If you launched a reply with a misconception say "sorry"! If you ask me to teach you something say "thank you"! If someone has opened up to share an emotion say "that must be hard"!
We're in a relationship if we're talking. A ridiculous, fleeting, tiny relationship, but still. I look at every replier I don't know to see if they follow me -- that's cog effort too! I am way colder to the people who don't follow me because I assume we have no reciprocity! Would you text me like this?
God I get outgrouped so hard on mastodon it just cracks me up. It's honestly not to the level of trolling which is why standard social media language doesn't fit well to describe my personal experiences here. But it's OUTGROUPING and that's real. It's so funny when I respond with just as much cold bluntness as someone replied to me with and suddenly it's like "my god how dare"