> I would offer a bit of a different perspective here, I think maybe even most do it for what you could call self-soothing. > > For example, a lot of people sh

> I would offer a bit of a different perspective here, I think maybe even most do it for what you could call self-soothing. > > For example, a lot of people share knowledge, but it's _their knowledge_, which can also be defined as _sharing their subjective past_ and that's known to be a very soothing thing for people who may even be troubled by the unknown in their personal lives. Hop online, boom, you're a domain expert in your own past. Find a place that's _about your past_, be it /r/linux or /r/formula1 or whatever, and there you go, it's comfy. You generally get an upvote + reply vibes dopamine bonus just for being there, due to your relevant past. That's a bit too psycho-analytical. A lot of what gets shared on technical/domain-expertise subs are simply technical knowledge. Most posts on such subs are questions, and upvoted comments are typically answers. If you accuse people of feeling good about helping others with their knowledge, well, I'd say that the joy is well-earned by the generous act. In fact, if we are talking about the exhilaration of being upvoted, it's much easier to farm karma on reddit by lying. There are many big subs that are purely made up stories.