What do we Care About?

I often feel like I must be from another planet.

I visit here (and a number of other places around the web) and I look at what's "trending" and what the most popular articles are about.

Celebrities getting arrested for being drunk. Celebrities having babies. The same old political rhetoric, part 3,983,546,735. Who got "voted off the island" or "sent home."

Frankly, I don't care. I spent some time looking around for some articles or posts I actually felt like reading. About anything I might find interesting... I more or less failed. I guess I am just not "light and fluffy" enough to hang with mainstream interests and opinions.

I don't get the sense anyone is actually writing "articles" on Gather, anymore... Or if they ARE, those articles get buried somewhere on page 43, because reading about some celebrity licking a telephone pole is evidently more "interesting" than reading something that's actually useful. Or interesting. Or entertaining.

Sometimes it distresses me how the world seems to be regressing ever more towards the lowest common denominator. I thought we were supposed to be evolving, not DEvolving.

Comments: 13

Ann K. Aug 20, 2012, 1:13am UTC

I agree. I never look at what is trending. There are still plenty of great articles and amazing photography posts on Gather. You just won't find it under the Popular Topics heading, unfortunately.

Peter M. Aug 20, 2012, 12:09pm UTC

I suppose I'll look around a bit more... I just wish it didn't take a minute for each page to load!

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Bert B. Aug 20, 2012, 1:26am UTC

I agree with Ann. There are still some decent writers on Gather...but the articles that get the most play are, as you say....
It was not that way five years ago. But most of those folks got disgusted and left.
I spend a lot less time here than I did a few years ago. I have written over 200 articles for Gather...but very few in the past year.

Jerry Kays Aug 20, 2012, 11:45am UTC

Same here except for the number of article I have written ...

Jerry Kays Aug 20, 2012, 11:48am UTC

PS ... the "new" Gather owners and management are now into quantity rather than quality ... the more people that "pop in" the greater the number of "viewers" they can claim to impress potential advertisers to give them money.

Peter M. Aug 20, 2012, 12:12pm UTC

Bert, I'm among the "disgusted" ones, I suppose... and I'm also disgusted with the time is takes Gather pages to load. In this modern age of cheap bandwidth, there's no excuse for that. And it's NOT because they are forcing us to sit and look at ads (which could be rated as "understandable"), it's just S.L.O.W.

Bert B. Aug 20, 2012, 12:26pm UTC

Sometimes it is so slow I just give up. Often my browser pulls the plug and says the site is not responding. It is the slowest site I have experienced on the Web. They must buy their servers from a computer recycler.

Peter M. Aug 20, 2012, 12:28pm UTC

Depending on where you look (web metrics) between 81% and 93% of the web's other sites load FASTER than Gather... not that this is a surprise.

Bert B. Aug 20, 2012, 12:35pm UTC

That's interesting, Peter. Where do you find that information?

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William M. Aug 20, 2012, 9:04am UTC

Ann is correct.

Peter M. Aug 20, 2012, 12:14pm UTC

I'll keep looking... it just seems a lot like Gather has deteriorated into a "content farm." Which means it'll drop of Google's and Bing's scopes (if it hasn't already)....

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Phill Senters Aug 20, 2012, 11:01am UTC

I agree. I gave up on the "Trending" and "Popular" pages the first day I joined Gather. I find lots more interesting and entertaining content in my friends' and groups postings.

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Pamela Marks Aug 20, 2012, 1:44pm UTC

I care about everyone but it is mostly centered on my own family

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What do we Care About?

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