My take on replying to comments is fairly basic. I've been around the interwebs long enough to have used dial-up so when I comment, I don't even expect you to read it.
So why do I comment? I'm hoping the "butterfly effect" will make the world a better place.
Due to how Substack structures things, Notes are a lot easier to skim. You can always find someone's Notes. Sometimes their Posts are nowhere to be seen.
I think a lot of what's happened is that people interested enough to read long form have less tolerance for repetition, in part because they're already spending more brain-room on the topic of interest. I know when it's a topic I already know or have seen elsewhere, I start skimming in a hurry.
And there's so much material out there nowadays, repetition has become part of the landscape. What's new to you may not be to half your readers, and so on.
Long-form is king on Youtube, but even there the repetition problem is rising. I've faded off a lot of subs because I've already heard it somewhere else, and unique takes are uncommon enough that all else being equal, the criterion becomes "most agreeable presentation" (which for me means no useless yammering or pontification or mugging for the camera).
Yes, I see that now. I also know that is the right word. Mistakes happen. Let it go.
I read a lot less than I used to and am not sure why. Too much time online? Too focused on writing? Smart phones and social media destroying my attention span? I don't have the answer.
Yeah, I don't read like I used to either. 2-book-a-day habit for decades (mostly SF but often other stuff). I budgeted 10% of my income for books. That faded away in the late 90s, and a lot of it was -- particularly in SF, the influx of new writers with no foundation in the genre reinventing the wheel, then proper editing went out the window. And everything became either grimdark and sociopathic main characters, or thinly-disguised romance, or feminized in the most negative sense.
Came the day I bailed on some highly-acclaimed book and washed my brain out with random 1880s adventure novel for kids (literally the first thing I came to on Gutenberg or wherever it was). Now the only fiction I read are clients' books I have to read to edit, and oldies.
Or my own stuff. I like what I write. "No one else was writing what I wanted to read, so I had to write it myself." -- Samuel R. Delany
Meanwhile nonfic went from fairly useful to ghostwritten templates that don't intend to inform, they attempt to persuade.
I don't do a lot of social media (never on the phone) so that ain't it.
"Across the 854 urban areas in Europe, we estimated an annual excess of 130,228 (empirical 95% CI 115,893–143,929) deaths attributed to cold and 13 589 (11,530–15,475)) attributed to heat."
"In 2023, a total of 1,024 deaths were attributed to excessive cold or hypothermia."
And heat-releated deaths in America are under 2,000 per year. (No nice tidy stats came to hand, only hype. 9000 since 2020, woe, woe!!) This despite that about half the U.S. routinely gets 20C-40F degrees hotter than any part of Europe. Oh, a chunk of the U.S. routinely gets colder, too.
Gee, it's almost like having heat and A/C in your house is a lifesaver!!
[My cynical little voice opines that there might be some common sense involved, too, given how many Americans living in extreme climates heat with wood and have no central A/C.)
My take on replying to comments is fairly basic. I've been around the interwebs long enough to have used dial-up so when I comment, I don't even expect you to read it.
So why do I comment? I'm hoping the "butterfly effect" will make the world a better place.
I don't usually get overwhelmed by comments to articles so that isn't a problem. Notes seem to get much more comments though.
Due to how Substack structures things, Notes are a lot easier to skim. You can always find someone's Notes. Sometimes their Posts are nowhere to be seen.
I wish there was a way to sort comments by date, subscription type, etc.
Of course there are plenty of problems with substack and that one is probably way down the list.
Do they allow you to pin comments? I don't do actual posts so haven't paid attention.
Good question. I'll have to look into it.
That would seem to indicate the Almighty Algorithm is serving your Notes to new audience.
Or less people are interested in longer form writing. Maybe both.
Fewer! FEWER!! /grammar nazi
I think a lot of what's happened is that people interested enough to read long form have less tolerance for repetition, in part because they're already spending more brain-room on the topic of interest. I know when it's a topic I already know or have seen elsewhere, I start skimming in a hurry.
And there's so much material out there nowadays, repetition has become part of the landscape. What's new to you may not be to half your readers, and so on.
Long-form is king on Youtube, but even there the repetition problem is rising. I've faded off a lot of subs because I've already heard it somewhere else, and unique takes are uncommon enough that all else being equal, the criterion becomes "most agreeable presentation" (which for me means no useless yammering or pontification or mugging for the camera).
Yes, I see that now. I also know that is the right word. Mistakes happen. Let it go.
I read a lot less than I used to and am not sure why. Too much time online? Too focused on writing? Smart phones and social media destroying my attention span? I don't have the answer.
Just teasing a bit :D
Yeah, I don't read like I used to either. 2-book-a-day habit for decades (mostly SF but often other stuff). I budgeted 10% of my income for books. That faded away in the late 90s, and a lot of it was -- particularly in SF, the influx of new writers with no foundation in the genre reinventing the wheel, then proper editing went out the window. And everything became either grimdark and sociopathic main characters, or thinly-disguised romance, or feminized in the most negative sense.
https://x.com/archon/status/1816180232203981145
Came the day I bailed on some highly-acclaimed book and washed my brain out with random 1880s adventure novel for kids (literally the first thing I came to on Gutenberg or wherever it was). Now the only fiction I read are clients' books I have to read to edit, and oldies.
Or my own stuff. I like what I write. "No one else was writing what I wanted to read, so I had to write it myself." -- Samuel R. Delany
Meanwhile nonfic went from fairly useful to ghostwritten templates that don't intend to inform, they attempt to persuade.
I don't do a lot of social media (never on the phone) so that ain't it.
Maybe I've just arrived at Curmudgeon.
> Canada
> carpet bombing with napalm
> I think that's still illegal
"Geneva conventions is the list of things Canadians are not allowed to do EVER AGAIN"
Europe generally does not seem to have the central home utilities we do in America. And cold-related deaths are an order of magnitude worse:
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(23)00023-2/fulltext
"Across the 854 urban areas in Europe, we estimated an annual excess of 130,228 (empirical 95% CI 115,893–143,929) deaths attributed to cold and 13 589 (11,530–15,475)) attributed to heat."
Meanwhile in America...
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/74/wr/mm7406a6.htm
"In 2023, a total of 1,024 deaths were attributed to excessive cold or hypothermia."
And heat-releated deaths in America are under 2,000 per year. (No nice tidy stats came to hand, only hype. 9000 since 2020, woe, woe!!) This despite that about half the U.S. routinely gets 20C-40F degrees hotter than any part of Europe. Oh, a chunk of the U.S. routinely gets colder, too.
Gee, it's almost like having heat and A/C in your house is a lifesaver!!
[My cynical little voice opines that there might be some common sense involved, too, given how many Americans living in extreme climates heat with wood and have no central A/C.)
The fact that cold kills more people than head is often a talking point when climate change is discussed.
> Stay salty, my friends!
No concern on that front. The problem is more likely me being *so* salty that even the ocean tells me to chill out.
“look ma! I made it”😉