Honestly, the only time I regret writing an effort post is when I realize most of the way through that I’m wrong, or that I’m saying something obvious or redundant with way too many words. Otherwise it’s just a great opportunity to properly articulate a thought. If someone else appreciates it, that’s great, too.

Saying “you should write for yourself” or whatever can seem trite, but there’s a good reason to do it, even if no one reads it or cares: being able to take something that’s in your head and properly express it to other people is a skill on its own, and not everyone has it or wants to practice it.

Think of how many internet losers (or even real life people) you’ve encountered who insist that they’re geniuses, but who never actually present any evidence of that. They think they’re smart because, in their heads, all of the things they’re thinking are correct and consistent with one another. The only way to test whether or not your ideas are valid, though, is by going through the exercise of articulating them. Writing an effort post, regardless of whether anyone reads it, requires that you satisfy yourself that what you have in your head can be expressed to someone else, or if it’s more like a feeling you remembered from a dream and don’t actually understand it. It goes beyond merely being right or wrong, it’s about whether or not your thoughts are even coherent enough to exist outside of your head.

In short, if you can’t explain something to someone else, you probably don’t understand it, and effortposting is a way of validating (or refuting) your understanding of something. The bonus is that someone else may get some value out of your post, or might help you clarify your thinking by responding, but even if all you do is post it, you at least proved to yourself that you had something to say and were able to put it in words.