The old standard.

I’m no stranger to disagreement with people on the Internet. Most of my popular posts grew from my disagreement with others around things like being called an engineer, being a 10x engineer, and something about IPv6 and NAT. I’ve always tried to explain my reasoning for my positions and discuss the relevant points with people that want to have a debate. I tend to avoid commenting on people that just accuse me of being wrong and tell me I need to grow up or work in the real world.

Buying the Farm

However, I’ve noticed recently that there have been some people in the realm of social media and influencing that have taken to posting so-called hot takes on things solely for the purpose of engagement. It’s less of a discussion and more of a post that outlines all the reasons why a particular thing that people might like is wrong.

For example, it would be like me posting something about how an apple is the dumbest fruit because it’s not perfectly round or orange or how the peel is ridiculous because you can eat it. While there are some opinions and points to be made, the goal isn’t to discuss the merits of the fruit hierarchy. Instead, it’s designed to draw in people that disagree to generate comments about how apples are, in fact, good fruits and maybe if I tried one some time I would understand. In this example, I would reply to the comment with something along the lines of “thanks for your perspective” or maybe even a flippant question about why you think that way to keep the chain going.

I’ve found that this is very prevalent on platforms that reward engagement over content. Facebook and LinkedIn chiefly spring to mind. The content of the message isn’t as important as how people react to it. The reward isn’t a well-reasoned discussion. It’s people sharing your post and telling you how stupid you are for making it. Or trying to change your mind.

Except I know what I’m doing. I may not even have strongly held beliefs on my post. I may even prefer apples to oranges. The point is to get you all in an uproar and make you drive my post to the top of someone’s feed. A contrarian way to look at things for sure. But it works. Because we’ve rewarded people for making a splash instead of making a case.

Crop Rotation

In the 10x engineer post I linked above, I had no intention of it blowing up. I noticed some things that irked me about the culture we’ve created around the people that do a lot and how we worship their aura without examining the downsides. Naturally, that meant that it got picked up on Hacker News and there were a raft of comments about how I was an idiot and how I’d get fired if I worked for a “real” company because I wasn’t pulling my weight.

I was horrified, to say the least. I didn’t want that kind of engagement. I wanted a reasoned discussion. I wanted people to see my points and engage in debate. I certainly wasn’t trying to specifically craft a post with a contrarian viewpoint explicitly designed to incense the community to drive them to my page or blog. Yet that is exactly how I’m seeing some members of the wider community acting today. The clicks are more important than the words. And if you end up being proven wrong? So be it. Whoops. On to the next hot take!

I wish I had a better method for dealing with this new angle other than just ignoring it. If it’s someone with a legitimate bad viewpoint that could use some guidance or education I am happy to chip in and provide a different viewpoint. However the difference between the occasional post and constant engagement farming for arguments in the comments to drive your view counts higher is disingenuous. Disagreeing with something is one thing. Writing 400 words about how it’s the “worst mistake you can make” or “you should think about what that will mean for your career” are a bit heavy handed. And yes, I’ve seen both of those statements in recent months about something as innocuous as a training class.

Tom’s Take

Healthy disagreement and debate makes us improve. Honest mistakes happen and can be corrected. I have no issue with either of these, even if both sides will never agree. What I take issue with is people being deliberately disingenuous to manipulate algorithms or manufacture outrage for their own ends. I always come back to a simple question: Are you doing this to solve a problem? Or become popular? If the answer is the latter it might be time to put down the plow and ask yourself if the crop you’re sewing is worth it.