Making pronouncements

I’ve left a comment on the blog of Wilhelm about blog comments. As usual I disagreed with most of the post. He wrote:

Page views are nice, but they are sterile. A large percentage of the traffic that comes to this blog arrives via Google and is likely made up of people who, if not here by a complete mistake, are unlikely to stick around and become fans of the site. By my own estimate there are maybe 80 to 100 regular readers of the site, not all of whom visit every day. So if I have a day with a thousand page views I am pretty sure at least 90% of that are people who are just passing through, never to be seen again, an estimate sustained by how often “gay elf porn” shows up in the search terms that bring people here.

But a comment… a comment if affirmation that somebody showed up and read what you wrote and was invested enough to write a response. A good comment can be a motivator, inspiration to carry on blogging, a source of ongoing topics, and a reason to check your notifications. Comments help sustain blogging.

At first, a reader is a reader. If someone comes after a link or search, reads one posts and leaves to never return, your idea still reached one person’s mind. In the age of social media, we have to let go the concept of “faithful reader” and have to live by the rule of 90/10, namely that 90% of our readers will come to 10% of our posts. There are people who make one “meme” during their lifetime and that makes difference.

Granted, someone looking for gay elf porn is probably not someone whose mind will be positively influenced. But one thing more pathetic than jerking off to cartoon elves is looking for affirmation from readers. I’ve learned the hard way that if I get feedback better than “kill urself nigger faggot” I should be thankful. And I am to Wilhelm for replying to my comment “You, like Tobold, seem more interested in making pronouncements rather than engaging in any back and forth on a topic.”

I think he meant it as harsh criticism, but it’s the truth. I do make pronouncements from the hilltop of my blog to the unwashed masses below. Some value it and use it, spread it. Some doesn’t and leave to never come back. Neither needs or deserves lively discussion. If you find my work worthless, stop wasting your precious time, go to someone worthy. I’m not your mum to save you from your own stupidity, nor you are mine. I understand that it can lead to forming bubbles, but there is a solution for that: I read other blogs. Not comments from random trolls, but established places of thought of people who put their reputation and own audience on the line for their “trolling”, while a random troll only wastes his worthless time for writing an “akthually” class comment. My point is that an article from Wilhelm is more valuable than a comment from Wilhelm, since he’ll put in more thought, knowing that his audience will see it and judge him over it.

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PS: no, Goons didn’t win the peace. CCP gave them infinite mining and ratting field with Citadels to keep them afloat. In the pre-citadel rules, Goons would have starved to death long ago.