A thought… a dilemma I am having – and thought that it’s a jolly good idea to share, publicly.
This will probably go into the void – as the vast majority of my recent articles – with zero people having read it. My videos are sharing a very similar destiny – with hundreds of views at best for the newer ones.
It used to be thousands (or tens of thousands) readers and viewers per day, now it is a few… per month.
Did the quality of my work change? No.
Did the people change? Not in such a drastic way, not yet.
What changed is the “algorithm” (Google, and social networks), i.e. what huge corporations want people to see, to experience. “Engagement” is the name of the game today – dynamic or controversial stuff is getting pushed to the top. Educational, and nuanced stuff is getting shadowbanned. That will, in turn, shape how people behave, think, and train people’s habits to a great degree (did you notice more and more people, especially young, staring at their palms in public, and making those swiping moves?).
I never wrote or recorded for fame, money, not even for a wide popularity. My main goal was to share knowledge and inspire critical thought. For a long time, that did reach the few right people (which, on a global scale, was about a few hundreds of thousands – not billions, but not zero).
Now, however, that window (it was never a big door to begin with) has apparently closed. Publishing my stuff online today feels the same as “publishing” it in my private Deathnotes (Obsidian – Zettelkasten knowledge base). Any effort put into polishing it for the “broader audience” is a lot like masturbation – and I think that is a fairly objective observation.
Moving on, I may still publish some stuff online – the stuff I wish to store for my knowledge base and is not confidential – but it will probably be quite raw, far from beginner or even non-Relja friendly.
These are my thoughts and feelings at the time of writing.
Related thoughts (on my IT website):
What killed the open Internet?
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