I would just like to mention one further point, from the perspective of an
old developer (although not -yet- in any F95-related sense).
Communication is, contrary to popular belief, not zero effort. Especially for developers.
For most, it's just stream-of-consciousness-direct-to-keyboard-clickity-click-no-brainer. For any maker/creator with an online 'following', it is very, very different. Emotionally, psychologically and occasionally physically.
Even a sentence takes way more time you than you give it credit for and, crucially, way more emotional capital. This is something that I really think only experienced creators understand.
Just coming up with the right words to say in itself takes way more effort than the actual act of posting. Especially after a long period of silence - in fact the effort required tends to grow exponentially over time. Because, unlike your posts, the creator's posts will be dissected and subject to commentary. And they
know it.
It is intense to feel the immense obligation of having hundreds or thousands of people waiting to tear apart every word you utter in the hopes of either a) finding a cool bit of information or b) finding justification for their current grudge.
It is, in fact, immensely stressful - physically so. The stress sits behind your thoughts, hanging over you at all times, making it virtually impossible to relax, which ironically is precisely what you need to do to get back to business.
If you think about both perspectives using extreme examples, this makes a lot of sense. When you read something offensive on Internet, it's just some faceless troll and is easily ignored. But if a celebrity says the same thing on twitter, damn they're an idiot; that's career-ending cancellation for sure. So there are two identical posts: one is completely ignored and one has massive consequences.
I have ignored communities myself and I daresay I will do it again. I'm not proud of it, but it happens. Sometimes I have excellent legitimate excuses. Sometimes I feel like I don't (although I probably do).
Sometimes I just, really, really need to shut the whole world out for like, a while. It is neither a discourtesy nor is it disrespect. It's humanity.
Let me try to use a non-developer analogy.
When was the last time you rang your mother? You know she appreciates it every time you do and you definitely love her. But when did you ring her? Ring her right now. No? Got something better to do, right? But you love her. And it's your mother ffs. So ring her. But you won't. Because somehow, somewhere in your brain that feels, quite paradoxically, like a stressful and oppressive task.
Of course, well, usually, when you
do ring her it's great and actually turns out to be cathartic and restorative for both of you.
I'm hoping that, in that example, you can recognize some of that humanity; some glimmer of a relatable human experience.
With experience and maturity you may begin to recognize those moments in peoples' lives and, if it's not ruining any families, causing anyone any harm or directly
damaging you in any particular way, maybe just stfu and back off. You can almost certainly just get on with your life in the quiet hope that something may change. Empathy and patience are, after all, both free.
As somebody's grandma no doubt used to say, "If you've got nothing nice to say, better to say nothing at all."
P.S. Seriously, call your parents.
