elanya

No, because it's not really a conscious process for a lot of people, I believe. And sometimes where it seems to be conscious to outsiders, it may in fact not be.

Even if it is conscious, though, it doesn't negate its effectiveness. After all, when you post something to entertain people, and then it does its job, you are happy that you have successfully done what you set out to do. And really, the only other options are to ignore the plea for praise entirely (leading to further self-esteem problems) or to reply with something other than praise (same effect). It may not be *helping*, but it doesn't hurt. Of course, if it were a long-term situation, then a friend would want to take some other action to help, but on a once-in-a-while basis, I don't see the problem with it.