320 – On A 2022 First Quarter Update, Part 3: Tweaks And Thoughts

To begin the last part of my first quarter update for 2022, here are some updates with regards to the blog.

First, allow me to welcome the newest member of The Monching’s Partners: Candy Keane of Sew Geek Mama! Candy is a woman of many hats – or wigs, so to speak. She has been a cosplayer, seamstress, author, entrepreneur, and now a mother. Candy is still a geek deep down despite these roles, and you can find more stories about her geeky life at the Sunshine State over at her blog Geek Mamas.

Second, I included a button on the lower part of the website that directs to The Monching’s Guide on Wix. This move stemmed from Gravatar screwing up the link to the blog; any clicks from there were directed to a 404 page. You can find most of my old entries on the Wix site, from my first reviews in 2013 onward.

Migration is at a snail’s pace as of writing as I’m still checking the 2015 entries. That year served as the most productive period for me as a blogger, with a huge chunk of output hailing from that time. While I was unfortunately unable to replicate that success in later years, it nevertheless taught me that slow and steady wins the race.

Third, you might have noticed the lack of tags with the first two posts in this series. If you didn’t, it’s alright. If you noticed it, kudos to having sharp eyes and let me assure you that it wasn’t accidental. See, I conducted that experiment to determine if I’ll attract random weirdos lurking on WordPress.

Things are looking great so far, with the random views dwindling to a minimum. Almost all of the engagement comes from my follower list, with only a handful deliberately seeking out my blog just to get my attention.

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Now, onto the second half. Let me warn you in advance that this section will be rated TV-MA-L, meaning it contains language for mature audiences.

I’ve been blogging since 2013, hitting my eighth year on WordPress in September 2021. I’ve had encounters with several bloggers who use deplorable practices such as abusing the Like and Follow functions to get people to notice them. I initially did not give them any mind, given that my audience back then was limited to Southeast Asia.

But over the years, these commercial bloggers from all over the world have now become more brazen in abusing the loopholes in the system to gain those sweet, sweet view counts. Maybe it’s the fact that more and more people are becoming aware of their tricks? Either way, these marketers disguised as bloggers have become more desperate for people’s attention.

I had an encounter with one such blogger who kept on abusing the Follow function. This commercial spam blogger from the American state of Tennessee (he’s a male, by the way) has persistently followed my blog since 2020. I won’t name him publicly so as not to give him more attention. Bad publicity is still publicity, as they say.

I initially paid him no mind, but things came to a head after he followed me for five straight days despite removing him. At this point, I put my foot down and called him out. The idiot doubled down on his insistence, escalating by following me repeatedly – despite me telling him to buzz off.

The brazen audacity of these commercial bloggers astounds me.

I admit to a blunder on my end, namely engaging him first using the contact form. I’ve read somewhere that this only provides him my contact information at no cost. Nevertheless, I’m charging it to experience.

As of writing, he’s buried among the countless followers here, but has not engaged. I’ve actually gathered information about him enough for a full dossier, but I’ll keep those with me for now. In the meantime, I’m reporting him on an everyday basis for abusing the Follow function – something I should have done on the onset.

Is this what commercial blogs have come to, encouraging the worst marketing practices? I worked in digital marketing before, but things like this make me ashamed of having immersed myself in the craft. I guess he uses a bot for this, but that’s water under the bridge now.

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Another concern is the fact that I still receive spam likes from bloggers who barely understand what I write. I don’t really mind one or two, but twenty likes under a minute from this Egyptian blogger who writes in Arabic? I don’t know about you, but that clearly points to abusing the Like function.

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It all boils down to this: If a third-worlder like me who is critical of commercial spam bloggers is “hateful”, then I’m more than glad to join the ranks of other bloggers who put a premium on protecting their respective spaces from these deplorable actors who ruin the fun of blogging for the majority.

Thankfully, I’m not alone in this predicament. Here is an informative article from 2012 that talks about how these commercial bloggers abuse the follow and like functions, and how WordPress actually condones the practice.

Hat tip to The Old Wolf for providing the piece, and expressing the same sentiment towards these inauthentic commercial bloggers. I’ve asked him for sage advice, and his words can be summed up in one word, albeit difficult to apply: PATIENCE. So, I pray: Lord, grant me patience right now.

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With all those said, I rest my case and end my first quarter update for 2022 here. I’ll close off with this one from the late Difang and Igay Duana, who hail from the indigenous Amis people of Taiwan. This was sampled by German musical tandem Enigma for their 1994 hit “Return to Innocence.”

Until the next post.

(AUTHOR’S NOTE: The featured image for this entry is from Andrea Davis on the free stock image site Pexels.)

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