im thinking about an aspect of how websites have evolved in the past decade. i'm an art creator with somewhat of a consistent following, so i pay attention to how people interact with the creative things i post. and people comment rarely, much less than they used to. people repost less. most people will like a piece of art but not repost it, and generally everyone who reposts art will also like it. which is interesting behavior to me.

the past decade of website evolution saw the rise of the Algorithm, as everyone seems to understand. but what people are less aware of is how the Algorithm has sculpted their behavior. the Algorithm doesn't reward comments really, but it does reward likes. if you like something, it sends you more of that thing. before the Algorithm, likes were used as bookmarks, or most basically as soft approval. in the 2010-2015 internet, websites like tumblr, youtube, twitter, and to a lesser degree (per my audience) furaffinity, the "like/favorite" button was really the Lesser interaction. comments and reposts were king, because that was really the only way to get an interaction out of the media. now people are used to the social media itself providing the interactions (i.e. the incentive, the motivation), rather than a connection with a human person. which sucks

i rarely use likes. i use them as bookmarks, i use them as a personal acknowledgement (like a friend's personal post or something pertaining personally to me), and sometimes i'll use them for soft approval. but for the most part, i just dont think that its worth interacting with art in any less a degree than reposting or commenting, because those are meaningful. reposting is a free way to add value to something you enjoy or appreciate, and commenting is a free way to recognize the creator's effort and intent.

cohost doesn't have an algorithm. yeah, it feels weird compared to a decade of Heavily Algorithm'd Websites. so you're gonna have to adjust your behavior a little bit to get the most out of it, and to make it fun for yourself and for other people! I strongly encourage you to repost anything you enjoy and comment on every post that inspires a thought. you are the algorithm now.

and please, PLEASE as a lifelong professional creator, I am begging you: there's no such thing as a comment that is "too simple". simple is so good. just "wow!" or "i like this!" mean so much more to me than 100 likes. show me you exist so i can remember that i exist too