Thank You For Reading

I don’t know how many people read what I write.

Sometimes I think it’s better that way.

“If it’s not measured it doesn’t exist,” I hear. According to that logic, nobody reads what I write.

Sometimes I think it’s better that way.

While I don’t have direct measurements of how many people read what I write, I get intimations.

I have Netlify analytics, which gives me insight into URL pageviews and referring sources.

A link on Hacker News might suggest 18,000 pageviews in a single day. But that doesn’t mean reading, only visiting (a glance at the comments often reinforce that point).

I like to think those who actually read my writing come via RSS. How many? Don’t know. Could be a handful. Could be thousands. I have no analytics for gauging.

But what if I did know, what would that change? If it was few, would that discourage me from writing? If it was many, would visions of a proprietary platform and a measured and monetized audience dance in my head? Would people even pay for my writing if it was no longer free? I have no idea.

Sometimes I think it’s better that way.

Occasionally I’ll receive a meaningful metric. A comment on another blog, an email, some communication from a reader reaching out to let me know they enjoyed my writing. The data point there is one, but its value far surpasses the 18k pageviews and innumerable anonymous comments.

In an economy that seeks to harvest people’s most valuable resource—their attention—I feel privileged that folks offer me that resource when they read my writing. And some offer me even more of it when they write me a kind note.

Your attentive kindness doesn’t get picked up by any analytical tool I’ve got other than my heart and my memory—however short lived.

Sometimes I think it’s better that way.