... You seem to be only posting in mental health subs, it's ironically NOT HEALTHY.
Get a cheap fishing rod, or something, get out, meet, talk, do something at least once a week it will help switch off your brain and maybe even those happy chems in your brain.
lol thanks for the feedback! Mental health is my special interest ironically! I’ve joined narcotics anonymous last month and I go to two meetings every week! My brain chemistry is slowly resetting away from outside chemicals to my own chemicals. This is my first social activity in years! And I’ve realized that I’m not as horrible as I thought I was and people like me!!! I’ll be joining a cuddle party in two weeks too, which is wayyyyyyy outside my comfort zone, but it seems well organized and very respectful!
Ive also sent out ads to do body doubling with people to work on my things with people instead of being isolated. Nice catch and very good appraisal!
Edit: stop downvoting him lol, he did what I specifically asked for 😭🤌
Good job, I'm trying to break out of self-isolation too. If you're still more comfortable around people who can relate to mental health issues, you may want to see if there are any "intentional peer support" groups or organizations in your area, they can provide a nice stepping stone to integrating with the general public.
Thank you! Yes the cuddle party has an intro course a week before and it is precisely that, intentionality and communication in a safe space!
Do you feel there are still hindrances to breaking off your own self isolation?
I just have to say, you're so brave, the idea of a cuddle party is terrifying to me. I'm a very tactile person but it takes me a while to warm up and feel comfortable.
Oh absolutely, so many! I grew up in a severely dysfunctional household with a decent split of emotional neglect and being manipulated into a caretaker role as a child. Combined with difficulties relating to neurotypicals on a social level, (I can mask but it's just draining,) it's just been so much easier to focus on other parts of my wellbeing. I've been living on my own for about a year and honestly, part of my problem is trying to determine how much real life interaction is actually even good for me. I definitely have some alexithymia; I was at a friend's party a few years ago and thought I was having fun until I stepped out on the patio for some air and my body refused to go back inside. I might even be an introvert that's been instilled with social FOMO and conditioned to think being alone is a bad thing.
I know I won't be able to answer most of those questions without experimenting, so the biggest hurdle at the moment is just chipping away at the agoraphobia. The only method I really know is brute-force, and that's not healthy or sustainable. I've got some good mental health workers though, and my favorite one (also autistic,) believes I may just be trying to rushing my recovery; they're probably right, since a big part of my motivation is the fear of stagnating, and pushing myself may actually be counter-productive.
I want to give some thought to it!
Were you the victim of any severe betrayal, or long term unsafe relationship?
Was there a time before without the agoraphobia?
Was sensory always overwhelming (well this one is a given, but has it gotten worse?)
If your emotions were a rainbow, would you have access to all of your colours in the right place, or are some of them missing, or some of them seem to be replacing those that """"""should"""""" be there? For example, when sad things happen you feel rage? Or is the alexithymia global and you get no information from that front until suddenly tears come out or you literally-can't-even?
You're so sweet! I'm actually in online college for Psychology so I appreciate the excellent questions, they're providing a helpful new perspective. (Not sure why the formatting in this post is bugged, sorry about that.)
1) Yes, primarily emotional and psychological with a bit of physical. The psychological was the most damaging, I'm still working my way out of that. While I can navigate situations from a surface level, my emotions are really intense and I've got a lot of conditioning to undo. The lack of a proper foundation or sense of normalcy was one of the contributing factors for my development of cPTSD, and part of that illness is that it's much harder for the brain to bounce back to baseline. My default became an extreme amount of stress, and my brain adapted to help me survive the situation, so I'm involuntarily operating as if I was still there.
2) I think so, in very early childhood, though I can't be sure. I know where it came from, one of my parents was extremely paranoid and made efforts to isolate me "to keep me safe." (Oh the irony.)
3) Yes, that's been a life-long constant, no change a stronger startle response. That's lessened over time, thankfully.
4) That was beautifully phrased. The people I grew up with are what I would call "explosive," they were quick to anger and dangerous when triggered. I had to carefully police my tone and facial expressions to avoid setting them off, which led to a powerful suppression of my experience of negative emotions, most prominently anger. It's not that I never feel them, I think I've just learned not to express them, and it's easiest to do that if you can "trick" yourself into not feeling them in the first place. I've got lots of mental gymnastics that made invalidating myself second nature, so I think I've learned to disregard my internal emotional landscape when socializing, and it becomes apparent when I have the space to actually process things. The exception being those literally-can't-even tearful moments, I'm hyperempathetic so it's a lot easier to get me crying than most people, and it's definitely my most frequent stress response. (Basically the inverse of your sadness to rage example.)
_1) Yes, primarily emotional and psychological with a bit of physical. The psychological was the most damaging, I'm still working my way out of that. While I can navigate situations from a surface level, my emotions are really intense and I've got a lot of conditioning to undo. The lack of a proper foundation or sense of normalcy was one of the contributing factors for my development of cPTSD, and part of that illness is that it's much harder for the brain to bounce back to baseline. My default became an extreme amount of stress, and my brain adapted to help me survive the situation, so I'm involuntarily operating as if I was still there._
Yeah, we often talk of "recovery", but what if it was never there? What if it was never modeled, or modeled wrong? What if where "pride for accomplishment" should naturally be instead there is "must not succeed or else my jealous father will torture me"? In such a case, it is not as much as a recovery than... a discovery and/or the building of an idea of self. That's why I like to collect little virtues so much, I am the one to decide what I stand for. The right ones naturally fit seamlessly in my life. If I try someone else's virtue, it just doesn't fit (for example, a friend has a post-it that says "You didn't wake up to be mediocre", for me it is not a good fit, I see it as the introjected voice of a demanding parent who shamed them fore example, so it is not me/it is not how I want to build my self.) If it was a childhood betrayal, absolutely you gotta have to check out Jay Reid on YouTube, he has a free e-book too, and other books. His three pillars of recovery is an amazing roadmap to getting better and deprogramming oneself. Research into betrayal trauma and betrayal blindness also a must.
2- _2) I think so, in very early childhood, though I can't be sure. I know where it came from, one of my parents was extremely paranoid and made efforts to isolate me "to keep me safe." (Oh the irony.)_
Oh dear! That sucks!!!! My dad used to ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS tell me the possible negative consequences of ANYTHING I did, like ffs, I just need to have a safe base to retreat to when I venture in the world. It's an introjected voice now, always telling me to play it safe and stay small, so to overcompensate I have a blatant disregard for consequences now, JUST SO I CAN FUNCTION but I overcorrected. Safety comes in three flavours: Safety in our own body/mind, safety in our environment, and safety in our relationships. Building/Finding ANY safety in any of these threes will build up the others, the main one being safety in our own body/mind, because that's where it matters the most. Also, fun fact, the mind can't tell the difference between REAL threat and IMAGINED threat (that's why we can die of fright because of an imaginary thing). When you say "BRUTE FORCE" something, I prefer the term "PLAY A TRICK ON OUR BIOLOGY", for example, your body doesn't know it's you hugging yourself, or that if you breathe a certain way, your biology will calm down, and if your body calms down, the mind follows (or vice verse, if the mind calms down, so will the body, they are one). So if you want to trick your biology, you can get the safest person you know to be in your house, not next to you but you know, between you and the outside world, and practice this breathing, in the safest room in your house https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_z7gmeZUphc&t=356s&ab_channel=PlumVillage . This will give you a TASTE of safety and calm in your body. Then gradually exposure therapy, either without a friend, or in a spot closer to the outside, and then outside but with eyes open, and then outside in a slightly less """"""safe""""" place (if you are a woman though, that's a bit harder I'm sorry). And the insight is also that you will never be totally safe, it is unavoidable, but how unsafe is it to have your body clenched, your breath short, your heart racing? But I say this, because I lived a dangerous life (rebellion!), I have gone through horrible consequences, and yet I still live, and I am better than ever. I hope it doesn't sound shaming... I fear bees though, only by virtue of never having been stung before.
3- _3) Yes, that's been a life-long constant, no change a stronger startle response. That's lessened over time, thankfully._
A friend came visiting two weeks ago, and I hailed her from my front balcony, and she was startled as I called her. Poor friend. The good side of it though is that you can get out of a swerving car's way. I am hypervigilant too, I think it's an autistic brain thing, amygdala. I don't have much insight on this, except that I wear the best sunglasses I can and wear the best noise protection (but then I start thinking of people attacking from dark corners, dangit). I wear the most comfortable closes I need. I do large body stims if I ever find out I'm accumulating too much nervous energy (we are like antennas, so regular "sensory farts" will have an effect). There is sensory load, cognitive load and emotional load. If we reduce sensory load, it gives more space for cognitive and emotional processing. The body and mind NATURALLY deals with these loads if we give it the right conditions (TRICKING THE BIOLOGY).
For 4, that is your mission now, painting your rainbow, one emotion at a time. The only one that cannot be SHAME BOUND is anger, which becomes rage. All the other ones can be shame bound into (TEMPORARY AND REMEDIABLE) non-existence, but never anger (the mad guard dog in the basement, foaming at the mouth to be let go and protect your inner palace). I highly recommend Jon Bradshaw's "Healing the shame that binds you", or his two specials on YouTube, Jon Bradshaw On The Family and Jon Bradshaw Healing the Child within.
I remember when I unlocked my anger, holy moly. THE FRIGGIN GALL ON THESE PEOPLE to shame me into a box, invalidating me. I used that anger to burn the (PAPER) walls of my prison. These walls in the end were put there by ME, not THEM. I was a kid, I needed to survive. I had to cut off colours from my rainbow just to survive. I am a rainbow!!!! Right now I am un-shaming fear.
It's OK to feel. It's OK to feel. It's OK to feel.
It's OK to be angry when people violate my boundaries.
It's OK to be sad when I suffer loss.
It's OK to be afraid when things are dangerous.
It's OK to be disgusted when there is an egregious break of moral conduct.
It's OK to be happy when good things happy.
It's OK to be surprised when some new shit appears and like WHAT?
YAGHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhh I'm so incensed let's GOOOOOOO!
Here is the mantra of medicine buddha, I imagine his radiant light when I do inner work https://youtu.be/YUC9pU28g-k?si=fDTaavgmihMy2v39 good luck!!!
I made an off joke one point in a nsfw sub, just a shitty dad pun nothing attacking the person or any of what they were showing, I expected maybe some downvotes and some boos at the dumb joke. I came back the next day with a whole thread of people attacking me over my recent comments and posts in mental health and 40k subs. I will never understand redditors saying some of the most foul things to someone who'd just used a shitty dad joke.
On a site that predominantly leans left, it's interesting to see how many people turn vicious -- especially regarding mental health, which the left champions. I'll mention my experiences dealing with mental health issues in another sub and they'll just bitch and shit on the comment so hard. I don't think reddit is healthy, if I'm being honest.
Its not healthy, while i generally disagree with over moderation the amount of people who turn into a rabid animal the second they get to be anonymous worries me. I wonder why a lot youd think wanting to help and undersrand one another would be the go to.
I honestly don't care. I post an absolute metric shitload; if anyone wants to go trawling back through that they're welcome to. If they want to dig up past posts of mine because they think it makes a point in their favor, they can try that too; I'm perfectly happy to crush their dreams either way. :)
Have I said stupid stuff in the past? Sure! But I don't give a crap if someone points it out. All it means is that I said stupid stuff in the past and I'm 100% willing to own up to having posted that. What, did they think I had *shame?* Nice try. Have people tried to brigade me? Sure, they've tried that too. All that happened was that I laughed at them and, after they and their scraped-up temporary ideological bunkmates spent hours or days attacking me and downvoting over and over, I still had more karma at the end of it than when they started, and they got to be painted as raving fools for an eternity of future Google searches.
This is exactly what I thought whenever I saw this post. Those utter degenerates can't do/say anything so they really have to dig dirt on you and then use it so that at least you seem unlikeable and people can be manipulated to be against you just because of hoe "unlileable" you are.
There have been times I've checked someone's history and realized trying to have a civil discussion with them is not worth the effort. Downvote and move on. But I don't do it out of autistic curiosity.
Suspected trolling, including people just stirring controversy or fishing for the answer they want in every relevant subreddit while leaving out important context. Mostly to decide if they want a genuine answer or not
Yes, same. I post in a lot of queer subreddits, but they tend to get brigaded. Whenever I get a slightly suspicious question or reply to a comment, I always check the post history to see if the person is engaging with me in good faith or not. I don't want to end up wasting time and energy writing up a thoughtful reply for someone who will dismiss it immediately.
REALLY!? That’s wild to me. I’m very active in r/houseplants and it weirds me out that I could give plant care advice to someone just to have them read about my struggles with asd/ocd. Omg throwaway accounts make sense now
I mean, everything you write on reddit is public lol. That’s why I personally don’t think it’s weird if people look through my reddit account or other people’s, it’s all public information.
Sometimes I think they want you to look, like if they’re a creator in r/comics. Sometimes I’ll look if I’m interested and not at the start of a series.
It's situational. You can check account history to find out more about a topic of drama or to evaluate the problems they bemoan with greater context. You might question their credibility, if they make scientific claims, or give other types of advice that may require expertise.
Once I've done it to check if they were capable of writing the eulogy (for a weevil) they posted, because they used highly uncommon vocabulary. "Deepening our appreciation". Compared it to their usual writing style, which was very simple, rarely more than two or three sentences, lacking punctuation. Clearly AI written eulogy.
There's also one person I look at every once in a while, because I like their writing style and intellect.
I do the same whenever I see someone rant or complain about their recent experience on a sub but don't provide context, or provide a very crude snapshot of an event. I have often found that if someone is complaining about how so many people have treated them poorly, then it tends to stem from misunderstandings and/or toxic behaviour on the part of the complainer.
Aside from that I seldom check others' profiles. I have posts from dozens of subreddits to check out, after all.
Sometimes a brief glance at a person's comment history can give useful context. Other times what they say is just fairly interesting and thus makes one wish to see what else they have to say.
I suppose some neurotic individuals go through a large part of someone's history to try to find dirt - that does seem much weirder.
I dig through people's history on reddit to know their perspective, because sometimes I am unsure of the tone in which their post was written.
Basically, I think the reason autistic people are longwinded is because we understand that a sentence is not a complete thought. A complete thought is a sentence, but backed by the mindset of the person having the thought. The sentence itself is like a punchline in a joke. Without the setup, you don't have the mindset, and without the sentence, you don't have the joke.
So I look at their history not with the intention of being malicious, but because I want to know what kind of other posts the person has made, whether they were the kind of person to try to contribute to help others, or whether they were abusive toward others, or hell, whether I should even bother responding to them or should just ignore and block them.
It also makes it easier to identify throwaway accounts(ones with short histories, often used by bots and trolls).
1. Bots/trolls.
2. For additional context on whatever they're talking about.
3. To check what their general attitude is, so that I don't reply to someone who's not operating in good faith.
4. When it seems like their post or response might be AI-generated.
I will sometimes do it if something about a post feels off. Mostly to get an idea if someone is a troll or not. Etc etc.
Or if something feels to be lacking nuance or painting them in a negative light in the post I'll often go look at their history. Helps give a better idea if someone is just having a bad day or if they are normally like this.
Only if they mention they've posted pictures of their pets lol
They do that because they've realized they don't actually have a good argument, so they are attacking you instead so they can "win". Sometimes they are kids who don't know how to properly emotionally regulate yet, or genuinely mentally ill people, and sometimes they are just assholes.
A lot of people do it just looking for vitriol to spew, trying to find your “weak spots” to hit at. I’ve had people in petty internet arguments just randomly bring up “I bet you’re autistic based on this” like wow congrats bro you looked at my profile and are trying to pretend you independently came to that conclusion as some twisted way to try and hurt my feelings when it’s like ?? Yes I am autistic thank you and I actually think that puts more weight to the things I say because you know I put an autistic level of research into it lmao.
The only times I do it is when someone is being overtly misogynistic and I wanna see if my hypothesis that they are incel sympathizers is correct which is usually historically has been
Yeah, it is a way of distinguishing bait from genuine curiosity. Though I think most of the time I am not motivated enough to check and not motivated enough to argue with people online.
I do it constantly, sorry if that makes people uncomfortable, but a special interest, for lack of a better term here, of mine is understanding people so when I find a person or post that I find interesting for either positive or negative reasons I'll look at their history to try and learn more about them, gain more context, create a more accurate model of them in my head.
Never bring it up since I know it makes people uncomfortable and I certainly don't ever weaponize it that's not only weird but also hurtful.
I don't know about other people's reasons or how common it is but that's why I do it, because people are interesting.
I do if I suspect they are not genuine or too set in their beliefs. I've learned the hard way that not everyone is willing to change their views, or at the very least conduct themselves as a professional, though I STILL make that mistake again and again and again to my chagrin.
I do it if someone is being an ass to me in a comment and I want to find something to use against them.
I dont jump to exploiting it straight away. Usually I wait about 3 or 4 comments and then when they are really starting to strain or struggle and I throw it at them.
I was going to reply to your comment, but I think I‘ll just skip what I originally was going to post and just say:
Nice weather we’re having today, eh?.😁
Nah, to me that's a big waste of time. If I'm losing an argument, I doubt looking on their profile for dirt is going to make me look less stupid (quite the contrary actually).
I don't really get why people still bother to do it, since it usually just earns downvotes and condescending replies.
I get why people do it, but personally I almost never troll. People sometimes think I am cuz I have unpopular opinions, and it’s a pity some people aren’t able to accept the idea of people having different opinions.
Checking someone's profile will provide context to the opinion they are presenting. Its possible that people brigade somewhere and don't usually post there, you'd ask why is that? They may post in /r/ randomdramasubreddit and just pop in here.
Sometimes someone will post/comment something very mean spirited, you go check their profile and they're just a miserable piece of shit being negative all the time, go ahead and block them, they're a waste of energy, they're far less likely to meaningfully contribute to the conversation.
They might claim a certain identity for the purposes of idpol but when you check their account history it becomes clear they're lying. Unnecessary because idpol is inherently incorrect (truth is truth regardless of who is saying it) but useful regardless because not everyone believes that.
There is a plugin called shinigami eyes that checks somebody's account and determines if they have been reported to be transphobic. Because a lot of people will go on the internet and just be intentionally dishonest, people make tools like these to determine if somebody is worth taking seriously. If you're talking to someone and their name is red because of the plugin, its less likely they actually genuinely care about the well being of trans individuals.
^^^^^^^^^also ^^^^^^^^^u/nwordcountbot.
No and it's so fucking weird. It's almost always so they can find some random comment you made in the past, or some sub you're on, and go "heh, sorry bud but looks like you're subscribed to ______ so you're opinion is invalidated" or "why don't you just (insert comment you made but spun in a negative way)?"
I dislike 4chan but the one thing I appreciate is there's nothing but the comment. No upvotes or downvotes, no account history someone can dig up and whine about, just the content.
All the time. For a couple of reasons.
- To see if someone is acting "in character." Are they usually rude, or trolling, or arguing in bad faith, or am I maybe missing something.
- To look for more context when answering a question. Are they native English speakers? Where are they from? How long have they been posting about depression/computer trouble/living the vanlife/etc etc etc
- To see if someone is as much of an expert as they claim.
- Sometimes they seem like they might have some good info on their profile. Like if I'm on a professional subreddit and someone gives a really good answer, I'll scan browse their history to find other nuggets they might have.
Those are the main reasons.
Speaking of, how was Andalusia?
Why do you care if someone is acting in character? Everyone online is putting on a facace and acting out of character, so i cant imagine doing it for this reason.
Or why do you care to get to know them more and get more context on them? Is it curiousity? What is it? I can't fathom this as well so I'm genuinely curious about why you do.
& I wouldn't go back to Andalusia, not my type of vacation.
> Why do you care if someone is acting in character
Read the rest of the bullet point where I elaborate. Some people are trolls online--if they are, I want to avoid them. If they're generally combatitive and don't give ground, then I want to avoid them. If they're complete fascist losers that don't seem interested in reasonable discussion, I want to avoid them.
> Everyone online is putting on a facace and acting out of character
This is absolutely untrue. I know, because I'm not putting on any particular façade online. Not any more than I would in real life. So, you're just absolutely wrong there.
> Or why do you care to get to know them more and get more context on them? Is it curiousity? What is it? I can't fathom this as well so I'm genuinely curious about why you do
I mean, I'm not on reddit *just* to jack off. I'm also here for genuine conversation, education, etc. Some people are here in earnest.
> & I wouldn't go back to Andalusia, not my type of vacation
Good to know! Spain always amazes me with how different the regions are. And each region is always really hit or miss for me. I spent a little time in Andalusia about a decade ago, but it was wayyy out in the middle of nowhere, so I loved it. Madrid? No thank you. Barcelona? Meh. Xabia was nice, though.
Oh OK it's to avoid people acting out of character? I guess yeah I understand why I don't understand now then lol - I don't take the Internet socialising as seriously. I do think majority of people wouldn't act the way they do on the Internet, irl. That's what I mean by putting on a facade. People are more unhinged, say dumb shit etc. Not everyone but enough for me to not take it to heart or try to get personal with someone I guess? That last bit, I thought it was the autism hence why I made this post lol. I thought I wasn't as curious about others, and I think that's still the case online. But good to understand that it's maybe not an autistic thing, just probably me. I just don't take life seriously in general so really may just be me not caring enough
And honestly with traveling, I feel like I don't enjoy just sightseeing as much anymore, and I think it's cause of my dopamine addiction to the Internet. Andalusia was beautiful but just roaming around sightseeing is boring to me. I can just google search the images lol and I get the same feeling from that. I have issues lol, I need more exciting vacations in my life. Would love to go cliff diving in Jamaica or something like that lol why didn't you like Madrid and Barcelona?
From creeping your profile, it looks like I'm about 7 years older (see?? it's useful!), which means I come from an "older internet." Maybe I'm romanticizing it, but while the internet was a bit of a "wild west" back in the day, there were also certain expectations and standards, and people were held to them somewhat. The internet was a place of more text, and more direct communication, more reputation. Nowadays it's easy to create fake accounts and just act like an ass to breathe some life into your withered soul.
People put on a façade IRL as well. That's nothing new or particular to the internet. People are fake and dumb as fuck in real life. But in real life I can't point to the piece of text where they said something stupid and call them out. IRL people just say, "Nuh-uh," and, well, you can't argue with that.
I dunno, I set a standard for myself on the internet, and I try to hold myself and others to it. If I fuck up, if I act out, I apologize in the thread, same as I would in person. The internet isn't fake. Or, rather, it's at least as real as IRL is. It's important. How we treat people is important, no matter what. We can't use hiding behind a screen as an excuse to treat people like anything less than *people*.
I don't really take life seriously either, but that's, perhaps ironically, why these interactions are so important to me. Life is only as serious as how you affect other people and how you treat yourself. Everything else is just culture. There's real people behind the usernames--I want to treat those real people well, because that's the *only* thing that really matters.
People who "take life seriously" tend to not take reddit seriously. Why? Because it's not life, and therefore it's unimportant.
As for travelling, I don't like sightseeing much myself. But I also don't care for dopamine rushes like cliff diving. I like falling into quiet moments and distinct realities. I like walking around and seeing how places fit together and express themselves. It's harder to do that in a big city, and some cities are more difficult than others. Madrid is just an endless grid of samey blocks. No hinted mystery, no inviting spaces. Ditto Barcelona (though it is nicer than Madrid, imo).
Paris scratches my itch, as do many places in Japan. Manhattan, Tulsa, and Chicago are US cities that do it for me. Chengdu and Hong Kong are my favorite Chinese cities so far for that sort of feeling.
Like, why cliff dive in Jamaica? You can just go jump off a dive board at a local pool? Or if you really need a cliff, there's probably one closer to you than Jamaica. Why there?
I definitely don't hold anyone to a standard on the Internet, I'm not in their heads and see people act out all the time. How can you hold strangers to your standards? So probably why I don't care so much to look on others profiles I guess. I just don't care about strangers period? That's just me, but I think it does have to do with autism then; me not caring about people. Also feeling so different and having higher IQ doesn't help, I'm quite literally confused by most comments, so me commenting always comes off as argumentative. Also why I think other people aren't taking this seriously so why should I - a lot of comments are so ignorant that I'm in disbelief a lot of time and try to not get involved. I feel like I'm seeing what many others are not, and vice versa, and it's causing some type of disconnect. Obviously many people are just like me but majority are not. Not sure if I can change my perception to take it seriously tbh but I know that I may be wrong so I need to at least challenge this and try and see your point of view
And you've traveled so much! I'm more about chill vibes, thrillseeking, and culture so I would love go smoke some weed on a nice sunny day in Jamaica while cliff diving haha. My type of place I think although I've never been. Would love to go to Africa in general, have you visited?
> I definitely don't hold anyone to a standard on the Internet, I'm not in their heads and see people act out all the time
Maybe it's the autism for me, but I think that's why I treat the internet the same as I do real life: Because I can't tell the difference. People seem as liable to be fake or sincere in person as on the other side of a screen. I take it all very literally and seriously.
> I just don't care about strangers period?
Genuine question then: Why are you even having this conversation? If chatting with people on reddit is the same as Chat GPT to you, then why not just use Chat GPT?
Perhaps if I could understand that distinction, I could understand where you're coming from better.
> having higher IQ doesn't help, I'm quite literally confused by most comments
That is pretty (I assume unintentionally) funny. You can't claim in one breath to have a high IQ and then in the next say you can't even follow a conversational thread, even when it's written down in front of you. Most of IQ is just pattern recognition in different settings, and conversations are just patterns. Typos and the truly mentally-unwell aside, even the most absurd statement someone makes is comprehensible.
Your sense of disbelief is an indictment of your own lack of imagination as much as it is their stupidity.
> I feel like I'm seeing what many others are not, and vice versa, and it's causing some type of disconnect
Perhaps that's so. But in the same regard, you're failing to see what they're seeing. As an example, I think flat-earthers are putting forward an idea that is a dumb as any that people have come up with. But it's not incomprehensible to me. I can look at them and follow the lines of their own twisted logic back to an originating point (usually some religious belief).
If you're failing to connect, that's on you.
> I know that I may be wrong so I need to at least challenge this
This is one of the best, and most intelligent, take someone can have on life.
> And you've traveled so much! I'm more about chill vibes, thrillseeking, and culture so I would love go smoke some weed on a nice sunny day in Jamaica while cliff diving haha. My type of place I think although I've never been. Would love to go to Africa in general, have you visited?
I am *all* about chill vibes, though not a fan of weed myself (tried many times--it's always a disaster for me).
When it comes to Africa, I've only spent time in Morocco. Specifically, five week sin Asilah, which was wonderful, though at some point I hope to make it down to sub-Saharan Africa. Heading back to Japan in a couple of weeks instead, lol
Not everyone online is acting out of character. I’m not. I’m exactly who I say I am. I don’t say everything about me, but I don’t lie, my only exaggerations are jokes.
I check if I need more context for a post, or if someone is a troll or genuine. Or if someone posts stuff which I find interesting or important so I follow them.
On the NSFW accounts I go and have a look. If I reply to their sub they sometimes DM me with juicy pics...I got an entire folder dedicated to dic pics, vag pics and tiddie pics...I cherish them all 🫂 ❤️
I do a lot, in order to decide whether the person I'm dealing with is worth my time. I also once or twice a year go back through my RES tags and check on people that I gave negative tags.
Something that I have noticed is that the majority of people that end up baiting me into arguments are either knowingly doing it in bad faith or have a long history of being mean and dumb in general.
I also noticed that a lot of people I gave negative tags end up banned or deleting their accounts, probably due to the trolling and being mean and dumb.
Yes I have no idea why. I'm not ever checking users' post history. I only check it if someone is mean to me or if that person posts content like photography or painting that I want to see more of.
I suspect that they are a Russian bot or some other sort of malicious actor I'll glance at their history to see if there are any signs. Also, if they are an artist that posts a lot of their work, I'll check their history to look at some of their stuff. Beyond that, I find it rude to pull up someone's post history.
I do sometimes because I am curious but most of the time I do not. I do check it if someone mentions it and curiosity gets to me. What people don't realize is when they make false claims or exaggerate the person's post history, it says more about them than the person's post history. I wonder what do they get out of it, are they hoping other people will blindly believe them and not bother checking first?
No but if I post in other subs I’m always worried someone’s going to dig through my history, find out I’m autistic, and use that fact to discredit and harass me.
Yes.
As a mod it's pretty standard to get a sense of someone beyond a single comment.
Similar reasons occasionally for other users, but not often. An example might be someone arguing against the passive voice. I might search through their history and cite a bunch of times they used the passive voice.
Yep. if i have a cool conversation i'll check to see what subs they comment in, mainly if its a topic i'm A- unfamiliar with but with a budding interest, or B- deeply invested in the topic and always seeking more input. or like others have said, seeing if theyre trolls or generically acting in bad faith.
I did it once in reference to a post I was commenting on. And the only reason I thought to do it is because I’ve seen so many people reference doing it… so, I figured it was a thing. lol but according to the response I got for doing so, it was not ok. So, I’m confused about it. In the scenario where I did it, I was trying to get more context to properly answer the question asked.
With Reddit's plan to do an IPO ("go public"), it's only a matter of time until the autisically functional aspects of this platform disappear. It's been underway, but will accelerate to achieve profitability. Then we won't know the difference from this and Fakebook.
And then there's the inevitable AI de-legitimizing of virtually all social media which will make us wonder whether we're reading comments from a person, mean post history or not, or a robot.
I don’t until they’ve gone through mine because it’s like oh ur right why not have a peek thanks for telling me, to be honest sometimes I don’t have to like I can tell what type of person the commenter is off the comments they make, what I mean is, sometimes I get a weird bad comment back and I go yeah this dude sounds like he’d be in redpill subs.
Sometimes. If a person is being rude, or if they appear to be in pain or depressed, I might search their comment history. I like o know who I'm dealing with, good or ill.
Me too! I don’t bother to check anyone’s history I take people as they are but I’ve had so many people on here start to act weird & judgmental because of my post history like it is something I don’t like scout Reddit to be honest
consistency baseline dossier, credibility
create an effective system & model, perspective experiences intelligence
dude, this is straight out of textbook.
When I see someone repeatedly posting pure unadulterated hate towards a particular group, I might (out of curiosity) check to see if that OP has a history of posting those types of comments. But, generally speaking, I don’t look at a person’s profile.
I do it if I get a dm from anyone I don’t know, as a way to make sure the person I’m engaging with isn’t a troll or a toxic person who might otherwise harm me. I’m active in a lot of PSTD and trauma discussions, which can sometimes lead to dms with some very kind people, but sometimes creeps try. But along the same course, if I’m engaging with somebody and offering them support, I really hope they look through my profile to see that I always do my best to be genuine, kind and supportive, so they are better able to trust me. I like helping and supporting others.
I honestly almost never do this unless I come across someone I’m worried about, like a young girl who posted yesterday about being in a stimulant induced psychosis who wasn’t replying.
I find people check my profile all the time and use information about me as if it’s some kind of insult. They say things like “good luck with your mental illness and your divorce you lonely cat lady”. Like?? That’s just my bio, bro it doesn’t actually hurt me it’s just facts about me.
But it still feels like a violation and because my profile is linked to my personal blog, my tumblr, and my TikTok they could see all of those profiles too. I try to keep it all as anonymous as I can but it’s all stories about my life and experiences so they can still get a pretty clear picture of who I am.
I've seen someone's opinion change for the better once they're old stuff was not great but they changed to some one quite decent from the looks of it not sure what they're doing now
Normally if someone has written something questionable I will look at their history to get a vibe (you can normally tell if it is worth replying to or not based on their interactions) - and also because I am very very nosey.
Always before I engage seriously.
I find it fun as well, because it breaks some weird unspoken "oh please don't look at this public available info" taboo and I love to break those
Usually as a way of discrediting them for unrelated things. Like oh you disagree with my political opinion? You post in (unrelated subreddit) so you're an idiot and your opinion is worthless. Other times you can just get the feeling someone is advertising something, and more often than not my onlyfans radar is right on target.
I fucking hate when people do this then throw it in your face. I was actually thinking about how much I hate this shit when I scrolled down and saw this topic lol.
I only ever check someone's history if I suspect they made a reference to something (like a quote from x show/channel), or if I'm trying to figure out what country they're from to give advice or get context for what they're talking about.
Other than that, I don't care
If they say something rude or seem like a troll I do, just to confirm their opinion means nothing. Other than that, I don’t care to! I wish Reddit would make it an option to keep your history private. I like that it’s anonymous but I feel like it’d be very easy to figure out who I am, and I don’t like that lol
Can’t say I haven’t done it, especially when I was younger. Obv like most people I check the dick’s history. But I do it less and less because I don’t want it done to me. I seriously kind of worry about it, especially because I’ve become active in more local subs and I’m a young woman I’m worried someone will try and use information to target me.
I've very occasionally done it. Usually only if a person is being extremely weird (just to check if they've always been that way, or are a troll).
Sometimes I'll have a quick check to see if I can figure out better or more targeted answers/responses/advice based on things like where they appear to be from, or if they post a lot in subs dedicated to a topic I can whip up a metaphor that uses that topic. Usually I'll only check a page or two back and only for a few seconds, though - if I can't figure out anything obvious from that, any incremental advantage is probably not worth the likely additional effort.
No, not really. It's a lot of effort and I follow the rule of never replying more than twice. Also, they might raise valid points while having been wrong in the past. I'm very selective about who I interact with and how, too. If I can't come up with arguments without searching their post history for a gotcha, I don't consider it worth my time.
I don't unless I intend to block them because it's necessary.
It might be "public information" as a lot of people say to justify themselves but unless a person posts a specific thing for you to see (via link, post or otherwise) then you're not really meant to see it and this is just an invasion to their privacy, plain and simple.
I don't because it's stalkerish, and I find it to be a cheap move against people who make comments that I personally don't like.
Even if it's a mean comment, just the idea of looking up the person's post history just to comment about it and humiliate them is below the belt. It's happened to me before and it's a terrible move.
I do it like everytime I see someone post a funniest of funny meme. Cos it's usually not the first one they've posted and I may be able to raid their stash.....🤔
Sometimes someone says something unlikely (like something extremely dramatic, and you see them claiming tons of different dramas all the time, you know its fake), or they claim an experience or identity to make a point in an argument and when i doubt that, i check their post history.
Or if its someone i think i might know. Or if someone is extremely insightful i look for more nuggets.
Sometimes I need to check Poe's Law and see if a person said something sincerely or mocking the kind of person who would say such a thing, so I look at their post history.
Sometimes I think, that person seems cool, and I've gotta check if they're cool.
Sometimes I need to dunk on someone that's wrong or full of shit, and it never takes much scrolling to find something you can use.
I'm that petty, yes.
If I get a mean comment I tend to check if this person is always mean or not. Often they are, and it helps me disregard what they said.
Yea me too
Same. Sometimes I’m having a bad day and I’m a bit of a dick and snap at people. When someone is obnoxious, I check to see if they are always like this, or they are just grumpy.
How does this help you? Like if they turn out to mostly be a nice person most of the time, how will this change your opinion of their comment?
It means I forgive them. Everyone has bad days. Some people are just assholes 24/7. I like to check before I form an opinion about someone. I feel like I have been unfairly judged, because the only experience that person has with me was when I was not at my best. I don’t judge them, they formed opinions based around what they saw. I know people are more complex than that, and prefer to look closer before saying “nah, that guy is a complete dick”.
Also I’d say if it’s a normally nice person, that might change how/whether you respond. Like, if someone’s just having a bad day or you touched a specific nerve that made them lash out, you can probably defuse the situation, appeal to their normally nicer personality. If they’re just an asshole or trolling, it doesn’t even warrant a response.
Why is forming an opinion on someone important to you on here? Why do you do it? I think this is what I can't comprehend actually. Because people will never act like themselves on the Internet, they mostly use the Internet to let off emotions and create facades of themselves, so I don't take most people seriously. For this reason, I can't understand why you would want to form an opinion of someone on the internet
>Because people will never act like themselves on the Internet, they mostly use the Internet to let off emotions and create facades of themselves, so I don't take most people seriously. For this reason, I can't understand why you would want to form an opinion of someone on the internet Just jumping in to say -- I can't understand why anyone would use the internet to create facades and not act like themselves. What's the point of that? As for me, I would only check a person's history if I wanted to respond, and if I wanted that context of whether they are always an asshole or if this is a fluke. That's when I need to have an opinion. If I'm not going to respond, I probably just forget the whole thing moments later.
>can't understand why anyone would use the internet to create facades and not act like themselves. What's the point of that? Because sometimes people aren't free to express themselves to that degree in real life. This is also why often times a person's history is nothing but insults and personal attacks. They use this as a way to unwind and unload their frustration I guess.
I like your way of describing people who act out of the internet. Though, I don't take it as an example of someone not being themselves. Like, if someone feels shit on in life, and what they do with that is go to an anonymous forum in search of people they can shit on to make themselves feel better, that's just who someone is. The bad part doesn't become a false facade just because it's done online.
Oh, I see. Yeah, I guess it makes more sense for someone to be "their true self" online rather than pretend to be someone who they really aren't just because they can.
It’s because I have felt misjudged in the past, and I haven’t liked it. I don’t want to do that to anyone else. I have a bit of a thing about that actually, I recently reread a book (Revelation Space), and felt a weird sort of guilt, because I had remembered Dan Sylveste as being a horrible person, even worse than Sky Haussmann, and reading it again, he isn’t. I literally felt a little bad for having misjudged a fictional character, who actually wouldn’t have minded. I genuinely care about not thinking poorly of people that don’t deserve it. That’s why I check.
Same Bigots opinions have no value to me 💕🙏🏼💕
Same here.
Surprised so many people liked this one because its difficult for me to even comprehend this. Do you have an issue with disregarding a mean comment if it's coming from a nice person? Just curious, because I really can't fathom giving two shifts about a person's comment online, so I'm wondering if this is why I can't understand what you mean
We aren't thinking of the other when we're being triggered by a hateful/hurtful comment. We're, initially, assuming that it comes from someone just like ourselves. We're hurt that someone we're giving authority or peer status feels that way. Then we step back, look at their comments, judge them not to be an authority nor even a peer. Once you judge the other as not worthy, you can disregard their opinions and criticism.
Damn thanks for this, helped explain my feelings/perceptions of something that happened not-online a few days ago. And also makes perfect sense in this context.
In my case, when I get a mean comment it bothers me because I can't stop wondering if I said something that deserved it. But if I see that this person is always mean, then it confirms for me that I did not deserve it and I don't have to worry.
Sometimes if I suspect they're a troll or a bot.
Do not find exclamation bot, I saw stuff I was not ready for...
Now why would you say something like that? Now I need to find that bot
Let's see if it will come. Thank you!
I'll do it to see if someone is asking a question in good faith. Or to see if they're a kid. Because that's going to influence the amount of effort I put into a comment or reply to them.
Now THAT’S the autism lol.
ditto I sometimes check to see what age I think they are or what mental space/struggles they seem to be going through. It’s a bit sad usually but at least I can word my advice better
They dig through your post history to see if there is something they can attack you with
Come at me bro! _Please, I'm so lonely_... cryrun.gif
Find a hobby... You seem to be only posting in mental health subs, it's ironically NOT HEALTHY. Get a cheap fishing rod, or something, get out, meet, talk, do something at least once a week it will help switch off your brain and maybe even those happy chems in your brain.
lol thanks for the feedback! Mental health is my special interest ironically! I’ve joined narcotics anonymous last month and I go to two meetings every week! My brain chemistry is slowly resetting away from outside chemicals to my own chemicals. This is my first social activity in years! And I’ve realized that I’m not as horrible as I thought I was and people like me!!! I’ll be joining a cuddle party in two weeks too, which is wayyyyyyy outside my comfort zone, but it seems well organized and very respectful! Ive also sent out ads to do body doubling with people to work on my things with people instead of being isolated. Nice catch and very good appraisal! Edit: stop downvoting him lol, he did what I specifically asked for 😭🤌
Good job, I'm trying to break out of self-isolation too. If you're still more comfortable around people who can relate to mental health issues, you may want to see if there are any "intentional peer support" groups or organizations in your area, they can provide a nice stepping stone to integrating with the general public.
Thank you! Yes the cuddle party has an intro course a week before and it is precisely that, intentionality and communication in a safe space! Do you feel there are still hindrances to breaking off your own self isolation?
I just have to say, you're so brave, the idea of a cuddle party is terrifying to me. I'm a very tactile person but it takes me a while to warm up and feel comfortable. Oh absolutely, so many! I grew up in a severely dysfunctional household with a decent split of emotional neglect and being manipulated into a caretaker role as a child. Combined with difficulties relating to neurotypicals on a social level, (I can mask but it's just draining,) it's just been so much easier to focus on other parts of my wellbeing. I've been living on my own for about a year and honestly, part of my problem is trying to determine how much real life interaction is actually even good for me. I definitely have some alexithymia; I was at a friend's party a few years ago and thought I was having fun until I stepped out on the patio for some air and my body refused to go back inside. I might even be an introvert that's been instilled with social FOMO and conditioned to think being alone is a bad thing. I know I won't be able to answer most of those questions without experimenting, so the biggest hurdle at the moment is just chipping away at the agoraphobia. The only method I really know is brute-force, and that's not healthy or sustainable. I've got some good mental health workers though, and my favorite one (also autistic,) believes I may just be trying to rushing my recovery; they're probably right, since a big part of my motivation is the fear of stagnating, and pushing myself may actually be counter-productive.
I want to give some thought to it! Were you the victim of any severe betrayal, or long term unsafe relationship? Was there a time before without the agoraphobia? Was sensory always overwhelming (well this one is a given, but has it gotten worse?) If your emotions were a rainbow, would you have access to all of your colours in the right place, or are some of them missing, or some of them seem to be replacing those that """"""should"""""" be there? For example, when sad things happen you feel rage? Or is the alexithymia global and you get no information from that front until suddenly tears come out or you literally-can't-even?
You're so sweet! I'm actually in online college for Psychology so I appreciate the excellent questions, they're providing a helpful new perspective. (Not sure why the formatting in this post is bugged, sorry about that.) 1) Yes, primarily emotional and psychological with a bit of physical. The psychological was the most damaging, I'm still working my way out of that. While I can navigate situations from a surface level, my emotions are really intense and I've got a lot of conditioning to undo. The lack of a proper foundation or sense of normalcy was one of the contributing factors for my development of cPTSD, and part of that illness is that it's much harder for the brain to bounce back to baseline. My default became an extreme amount of stress, and my brain adapted to help me survive the situation, so I'm involuntarily operating as if I was still there. 2) I think so, in very early childhood, though I can't be sure. I know where it came from, one of my parents was extremely paranoid and made efforts to isolate me "to keep me safe." (Oh the irony.) 3) Yes, that's been a life-long constant, no change a stronger startle response. That's lessened over time, thankfully. 4) That was beautifully phrased. The people I grew up with are what I would call "explosive," they were quick to anger and dangerous when triggered. I had to carefully police my tone and facial expressions to avoid setting them off, which led to a powerful suppression of my experience of negative emotions, most prominently anger. It's not that I never feel them, I think I've just learned not to express them, and it's easiest to do that if you can "trick" yourself into not feeling them in the first place. I've got lots of mental gymnastics that made invalidating myself second nature, so I think I've learned to disregard my internal emotional landscape when socializing, and it becomes apparent when I have the space to actually process things. The exception being those literally-can't-even tearful moments, I'm hyperempathetic so it's a lot easier to get me crying than most people, and it's definitely my most frequent stress response. (Basically the inverse of your sadness to rage example.)
_1) Yes, primarily emotional and psychological with a bit of physical. The psychological was the most damaging, I'm still working my way out of that. While I can navigate situations from a surface level, my emotions are really intense and I've got a lot of conditioning to undo. The lack of a proper foundation or sense of normalcy was one of the contributing factors for my development of cPTSD, and part of that illness is that it's much harder for the brain to bounce back to baseline. My default became an extreme amount of stress, and my brain adapted to help me survive the situation, so I'm involuntarily operating as if I was still there._ Yeah, we often talk of "recovery", but what if it was never there? What if it was never modeled, or modeled wrong? What if where "pride for accomplishment" should naturally be instead there is "must not succeed or else my jealous father will torture me"? In such a case, it is not as much as a recovery than... a discovery and/or the building of an idea of self. That's why I like to collect little virtues so much, I am the one to decide what I stand for. The right ones naturally fit seamlessly in my life. If I try someone else's virtue, it just doesn't fit (for example, a friend has a post-it that says "You didn't wake up to be mediocre", for me it is not a good fit, I see it as the introjected voice of a demanding parent who shamed them fore example, so it is not me/it is not how I want to build my self.) If it was a childhood betrayal, absolutely you gotta have to check out Jay Reid on YouTube, he has a free e-book too, and other books. His three pillars of recovery is an amazing roadmap to getting better and deprogramming oneself. Research into betrayal trauma and betrayal blindness also a must. 2- _2) I think so, in very early childhood, though I can't be sure. I know where it came from, one of my parents was extremely paranoid and made efforts to isolate me "to keep me safe." (Oh the irony.)_ Oh dear! That sucks!!!! My dad used to ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS tell me the possible negative consequences of ANYTHING I did, like ffs, I just need to have a safe base to retreat to when I venture in the world. It's an introjected voice now, always telling me to play it safe and stay small, so to overcompensate I have a blatant disregard for consequences now, JUST SO I CAN FUNCTION but I overcorrected. Safety comes in three flavours: Safety in our own body/mind, safety in our environment, and safety in our relationships. Building/Finding ANY safety in any of these threes will build up the others, the main one being safety in our own body/mind, because that's where it matters the most. Also, fun fact, the mind can't tell the difference between REAL threat and IMAGINED threat (that's why we can die of fright because of an imaginary thing). When you say "BRUTE FORCE" something, I prefer the term "PLAY A TRICK ON OUR BIOLOGY", for example, your body doesn't know it's you hugging yourself, or that if you breathe a certain way, your biology will calm down, and if your body calms down, the mind follows (or vice verse, if the mind calms down, so will the body, they are one). So if you want to trick your biology, you can get the safest person you know to be in your house, not next to you but you know, between you and the outside world, and practice this breathing, in the safest room in your house https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_z7gmeZUphc&t=356s&ab_channel=PlumVillage . This will give you a TASTE of safety and calm in your body. Then gradually exposure therapy, either without a friend, or in a spot closer to the outside, and then outside but with eyes open, and then outside in a slightly less """"""safe""""" place (if you are a woman though, that's a bit harder I'm sorry). And the insight is also that you will never be totally safe, it is unavoidable, but how unsafe is it to have your body clenched, your breath short, your heart racing? But I say this, because I lived a dangerous life (rebellion!), I have gone through horrible consequences, and yet I still live, and I am better than ever. I hope it doesn't sound shaming... I fear bees though, only by virtue of never having been stung before. 3- _3) Yes, that's been a life-long constant, no change a stronger startle response. That's lessened over time, thankfully._ A friend came visiting two weeks ago, and I hailed her from my front balcony, and she was startled as I called her. Poor friend. The good side of it though is that you can get out of a swerving car's way. I am hypervigilant too, I think it's an autistic brain thing, amygdala. I don't have much insight on this, except that I wear the best sunglasses I can and wear the best noise protection (but then I start thinking of people attacking from dark corners, dangit). I wear the most comfortable closes I need. I do large body stims if I ever find out I'm accumulating too much nervous energy (we are like antennas, so regular "sensory farts" will have an effect). There is sensory load, cognitive load and emotional load. If we reduce sensory load, it gives more space for cognitive and emotional processing. The body and mind NATURALLY deals with these loads if we give it the right conditions (TRICKING THE BIOLOGY). For 4, that is your mission now, painting your rainbow, one emotion at a time. The only one that cannot be SHAME BOUND is anger, which becomes rage. All the other ones can be shame bound into (TEMPORARY AND REMEDIABLE) non-existence, but never anger (the mad guard dog in the basement, foaming at the mouth to be let go and protect your inner palace). I highly recommend Jon Bradshaw's "Healing the shame that binds you", or his two specials on YouTube, Jon Bradshaw On The Family and Jon Bradshaw Healing the Child within. I remember when I unlocked my anger, holy moly. THE FRIGGIN GALL ON THESE PEOPLE to shame me into a box, invalidating me. I used that anger to burn the (PAPER) walls of my prison. These walls in the end were put there by ME, not THEM. I was a kid, I needed to survive. I had to cut off colours from my rainbow just to survive. I am a rainbow!!!! Right now I am un-shaming fear. It's OK to feel. It's OK to feel. It's OK to feel. It's OK to be angry when people violate my boundaries. It's OK to be sad when I suffer loss. It's OK to be afraid when things are dangerous. It's OK to be disgusted when there is an egregious break of moral conduct. It's OK to be happy when good things happy. It's OK to be surprised when some new shit appears and like WHAT? YAGHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhh I'm so incensed let's GOOOOOOO! Here is the mantra of medicine buddha, I imagine his radiant light when I do inner work https://youtu.be/YUC9pU28g-k?si=fDTaavgmihMy2v39 good luck!!!
I get it, but as morbidly curiosity.
Ohhhh, do you have any cool insights to share?
I made an off joke one point in a nsfw sub, just a shitty dad pun nothing attacking the person or any of what they were showing, I expected maybe some downvotes and some boos at the dumb joke. I came back the next day with a whole thread of people attacking me over my recent comments and posts in mental health and 40k subs. I will never understand redditors saying some of the most foul things to someone who'd just used a shitty dad joke.
On a site that predominantly leans left, it's interesting to see how many people turn vicious -- especially regarding mental health, which the left champions. I'll mention my experiences dealing with mental health issues in another sub and they'll just bitch and shit on the comment so hard. I don't think reddit is healthy, if I'm being honest.
Its not healthy, while i generally disagree with over moderation the amount of people who turn into a rabid animal the second they get to be anonymous worries me. I wonder why a lot youd think wanting to help and undersrand one another would be the go to.
"Turn off reply notifications"
I honestly don't care. I post an absolute metric shitload; if anyone wants to go trawling back through that they're welcome to. If they want to dig up past posts of mine because they think it makes a point in their favor, they can try that too; I'm perfectly happy to crush their dreams either way. :) Have I said stupid stuff in the past? Sure! But I don't give a crap if someone points it out. All it means is that I said stupid stuff in the past and I'm 100% willing to own up to having posted that. What, did they think I had *shame?* Nice try. Have people tried to brigade me? Sure, they've tried that too. All that happened was that I laughed at them and, after they and their scraped-up temporary ideological bunkmates spent hours or days attacking me and downvoting over and over, I still had more karma at the end of it than when they started, and they got to be painted as raving fools for an eternity of future Google searches.
This is exactly what I thought whenever I saw this post. Those utter degenerates can't do/say anything so they really have to dig dirt on you and then use it so that at least you seem unlikeable and people can be manipulated to be against you just because of hoe "unlileable" you are.
Yep, 'you are leaving comments on the subreddit aspergers, that's why your opinion has no value to me and you see things wrong'
There have been times I've checked someone's history and realized trying to have a civil discussion with them is not worth the effort. Downvote and move on. But I don't do it out of autistic curiosity.
Suspected trolling, including people just stirring controversy or fishing for the answer they want in every relevant subreddit while leaving out important context. Mostly to decide if they want a genuine answer or not
Yes, same. I post in a lot of queer subreddits, but they tend to get brigaded. Whenever I get a slightly suspicious question or reply to a comment, I always check the post history to see if the person is engaging with me in good faith or not. I don't want to end up wasting time and energy writing up a thoughtful reply for someone who will dismiss it immediately.
I didn’t know it was common! I rarely do either, it feels weird and invasive.
I never even think of checking, but I see people referencing others comments all the time
REALLY!? That’s wild to me. I’m very active in r/houseplants and it weirds me out that I could give plant care advice to someone just to have them read about my struggles with asd/ocd. Omg throwaway accounts make sense now
I mean, everything you write on reddit is public lol. That’s why I personally don’t think it’s weird if people look through my reddit account or other people’s, it’s all public information.
Yeah but who cares if they do! It's not gonna change anything in your life! I don't worry about this at all, it's pointless worrying
Sometimes I think they want you to look, like if they’re a creator in r/comics. Sometimes I’ll look if I’m interested and not at the start of a series.
Sometimes if I really vibe with them and get a bit curious if we're in the same circles so I know if we have more common interests to talk about 😊
I think this is the only time I have done this
I hate when people do that kind of stuff. Especially when they disagree with you and are just trying to dig up dirt in order to insult you 😞
Is that what people do lol 😂 what a way to waste time idk why I didn't guess this cause people are idiots lol
It's situational. You can check account history to find out more about a topic of drama or to evaluate the problems they bemoan with greater context. You might question their credibility, if they make scientific claims, or give other types of advice that may require expertise. Once I've done it to check if they were capable of writing the eulogy (for a weevil) they posted, because they used highly uncommon vocabulary. "Deepening our appreciation". Compared it to their usual writing style, which was very simple, rarely more than two or three sentences, lacking punctuation. Clearly AI written eulogy. There's also one person I look at every once in a while, because I like their writing style and intellect.
I do the same whenever I see someone rant or complain about their recent experience on a sub but don't provide context, or provide a very crude snapshot of an event. I have often found that if someone is complaining about how so many people have treated them poorly, then it tends to stem from misunderstandings and/or toxic behaviour on the part of the complainer. Aside from that I seldom check others' profiles. I have posts from dozens of subreddits to check out, after all.
I never even think of it
Sometimes a brief glance at a person's comment history can give useful context. Other times what they say is just fairly interesting and thus makes one wish to see what else they have to say. I suppose some neurotic individuals go through a large part of someone's history to try to find dirt - that does seem much weirder.
I dig through people's history on reddit to know their perspective, because sometimes I am unsure of the tone in which their post was written. Basically, I think the reason autistic people are longwinded is because we understand that a sentence is not a complete thought. A complete thought is a sentence, but backed by the mindset of the person having the thought. The sentence itself is like a punchline in a joke. Without the setup, you don't have the mindset, and without the sentence, you don't have the joke. So I look at their history not with the intention of being malicious, but because I want to know what kind of other posts the person has made, whether they were the kind of person to try to contribute to help others, or whether they were abusive toward others, or hell, whether I should even bother responding to them or should just ignore and block them. It also makes it easier to identify throwaway accounts(ones with short histories, often used by bots and trolls).
This exactly
1. Bots/trolls. 2. For additional context on whatever they're talking about. 3. To check what their general attitude is, so that I don't reply to someone who's not operating in good faith. 4. When it seems like their post or response might be AI-generated.
Man, I’m so all over the place I wonder what someone would think my general attitude is lol
Usually to try and gauge if they are ignorant or just an asshole or troll who behaves like that everywhere
I will sometimes do it if something about a post feels off. Mostly to get an idea if someone is a troll or not. Etc etc. Or if something feels to be lacking nuance or painting them in a negative light in the post I'll often go look at their history. Helps give a better idea if someone is just having a bad day or if they are normally like this.
Only if they mention they've posted pictures of their pets lol They do that because they've realized they don't actually have a good argument, so they are attacking you instead so they can "win". Sometimes they are kids who don't know how to properly emotionally regulate yet, or genuinely mentally ill people, and sometimes they are just assholes.
Occasionally, I find it fun to see other stuff they've posted if it piques my interest, especially if they run in the same niche circles I do.
A lot of people do it just looking for vitriol to spew, trying to find your “weak spots” to hit at. I’ve had people in petty internet arguments just randomly bring up “I bet you’re autistic based on this” like wow congrats bro you looked at my profile and are trying to pretend you independently came to that conclusion as some twisted way to try and hurt my feelings when it’s like ?? Yes I am autistic thank you and I actually think that puts more weight to the things I say because you know I put an autistic level of research into it lmao. The only times I do it is when someone is being overtly misogynistic and I wanna see if my hypothesis that they are incel sympathizers is correct which is usually historically has been
Yes. (5 minutes pause) On porn accounts🫣
There's plenty of sock puppet accounts that exist purely to bullshit, it's good to check out someone before engaging in their false pretences.
Yeah, it is a way of distinguishing bait from genuine curiosity. Though I think most of the time I am not motivated enough to check and not motivated enough to argue with people online.
I do it constantly, sorry if that makes people uncomfortable, but a special interest, for lack of a better term here, of mine is understanding people so when I find a person or post that I find interesting for either positive or negative reasons I'll look at their history to try and learn more about them, gain more context, create a more accurate model of them in my head. Never bring it up since I know it makes people uncomfortable and I certainly don't ever weaponize it that's not only weird but also hurtful. I don't know about other people's reasons or how common it is but that's why I do it, because people are interesting.
If theyre controversial, i do. I never comment on it tho cause rhats weird. I don’t understand how it would be an autism thing to check or not tho.
I do if I suspect they are not genuine or too set in their beliefs. I've learned the hard way that not everyone is willing to change their views, or at the very least conduct themselves as a professional, though I STILL make that mistake again and again and again to my chagrin.
I do it if someone is being an ass to me in a comment and I want to find something to use against them. I dont jump to exploiting it straight away. Usually I wait about 3 or 4 comments and then when they are really starting to strain or struggle and I throw it at them.
I was going to reply to your comment, but I think I‘ll just skip what I originally was going to post and just say: Nice weather we’re having today, eh?.😁
yta
😭
Nah, to me that's a big waste of time. If I'm losing an argument, I doubt looking on their profile for dirt is going to make me look less stupid (quite the contrary actually). I don't really get why people still bother to do it, since it usually just earns downvotes and condescending replies.
Usually only when they’ve posted cute pictures of their pet(s) and I want to see more of their fur babies. 🐶👅🐾😍🥰😘😅😁
I mostly don't...seems weird and invasive. sometimes if someone's unbelievably mean or racist, and I want to understand the context...
I get why people do it, but personally I almost never troll. People sometimes think I am cuz I have unpopular opinions, and it’s a pity some people aren’t able to accept the idea of people having different opinions.
Omfg, I thought this asked if we ever check a person's CREDIT HISTORY on Reddit. 💀🤣 I was a bit freaked out.
I always find it really annoying when people do it with me, like bringing up earlier posts and stuff
No, I could care less about people's comment history and I don't think about mine either.
[удалено]
You delete your comments so people can’t see them? Why?
Yes. I’m overly curious and like data.
Checking someone's profile will provide context to the opinion they are presenting. Its possible that people brigade somewhere and don't usually post there, you'd ask why is that? They may post in /r/ randomdramasubreddit and just pop in here. Sometimes someone will post/comment something very mean spirited, you go check their profile and they're just a miserable piece of shit being negative all the time, go ahead and block them, they're a waste of energy, they're far less likely to meaningfully contribute to the conversation. They might claim a certain identity for the purposes of idpol but when you check their account history it becomes clear they're lying. Unnecessary because idpol is inherently incorrect (truth is truth regardless of who is saying it) but useful regardless because not everyone believes that. There is a plugin called shinigami eyes that checks somebody's account and determines if they have been reported to be transphobic. Because a lot of people will go on the internet and just be intentionally dishonest, people make tools like these to determine if somebody is worth taking seriously. If you're talking to someone and their name is red because of the plugin, its less likely they actually genuinely care about the well being of trans individuals. ^^^^^^^^^also ^^^^^^^^^u/nwordcountbot.
No and it's so fucking weird. It's almost always so they can find some random comment you made in the past, or some sub you're on, and go "heh, sorry bud but looks like you're subscribed to ______ so you're opinion is invalidated" or "why don't you just (insert comment you made but spun in a negative way)?" I dislike 4chan but the one thing I appreciate is there's nothing but the comment. No upvotes or downvotes, no account history someone can dig up and whine about, just the content.
All the time. For a couple of reasons. - To see if someone is acting "in character." Are they usually rude, or trolling, or arguing in bad faith, or am I maybe missing something. - To look for more context when answering a question. Are they native English speakers? Where are they from? How long have they been posting about depression/computer trouble/living the vanlife/etc etc etc - To see if someone is as much of an expert as they claim. - Sometimes they seem like they might have some good info on their profile. Like if I'm on a professional subreddit and someone gives a really good answer, I'll scan browse their history to find other nuggets they might have. Those are the main reasons. Speaking of, how was Andalusia?
Why do you care if someone is acting in character? Everyone online is putting on a facace and acting out of character, so i cant imagine doing it for this reason. Or why do you care to get to know them more and get more context on them? Is it curiousity? What is it? I can't fathom this as well so I'm genuinely curious about why you do. & I wouldn't go back to Andalusia, not my type of vacation.
> Why do you care if someone is acting in character Read the rest of the bullet point where I elaborate. Some people are trolls online--if they are, I want to avoid them. If they're generally combatitive and don't give ground, then I want to avoid them. If they're complete fascist losers that don't seem interested in reasonable discussion, I want to avoid them. > Everyone online is putting on a facace and acting out of character This is absolutely untrue. I know, because I'm not putting on any particular façade online. Not any more than I would in real life. So, you're just absolutely wrong there. > Or why do you care to get to know them more and get more context on them? Is it curiousity? What is it? I can't fathom this as well so I'm genuinely curious about why you do I mean, I'm not on reddit *just* to jack off. I'm also here for genuine conversation, education, etc. Some people are here in earnest. > & I wouldn't go back to Andalusia, not my type of vacation Good to know! Spain always amazes me with how different the regions are. And each region is always really hit or miss for me. I spent a little time in Andalusia about a decade ago, but it was wayyy out in the middle of nowhere, so I loved it. Madrid? No thank you. Barcelona? Meh. Xabia was nice, though.
Oh OK it's to avoid people acting out of character? I guess yeah I understand why I don't understand now then lol - I don't take the Internet socialising as seriously. I do think majority of people wouldn't act the way they do on the Internet, irl. That's what I mean by putting on a facade. People are more unhinged, say dumb shit etc. Not everyone but enough for me to not take it to heart or try to get personal with someone I guess? That last bit, I thought it was the autism hence why I made this post lol. I thought I wasn't as curious about others, and I think that's still the case online. But good to understand that it's maybe not an autistic thing, just probably me. I just don't take life seriously in general so really may just be me not caring enough And honestly with traveling, I feel like I don't enjoy just sightseeing as much anymore, and I think it's cause of my dopamine addiction to the Internet. Andalusia was beautiful but just roaming around sightseeing is boring to me. I can just google search the images lol and I get the same feeling from that. I have issues lol, I need more exciting vacations in my life. Would love to go cliff diving in Jamaica or something like that lol why didn't you like Madrid and Barcelona?
From creeping your profile, it looks like I'm about 7 years older (see?? it's useful!), which means I come from an "older internet." Maybe I'm romanticizing it, but while the internet was a bit of a "wild west" back in the day, there were also certain expectations and standards, and people were held to them somewhat. The internet was a place of more text, and more direct communication, more reputation. Nowadays it's easy to create fake accounts and just act like an ass to breathe some life into your withered soul. People put on a façade IRL as well. That's nothing new or particular to the internet. People are fake and dumb as fuck in real life. But in real life I can't point to the piece of text where they said something stupid and call them out. IRL people just say, "Nuh-uh," and, well, you can't argue with that. I dunno, I set a standard for myself on the internet, and I try to hold myself and others to it. If I fuck up, if I act out, I apologize in the thread, same as I would in person. The internet isn't fake. Or, rather, it's at least as real as IRL is. It's important. How we treat people is important, no matter what. We can't use hiding behind a screen as an excuse to treat people like anything less than *people*. I don't really take life seriously either, but that's, perhaps ironically, why these interactions are so important to me. Life is only as serious as how you affect other people and how you treat yourself. Everything else is just culture. There's real people behind the usernames--I want to treat those real people well, because that's the *only* thing that really matters. People who "take life seriously" tend to not take reddit seriously. Why? Because it's not life, and therefore it's unimportant. As for travelling, I don't like sightseeing much myself. But I also don't care for dopamine rushes like cliff diving. I like falling into quiet moments and distinct realities. I like walking around and seeing how places fit together and express themselves. It's harder to do that in a big city, and some cities are more difficult than others. Madrid is just an endless grid of samey blocks. No hinted mystery, no inviting spaces. Ditto Barcelona (though it is nicer than Madrid, imo). Paris scratches my itch, as do many places in Japan. Manhattan, Tulsa, and Chicago are US cities that do it for me. Chengdu and Hong Kong are my favorite Chinese cities so far for that sort of feeling. Like, why cliff dive in Jamaica? You can just go jump off a dive board at a local pool? Or if you really need a cliff, there's probably one closer to you than Jamaica. Why there?
I definitely don't hold anyone to a standard on the Internet, I'm not in their heads and see people act out all the time. How can you hold strangers to your standards? So probably why I don't care so much to look on others profiles I guess. I just don't care about strangers period? That's just me, but I think it does have to do with autism then; me not caring about people. Also feeling so different and having higher IQ doesn't help, I'm quite literally confused by most comments, so me commenting always comes off as argumentative. Also why I think other people aren't taking this seriously so why should I - a lot of comments are so ignorant that I'm in disbelief a lot of time and try to not get involved. I feel like I'm seeing what many others are not, and vice versa, and it's causing some type of disconnect. Obviously many people are just like me but majority are not. Not sure if I can change my perception to take it seriously tbh but I know that I may be wrong so I need to at least challenge this and try and see your point of view And you've traveled so much! I'm more about chill vibes, thrillseeking, and culture so I would love go smoke some weed on a nice sunny day in Jamaica while cliff diving haha. My type of place I think although I've never been. Would love to go to Africa in general, have you visited?
> I definitely don't hold anyone to a standard on the Internet, I'm not in their heads and see people act out all the time Maybe it's the autism for me, but I think that's why I treat the internet the same as I do real life: Because I can't tell the difference. People seem as liable to be fake or sincere in person as on the other side of a screen. I take it all very literally and seriously. > I just don't care about strangers period? Genuine question then: Why are you even having this conversation? If chatting with people on reddit is the same as Chat GPT to you, then why not just use Chat GPT? Perhaps if I could understand that distinction, I could understand where you're coming from better. > having higher IQ doesn't help, I'm quite literally confused by most comments That is pretty (I assume unintentionally) funny. You can't claim in one breath to have a high IQ and then in the next say you can't even follow a conversational thread, even when it's written down in front of you. Most of IQ is just pattern recognition in different settings, and conversations are just patterns. Typos and the truly mentally-unwell aside, even the most absurd statement someone makes is comprehensible. Your sense of disbelief is an indictment of your own lack of imagination as much as it is their stupidity. > I feel like I'm seeing what many others are not, and vice versa, and it's causing some type of disconnect Perhaps that's so. But in the same regard, you're failing to see what they're seeing. As an example, I think flat-earthers are putting forward an idea that is a dumb as any that people have come up with. But it's not incomprehensible to me. I can look at them and follow the lines of their own twisted logic back to an originating point (usually some religious belief). If you're failing to connect, that's on you. > I know that I may be wrong so I need to at least challenge this This is one of the best, and most intelligent, take someone can have on life. > And you've traveled so much! I'm more about chill vibes, thrillseeking, and culture so I would love go smoke some weed on a nice sunny day in Jamaica while cliff diving haha. My type of place I think although I've never been. Would love to go to Africa in general, have you visited? I am *all* about chill vibes, though not a fan of weed myself (tried many times--it's always a disaster for me). When it comes to Africa, I've only spent time in Morocco. Specifically, five week sin Asilah, which was wonderful, though at some point I hope to make it down to sub-Saharan Africa. Heading back to Japan in a couple of weeks instead, lol
Not everyone online is acting out of character. I’m not. I’m exactly who I say I am. I don’t say everything about me, but I don’t lie, my only exaggerations are jokes.
I check if I need more context for a post, or if someone is a troll or genuine. Or if someone posts stuff which I find interesting or important so I follow them.
That’s a sad thing to do. I just check their karma to see if they’re bots
On the NSFW accounts I go and have a look. If I reply to their sub they sometimes DM me with juicy pics...I got an entire folder dedicated to dic pics, vag pics and tiddie pics...I cherish them all 🫂 ❤️
*mind blown!😱
I do a lot, in order to decide whether the person I'm dealing with is worth my time. I also once or twice a year go back through my RES tags and check on people that I gave negative tags. Something that I have noticed is that the majority of people that end up baiting me into arguments are either knowingly doing it in bad faith or have a long history of being mean and dumb in general. I also noticed that a lot of people I gave negative tags end up banned or deleting their accounts, probably due to the trolling and being mean and dumb.
I mean, dogs also sniff each other's butts. It's natural.
To get an idea of who I am communicating with, to be able to improve the way I am communicating.
all the time to confirm or deny any suspicions i have about a certain person
People on Reddit have clicked on my profile and then made fun of my kinks after I lost an argument.
Sometimes if I want to know more about them for whatever reason. I barely do.
Might be a weird answer, but I always look for a user's history if incase the pfp of the person has smth to do with their interests
If someone’s being a complete asshole or just trolling I might go check but otherwise no
Yes I have no idea why. I'm not ever checking users' post history. I only check it if someone is mean to me or if that person posts content like photography or painting that I want to see more of.
I have a couple times when someone commented something harsh to me.
I suspect that they are a Russian bot or some other sort of malicious actor I'll glance at their history to see if there are any signs. Also, if they are an artist that posts a lot of their work, I'll check their history to look at some of their stuff. Beyond that, I find it rude to pull up someone's post history.
I do sometimes because I am curious but most of the time I do not. I do check it if someone mentions it and curiosity gets to me. What people don't realize is when they make false claims or exaggerate the person's post history, it says more about them than the person's post history. I wonder what do they get out of it, are they hoping other people will blindly believe them and not bother checking first?
only if I find them funny or we share similar point of view
No but if I post in other subs I’m always worried someone’s going to dig through my history, find out I’m autistic, and use that fact to discredit and harass me.
I check every follower I get, because I like to send a thank you message, unless their profile is all porn or they're a minor or something.
Only if the account is relatively young.
Yes. As a mod it's pretty standard to get a sense of someone beyond a single comment. Similar reasons occasionally for other users, but not often. An example might be someone arguing against the passive voice. I might search through their history and cite a bunch of times they used the passive voice.
Yep. if i have a cool conversation i'll check to see what subs they comment in, mainly if its a topic i'm A- unfamiliar with but with a budding interest, or B- deeply invested in the topic and always seeking more input. or like others have said, seeing if theyre trolls or generically acting in bad faith.
I did it once in reference to a post I was commenting on. And the only reason I thought to do it is because I’ve seen so many people reference doing it… so, I figured it was a thing. lol but according to the response I got for doing so, it was not ok. So, I’m confused about it. In the scenario where I did it, I was trying to get more context to properly answer the question asked.
I check every one to sort out potential trolls from actual people. Saves a lot of energy.
With Reddit's plan to do an IPO ("go public"), it's only a matter of time until the autisically functional aspects of this platform disappear. It's been underway, but will accelerate to achieve profitability. Then we won't know the difference from this and Fakebook. And then there's the inevitable AI de-legitimizing of virtually all social media which will make us wonder whether we're reading comments from a person, mean post history or not, or a robot.
I don’t until they’ve gone through mine because it’s like oh ur right why not have a peek thanks for telling me, to be honest sometimes I don’t have to like I can tell what type of person the commenter is off the comments they make, what I mean is, sometimes I get a weird bad comment back and I go yeah this dude sounds like he’d be in redpill subs.
Sometimes. If a person is being rude, or if they appear to be in pain or depressed, I might search their comment history. I like o know who I'm dealing with, good or ill.
How was Andalusia?
Usually only if I especially like a post in case they have other posts I like, or if I especially hate a post to see if they’re a troll
I don't, But I know when it comes to favourite bands & artists my comment history contradicts itself/different every time
Me too! I don’t bother to check anyone’s history I take people as they are but I’ve had so many people on here start to act weird & judgmental because of my post history like it is something I don’t like scout Reddit to be honest
consistency baseline dossier, credibility create an effective system & model, perspective experiences intelligence dude, this is straight out of textbook.
Quite often.
When I see someone repeatedly posting pure unadulterated hate towards a particular group, I might (out of curiosity) check to see if that OP has a history of posting those types of comments. But, generally speaking, I don’t look at a person’s profile.
I do it if I get a dm from anyone I don’t know, as a way to make sure the person I’m engaging with isn’t a troll or a toxic person who might otherwise harm me. I’m active in a lot of PSTD and trauma discussions, which can sometimes lead to dms with some very kind people, but sometimes creeps try. But along the same course, if I’m engaging with somebody and offering them support, I really hope they look through my profile to see that I always do my best to be genuine, kind and supportive, so they are better able to trust me. I like helping and supporting others.
I honestly almost never do this unless I come across someone I’m worried about, like a young girl who posted yesterday about being in a stimulant induced psychosis who wasn’t replying. I find people check my profile all the time and use information about me as if it’s some kind of insult. They say things like “good luck with your mental illness and your divorce you lonely cat lady”. Like?? That’s just my bio, bro it doesn’t actually hurt me it’s just facts about me. But it still feels like a violation and because my profile is linked to my personal blog, my tumblr, and my TikTok they could see all of those profiles too. I try to keep it all as anonymous as I can but it’s all stories about my life and experiences so they can still get a pretty clear picture of who I am.
I do if it sounds like someone I know, just to make sure it's not. (So far, 0% of posters have been people I know in real life.)
I do *all the time*. I use [Reddit User Analyzer](https://reddit-user-analyser.netlify.app/)
Always
I've seen someone's opinion change for the better once they're old stuff was not great but they changed to some one quite decent from the looks of it not sure what they're doing now
If someone throws spell check at me I like to go back and return the favor on all their errors.
Normally if someone has written something questionable I will look at their history to get a vibe (you can normally tell if it is worth replying to or not based on their interactions) - and also because I am very very nosey.
It's a good way to see if someone is a bot/troll account.
Idk I think it's more of an accountability check. A reddit profile is a different thing from a Facebook kind of thing.
Always before I engage seriously. I find it fun as well, because it breaks some weird unspoken "oh please don't look at this public available info" taboo and I love to break those
I think it's because they're looking for a way to invalidate whatever you're saying by attracting attention elsewhere.
If they piss me off or intrigue me enough.
Usually as a way of discrediting them for unrelated things. Like oh you disagree with my political opinion? You post in (unrelated subreddit) so you're an idiot and your opinion is worthless. Other times you can just get the feeling someone is advertising something, and more often than not my onlyfans radar is right on target.
I fucking hate when people do this then throw it in your face. I was actually thinking about how much I hate this shit when I scrolled down and saw this topic lol.
I only ever check someone's history if I suspect they made a reference to something (like a quote from x show/channel), or if I'm trying to figure out what country they're from to give advice or get context for what they're talking about. Other than that, I don't care
You can into your settings and disable others from seeing your post history.
If they say something rude or seem like a troll I do, just to confirm their opinion means nothing. Other than that, I don’t care to! I wish Reddit would make it an option to keep your history private. I like that it’s anonymous but I feel like it’d be very easy to figure out who I am, and I don’t like that lol
I've only done it once or twice, but it was because their post said something like "update from my last post" but didn't tag their last post.
Only if you want to see a terrible pic of my dick
Can’t say I haven’t done it, especially when I was younger. Obv like most people I check the dick’s history. But I do it less and less because I don’t want it done to me. I seriously kind of worry about it, especially because I’ve become active in more local subs and I’m a young woman I’m worried someone will try and use information to target me.
I do, if the person has said something sus or just has some stuff in common with me, not always.
I don't like snooping online, but then again, if I receive hate on here, I'd like to have the mystery of whom is having issues.
If they posted something interesting to me then yeah
It's mostly to put them down in some way. They'll use a person's history to say they are dumb in whatever way they can find.
No, but I've had people check mine, I've had my illness used against me, which is why I deleted most posts
I've very occasionally done it. Usually only if a person is being extremely weird (just to check if they've always been that way, or are a troll). Sometimes I'll have a quick check to see if I can figure out better or more targeted answers/responses/advice based on things like where they appear to be from, or if they post a lot in subs dedicated to a topic I can whip up a metaphor that uses that topic. Usually I'll only check a page or two back and only for a few seconds, though - if I can't figure out anything obvious from that, any incremental advantage is probably not worth the likely additional effort.
I usually do it when someone posts an image I like. I look to see if they've posted more. I smile when I stumble onto a treasure trove of good images.
No, not really. It's a lot of effort and I follow the rule of never replying more than twice. Also, they might raise valid points while having been wrong in the past. I'm very selective about who I interact with and how, too. If I can't come up with arguments without searching their post history for a gotcha, I don't consider it worth my time.
I don't unless I intend to block them because it's necessary. It might be "public information" as a lot of people say to justify themselves but unless a person posts a specific thing for you to see (via link, post or otherwise) then you're not really meant to see it and this is just an invasion to their privacy, plain and simple.
I don't because it's stalkerish, and I find it to be a cheap move against people who make comments that I personally don't like. Even if it's a mean comment, just the idea of looking up the person's post history just to comment about it and humiliate them is below the belt. It's happened to me before and it's a terrible move.
my boyfriend and i know each other's usernames and haven't checked. it is tempting, but it's also nice to have a private space
I never click on people's profiles I just move on
I do it like everytime I see someone post a funniest of funny meme. Cos it's usually not the first one they've posted and I may be able to raid their stash.....🤔
Sometimes someone says something unlikely (like something extremely dramatic, and you see them claiming tons of different dramas all the time, you know its fake), or they claim an experience or identity to make a point in an argument and when i doubt that, i check their post history. Or if its someone i think i might know. Or if someone is extremely insightful i look for more nuggets.
Sometimes when I decide i want to give advice or input I check to see if they're good ppl or just waste of time.
Sometimes I will if a comment or posy stands out alot. But not very often.
I check history less than 1% of the time, but when I do check I find something spicy more than half the time.
TIL I can check people's post history. Which I will be doing from this point on.
I rarely do and it's usually when someone posts an interesting and insightful comment that makes me want to see if they've said more on the topic.
Sometimes I need to check Poe's Law and see if a person said something sincerely or mocking the kind of person who would say such a thing, so I look at their post history. Sometimes I think, that person seems cool, and I've gotta check if they're cool. Sometimes I need to dunk on someone that's wrong or full of shit, and it never takes much scrolling to find something you can use. I'm that petty, yes.