Two items this morning:
If you’ve never posted here before, please read the commenting rules “Da Roolz” on the left sidebar (or here), paying particular attention to the comments about civility towards other readers and your host. There have been a lot of nasty comments here, laden with insults that will not be tolerated. Any comment that addresses me as “dude” will be deep-sixed, and I’m not keen on comments who call me “Coyne.” As I say in rule #7, “Pretend that you’re speaking to me in my living room which is, in a sense, what this website is.” There are all too many readers who completely disregard not only the rules, but don’t seem to have read a post before commenting on it.
Second, I have one more day’s worth of wildlife photos after today’s post. If I don’t get any more, it’s possible that I’ll cancel this feature—part of the slow death of this website. If you like the photos and want to keep the feature going, please contribute your good photos. I needn’t point out that content here is free, unlike Substack, and I count on readers to pitch in from time to time.
Thank you,
Professor Ceiling Cat (Emeritus), whose origin is shown below::
Thank you!
“You can call me Ray, or you can call me Jay, but don’t — call — me — dude! — Hey dude, don’t call me dude!”
-Scatterbrain, Don’t Call Me Dude (1990) : https://youtu.be/X14vuJ2-i4A?si=Ih7T_ilifMl6WwXx
Love the animated gif, Jerry!
And thanks again for curating WEIT! Your efforts make this site a refreshing oasis in the wasteland of the Web.
A double +1….strongly agree with both thoughts. The video made me laugh out loud on an otherwise chilly, windy, and rainy morning here in Southeast Virginia.
“Slow death of this website?” Please say that it isn’t so. This is the one website that I constantly monitor.
It will die if reader engagement drops off. One sign of that is the reduced number of comments; another is the dearth of wildlife submissions. Both are, in fact, the case.
Jerry, I don’t have many wildlife photos worth sharing and my only camera is my phone. My phone is how I access WEIT and after reading how to send photos I was unable to figure it out. Maybe it doesn’t apply to phones(I tried using desktop mode). I would comment more but I feel that it would be not as well said as other commenters.
I believe the causes of less engagement here are Substack and X. But I venture to guess that engagement QUALITY on WEIT is vastly superior to Substack feeds and, obviously, X.
I subscribe to maybe a dozen Substacks and virtually never look at comments and rarely read most essays. I certainly don’t hang out on anyone’s Substack.
WEIT is unique in having a readership community with commenters that interact with each other repeatedly across years. It has depth. I have not seen this on any Substack or other forum, for that matter.
I can imagine the sadness from running out of reader’s wildlife photos. I’d send you some if I’d been taking photos. I do have some cool ones of funky caterpillars from when the Caterpillar Lab came to the Arnold Arboretum a few years back. Let me hunt them down. The problem is I no longer remember any of their scientific names.
Don’t be discouraged, Ceiling Cat. WEIT is wonderful.
Very well said!
I love this website.
I really enjoy the readers’ wildlife photos, which also can include landscapes and people. Why not leave it as an irregular and welcome feature of WEIT?
WEIT is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get. Oooo, look, wildlife photos today!
A technical note I was thinking about that bears on reader activity (perhaps “engagement”, not sure) is … this is an easy idea but takes a lot of writing to articulate clearly:
The new subscription settings are such that a notification is sent to users only if there is a reply to their own comment. The notification is just that – not a copy of the actual written content by the respondent. So far, so good.
Hopefully that made sense.
Reason I point this out :
In order to read what other users are writing, the website must be pulled into a browser.
In previous iterations — and currently active old posts, in fact — replies are emailed out and it has everything, so I find myself checking old posts.
… so … I mean, there’s a number of things there. Upshot (?) is I don’t read what other users write, nor reply to it, as often. But it was good to get the emails before. It was easier, I guess.
I underscore ThyroidPlanet’s comment.👍
Dittos. Previously one could “Subscribe” to a particular post and get all of the comments via email. I believe that not having this option has negatively affected the volume of comments.
This is the first site I go to after checking the weather for the day. So you are appreciated Jerry. Speaking of weather we just had our first snowfall that stuck here in the Okanagan valley of B.C.
Yes, I read it like others read their morning papers. I’d be lost without it.
Agreed. This is my primary source of well balanced news; both Jerry’s excellent writing and the many regular and very absorbing commenters.
Yes, Norm, had to plow our driveway yesterday for the first time this winter! (South Central BC on the Kettle River)
I’m one of the daily readers of WEIT who doesn’t comment that much, although I truly appreciate the effort you put into sharing all the interesting and informative content, as well as the insights from other commenters.
There was a discussion about this a few weeks ago, and as some pointed out, the lower number of comments may not accurately reflect the level of interest among readers. At least I hope this isn’t the case. While I’m not sure if it’s feasible (or even advisable), incorporating an upvote or +1 button on the posts themselves (not the comments) could offer a better approximation of readership and reader engagement.
+1
+1
+1 = 3
+1
This web site even now has a lot more posts and far more comments than the majority of private web sites like it that I’ve seen — the ones that would interest me, anyway. Most of those are pretty quiet, in fact, and many have disappeared. Over their history, I think all web sites will experience a kind of bell curve in readership and commenting. But this one is still busier than most of them, and I suspect it’s at a point of stability. This is in no small part because of the sheer range and engage-ability of your posts. It has become one of the “big ones” out there, imo.
The commentariat gathered here is also amazing in terms of just how smart and cordial people are. They too are a very rewarding part of this experience.
I do have a batch of pictures almost ready to go out. Getting them is seasonal work, though, here in Michigan 🙂
+1
Jerry, perhaps consider quality versus quantity of comments. I think the readers of WEIT are a clever bunch, if I do say so myself.😉
Like others, I read this site religiously (?) every day. I sometimes comment, if I feel that there’s something I can contribute, but mostly I just admire our host’s breadth of interest and eloquence, and the many informed and informative comments by readers. I would miss WEIT terribly if it wasn’t here.
+1
I agree with the preceding commenters – it’s one of the first sites I look at every morning, and I’d miss it a great deal if it vanished.
I wonder how many readers have wonderful photos at home that they would contribute but lack either the knowledge or the confidence to name and describe at a level they would deem worthy of the site.
I’m one of them, Doug. I do lack the confidence, especially when I compare my modest photography skills with the mastery of such as John Avise and Mark Sturtevant. I have many photos of the flora and fauna of the little nature reserve that abuts my property. Maybe one day I’ll get the courage to edit and polish them to be up to the high standard of WEIT…
I hope you do!
Thanks for the vote of confidence, Debi!
Don’t assume that there are millions of photographers out there, and that they all read WEIT! I dont think the lack of photos indicates lack of interest in your terrific informed insightful blog, which is the first thing I read each day.As for comments, not everyone is a compulsive writer or one with opinions and tastes that conform to the site’s opinions and politics. As a compulsive writer, I have a list serve of about fifty people plus lists of media, etc. Only a handful of those people ever respond to anything I write or post. You have a faithful readership that thinks your site is important and interesting. You dont have millions of readers; you just have the RIGHT ones! Please hang around.
I, too, am an avid reader of this site. I check it every morning, after looking at the weather forecast, and many times late in the afternoon again. I’m beyond impressed by your hard work and terrific writing. I love the eclectic mixture of topics and essays and read them all. Some are definitely over my head, but I’ve learned a ton.
I’m also filled with admiration for the commentariat here, including some who are now absent, like Ben Goren, Grania Spingies (so sad) and Torbjorn Larsen. Over ten plus years of reading, I’ve commented only half a dozen times or so – the other commenters are always more eloquent than I am.
I can understand if you are discouraged by the apparent drop in readership. But please know that I’m among the faithful (?) and would miss this site terribly if you gave it up.
As I have posted before, I am a relatively new follower of the site, so please know that new readers do appear! I am an enthusiastic admirer of what goes on here and have quickly become an absolute addict.
I try to limit my commentary for a number of reasons, primary among them being that I do not wish to come off as either a know-it-all or a bore (my success at that being uncertain). But that should never be mistaken for lack of interest or engagement.
For however much longer WEIT continues, thank you. It is appreciated.
Love the ceiling cat origin video Prof JC, thanks!
Also, I forbid this website to die.
I seldom agree with everything about social politics on this website, or in the comments. But that is one of the reasons why I enjoy reading it. It makes me think. I first came to WEIT as a source of a spirited defence of science, in the face of huge amounts of misinformation and foolishness. I continue to value WEIT for that.
I imagine the increase in yukky comments is due to PZ spending the last few days dissing you concerning transphobes. I have yet to see you respond to him here, perhaps you are unaware or don’t care.
Long time lurker….
Anyone who deep-sixes those who address him, her or they as “dude” has my undying respect.