I have left more than one online community for similar reason. The flow chart goes roughly like this:
receive a question / be addressed in a comment
don’t have time/don’t want to answer right now
time passes: now any response will feel weird
I can’t really answer to other people/threads if I didn’t answer the previous one
only solution: leave the community for some time
I perfectly know this is absolutely stupid, and I try to avoid this behavior as much as I can, but it still pops up sometimes (still have to fully hack myself).
I suppose that you can use a canned “I have read your comment, will think about it and might or might not reply later” reply to break the pattern at step 3.
This seems a very practical and probably effective approach. I fear that in a more general environment this might come off as rude, but it’s also possible that the same thought process that sometimes leads me into the above cycle is making me misjudge the possible people reactions. No way to know if I don’t try, I guess.
If I think a comment needs a response, but I failed to get back to it for a long time, I will just reply anyway. I am the same way with email. I must come across as very aloof because I often let a message sit for a week, and sometimes several weeks, before getting back to them.
Again (see answer to shminux comment), it’s possible that I’m exaggerating people feelings in this situation, and nobody really cares if I answer late to them. Reversing the situation, I would probably be fine to receive a late answer to a (non-urgent) question.
I have left more than one online community for similar reason. The flow chart goes roughly like this:
receive a question / be addressed in a comment
don’t have time/don’t want to answer right now
time passes: now any response will feel weird
I can’t really answer to other people/threads if I didn’t answer the previous one
only solution: leave the community for some time
I perfectly know this is absolutely stupid, and I try to avoid this behavior as much as I can, but it still pops up sometimes (still have to fully hack myself).
I suppose that you can use a canned “I have read your comment, will think about it and might or might not reply later” reply to break the pattern at step 3.
This seems a very practical and probably effective approach. I fear that in a more general environment this might come off as rude, but it’s also possible that the same thought process that sometimes leads me into the above cycle is making me misjudge the possible people reactions. No way to know if I don’t try, I guess.
If I think a comment needs a response, but I failed to get back to it for a long time, I will just reply anyway. I am the same way with email. I must come across as very aloof because I often let a message sit for a week, and sometimes several weeks, before getting back to them.
So far, nothing has exploded.
Again (see answer to shminux comment), it’s possible that I’m exaggerating people feelings in this situation, and nobody really cares if I answer late to them. Reversing the situation, I would probably be fine to receive a late answer to a (non-urgent) question.