4 ms·

Books don't have comment sections either. Neither do plays. Do you think everyone who writes a book or stages a play does so only because of ego? Some do, surel

Books don't have comment sections either. Neither do plays. Do you think everyone who writes a book or stages a play does so only because of ego? Some do, surely, but many just have information or insight or entertainment they want to make available to others. In some subset of those cases, the incremental value of adding comments is nil (or worse). Maybe it's those who do crave comments who are blogging out of nothing but ego ... or maybe such dismissiveness is just generally ill considered.

donatj 5y ago
> Do you think everyone who writes a book or stages a play does so only because of ego Yes. Especially in this day and age when there are other options, like a Blog, with a comment section. You write a book because you want something to put on your resume. A notable exception here would be Andy Weir's "The Martian", which started as a blog, with a comment section, where he received many corrections as he developed it.
- notacoward 5y ago
  Only? You can't imagine a selfless motivation? Someone wanting to share or help others without requiring recompense and/or feedback? Just want to be clear here.
  - donatj 5y ago
    The thought that anyone would want to read what you have to say alone is ego. > share or help others without requiring recompense Most authors of book seek actual monetary compensation
    - notacoward 5y ago
      > The thought that anyone would want to read what you have to say alone is ego. I hope that was a generic "you" and not intended as an insult. In any case, it's untrue except for a definition of "ego" so expansive as to be meaningless. Is it ego to believe that some subset of people you already know and have some affinity with might derive some benefit or enjoyment from something you write? For many bloggers the mere possibility of that is sufficient to put the writing in a public place instead of a private diary, but they'd also be quite content if that didn't happen. I'm trying hard not to be as derogatory as you are with your implication that others are thin-skinned or egotistical, but I suspect that this goalpost-moving on "ego" reflects your own motivations more than any general reality. So does the "weirdness" you mention. Perhaps you should consider that other people are motivated differently than you are and that's OK. There's nothing weird or egotistical at all about wanting to communicate with others in a non-transactional way, for its own sake.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
- cypher_31 5y ago
  Just as a counter point, I wrote a book because I wanted to prove to myself that I could. It will probably never see the light of day, but I did it and I found the experience valuable. But, maybe you are just talking about people who sell books? In that case, I think the majority of authors are not getting rich, famous, or hired for the number of books on their resume.
  - donatj 5y ago
    > I wanted to prove to myself that I could I'm pretty sure the need to prove yourself to yourself is the truest literary form of freudian ego.
axus 5y ago
The author for "Scary Go Round" comics (which are turned into books) has great conversations with his commenters: https://badmachinery.com/comic/those-longjohns/#comments https://badmachinery.com/comic/those-longjohns/#comments

donatj 5y ago

> Do you think everyone who writes a book or stages a play does so only because of ego Yes. Especially in this day and age when there are other options, like a Blog, with a comment section. You write a book because you want something to put on your resume. A notable exception here would be Andy Weir's "The Martian", which started as a blog, with a comment section, where he received many corrections as he developed it.

notacoward 5y ago
Only? You can't imagine a selfless motivation? Someone wanting to share or help others without requiring recompense and/or feedback? Just want to be clear here.
- donatj 5y ago
  The thought that anyone would want to read what you have to say alone is ego. > share or help others without requiring recompense Most authors of book seek actual monetary compensation
  - notacoward 5y ago
    > The thought that anyone would want to read what you have to say alone is ego. I hope that was a generic "you" and not intended as an insult. In any case, it's untrue except for a definition of "ego" so expansive as to be meaningless. Is it ego to believe that some subset of people you already know and have some affinity with might derive some benefit or enjoyment from something you write? For many bloggers the mere possibility of that is sufficient to put the writing in a public place instead of a private diary, but they'd also be quite content if that didn't happen. I'm trying hard not to be as derogatory as you are with your implication that others are thin-skinned or egotistical, but I suspect that this goalpost-moving on "ego" reflects your own motivations more than any general reality. So does the "weirdness" you mention. Perhaps you should consider that other people are motivated differently than you are and that's OK. There's nothing weird or egotistical at all about wanting to communicate with others in a non-transactional way, for its own sake.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
cypher_31 5y ago
Just as a counter point, I wrote a book because I wanted to prove to myself that I could. It will probably never see the light of day, but I did it and I found the experience valuable. But, maybe you are just talking about people who sell books? In that case, I think the majority of authors are not getting rich, famous, or hired for the number of books on their resume.
- donatj 5y ago
  > I wanted to prove to myself that I could I'm pretty sure the need to prove yourself to yourself is the truest literary form of freudian ego.

axus 5y ago

The author for "Scary Go Round" comics (which are turned into books) has great conversations with his commenters: https://badmachinery.com/comic/those-longjohns/#comments https://badmachinery.com/comic/those-longjohns/#comments