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Comment by chillfox

3 years ago

Not everything should be preserved forever. It's actually really nice to be able to talk online and not have it form a permanent record that can be instantly referenced by anyone.

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chillfox

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TeMPOraL  3 years ago

Correct. However, some things should be preserved forever and accessible. It's really nice to be able to put a piece of scientific jargon, or a text of an error message, into a search box, and get back links and references to material you can peruse at your own pace and discretion - as opposed to having to join a closed community and keep asking people, hoping someone who knows the answer and is willing to help spots the message before it disappears in the flood of ongoing conversations, and monitoring said flood so that you catch the answer in time to ask follow-up questions, etc.

Point being: different needs require different tools. Current trend is doing everything in closed, ephemeral groups.

  • Geezus_42  3 years ago

    Also, there's the perpetual issue of people who just want to be assholes to other people on line and not actually help. This has existed in internet based chat platforms and is why they will never be better than documentation.

    • Geezus_42  3 years ago

      > Also, there's the perpetual issue of people who just want to be assholes to other people on line and not actually help. This has [always] existed in internet based chat platforms and is why they will never be better than documentation.