As much time as I spend thinking about social motivations/interactions, I'm a little aggravated at myself that I let it get to me as much as I have. It really shows to me how insidious it can be. People only really interacted with each other to prove their opponent was wrong and stupid and bad, and because doing this was the easiest way to be rewarded on reddit, of course that's going to make it seep into things.

Being a dick is a fun activity that makes you a part of a group, and humans love being liked more than they love most things in this world. Being empathetic just makes you feel really bad and kind of confused. By making me consider the other side, you're making me feel bad >:(

So the rare times I got downvoted a lot, it was usually me telling people to look after/stop being assholes to each other. Sarcastic know-it-all comments? Popular if they were short and quippy, unpopular if they were long and academic. People like to be liked, and if you want most social media platforms to like you, you have to be really mean and borderline illiterate.

Funny to see you with the Loki take by the way. Didn’t realize you were the same person.

I'd been meaning to respond to this thread for maybe a full day before I saw you around over there, and that was apparently the reminder I needed. It was amusing. This place has already gotten large enough in a month that I've lost track of some people I used to see positively everywhere, and knowing that's the way of things makes me a bit sad, but I'll enjoy being able to recognize people while I can. I look forward to it too, I hope you have a nice weekend :)