Sooo true. I have a couple genuine satire pieces on here and I'm always hedging while drafting them because I KNOW someone's gonna misunderstand it. Then I remind myself that doing so gives up the whole bit and delete all my explainers... people misunderstanding is either inherent feedback on your writing, or part of the fun!
Everyone wants to pretend they are above metrics until the numbers dip. (I'm everyone, everyone is me). Growth is intoxicating because it makes the private act of writing feel externally confirmed and it only takes one hostile comment to puncture the whole thing. This was so relatable, Madison.
I'm a much much much smaller publication than you but I still ask myself a lot of these questions--esp since even though I was a nobody in my fandom I still amassed a lot of anti-fans and stalkers, so just being small potatoes doesn't always mean you're free from this type of pressure. But the celebrity stuff especially. So many of them that demand privacy have played the game much more shrewdly than is ever acknowledged--Swift is a great example especially since she recently went off about people reading too much into her work and trying to ascribe "muses" to her songs when... that's been her entire approach?! These types of conflicting behaviour and statements end up colouring everything else. I genuinely think that stans that have become habituated to fandom management that leans on doing this bring their expectations to other fandoms and then sully them--seen this esp with Heated Rivalry... phew. Anyway. Good piece.
Ahh anti-fans and stalkers, so scary :/ The Taylor example is so real because at her size of fame, it’s inevitable for her to risk misinterpretation, but she insists on having steadfast control of her narrative. I simply don’t think it’s possible!
I think your boyfriend's retort and your desire for street etiquette are both valid. I imagine the public pressure for conformity in previous decades regarding public persona/behavior was oppressive, but it might make public life more pleasant for all (and we all know which people would get the brunt force of the pressure).
Hank Green just talked about the dehumanized "views" metric or even more dehumanized "total hours watched" on youtube in his latest video, "The Things We Don't Discuss". He explained how tiktok gives its creators added dopamine and encouragement by showing "views", but only counts those towards monetization when they reach "qualified views" therefor giving creators that bigger views number they crave. The system is really messed up and seems impossible for anyone creating not to get immersed and manipulated into wanting to see that number go up (by any means possible).
I'll give you my two cents which are that bigger isn't better, and engagement isn't shown in your new subscribers count. It feels like an arms race because it is, but I'm here, as a human in good faith reading your work, and I hope that counts for something.
Yeah, the Substack dashboard features are definitely designed to keep us checking them - especially with the hyper-zoomed-in New Subscriber graph, which makes the peaks and valleys look even more dramatic. Meaningful engagement comes from comments like this! I appreciate you reading Stephanie :)
Sooo true. I have a couple genuine satire pieces on here and I'm always hedging while drafting them because I KNOW someone's gonna misunderstand it. Then I remind myself that doing so gives up the whole bit and delete all my explainers... people misunderstanding is either inherent feedback on your writing, or part of the fun!
Exactlyyyy it’s a part of the process as uncomfortable as it is or not
Everyone wants to pretend they are above metrics until the numbers dip. (I'm everyone, everyone is me). Growth is intoxicating because it makes the private act of writing feel externally confirmed and it only takes one hostile comment to puncture the whole thing. This was so relatable, Madison.
What a crock! Give me more. (No, seriously. I loved it. X)
I'm a much much much smaller publication than you but I still ask myself a lot of these questions--esp since even though I was a nobody in my fandom I still amassed a lot of anti-fans and stalkers, so just being small potatoes doesn't always mean you're free from this type of pressure. But the celebrity stuff especially. So many of them that demand privacy have played the game much more shrewdly than is ever acknowledged--Swift is a great example especially since she recently went off about people reading too much into her work and trying to ascribe "muses" to her songs when... that's been her entire approach?! These types of conflicting behaviour and statements end up colouring everything else. I genuinely think that stans that have become habituated to fandom management that leans on doing this bring their expectations to other fandoms and then sully them--seen this esp with Heated Rivalry... phew. Anyway. Good piece.
Ahh anti-fans and stalkers, so scary :/ The Taylor example is so real because at her size of fame, it’s inevitable for her to risk misinterpretation, but she insists on having steadfast control of her narrative. I simply don’t think it’s possible!
I think your boyfriend's retort and your desire for street etiquette are both valid. I imagine the public pressure for conformity in previous decades regarding public persona/behavior was oppressive, but it might make public life more pleasant for all (and we all know which people would get the brunt force of the pressure).
Hank Green just talked about the dehumanized "views" metric or even more dehumanized "total hours watched" on youtube in his latest video, "The Things We Don't Discuss". He explained how tiktok gives its creators added dopamine and encouragement by showing "views", but only counts those towards monetization when they reach "qualified views" therefor giving creators that bigger views number they crave. The system is really messed up and seems impossible for anyone creating not to get immersed and manipulated into wanting to see that number go up (by any means possible).
I'll give you my two cents which are that bigger isn't better, and engagement isn't shown in your new subscribers count. It feels like an arms race because it is, but I'm here, as a human in good faith reading your work, and I hope that counts for something.
Yeah, the Substack dashboard features are definitely designed to keep us checking them - especially with the hyper-zoomed-in New Subscriber graph, which makes the peaks and valleys look even more dramatic. Meaningful engagement comes from comments like this! I appreciate you reading Stephanie :)
obsessed with father_karine's writing on substack for it's unapologetic presentation as art
She’s so great