When I was a kid, we used to sing a little ditty at school. It went like this.

“We had joy, we had fun, we had prickles in our bum,
and the hills that we climbed were a bloody waste of time.”

Do you know it?

For some reason that little earworm sprung to mind as I was thinking of how to break the news to you, or not, as the case may be. It seems that I lost over a third of my blog subscribers a week ago. Like many, I suspect I have a number of subscribers that don’t actually read. Because they are not real people. I hope it is these that have vanished, perhaps as a result of some mysterious internet purge. I don’t know why. These things happen. But you are here. Hopefully. So, hi.

Thanks for sticking around. We have fun. Or at least, I do.

Take care not to be caught up in the purge, readers.

Kind Regards.
Tracy.

60 thoughts on “Stranger Things”

  1. Our blog subscribers are a load of nonsense. We all know that. Some read you once, and although they click that they want to follow, they never read you again. Some die, others simply move away in some sense. But some get removed by WP gremlins, and as readers, we may suddenly realise that so-and-so doesn’t seem to have posted in a couple of months. Then it turns out that they have, but WP has obliterated them from our feed. It’s all bizarre. But I’m still here, Tracy. Don’t know your racy ditty though.

    Liked by 4 people

      1. That’s really interesting. I’ve never thought of it as a sad song in any respect. Maybe I just liked the tune and never really listened to the words, or maybe it just was part of an especially happy time in my life.

        Liked by 1 person

      1. It happens off and one too me. I am randomly removed from many people that I follow and then after a few days I refollow them as understand what happened

        Liked by 1 person

  4. I’m still here and loving it! WP is giving me a lot of problems lately. It could be their problem. Or maybe they’ve started deleting followers who don’t click on your posts.

    Liked by 1 person

  6. Lots of the follows lead back to blank blogs, or blogs that want you to follow them to build their numbers. But as mararet21 posted lost of them never read you again. If 20% of the followers read once a week we’d all have enormous likes daily; just a fantasy.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Saves me having to clear up my follower list, Lou. I have scrubbed a couple that have turned out to be real people. It is my genuine readers that I am most concerned about.
      PS. Unlike Lois, I’m not that funny so I will settle for a fraction of that 20%. 🤣
      PPS, I’m sitting on a story until I can see the funny side.

      Like

  7. I got followed yesterday by a trans porn blog. Be still my heart… 🤣 BUT some of my favorite bloggers are long gone. People write for a while and then find something else to do with their time. A couple of them have died. I was thinking how it’s like any neighborhood.

    Liked by 1 person

  9. I haven’t noticed a lack of posts from people I follow. My followers are always being added to daily and yes there are the corporate ones whose algorithms do the automatic follow, some are non-site “people” and others have seemed to have gone. I was thinking of that this morning and as I did with Bren, sent an email to see how they are going.
    My Twitter and FB followers seem to have been cleansed as well.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Sorry I haven’t visited much lately, Brian. Winter, rats, weeding, grocery shopping, the usual stuff. 😶
      Maybe something has happened at our end of the world?
      I will message you to see whether you have heard from a couple of people that we hold dearly.

      Liked by 1 person

  11. Yes, still alive and kicking over the ditch and enjoy keeping up with you and yours. I recall something similar being said as a youngster. As far as my blog goes, I am not into the stats though I very much value my regular interaction with our group of bloggers. Plus, the family members and friends who read though try to pretend that they don’t 😉

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I’m not into the stats either, but am a little concerned that some genuine readers may have been evicted, Suzanne. I guess they will find me again or me them. 🙂
      Good to know that you are still alive and well, and I know that you are writing some great poetry too. Always makes me smile when I check up on you.

      Like

  12. I do believe your notion that many bloggers read once and subscribe, but never read again is a probability.

    I’m sure that happens to me, especially as I share different subjects or photos. I write whatever is happening in my small world/day, not necessarily on the same subject I started the blog with.

    But generally, I do find that despite ‘following’ and expecting an email each time someone uploads a new post, it doesn’t happen. My short-term memory is so poor I can’t remember who is or isn’t in my blogging circle anymore (except for the 7-8 who might comment regularly). I even forget what comments or replies I’ve made. But I do read everyone’s new posts. Once every few weeks, when my pain and fatigue are overwhelming, I just delete email notifications unread. My health often dictates my online interaction.

    I suspect this ‘receive an email each time someone posts’ just doesn’t work well on my computer. Or is it a WordPress failure? Who knows?

    I (rarely) look at the WordPress Reader, but when I do, I find lots more happening in my blogging circle, which means (to me) that email notifications don’t always work.

    There are so many variables, Tracy. I’m sorry to hear that you might have lost so many followers but try not to be disheartened. I have almost stopped commenting on blogs as I cannot think of anything new to say. My brain fog is intermittent.

    Hobbies or Interests change too.

    I also suspect when COVID was at its height and we were often in lockdown, many folk started blogging or interacting more online across the world. But now life outdoors has improved somewhat, people are getting back to their real social lives or with family and friends face-to-face.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I don’t think I have you on my email subscriber list, Vicki, but some addresses are not obvious. Like you, I have a few memory issues so searching someone up can be difficult. I do get a sense that people are busy catching up with all the things they put on hold during the worst days of the pandemic. No matter, it is not necessary to stick to a blogging schedule.
      Thanks for stopping by, Vicki. I always look forward to your thoughtful comments.

      Liked by 1 person

  16. I remember ‘Seasons in the Sun’ well – a classic examples of a one hit wonder and much more depressing than your fun version, which I’ve never heard. I can’t say what might have happened to your lost subscribers except the obvious, that I’m not among them! But I do find from time to time that I’ve stopped getting notifications from a blogger whose posts I enjoy and a quick search reveals that they’re still blogging but I’m no longer following them even though I never chose to drop them! Grrr 😣😣

    Liked by 1 person

  18. I don’t remember the ditty, though I would have been the right age. I just listened to the original again, after decades — ‘Le Moribond’, Jacques Brel. There’s black humour, unlike the English-language version.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I see what you mean, Diana. I will have to mention the original in my next blog post. I like it so much better. Maybe some bright spark’s parent from my school made up that chorus. My friends and I, at 7 or 8 years of age, found it tremendously amusing.

      Like

  19. I’m still here, and I do read your blog! I’m not sure what’s up with Word Press, as the number of “likes” I get from other bloggers has been down for about a month. I don’t mind, but I suspect my like button isn’t working well. And now I also can’t comment on some blogs I follow, who knows why?

    Liked by 1 person

  21. Tracy, I remember that song!(perks of having Aussie teachers)😄

    I am not a bot and I am here to stay but I have been busy and will be busy for another two months or so ( repair/renovation of our apartment). I too have seen decreased numbers and if bots have disappeared, I am happy.

    Liked by 1 person

  22. Greeting Tracy – not sure if I was purged or not but appreciate your stopping by my post to let me know you’re still out here! WP is rather glitchy these days. I suspect they’ve grown past their ability to keep up but starting over somewhere else would be too darned hard so here we stay. Hope you’ve recovered most of those you’d lost!

    Liked by 1 person

Comments are now closed.