CMV: If you like a post, but you don't have anything to add, it's socially incumbent on you to upvote it. If you read the comments without liking them, you're a parasite.

Here's a controversy to stir up.<br><br>I think that this is a widespread problem on the internet, but I haven't really spoken about it before, so I'll talk about it in the context of this website. <br><br>When you see a post you like, but you're too lazy to upvote it, you're being a parasite. <br><br>Let's define what I mean by "like". If you read a thread and say "I enjoyed reading this post, it was nice / funny / informative" and you don't upvote it, you're not socially incumbent on the community. <br><br>On the flip side, if you see a post, and upvote it without reading it or without even looking at it, you're being a parasite too. You're the type of person who upvotes every top post on a chamber just because it's on the front page. You're a waste of space, just as much as the guy who consumes without giving back.<br><br>When you post something on the internet, but nobody likes it, it's very demotivating. It makes you wonder "Did I even do anything useful? Should I just do something else with my time?". It feels terrible to put yourself out there and be rejected. <br><br>On the other hand, getting likes is a nice little boost of dopamine, which makes people feel good for the rest of the day. It's what motivates most people to continue posting content.<br><br>If you're lazy, or too proud to upvote someone's post, you're robbing them of the joy of getting likes. You're making them feel like they're worthless and that nobody cares about them. You're destroying their self esteem and causing them to have a bad day.<br><br>In other words, you're being a parasite because you're consuming content from the community, but you're not contributing to it. At the very least, when you see a post you like, you owe it to the author to upvote it and give them a little boost of dopamine.<br><br>The next time you see something you like and you're too lazy to upvote it, you owe it to the author to go back and upvote it. Even if you're on mobile, you should still do it. They've wasted their time to give you content, the least you can do is waste 1s of your time to boost their mood a little bit.<br><br>The next time you read a thread without upvoting it, ask yourself "Am I a parasite, or am I a contributing member of society". Edit: As /u/DanielleBlewIt pointed out in the comments, it should be "Am I a parasite, or a contributing member of this community". <br><br>PS: I know that this is a paradox, since I'm creating a post which requires people to read it without upvoting it. However, if you've read this and found it somewhat thoughtprovoking, you owe it to yourself to upvote it. If you don't, you're a parasite. <br><br>Edit: Since about 4k people have upvoted this but only 700 have read it (as per chambers analytics), I'm going to assume that about 2300 people are parasites.