Last week I realised I was following over 1,800 people. I had culled a lot of the people I followed a couple of years ago when I realised that I didn’t actively follow most of them, and that many of them hadn’t posted for months. I started following a lot of them because we had shared interests, or because they followed me, and it soon got out of control.
After the cull I still fell into the trap of following people who followed me and it started building up again.
A couple of days ago I started thinking about WP and my numbers. I don’t need to follow 1,800 people when I actually struggle to keep up with reading more that a couple of dozen blogs, and even then my reading is somewhat erratic.
After three days of boring effort I am now following 285 people and that’s only because I haven’t finished yet. I’m hoping to get down to around 100. Some of them make it easy for me by having words like “marketing” in their titles, Others haven’t posted for months, or even a year. A few haven’t posted for two years. It’s very sad to see them pass, and I haven’t the heart to delete the ones I used to enjoy.
As an aside here, if someone dies, what do you do with their emails and email address. I keep them, because it’s not like you’ve lost them if you keep the emails alive, and it seems discourteous just to press a button and consign them to cyberspace. Is that morbid, ghoulish or unbalanced? Or just plain stupid? I’m not sure. What do you do?
In a similar vein who do you follow? And how many people follow you? I have 2,080 followers, but on a good day I have fifty to sixty people visiting the site. If a post gets 20 likes it’s a red letter day. I’m pretty sure that 2,000 of those followers aren’t pulling their weight. Let’s face it, most of them have probably left WP or grown bored of my ranting over the years, or never really liked me in the first place – they just wanted me to follow them. I shouldn’t be surprised about this, after all, it’s what I do to other people.
The Red Admiral in the featured image was basking in sun on some ivy as Julia walked to the laundrette today. I saw a Small Copper in our front garden yesterday but it flew off before I could get my camera out. Wife 1 Me 0.
This is one from a couple of years ago, when I was younger and quicker. It appeared in the recent post Sunlit Uplands and I took it a year or two before that.
How is everyone getting emails? I have many blogging friends that I would love to have their emails, but I don’t think we have access to them through WordPress. Am I missing something?
It started off as two different subjects – the question of how people dealt with the emails and addresses of the deceased (I admit to keeping them) and the subject of following, followers and my efforts to cull the list.
Sorry if I got your hopes up.
Funny but I’ve been wanting to the same thing lately but I can’t be bothered. I’ve been good on not following back… mainly people who have never liked one of my posts.
Most of the deceased people in my life are old so they’ve never had an email address and didn’t post on their social media accounts, all though there were a couple that used FB to have a conversation??
I stopped following back a while ago. I tend to visit sites by clicking on links in comments so following isn’t really important.
Yes, most of my family who die tend never to have been on email. They are, to be fair, in their late 80s and early 90s so the internet did not play a large part in their lives. My Dad was not a great one for the telephone either. If I rang our normal conversation was either “I’m watching TV.” or “Talk to your Mother.” Sometimes, in conversational mood it would be both.
Haha yeah my Dad used to shout, “Phones ringing!” Never answered it though.
Fathers eh? And now I am one…
Huh, I’m a grandad now, last time I saw them I heard words I thought I’d ever have to hear. “Granpop’s gone to sleep” 😂😂
A grandad? I don’t remember seeing that in any posts. You are indeed a man of many hidden talents. 🙂 😉 😉
Haha 3 granddaughters. I was an early starter 😉
That’s a lot of women. I will say no more as I am pretending to be a modern man. 🙂
Haha, You don’t appear to very good at it 😉Think we should stick to old fashioned; but it means a lot of painting, patio laying, fence erecting and other general DIY that the modern man is apparently unable to do 😂
I am now too creaky for all that. Time to put me in a box and put me on a shelf with all the other fossils.
They used to say life begins at forty, nowadays I think it’s sixty, (that seems to be a waste of sixty years) So technically we’re just starting out 😂😂
Would be nice to start while your knees could still take the action… You’re ight about it being a waste of 60 years, though you don’t seem to have wasted many of yours.
I’ve been blogging since 2013, and have observed its is not unlike the rest of life. People seem to travel in orbits, some closer, some farther away, some are like friends I have known for a very long time that I only hear from sporadically, maybe not for years, but can pick up where we left off. Some are like comets from the Kuiper belt, blazing in and back out, not to be seen for another 10 years or more. Blogging is a tight community for many of us, and fellow bloggers considered extended family. Readership of my own blog is limited, and my available time to actively engage in other blogs is limited. I do scan what comes by in the reader, and sometimes jump in if a post looks interesting. Everyone has to find their own comfort zone, as in 3D life.
If all those people who are following you suddenly started writing in, you would have to resort to what I see on some other blogs, which is posting readers comments, but never responding to them, or only sporadically. Life is complicated. 🙂
I’ve started to detect a pattern in the people who follow me (as in my 2,000 theoretical followers, not the twenty actual ones). They arrive, follow me and leave. Some only seem to last a couple of posts. I checked on ten of them from 2018 – only one is still active and only one other lasted more than a month or two. I think a lot of us start off by following a lot of people then gradually realise that we really only have a small group of real followers.
There is only a handful of people who post daily that I can reasonably follow. You are one of them. 🙂
Your reading efforts are appreciated. I’m the opposite I’m afraid – as I often read yours a month late! Hope everything is under control. Apart from the cats, of course, that would be expecting a bit much…
I only post every 3 months now, at the end March, June, September and December. One is never late there. Warning, this next one will be a memorial to Abby cat. Bring tissues. She had been going downhill this year, losing muscle mass. Her glucose was fine in March, but showed up as diabetic on 9/4. She was put on insulin, had some trouble regulating, but collapsed on 9/10, amid all the chaos of the fires and evacuations going on. We rushed her in to emergency. Glucose was fine, but a mass at the cardiac end of the GI tract was discovered. She was dying on the table, so we had her put to sleep. She was 18 1/2 years old, and had been staying close to us. I think she knew something was up and her time was coming. September has been a terrible month here.
Very sad news indeed. We lost both of ours within a year of each other – both that sort of age and both declined very quickly – I kept seeing them for months afterwards. They are such a part of your life aren’t they? I hope things start to get better from now on.
They leave a huge hole when they go.
They do indeed.
Culling seems useful. I only follow those who follow me if I like their sites.
I wish I’d started off like that, it would have saved me several hours.
Only one person who has sent me an email has died and I didn’t actually like her. It still felt sad deleting the emails she had sent shortly before her untimely demise but they were only functional work messages.
We are sentimental creatures. I still have a number of notes and cards from my mother. My Dad wasn’t a great writer of notes so I don’t think any of his writing survives. Strange how quickly we disappear.
I have been thinking the same. My grandparents are unknown to my daughter and anything I have from them will probably go in the bin when she goes through my estate. Still, even if we are forgotten, our actions have repercussions moving forward (for better or worse).
That’s true – time to consider what I want to be known for – a determined stand against plastic or resistance to new ideas. I’m tempted by the latter but for the sake of the kids I know it has to be the former.
Well, being resistant to plastic covers both rather nicely 👍
🙂
About 80% of all followers of any blog are people who shouldn’t or needn’t be following you. I weed out all the people who follow me who are doing so because they only want to get my attention (for marketing purposes and/or spamming purposes. I also weed out most of the people who follow me because I’ve followed them but who have never ever commented in my blog (or clicked Like, but to click Like in my blog, they have to do it in the Reader as I’ve turned them off in my posts). It’s easy (but time consuming if you have a lot) to unsubscribe people, just go to MySite (or MySites), then scroll down and click on Manage, and then on People, then at the top right click on the ‘Followers’ tab.You can unsubscribe any you don’t want or need.
On my most popular blog, I have probably about a hundred followers, maybe a bit more. I keep it like that, because I like it like that. On my other two, it’s barely a couple of dozen, for the same reason. I would far rather be followed by just a few people who enjoy what I post than hundreds who don’t give a shit.
How many do I follow? About one or two hundred, probably, but I stagger my visits to their blogs mostly because my health isn’t good (generally) and I don’t have the energy, and also because there’s only so many you can read. I have three blogs, and on one I have a very long blogroll. Often when I put people on the blogroll I then unfollow them. My blogroll is there so that I can dip in and out of blogs and not feel guilty about it.
I keep nearly all my personal emails, including those from people who’ve died, but these days I delete most emailed blog comments I receive as otherwise my inbox would be overflowing! What to do about the email addresses of people who’ve died? Well, you can’t use them, so either delete them or keep them out of nostalgia, but actually it’s best to delete them. If they’re meaningful to you, jot them down in an old address book. And the emails from them? Depends how nostalgic you are and what they meant to you. Some of the people I’ve lost over the years, particularly relatives and close friends, I keep the mails. Their words are still relevant to me, and to today.
As with everyone else, I only read your blog occasionally, as I need to conserve my energy. But I do enjoy it when I read it – even the whinges!
Thank you. To take the last point first – I’m always happy to see occasional readers. Time is too short and WP is too interesting to read everybody all the time. I am one of those occasional readers too.
I must get a grip on my email system – I just made a major error and landed myself with a lot of work when I was trying to tidy things up. Having managed various sports teams I have a lot of email addresses I no longer recognise. I suppose that’s one of the reasons I keep old addresses – it seems sad to remove one that meant something and leave the 500 that don’t.
Having tried multiple blogs I think the effort of maintaining three is superhuman anyway, so any reading you manage to do is a bonus and I appreciate the time you spend here.
Thanks for the instructions to delete followers. I operate from my phone and don’t generally take any notice the follower list. However, it would be satisfying to tidy it up.
It is very satisfying, and in some cases I actually smile when I do it. 🙂
I’ve just given myself repetitive stress in the wrist deleting followers all the way back to 2012, when I started blogging. Nice trip down memory lane and a bit sad, wondering what has happened to some people.
I just wrote to one who has been away for nine months – got an answer. People are just busy or worried, or both. It’s a shame to see so many interesting people fade away, but I suppose they have other things to do.
Yes, and interests wax and wane. I’m going through a not-so-bothered about writing at the moment. When I started blogging I was relatively new to gardening as well, so the novelty was quite thrilling. Plus, advice of what to do was quite useful. Now, my message has changed, as I’ve developed the blogs identity.
Yes, they evolve over time, that’s for sure.
😊
I don’t even know how to find out how many people I follow. But it’s not up to your numbers! I couldn’t do the reading. Supposedly I have 560-some followers, but around 20 people comment regularly and that’s about the number of blogs I follow regularly.
Most people seem to settle with 10-20 regulars. It’s a manageable number. I used to read hundreds of posts off my reader as recreation but now I stick with the people who I talk to regularly. You can soon end up following people who blog about hand bags when community gardens and lagomorphs are more my cup of tea. 🙂
I think for me, following people I communicate with, who return the favor is best; it creates a community.
Very true. I always take the view that if I want people to visit me I should visit them.
I am a slut follower. I’m always panning for gold. Tonight, one blogger described a kingfisher she’d seen as she ate her lunch. She was “mesmerised by its closeness and compact perfection”. I like that as much as I like your butterfly picture and your honesty. Gold.
Until you quoted that I had never thought of the compact nature of a kingfisher, but they are very compact and, in my case, almost always flying away into the distance.
There is a lot of gold out there and always somebody new to find, but I struggle for time at the moment.
I allegedly have 12,000 followers. Roughly 11,900 of whom never read the blog and never have. You ought to be able to throw non followers out but I don’t think that you can. I struggle to read 10 blogs so I take my hat off to you for following so many.
In the early days I used to go down my reader and select things to read. IT was interesting and informative. Since then I have started writing a lot more, checking eBay a lot more and snoozing in front of TV a lot more.
I used to read several hundred blog posts a week but now, like you, I struggle to keep up with a dozen. However, they are a dozen good ones.
My word, you read several hundred blog posts a week!!!
I used to, I doubt that I read more than 30 or 40 now. I must count.
You mean 30-40 per week or you regularly read 30-40? Either way, that’s good going.
Probably about 30-40 a week. Though thinking about it, it could be more. I probably only tread ten or 15 regularly (and as that includes yours you can probably work out that my “regularly” is a little irregular) 🙂
I think that’s quite a lot. My reading varies – at the moment, with so much of my work online, I need a break from looking at screens, so I might only read about 20 posts in an average week. The number of blogs varies, depending on who has been posting – and WP reader doesn’t show all the posts, so some people don’t get as much attention as others I should perhaps stop following.
Yes, it’s like me and eBay. I really ought to be selling stuff but after a day on eBay at work I really don’t feel like it. 🙂
I wish that I could organise my life to read more blogs as there are many interesting ones out there as you say.
If I win the lottery I will get my butler to read blogs for me between his other duties. 🙂
I’ll apply for the post.
In that case I’ll buy a ticket this week. Unfortunately last weeks “Millionaire Maker” failed to live up to its name.
Bad luck.
I once won £14 on a scratch card but that was a long time ago.
Yes, the wins are few and far between. I was in a syndicate once. The leader pinned all the winning tickets on the wall. We had a lot of £10 wins and several £60-70 wins. One day I looked at them and worked out that every £1 we won cost us £7. 🙂
That’s not a bad result!
I need to go through the people I follow as well. I did that about eight months ago and like you, found so many had stopped blogging. I realize that most of my followers are just looking for reciprocity. I am happy with my little core group of blogging friends…they make the day better
I have examined ways of attracting more followers but Julia tells me that there is a big difference between a Kardashian in her underwear and a Quercus in his underwear. She feels I am unsuited to Instagram.
Are more followers worth it? Yesterday I had someone comment that a particular blog was “pointless”. I asked them a question that I posed in the particular blog and person responded something equally idiotic. Do 8 need to attract more people that are stupid? Or should i be content with the quite intelligent and fun followers that I already have?
I think we all know the answer to that, but we’re all too polite to say so. If a blog is pointless, why bother to answer and say so? Just sod off and be miserable somewhere else. Ooops, I might have failed on the ‘polite’ part. I’ve seen one or two comments that have made me wonder why people bother. If I want criticism I can get it without blogging. 🙂 So, in summary, stick with us, you don’t need those others.
Well, I did make a snarky comment back, something about good thing it’s not pointless to make a pointless comment and told them to carry on and keep sharing things someone else did (when I looked at their blog it was half things taken from other sources, which I mean really….what’s the point of that) and then I deleted the comments….but yeah….I don’t know if I actually want more followers
You don’t need them. You have plenty of perfectly good followers. Not that I’m biased or anything…
😉
I need to do this. I follow way too many people and I am sure most of them are inactive.
It’s sad to see some of the prople who no longer post – a bit like keeping the emails of dead friends I have kept some blogs in my follow list for the sake of old times, even though they have been inactive for a couple of years.
Love the pic and it reminds me of the cacoon of WP. You say it well. it’s like Apple.. a love hate relationship for me. I actually really feel connected to my followers and like to follow them.. I actually feel like I know them and we have a comraudery and some we can email or chat which is awesome, but it’s tough to keep up, like now blabbing on.. lol. (no time for this lol but what you’re saying I question too) but it’s important to me that we all have a mutual support and I’m honored when they awknowlede me and I enjoy doing the same. But hell, time is critcal. I also see when someone has no likes and that makes me sad and so I often like them if i actually do. It’s all what you put into it, have time for and fills you up rather than drains me and often I have a hard time with juggling that. I too save all of my clients emails, contacts and charts when they die to keep them close to my heart. There presence is always with me. 😅 whew.. that was a rant. have a great day! ❤️ Cindy
Thank you. A good summing up of all the subjects. I’m glad it’s not just me that doesn’t like to dispose of emails. As to followers/following, I have tended recently to “follow” people by replying to those who post comments rather than reading posts off my reader. IT keeps it more manageable and , I think, spends the time more wisely.
I feel bad about not following everybody who follows me, but it just can’t be done. WP is a great place, and I do try to like and reply to people who are just setting off, but I do have a lot of procrastination to get through and time doesn’t waste itself… 🙂
You’re welcome! Yes, most might find it rather strange to keep emails from the diseased lol but glad to know we’re not alone.
I don’t always follow back either and I think you’re right, it weeds itself out
Because how many can you actually follow. It can take over your day.
I’m really loyal but after awhile if I’m doing all of the exchange, I just drop off with someone. It all sorts it’s way through at the end of the day-:)
❤️ Cindy
🙂
Tough questions. If it comforts you to keep the emails of those who have passed, then that is what you should do.
🙂 That’s good. I feel slightly less strange now.