Terms Governing Like Count Reopening
The binding terms under which a person returns to a recently posted item to check engagement figures that have not changed.
Article I: Definitions
"Like count reopening" refers to the act of returning to a recently published post within the first sixty minutes of its publication to observe engagement metrics. The post was published voluntarily. No notification triggered the return. The return occurred anyway.
"The first hour" refers to the period during which like count reopening is most frequent and least productive, as engagement data during this window is both most active and most subject to change by the time the screen is consulted.
Article II: Terms of Use
Any repeated case of like count reopening becomes standard procedure until someone deliberately replaces it.
Like count reopening first adds one extra decision to a moment that previously required none. The decision is: should I check now. The answer, consistently established by the behavior of parties subject to these terms, is yes.
Other people begin anticipating that decision and quietly adjust their own behavior. Parties who post content have been observed adjusting their physical location, application settings, and attentional resources to accommodate the anticipated like count reopening. These adjustments are made without discussion.
Article III: Escalation Terms
Eventually the ordinary task feels improperly performed unless like count reopening happens first. Parties who attempt to continue their day without completing like count reopening have reported a persistent ambient awareness that the count has not been checked. This awareness resolves only upon completion of the reopening.
The action is voluntary. Imagined observation by other people makes it feel governed by invisible rules. Those invisible rules are now documented here, and are no longer invisible.
Article IV: Limitations
Like count reopening becomes valid procedure after two repetitions without objection. No objection has been filed. These terms are therefore in force.
Parties wishing to discontinue like count reopening must provide written notice to themselves, specifying an alternative procedure for managing the first-hour engagement period. No such notice has been received.
These terms remain in effect until replaced.