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Are we Pavlovian centipedes, wheeling washcloths with every appendage.
how
Veteran Veteran
What has you not respond to a post when it is so darned tempting to do so?
0
Comments
No comment.
1 if i have no idea what the OP is talking about
2 if it has a link to an hour and 37 minute video or a several page long article.
3 if it is 100 responses by the time I even begin to read (though sometimes I get drawn in and read all 100)
4 if I feel I cannot be helpful in a post about someone's difficulty (kind of like 1)
5 about politics
This is entertainment! There are no necessary posts.
Reminding myself of the futility of commenting. Waiting two minutes or so after feeling the urge to respond and realizing without that initial reaction, I have nothing much to say
.
Of course, sometimes I am obliged to respond to certain posts which frankly merit no response at all, or worse, deserve complete deletion. Furthermore it's difficult to moderate a thread full of argumentative comments, none of which should have been posted in the first place, particularly when/if an offending post has been flagged...
I await suitably empathetic and supportive responses. Feel free to post...
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Bias based on who posted it?
>
Are you asking us or telling us....?
I never ever watch the video. So if it starts with one I just give the thread a miss.
I am not even sure that I can explain why..
What has me NOT respond when tempted?
Self control.
Kia Ora,
The Ego or Egolessness (But I'm not sure which one) .
..
Metta Shoshin
Sometimes, my thought process. I have to talk myself through whether it's necessary/helpful, or not. Sometimes, I type a response and think "what? Why are you even saying anything?" and I don't submit it. Sometimes, I have to remove myself, close the laptop and walk away for a bit. Within a minute or 2, I don't even remember what it was that made me have to walk away.
Sometimes, I'm just chatty. I'll response to anything and everything, lol. Then there are other times that I feel a huge need to respond, and the words seem to come from other than me. It's kind of a weird sensation.
My answer resembles @Jeffrey's with an addition: when the same person posts the hundredth variation of their same question over and over again.
In those cases I shouldn't comment but regrettably sometimes I do, in a totally anti-Buddhistic way.
I think the thing to bear in mind is that not everyone reads every thread or goes beyond the first page of thread titles, or can't be bothered to do a little research. It goes to demonstrate that if you have no knowledge or interest in history, it will repeat itself.
I editted my comment, @anataman, to make it more clear. What I meant was "when the same person posts the hundreth variation of their same question."
I think I am expressing my own occasional bias.
Yes, I get what you mean. But then I wonder if the person honestly believes they are asking a DIFFERENT question, in their innocence or ignorance, because they are not connecting the dots.
I've done this myself a hundred times, mostly I don't speak up because I don't want to be rude or pushy. Sometimes an answer seems to miss the point of my question -- but as I grow, I realize the questions I ask are very, very important.
Sometimes people formulate a question but put it into words that mislead the answerer. They don't have their question 'right' in the first place. Of course there are those who already KNOW the answer and ask the question in order to argue some defense they're attached to. If you just announce you would like a lot of negative attention because it satisfies your masochistic need to feel put upon, it generally does not go over well! If you just make a proclamation with the proviso that you want everyone to unanimously agree to, it doesn't go over too well then, either
. No one will give you the attention you are trying to get.
PS: at least for me, it goes against my grain to NOT answer a question if I think I have something to contribute, which is just about always
. Whoops, I should have put this in the 'wrong foot forward' thread 
I think in some cases at least a person might pose the same question repeatedly because they are hoping for a different answer this time.
Then there is the person who has five stock answers which they simply recycle.
Usually consisting of a pithy saying which may have been notable for the first two or three times.
In both cases my fingers remain still on the keyboard.
Sometimes you can't help recycling your own answers, the questions are so alike!
Go tell that to the Buddha, who had his simple teaching recycled in thousands of suttas... And here I am with a stock answer .. :rolleyes: ..
In the Buddhas case of course it was because his teachings were reduced to chantings to aid memorisation.
Sometimes an answer to a problem in someones mind is the right one, in their opinion. For instance, a point in question is the question of the self. No matter how many times one may point out that the self they associate themselves with does not exist, and that overcoming this clinging to an illusion is the most important step one can take in overcoming duhkha, it is obvious the enchantment of I, is so strong, that they return to it like a moth around the flame. But there are only a few ways this can be said, so sometimes repeated questions, result in repeated answers @Citta, and yes they may be pithy, but keep giving the answer and one day it might sink in.
I can see you in my mind's eye, poised with hands hovering over keyboard...
... \ lol / ...
When I feel I can not phrase it in a way that serves the group individually and collectively. Part of the problem is not to do with temptation but fulfilling the potential ways a posting can be digested as for example
however people may also be:
gosh I am so altruistic . . . soon I could be a Bodhisattva . . . Mr Cushion is shaking his head . . .
You cannot be positive without having a negative @lobster; and vice versa...