I was reminded again today, why I generally quit commenting on Facebook posts.
A Facebook “friend” posted something about which I felt I had something to say that would be of benefit to the original post.
I proceeded to comment on that post, with the idea that discourse could occur, and that—in the worst case—I might have to deal with some unpleasant comments made by other posters and might even change somebody’s mind in the process.
Instead, I found myself in a “conversation” with someone who:
- Could not begin to step out of his or her little world for long enough to examine and understand what I had said OR, that I had failed to say what I intended in such a way as to help him or her understand my position and
- Had no idea my circumstances, and therefor chose to interpret my unwillingness to continue to reply to comments as a personal challenge and a failure on my part due to inability to answer.
I did my best to bow out gracefully, but in the end, had to either delete my comments, or leave the situation looking like the other person had somehow “won” some argument he or she was trying to make. My interest was neither in “winning” anything nor in any way competing with the individual in question.
My responses were intended to clarify my position, but the responses returned to me, indicated that the person with whom I was “conversing” either willfully or unknowingly was unable to understand how what I was saying, answered his or her replies (in case you hadn’t figured it out, I’m using “him” and “her” to keep from divulging the sex of the individual in question).
In the end, I tried to bow out as gracefully as possible, deleting my posts and telling the person I was not able to continue participating in the “conversation.”
At this point, I was accused of not having any way to respond (when in my view, I had done so in prior replies) and told that I was a terrible human being, and denying them their opinion by deleting my comments.
The latter appears to have been a result of the fact that they were replying to what I had said. It appears that, when you delete a comment or reply to a comment, Facebook deletes all subsequent comments and replies.
In any case, this is a good example of one of the reasons I have ceased commenting to posts (or replying to comments, often) on Facebook.