I've been doing some "meta" thinking about myself and my participation in this forum lately. In other words, why do I even post here?
If every person posting on this forum asked themselves this question before hitting the "post" button, the forum would undoubtedly be
cleaner.

When I first signed up for bitcointalk I was in the middle of building a crypto project, and thought my participation in a forum like bitcointalk could be a way to promote it. That turned out to be wrong

. I quickly figured out that the audience here is far too small to make any difference to any serious project--and it takes way too much effort compared to more straightforward ways of promoting a new project.
So, does this mean that all the projects promoted through sig.campaigns have been, and still are, wasting their (a considerable sum of) money?

My original project died (it "pivoted", as startups do, into something that's not crypto-related),
For instance, during the ICO boom, every project seemed to think it couldn't function without its own cryptocurrency - which was utter nonsense.
but something interesting happened: I still enjoyed participating in this forum. Why? A couple of reasons.
That’s how many people ended up here. And they stayed for a long time. You’re not the first one like this to arrive here.
First, as somebody who has been posting online since the 1980s, I need to say this: this is a very well-run forum. Kudos to theymos and the others who keep this forum working and useful, because I know very well that this is not easy to do, especially in a subject area such as this one.
No one here is going to argue with you.

Second, while posting here can seem like a waste of time--and, technically, it absolutely is--I've actually learned a lot here. Online forums are excellent venues to try out new ideas--especially ideas that one might not have time to try out on IRL colleagues. They are great places to try out thoughts, and to discover other half-baked thoughts that might turn out to be something interesting. For me, online forums are the primordial soup that generate new, seriously useful ideas--even though probably 95% of the content you will sift through will be totally useless, offensive, or even totally crazy.
Tell us, then: what kind of interaction isn’t, a "waste of time"?

Whether it’s on social media, in a messangers, or in real life - how much of our communication is actually useful and productive? Only a small fraction, of course.
That’s precisely why forums were created: for discussion. And, as with any discussion, valuable and useful ideas are bound to emerge from amidst the stream of idle chatter.
And despite the trolls, the shitposters and the sockpuppets, this forum is still very useful. While I praise theymos et. al. for keeping these forces from ruining the forum's usefulness, they are like cockroaches in the kitchen of a five-star NYC restaurant: you always get some no matter what you do.
Actually, that’s true, since the forum continues to maintain
order and doesn’t descend into
chaos.
I have learned a lot here about a multitude of subjects, and I'm a better person for it. I think I've added to the overall conversation as well, and have illuminated others. (I have watched many of my most vociferous detractors adopt some of my ideas--although they'd never admit this in a million years

).
Because a forum is, in essence, a repository of accumulated knowledge.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not here to bullshit anybody: technically speaking, posting of Bitcointalk is a waste of time. But we all do lots of things that are wastes of time, don't we? Is posting here more productive than playing an FPS? From doomscrolling on Facebook? Then watching the EPL? I think so. As far as "leisure activities" go, at least this one allows you to learn something... occasionally.
If posting is a waste of time, then stop wasting time on it.

You can just read and get useful information (if you can get through the flow of empty chatter)

).
So kudos to the mods here at Bitcointalk, and keep up the good work. I may or may not keep posting on Bitcointalk actively, but that will be due to my own life's schedule, and not the quality of this forum.
It would be better if you (and everyone else) were guided not by your own personal schedule, but by whether you have "valuable and useful" information that you are prepared to share and discuss before you post.