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I've personally found people that don't come back to respond to any comment whatsoever to be of the most frustrating sort. They tend to seem to drive-by attack,

I've personally found people that don't come back to respond to any comment whatsoever to be of the most frustrating sort. They tend to seem to drive-by attack, possibly with an essay of a statement, and then when they're called on it, or when someone tries to help or clarify, there's silence. Come to look at their account and they post maybe once every 3 weeks and never respond to a single thing that is a response to their post. I've even considered making scrapers to find and avoid those kinds of users; but that's just me.

TigeriusKirk 5y ago
I've been making an intentional effort to be that kind of poster. I've found no benefit in responding to replies most of the time.
paulpauper 5y ago
maybe they are busy or cannot defend themselves well
- scruple 5y ago
  Or they just don't know that someone replied to them.
peruvian 5y ago
People like to post their opinions to the world. It feels good, and feels like you are being "heard". But for most it stops there. Not many care to debate online because a) it takes time and energy vs posting something you've had in your head for a while and b) they know almost no one changes their mind online. On top of that, HN doesn't notify you when someone replies to your comment... so maybe they just forgot.
thewebcount 5y ago
Part of the problem is that after a fairly short period of time you can't reply anymore. I want looking through my "threads" section for a particular comment and found someone had replied to an older comment I made and had misunderstood what I said. I wanted to reply to clarify, but the reply button had been removed. It seems like after so many hours or days, you can't continue the conversation. It's a shame, but it does keep zombie threads from living indefinitely. I was recently cleaning up some passwords and unused accounts, and found an account I had created in my password manager that I forgot about. I signed in for the first time in about 5-6 years, and the same thread was the top thread from 5-6 years ago. So I get timing things out. But it seems way too short here.

TigeriusKirk 5y ago

I've been making an intentional effort to be that kind of poster. I've found no benefit in responding to replies most of the time.

paulpauper 5y ago

maybe they are busy or cannot defend themselves well

scruple 5y ago
Or they just don't know that someone replied to them.

peruvian 5y ago

People like to post their opinions to the world. It feels good, and feels like you are being "heard". But for most it stops there. Not many care to debate online because a) it takes time and energy vs posting something you've had in your head for a while and b) they know almost no one changes their mind online. On top of that, HN doesn't notify you when someone replies to your comment... so maybe they just forgot.

thewebcount 5y ago

Part of the problem is that after a fairly short period of time you can't reply anymore. I want looking through my "threads" section for a particular comment and found someone had replied to an older comment I made and had misunderstood what I said. I wanted to reply to clarify, but the reply button had been removed. It seems like after so many hours or days, you can't continue the conversation. It's a shame, but it does keep zombie threads from living indefinitely. I was recently cleaning up some passwords and unused accounts, and found an account I had created in my password manager that I forgot about. I signed in for the first time in about 5-6 years, and the same thread was the top thread from 5-6 years ago. So I get timing things out. But it seems way too short here.