Online, asynchronous communication has less need for such a thing—there are two better options available which don’t work as well in live interactive discussions.
say nothing, just go. Feels rude in person, but not so much online, when people come and go all the time.
use more words to say why you’re leaving. since you’re not taking up time/bandwidth that someone else can use in live conversation, you can opt for clarity.
saying “tapping out” or “leaving orbit” or “I’m done with this topic for now” or any other non-specific departure can feel somewhat accusatory, or like an attempt to get the last word in an un-rebuttable manner. it’s kind of content-free, and doesn’t serve any informational purpose.
That’s necessary in person—there are plenty of content-free norms, and silent departure is likely to be worse.
I think in most cases with public, online, asynchronous communication, it probably makes the most sense to just exit without a message about it.
In a minority of cases, though (e.g., where I’ve engaged in a series of back-and-forths and then abruptly stopped responding, or where someone asks me a direct Q or what-have-you), I find that I want an easy boilerplate way to notify others that I’m unlikely to respond more. I think “(Leaving orbit. 🙂)” or similar solves that specific problem for me.
Online, asynchronous communication has less need for such a thing—there are two better options available which don’t work as well in live interactive discussions.
say nothing, just go. Feels rude in person, but not so much online, when people come and go all the time.
use more words to say why you’re leaving. since you’re not taking up time/bandwidth that someone else can use in live conversation, you can opt for clarity.
saying “tapping out” or “leaving orbit” or “I’m done with this topic for now” or any other non-specific departure can feel somewhat accusatory, or like an attempt to get the last word in an un-rebuttable manner. it’s kind of content-free, and doesn’t serve any informational purpose.
That’s necessary in person—there are plenty of content-free norms, and silent departure is likely to be worse.
I think in most cases with public, online, asynchronous communication, it probably makes the most sense to just exit without a message about it.
In a minority of cases, though (e.g., where I’ve engaged in a series of back-and-forths and then abruptly stopped responding, or where someone asks me a direct Q or what-have-you), I find that I want an easy boilerplate way to notify others that I’m unlikely to respond more. I think “(Leaving orbit. 🙂)” or similar solves that specific problem for me.