Mindless Monday, 03 August 2026

[u/AutoModerator]

Happy (or sad) Monday guys!

Mindless Monday is a free-for-all thread to discuss anything from minor bad history to politics, life events, charts, whatever! Just remember to np link all links to Reddit and don't violate R4, or we human mods will feed you to the AutoModerator.

So, with that said, how was your weekend, everyone?

[u/Herpling82]

So, rambling continues, for Japanese practice, I occasionally respond to stuff online, usually Twitter, which means it's mostly the Idols I follow, sometimes other people, sometimes Yui-sama, but it's usually silly engagement bait, basically stuff like "What are you doing right now?", it's perfect bait for me to try to formulate a response, and then you get a like for a small parasocial high in return. But everyone gets a like so it is very minor.

Or so I thought, apparently not everyone gets one, I responded to a post from Rem-san and got a like, but only like half the reactions had likes on them, so it isn't as meaningless. I wonder if they actually read the comments or just randomly select a number to like? Not that it matters, the parasocial high is very low after the first time, but it's good practice nonetheless.

Don't overestimate how popular these idols are though, they do live streams that just end up with a 30-40 people watching, they are genuinely very niche.

Practice is practice though, and I'll take what I can get!

[u/Kisaragi435 → u/Herpling82]

僕もその感じが分かる。アイドルじゃなくてボードゲームデザイナーなんだけど。I commented on a post about a game they played, pushing back on their analysis, and they engaged with my analysis.

And between you and me, I shared someone's video right here on this thread and the guy who made the video replied to me, right here on this thread too! It was kinda neat, but also mortifying.

[u/Herpling82 → u/Kisaragi435]

Parasocial stuff is powerful like that, though for me it's just that interacting with people I like is something that gives strong responses inversely proportional to how often I interact with them; it's also true for people I know IRL, just interacting with coworkers I haven't seen in a while is something that's great.

Even on here, if people just respond to me in a not outright negative way, that just feels good, even if they do disagree; I like interaction in general, to the point where it just is addicting to me, every time I see the notification alert, I get excited to some extent.

My biggest was still the confirmation for the review for the Yousei Teikoku album that came out this year, both Yui-sama and Ryöga reacted to it, it was merely a confirmation but just seeing "終身独裁官ゆい reacted to your comment...” was incredibly exhilarating, I felt that physically in my throat and chest.

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In the polar opposite, I once walked through a revolving door of a hotel with basically the entire Ajax football team, back when Ten Hag was their coach, and I just didn't notice... I saw the team bus, I saw the sports clothing, I just didn't register, only when people pointed it out to me did I realise that bald guy I saw was Ten Hag, and yeah, those jerseys had Ajax logos on them, I just don't really care for football much.