Probably 95% of the time, honestly.

Almost every time, even when it's something I'm a SME about. I just don't want to play the popularity/karma game and deal with nonsense.

Consider that your target audience for this question might inherently have difficulty answering this.

50% of th...ah, fuck it.

I’ve been on the internet long enough I can have the entire argument with myself at this point. I’ve taken to just posting what I want and forgetting about it. They can’t all be bangers.

I almost didn't even post this response.

I just deleted four paragraphs about Batman and the ethics of murder because I realized I didn't actually want to argue with anyone, I was just soapboxing. And it would definitely start an argument.

All. The. Fucking. Time.

3 out of 4 times?

Find myself reiterating something that was already said. Arguing a point nobody cares about. Entering a discussion that I know will not go my way regardless of what info I provide, because even Lemmy has a Hive Mind sometimes and doesn’t like dissent. Realizing half way through writing it that I don’t really know enough about the subject and should just shut up. Or maybe I just think my comment won’t offer anything that contributes to the discussion.

I often type and then realize I'm not really adding anything to the discussion. Then I just discard it.

So. Often. At least twice a day.

I post about 1/20th of the replies i write.

Less here, way more often on Reddit. Here is nicer to have conversations.

You're lucky I'm even responding to this. That's how often.

A lot. I start typing then stop, physically remove my hands from the keyboard and remind myself that A) arguing on the internet never convinced anyone of anything and B) it will make me feel worse, not better.

Often but not as often as I used to on Reddit. On Lemmy, I do feel more of a sense that I can contribute to the conversation and hopefully will be met with more respect than the other place.

We’re building the kind of community we want. I want to be interacting with engaged and respectful people, so I’m trying to be the same. Feels like more ownership, Yknow?

I think of this as like reddit ptsd. People on lemmy have generally been unexpectedly level headed when disagreeing on things.

I have done this for years starting with emails. I find typing out the reply helps me more than actually sending it.

(furiously clicks to delete the partially written answer)

All the time. I just did it right now because I don't want to fight about what I was going to say. Sigh. Tl;Dr lemmy isn't that different than reddit... still lots of jerks.

The older I get, the fewer fucks I give. I still give fucks, just not as much.

I don't argue. I just state my case. It's up to the other guy to get offended and defensive.

Very often, and it doesn't help that my replies tend to be absurdly long

Towards the end, I either realize that what I want to say has already been said by someone, the argument isn't worth it (like you said), or what's on my mind really isn't worth bothering other people over.

Rarely. If I've put in the effort to jot down whatever bollocks I've come up with - it's going out.

More times than not. Arguing on the internet is like mud wrestling with a pig.

All the time, and on multiple social networks. I’ll write up a whole post just to consider the responses then delete it without posting.

I get what I wanted to say out of my system, and get no replies to deal with.

50% of the time, i comment every time.

⠀

I guess most see it as a bad thing. As waste, or resignation. But here's the good story!

It can be a fruitful inner dialogue. While writing the comment, you engage with the topic, which changes your mind. That's a healthy and good thing! If in the end, your result is "I'd rather not post that, because ...", then this reason is the insight you gained by writing that comment.

Sometimes I realize flaws in my reasoning this way. And I'm happy to catch them! Imagine if it was not asynchronous written conversation, but real time face to face.

Of course there are many reasons to delete a draft. If it's mostly insecurity, I'd encourage people to give it a try. Experiences are what bring you forward, and if it's only to learn what not to repeat in the future.

I almost deleted the last paragraph.

A lot of the time. Sometimes I even do research to back up my argument then I realize it’s not worth it.

For me it's not the realization that the argument isn't very good is the realization that what I'm about to say isn't very interesting.

Wonder how many replies were deleted here before posting

This post would have like 1000 comments if we all hit send

More often than not.

Sometimes I can be pretty mean and stubborn in real life, so I actively try to not bring that here.

I gave up on Internet arguments a while back, felt like I was getting too old. Most of us are grown ups here, so we should all act like grown ups here.

I often will do this. At the end of writing a comment I ask myself "is my desire to comment satisfied by writing this comment, is it more about me writing it than other people reading it, is the response to the comment more likely to bring bain than joy?" The answers often lead me to just closing the comment page rather than posting it, and I feel fine about that.

I

All the time, my friend, all the time.