By browsing the current top of the day, besides the usual posts in Programmer Humor and the tech communities, you can notice a few posts in !comicstrips@lemmy.world by @otter@lemmy.ca
I've seen this mentality in other threads and I'll repeat it here - the smaller userbase makes me feel like my comments, thoughts and opinions are actually seen, that I don't type them out for nothing. I never interacted on reddit, but do a lot more so here.
But for what, really? There's no incentive to be a karma whore here (a good thing), right? It feels good to see the upvotes, but only because I'm glad I posted something the community likes/agrees with as much as I do. I never post because I think the community would eat it up like candy. The points don't really carry beyond that specific post, do they?
For what? To engage in the community as a whole and to encourage others to as well, or to get your community noticed by people browsing the different filters (new, hot, active, top...)
For why I'd want to post? It would depend on what I'm posting. For example, if it was a meme I thought was funny and it got a lot of upvotes, I'd feel good knowing that other people found it funny, too
If I post looking for a conversation about a topic or at an answer to a question, I'd be excited for some upvotes but a little let down if no one actually responded
Also there's no incentive to be a karma whore on reddit either.. well except their harebrained idea to monetize whatever new award system is coming
1% of users participate a lot and account for most contributions: it can seem as if they don't have lives because they often post just minutes after whatever event they're commenting on occurs