>Why should I pay to have people see my post? Shouldn't I have to pay people to see their posts instead?
I think people like to write things that others will read. How else to explain why people post so much on e.g. Facebook that is not informational or helpful to others but merely something they want others to read? Introspectively, I recognize that I enjoy commenting on Hacker News and am not exactly doing it wholly out of the goodness of my heart for the benefit of all of you.
From observing the behavior of some people online, I think that there are people out there who just like to write stuff, regardless of whether anyone might read or care. This can be good or bad. I've read good posts from clearly forgotten blogs. I've also read in certain communities posts so inane and out of context that it's hard to even understand why they were written in the first place.
"Shitposting" in it's strictest sense is very much an example of the latter, because it's a repeated pattern of stupid behavior which doesn't even qualify as joking, and which is repeated regardless of whether people pay attention to it or not. It's like drawing swastikas on bathroom stalls.
I think people like to write things that others will read. How else to explain why people post so much on e.g. Facebook that is not informational or helpful to others but merely something they want others to read? Introspectively, I recognize that I enjoy commenting on Hacker News and am not exactly doing it wholly out of the goodness of my heart for the benefit of all of you.