i am getting to the point where i don't believe comment sections anymore.

like some kind of half-dead internet theory. we all recognize bots and farms and generative content are deployed to create impressions/trends and drive monetizable content, and there have to be thousands of organizations doing that work on behalf of various clients with their own agendas. and then there are the actual humans responding to some generative content posted to hijack the conversation. or bots flagging content that doesn't align with their project. and then the people just posting using the latest jargon without attachment to any value being discussed so they can demonstrate their membership in the latest iteration of the in-group.

there's enough of all that going on to make me suspicious of any trends in comment sections being organically human-community driven rather than being manipulated and managed.

this is probably one of a tiny number of very niche communities i read and post comments on, because it's a niche interest with limited potential for monetization so i perceive it as more authentic and resistant to semi-dead internet.