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Contributing with a lack of contribution
Does anyone else struggle contributing to communities? Maybe I'm being overly critical of myself, but it seems like I have nothing to offer up other than comments.
I'm completely happy commenting on posts, and I feel like I do so in good faith. It just feels like if I'm not contributing actual content I'm benefiting from the community without contributing to it. Am I being overly critical? Am I looking at this all wrong?
*EDIT Spelling correction.
In my opinion, yes. Comments contribute to the site. The purpose of the site is to discuss the posts. Without the comments, the site would be pretty boring.
On top of which, asking intelligent questions is often the most valuable contribution to discussion. It may potentially be especially useful in a community like this, which I suspect has a high concentration of people who could possibly be too sure of their own interpretations of things, myself included. Don't sell yourself short, @zoid, and don't be shy about whatever gets your gears turning.
Indeed. If someone can contribute a quality comment now and then, I think that's quite sufficient.
I post things now and then when I find something interesting, but I don't stress over it. Especially since getting votes here doesn't really matter.
To build on this, one way I got over that 'overly critical' feeling was to make an effort to post something about my thoughts after reading a good article which had no comments yet.
There are already a lot of good submissions that go by without any comments, so if anything commenting is a more important form of contributing!
Ultimately, I think you're free to use the site in whichever way you prefer. I can't speak for everyone, but I've not once looked at a user here and thought "they're not pulling their own weight" in topic submissions. I'd imagine most other people here feel similarly.
I've been here for more than 2 years and never started a topic for discussion. Never felt bad about it, and don't think I should. This is a place to chill.
If you comment, then you are in the top 10% of contributors.
Not sure if @Deimos has ever shared the specific breakdown of Tildes, but typically 90% of people don't even comment.
That makes me feel better, I want to make sure I'm contributing to make the community better, not just benefiting from it's existence. Thank you.
You just made a valid contribution that may help users like you that are afraid to contribute. Keep doing things like that and you’ll be fine.