Strokes are essential to carry on with whatever you are pursuing for long. It could be either positive or negative. But, life without strokes would be the ultimate form of expiation. Hence, being ostracized is considered to be one of the major malevolence as per sociological or anthropological or even religious scriptures. In the virtual space also, knowingly or unknowingly majority of us rummage around in search of “strokes”. The best reward you can earn will remain as strokes and of course any virtual forum will capitalize this primordial urge of human beings.
The day when MS came up with the idea of virtual gifts, it was a quantum leap towards capitalizing the stroke concept. In short, we love recognition but most often we are the slaves of irrational inhibitions to accept the same. So, most often we come up with statements like “I write for myself and I am not obsessed by hits or comments”. If so, you can opt to pen in your personal laptop and keep on reading the same at your free will. Why MS / Blog or any public space!
“Commenting” is a conspicuous expression of strokes even though it is not the sole expression. This prattle is all about the art of commenting – the obvious form of “strokes” in the virtual space we operate.
Obsessive Compulsive Commenting
As the name suggests, it is a syndrome where by which an uncontrollable urge will force you to blather to establish your existence. They do it because “there is no way out”. They cannot hold back their horses. The fixation to be the omnipresent providence often manifest to this mode of commenting. Most often, they coin their comments without reading the posts and arrive at the same after reading the previous comments. But yes – they will affix their stamp as a proof of their existence.
Wired Commenting
As the name suggests, they are knitting the chain of comment to be the cog in the wheel. The wiring is done in such a meticulous manner that your fascination for being in the limelight is done in an adorable manner. Often their commenting will become redundant because of their chalet has got the stock of limited ideas / vocabulary which is not sufficient to satisfy the diverse background of contributors. Most often their comments sound like "I don’t follow what you have posted but still this is an excellent post"
Sensational Commenting
This is the art of exhibiting your valor and their “comment chains” can the stretched like fine velour attire. It is just like undergoing an ordeal like piercing your body with tattoo as an expression to gain control of physical torture. You gain the status of brutally honest and browbeat anything or everything came your way! This is more like a high grade antibiotics dose that attack dormant good cells and malicious microbes. Most often, they will end up in tears or extreme penury, will resort to extreme step like becoming a recluse but again they come back like a phoenix
The wise geeks
They are the experts to divert the direction of discussion as per their fancy. If the central theme of discussion is about an electronic gadget, they might start discussing about the history and philosophy behind electronic revolution and the socio – cultural - political impact of the same. Slowly, they will lead the discussion towards their area of interest and finally emerge out as the Blue eyes or Purple eyed boy of girl in the forum
The “Self Actualized”
Lucky are those who could vouch their presence in your commenting section. This is a rare breed who could overcome the temptation of experiencing or distributing the strokes. They keep on contributing in toll devoid of any worldly pleasure of gaining strokes. They are least bothered about groups, cliques, politics – they just contribute and remain dormant in their fissure. At times, they might share their treasured possession in some particular posts and it seems to be the tangible form of spiritual bliss in virtual forum. To experience them, the recommended modus operandi would be to spend average 18 hours per day in MS for a year without winking.
Give and Take
They are calculative and maintain a log book on the number of comments they posted and the corresponding comments they received. They are obsessed with the balance sheet syndrome where in debit and credit column should be balanced. In short, if you fail to comment on their post twice, religiously they will also complement the same by not marking their signature in two of your posts. The moment, you start visiting them, they will be back with their comments but remember – they are mathematically perfect. If the balance sheet is not balanced, that will lead to breaking of friendship, biological war fare, world war 3 --- what not!
The Plagiarist
This is a new phenomenon that might lead to a revolution in the field of commenting. They are a mix breed of obsessive compulsive and wired commenting. What demarcate them from rest of the crowd is that they require maximum strokes (positive or negative) and also want to show their expertise in myriad topics. Mostly, they are uni focused souls who are tempted for short cuts. They shed the vital element of inhibition and indulge in plagiarism in comments too. But alas, you cannot let them down in any manner. The classic example of “rhino’s skin”
Involuntary
This is catharsis or purging out of pent up feeling. It happens without the knowledge of conscious compartment of self. You comment and at a later stage you realize the magnitude. It is just like an involuntary biological phenomenon like nocturnal enuresis or night fall which is required and happens without your knowledge
Guerrilla Warfare
Jai Shivaji Maharaj! But a literal insult to his spirit. This amounts to shoot in veil. They exist just to target a few. In real self, they found it very difficult to express their view. So more often, they manifest as if it is the Season of Halloween where the art of masquerading is exemplified at its best. A few of them might find it too odd to present their real face to public as they break mirror watching their image. They complement the action of sensational commenting specialists.
The scholastic bifurcation of the “art of commenting” can be discussed at length provided if others can contribute. Now, this will amount to me vouching for comments in this post! Making a spoof of commenting and expecting toll full of comments is an expression of greed but yes, I am fascinated by strokes. Just to inurn my thoughts, it is time to admit that I am not immune to any of these varieties of commenting (except the last one).
So, want to comment? Choice is yours!