Part of what happens for me (as a reader/content consumer) is I get super fatigued from trying to read everything I want to read and/or trying to decide what to read. And so I need to take breaks every now and then to recover
I have these arguments with myself all the time but I don’t have any answers. Just trying to write honest and ignore my own noise is hard but it’s the only metric that keeps me borderline sane. This is a great summation of the problem Rebecca…good job!👨🍳👌🖤
I basically have flatlined since December 2025. I thought I had found my niche had a nice steady growth. Then blah. Now it’s regression mode.
I could be delusional but I remain convinced my writing is not horrible but it’s clearly not awesome either. Each post gets fewer views. My average likes per post keeps dropping.
And so I have pretty much given up at this point.
So yes the algorithm and metrics are a form of toxic feedback. It also doesn’t help that several of the larger accounts I follow get crazy engagement, and yet the content they post is actually really unimpressive. But that’s the power of the algorithm at play, success feeds success even if the content is banal.
Bravo 👏 This is something we all deal with, in different ways, at different times.... And really the whole phenomenon speaks to the larger "algorithmic life" that is forming around us in everything we do as everything becomes measurable and data become an Oracle.
But even Oracles are wrong.
After all, they were just huffing toxic cave fumes most of the time... Which is an interesting parallel to data without context or discernment.
That’s such a good comparison honestly, data becoming a kind of modern Oracle. We keep treating metrics like prophecy instead of interpretation, and the terrifying part is that once enough people believe the Oracle, its predictions start shaping behavior whether they were accurate to begin with.
It's hard to be here and not think about those things. I try not to... and for the most part I think I do okay. I think back to when I hade only 20 subscribers, then 50 and how happy I was then to have that. Like WHOA there are people reading my stuff. As much as I still pay attention to the numbers, I try to keep that little bit of awe in mind here, that there are people outside of myself actually interested in what I'm doing here. Even if it's not a huge number of people, it's still people and that's what matters...
I guess you write for the very few that actually pay attention.
Interaction with their writing doesn't feel like a duty or a trade.
It's honest, straightforward, uplifting and true.
It's all about the community. Numbers are just numbers.
Exactly 💚💚
Count your blessings in page views. My highest for a post here is 20. I will accept that as my material lacking crowd appeal and own it.
According to the Google Search Console my website blowing the whistle on Google has had 2 hits in the last 3 months.
My stats say something different, it's had thousands but over half of those are bots, vulnerability scanners and those afraid of what I'll say next.
Part of what happens for me (as a reader/content consumer) is I get super fatigued from trying to read everything I want to read and/or trying to decide what to read. And so I need to take breaks every now and then to recover
I have these arguments with myself all the time but I don’t have any answers. Just trying to write honest and ignore my own noise is hard but it’s the only metric that keeps me borderline sane. This is a great summation of the problem Rebecca…good job!👨🍳👌🖤
Thank you very much
I basically have flatlined since December 2025. I thought I had found my niche had a nice steady growth. Then blah. Now it’s regression mode.
I could be delusional but I remain convinced my writing is not horrible but it’s clearly not awesome either. Each post gets fewer views. My average likes per post keeps dropping.
And so I have pretty much given up at this point.
So yes the algorithm and metrics are a form of toxic feedback. It also doesn’t help that several of the larger accounts I follow get crazy engagement, and yet the content they post is actually really unimpressive. But that’s the power of the algorithm at play, success feeds success even if the content is banal.
Bravo 👏 This is something we all deal with, in different ways, at different times.... And really the whole phenomenon speaks to the larger "algorithmic life" that is forming around us in everything we do as everything becomes measurable and data become an Oracle.
But even Oracles are wrong.
After all, they were just huffing toxic cave fumes most of the time... Which is an interesting parallel to data without context or discernment.
That’s such a good comparison honestly, data becoming a kind of modern Oracle. We keep treating metrics like prophecy instead of interpretation, and the terrifying part is that once enough people believe the Oracle, its predictions start shaping behavior whether they were accurate to begin with.
Yup
It's hard to be here and not think about those things. I try not to... and for the most part I think I do okay. I think back to when I hade only 20 subscribers, then 50 and how happy I was then to have that. Like WHOA there are people reading my stuff. As much as I still pay attention to the numbers, I try to keep that little bit of awe in mind here, that there are people outside of myself actually interested in what I'm doing here. Even if it's not a huge number of people, it's still people and that's what matters...
... to me at least.