Daily, I see Gather members advise others to “connect to everyone and publish to as many groups as possible” if they want readers. I assume many accept this advice without investigation since people boast about having thousands of connections, and the lists of groups published to are often longer than the articles. I will explain why I disagree on both points.
I have 364 connections, a small number by choice. Many of my connections have not left a comment on anything I have written in months (if ever). I assume that they would leave an occasional comment if they read me often.
The last article I published was a writing exercise on January 28 – six days ago. I have watched the People/Most Read numbers since. Below are my standings:
1/30 – 20th most read for the day, 7th for the week, 2nd for the month
1/31 – 12th most read for the day, 11th for the week, 2nd for the month
2/1 – 18th most read for the day, 14th for the week, 2nd for the month
2/2 – 2nd most read for the day, 8th for the week, 2nd for the month
* the combined First Chapter entries (2,879) beat me (1,306) for the month
My numbers have remained consistent for a year, despite my few connections and groups.
I joined Gather 410 days ago and have published 344 articles – less than one a day. At least forty of these I published to one private critique group of fewer than twenty members. Quite a few of the articles I published to everyone received fewer than twenty comments (some less than ten).
Two thirds of my articles were not Gather related or controversial. Of those, only four received more than a hundred comments:
Breasts – Who Wants Them<a> - http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976746480126 comments - 6 groups.
Why I Wear Granny’s Image http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976764518 105 comments – 6 groups
Everyone Has a Twin http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976769362 196 comments – 7 groups
I Think He Was Looking For Feminine http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976848943120 comments – 5 groups
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Below are some of my articles that received between 25 - 100 comments, with the number of comments and groups published to documented.
Too Much Love http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976793312
97 comments – 4 groups
Room 224 http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976877985
96 comments – 5
Stop Bullying Me http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976748185
92 comments - 2 groups
Ignorance Is Bliss http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976756189
86 comments – 6 groups
Empty Shirts and Cold Hearts http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976737761– 86 comments - 2 groups
Camping For Christ http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976841620
86 comments – 5 groups
Prelude To Guitar Picks http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976784875
82 comments – 9 groups
He Doesn’t Even Know Where I Live http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976746067
76 comments - 6 groups
He Said, She Said http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976747185
74 comments - 1 group
Prayer Requests http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976767776
70 comments – 5 groups
Breakdown Canceled http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976881235
68 comments – 5 groups
He Deserves Better http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976803011
67 comments – 6 groups
Resourceful Disassembly http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976814456
64 comments – 5 groups
Ethics, Morals, Honesty http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976753532
61 comments – 6 groups
Girls Gone a Little Wild Day 1 http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976826621
61 comments – 5 groups
Be Still My Hand http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976815303
59 comments – 5 groups
Who Are You http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976738934-
57 comments -
A Walk With My Real Mother http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976775380
55 comments – 6 groups
Tiny’s Tree House http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976802295
55 comments – 6 groups
She Was Someone’s Little Girl http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976752111
54 comments – 4 groups
Glasses or Stage http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976776568
51 comments - 3 groups
Missing Puzzle Pieces http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976741937
50 comments - 6 groups
Mrs. Donohoe’s Pruning Tool http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976810499
50 comments – 6 groups
Gospel of Judas http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976742520
49 comments– 2 groups
I Forgot To Be Betty http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976781673
49 comments – 8 groups
Uncle Charles Hates Towel-heads and Queers http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976741294
45 comments - 5 groups
Great First Dates http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976762402
45 comments – 2 groups
Let It Be http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976747752
42 comments - 9 groups
Writing Exercise – Wedding - http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976894850
41 comments – 1 group
Let’s Dance http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976744257
38 comments - 5 groups
School Prayer http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976735948
26 comments - 4 groups
Other members publish articles daily (some of them multiple articles), to large numbers of groups and more connections.
These numbers make me question the ‘more connections/more groups’ theory. I think publishing to a few groups that do not have the same members might be more beneficial than publishing to twenty groups of the same members.
This study also makes me wonder who reads me. If my readers don’t leave comments, does that mean they are not members? They are members who click on my articles and don't read (if so, why me more than anyone else)? Are they dedicated to Gather, or to me, and would they be willing to read me somewhere else?
I would like to hear from those who have kept me at the top of the most read list for the past year, privately, if you prefer – at SandyKnauer@yahoo.com.
(I apologize for not using hyperlinks - the system would not allow me to create them today)
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Comments: 137
Yours are some of the best I have seen, but I am still trying to figure out how the "girls Gone...." series ended. I have not located the final chapter.
I enjoyed "Breakdown Cancelled", it's one of your best works!
I don't get time enough to REALLY research on Gather, so I count on looking at "articles for me" to see what has been written since my last opportunity to sign on and actually follow thru. Most times I log on at work and don't get time to read more than one article.
Your stories are involving and interesting, and give the reader a chance to escape the moment and dive into the world you create in just a few passages.
I might not get to read them all, but what I have read has always found me clicking on the '10'.
Thanks, Sandy!
Good article. I'm convinced I'm doing this the right way.
What I didn't mention in this article is my curiosity about the executives, board members, and investors who would rather lose their most read members than deal with the group of people who harass and file erroneous, dishonest, childish, complaints about them.
brb... I have to write !!
I also read without commenting if I don't have anything new to add. And, I give as many fly-by high ratings as I do low, although nobody seems to mind the high ones.
You make a good point about my experience might be atypical, since I have been writing longer. Knowing if most of my readers are non-Gather members would tell me if those same readers would follow me somewhere else, where the owners would not expect me to put up with repeated flaggings for no reason, people asking me to prove my gender and health status and then reporting me for answering their inane questions, hit list groups, and people sending out mass mailings to ask others to complain when I don't graciously accept being treated that way.
Funny you should write this article. I was just thinking the other day that I'm on this site at least once a day (except when I happen to be away from home) and sometimes people ask "where ya been Wendy?" Yesterday someone expressed that he was surprised that he was "on my radar." That surprised me.
I have reached 2 conclusions: first, somewhere in the back of my mind I think that people can see me reading their articles. Second, I don't comment enough. I always at least take a peek at what you're up to. I'm going to try to make contact with everyone more often.
(Do the rest of you see his words outside the OBNOXIOUS, UGLY, DISTRACTING ORANGE box that we seem to be stuck with although everyone complained for weeks about how much we hated them?)
I have read some of your articles, Sandy, and honestly didn't know what to say. They were well written and I didn't want to leave some trite comment, so didn't leave anything. Guess I will have to mend my ways. I recently went back and found the article about why you used your great grandmother's icon. I was curious as to what the story was behind that. Very intriguing.
Sandy,
I currently have 125 connections, but I seldom initiate a connection (I'm more likely to subscribe), I have (or had) criteria for accepeting a connection, and I frequently culled my connection list removing anyone who's name I didn't recognise. I understand that as a correspondent I must seek connections now -- not likely, but I've guit saying no.
People click on your stuff because it's generally where the "controversy" is at.
With regard to your article, obviously I am one of your regular readers, although I don't comment on every article you publish (maybe because I wasn't notified?).
As someone trying to learn writing, I try to follow good writers around and I include you in that group. So, if you were publishing elsewhere I would certainly follow you there.
I have recently thinned my connection list because I had too many connections that were publishing multiple times per day and to more groups sometimes than the words in the article. This kept me too busy clicking and then facing the same article as the last click repeatedly. It was a repetitive waste of time, so I disconnected, and I hope my iterations here make my point.
I am carefully following the rest of my connections in hopes of identifying the quality writers who post conservatively (and I'm not talking politics). If they produce multiple articles, my expectation is that each one is worthy of my time. If not, I plan to disconnect.
I hope that answers your questions.
Your using bad mathematics (aka your formula for calculating rankings is wrong) sweetie!! You forgot to include the part where you live on gather, aka - commenting all day from sunrise to sunset!! If you simply posted articles and did not spend all day on gather (who tracks their rankings every day??? and who spends hours going through all their articles to rank them according to how many comments they received??? - do you work or just spend all day on gather??) you would not get very many comments! Bye
You raise all kinds of good points:
Readership and why: I have no idea how many connections I have; I never count them; just know that it's cumbersome moving through 3 pages worth, though by others' accounts here that is paltry. "Cumbersome" is a word that I think applies to this site in general, along with "primitive?" I don't post at other forums and only discovered 'gather' as a fluke. In general, I stay here and do this because 1) it's an outlet for my political bent; and 2) I've grown attached to the ideas of certain writers; and 3) I'm psychologically and intellectually somewhat lazy, though curious.
Controversy and Administrative "quirks" for want of a better word for the moment: Have noticed it but don't really care at this point since I don't write for points. If I did, I would probably find another site. Have read off-site critiques of this forum which were not generally favorable. On a strictly personal level, I do not appreciate having to look at Mr. Dershowitz's mug as it pops up, knowing of his stance politically on this forum; but I suppose he paid for it and that, for better or worse, is what free enterprise is about -- if he didn't pay for it, all the more reason for me to get my dibbs in as best I can, or say ta ta.
The ever so primitive flag system: Sometimes I read and rate without comment; rarely flag because free speech is free speech, obnoxious or not.
QUANTITY Vs QUALITY: I go for the latter though don't always practice same; but then I never write for points. Occasionally I send a mass email as in "look ma at what I did, what do you think -- childish but can't help it -- really want to know what "certain" others think and don't want to rely on the happenstance of "browsing though." Have no idea how many people hate this; have been meaning to send mass email [my "mass" isn't all that massive] by way of explanation and "delete me" if this isn't ok.
So, here I am going on quantitatively; hope someone finds it of qualitative use.
Just wanted to add, there are very few "gatherites" I read, much less read on a regular basis, who are not "political." You are one of the 'gatherites' outside of the strictly political sphere which I do read. I think your writing is some of the best here. Hope you continue even if disenchanted with 'gather' or perhaps as a supplement to.
Amber,
You really are an obnoxious creep, unless you just have an intensely personal dislike for Sandy, in which case you evidently do not have the personal skills to channel it elsewhere or in a socially acceptable manner.
just trying to spread some peace - be nice people, I love it here.
Does it matter how one spends their time here? It's more beneficial to enjoy the presence of one's spirit and the wonder of even connecting with someone in the first place, you know?
There is SO much in here to enjoy, enough of this OUT of here we have to deal with every day . . .
Sorry if i was intruding . . . just spent times on boards where so much of this train of thought was a norm I guess I became a bit jaded to it thinking:
it isnt worth it you know? I look at it as positive that someone wishes to connect with me instead of looking to see if they respond to me or not. I post for myself first. An outlet. And take enjoyment in those who happen to cross my path.
If anyone wants a place to place their thoughts and get responded to you know where I be. Everyone does the best they can, the place is immense.
Think moreso of being grateful for having a place TO place your thoughts without being censored, trust me, have been on way too many of those boards.
Again, I apologize for intruding - if I have . . . just my 2 cents is all.
~ Namaste
Thanks for reminder re "outlet." I think there are some, if not many, 'gatherites' who write professionally and are disapponted with the forum, and perhaps justifiably so. I appreciate the "outlet" aspect and have learned to deal with the sociopolitical, sometimes nasty? aspects of writing here.
When I used the word "quality" I automatically assumed you knew I meant "my version of."
To me, finding a great writer and promoting him/her is the most significant way I can connect to others here. I also promote others within the community, by posting links to Gather articles when I see a place where it is appropriate to do so (hence my being dubbed the pimp). I don't think of 'connecting' as clicking on a link and holding someone's name in a file on my namespace; I connect in spirit to many people that I do not share an official Gather connection with but whose company or work I enjoy, and in action by linking other members' work to the world.
And then we have Amber (and others like her) who behave like two-year-olds who need naps. She/they follow me around making ignorant assumptions about every aspect of my life, not caring one bit how ridiculous or untrue her/their statements are. Their contributions amount to annoying many and serving as a "saving project" for a few who think they can buy a ticket to heaven by tolerating their intolerable behavor and calling /them a "little heroine" for being brave enough to insult me daily. So, if people are willing to read me somewhere else, it would probably be kinder for me to publish on a site that requires members to behave like adults - or at least to refrain from lying about others.
What part of my statement is false?? You comment on gather all day and you yourself have said you are disabled and don't work and get state support in Kentucky!! Again, what exactly is untrue about what I said?? Waiting for your response....
I'll take that response as an affirmation of my true statements!!! Thank you very much sweetie!
I often read without comment. Sometimes I don't have anything to say about an article. Sometimes I don't have the energy to get dragged into the controversy. Sometimes I am just so disgusted that I got sucked into reading something that I know it is a mistake to comment - I might sound like Amber. Those are the articles I might leave a drive-by rating on.
Many times, my connections don't even figure into my reading choices. Sometimes, I go through the list of articles for me, sometimes I go through the list of articles published recently. Other times I scroll through the comment list to find an interesting discussion. Often when comments exceed 75 or so, I just skip the article because it is too hard to join in at the end. Sometimes I don't even know why I am her.
Let me explain Madame!! Over my semester break, I had gather on my computer at work and I saw certain members post comments at 8am, 9am,10am, .......up to 2am the next morning when I got back home and was curious to see if they were still on gather!!!! So I DO KNOW SWEETIES!! Oh and Ranndom...why does it matter??? when certain people attack the intelligence of others (Like the crude author of this thread who called me a slut, whore, 2 year old, etc...because she did not like the photo I posted when first coming to gather!!) but is disabled herself and collects money from the government for surfing gather all day..........hypocrite????? crude???? mean????? yep!!! LOL Ok, Im bored with this...see you on another thread, bye sweeties
And, often now, I don't know why I am here.
I see that as what the better person would do. A lesser person would keep the argument going by sticking their nose in where they are not being discussed and try to make the conversation all about herself.
Please find where I "vilify anyone who is disabled as being less of a person"!!
Your the only person doing that!!!!!!
Since you cannot do that.....goodbye and dont comment on my articles in the future, I dont need your kind of negativity and hate on my beautiful creations!!!
bye sweetie! LOL
(I forgot...in regard to this, I know the answer, I think we all do ka-ching)
How many young girls do you suppose are out there with nothing better to do on a Saturday night than harass "disabled old ladies"?
I suppose we'll see.
(A point of interest, I wrote a HUGE comment before this last one, but the last one is all that shows. Also, I as a subscriber, not a contact received no notice of this article via email. I just happened to be browsing)
I have opinions, now...
I also think I might have to start serving cookies.
Kathleen, then you remember how quickly Prodigy went under after the censorship and the mass exodus began. It is very cool about your listserv.
Melissa, I believe censorship (direct, or indirect by allowing people to remove comments others leave) are probably the fastest ways to kill a site.
If the number of page views are mentioned alongside the rating and the number of comments for each article, that would give a fair indication of the readership for every article as many might be reading the articles but do not bother to rate or to comment.
I do not like articles published to many, many groups. There are a ton of groups for every subject now, and it will only grow, and gatherers should limit their articles to what they consider are the choice groups. Just my opinion.
Joane, I just watch numbers and keep links so no, I don't know who said what or even who commented on my work. My goal with the spreadsheet was to see how much traffic each site draws and to have links readily available to my posted work. Since I publish the same work to several sites, I believe it is in my best interest to link outsiders to a site where I don't have groups of hecklers leaving delusional comments about my personal life. That only happens here, so I don't need to mark it on my spreadsheet.
I also will sometimes read a posting that is a few days old and has many comments already so I won't post because I feel like I don't have anything of additional value to add. Maybe we should though, so the writer knows we were there and took the time to read their article.
Did you also notice that she criticizes me for spending MY time on the Internet, by admitting that she knows this because she spends her employer's time tracking me? That's rather priceless in the pathetic category, also.
I have not looked in quite awhile at the most read, discussed stuff since every time I did all I saw was the good morning gather articles and that turned me off.
I was told my MaryAnne via email that I am perceived as a gather cop and I should send articles to them instead of posting about stuff in comments, but I did send several articles to abuse@gather.com and complained about the amber alerts all over the site and nothing was responded to. I have noticed my readership and comments went down after I started posting about spelling errors and cut and pastes from other sites, but I do not care as I have my sites I write at where I can check out page views and make sales of books and other items based on my reviews.
I try to read your articles when I have time to peruse and wait for downloads.
I wanted to ask you Sandy what the result was of posting your email address - did you get many responses that way as well?