★ Backlinks
• 276 words • 2 min • updated
I famously do not run any kind of analytics in this blog, neither server-side or client-side.
I genuinely have no idea how many people subscribe to it via RSS, and how many “page hits” it has been accumulating over its lifetime.
This is very clearly stated in the homepage. I take it as a badge of honor.
That said, I am not saying that running analytics is evil or unethical. There are various ethical and privacy-friendly analytics tools out there.
Without analytics, how am I able to keep myself motivated? How can I know whether I am yelling at the clouds, screaming on to the void?
The main trick is to write primarily for myself. Writing is a great way to rearrange my thoughts and make them more coherent and livid.
A second form of “not feeling lonely” in the interwebs is to talk to people (or have people talk to you). Sometimes friends message me in chat apps. Sometimes strangers email me1. Sometimes a long-time ex-coworker mentions a past post of mine helped them. It is always cool to hear from people2. There is a gentle “Reply via email” link below every blog post in this site.
Last: Backlinks!
Every few months I try to remember to check who is linking back to my blog. There are various ways to get insights about this:
Public:
Private:
Observing slow organic growth, without the pressure to cross-post in social media platforms or social link aggregators, makes life peaceful and serene.