Some Questions, If BindleSnitch Goes Viral…
“We may be but a blip in the internet algorithms which monitor and analyze the ideas and ideologies that are expressed on the world wide web, but we’re there and we matter…”
Given what most of us write and post, the possibility exists that a piece can be discovered by the likes of MSNBC or CNN, and deemed worthy of national exposure.
Mention and commentary or discussion on a national news outlet could cause a tsunami of interest in our corner of the blogosphere.
What then?
What happens if there is an overnight rush and crush of signups and posts?
Could we handle it?
Would we be prepared?
Do we really want that to happen?
07/19/2021 @ 11:12 am
The short answer to these questions is “No.”
The long answer is “Fuck, no.”
Right now, as far as I know, you have to be enrolled and logged on to comment. Right now, the enrollment process is automatic but it was specifically designed to prevent spammers from posting spamish content and comments…and that seems to have worked very well so far.
However, a surge in membership applications would quickly crash the system because we have not yet invested in a major upgrade to our hosting service plan. Major increases in traffic would force us to buy the highest level of service available, which would probably cost more than we could afford.
The first thing I would do in this situation would be to change the enrollment process so that it would require the approval of one of us – the current members – before a new member could be enrolled. That could be done quite easily and it would give us collective control over who is and who is not allowed in here,
The quickest fix for that would be to institute a monthly membership fee, like $5 a month which, with a major increase in traffic, could indeed underwrite the cost. (Medium charges $5 a month for its high line membership product.)
As to whether we want to go viral….well, that was always my hope for the site but I no longer feel compelled to prove my own personal worth by owning a website that goes viral. That would be the goal of anyone who sets up an open-access website. Do we want more readers? Do we want more content, more comments? Doesn’t the world have enough social media sites as it is?
I have come to regard Bindle as a publishing site, rather than a social media thing. If i ever get my act together, I will be publishing my collected poetry here, formatted so that I can post poems on social media that look and read the way I want them to look and read. If I live that long and keep my wits about me.
07/19/2021 @ 11:36 am
If you can keep your wits about you while all others are losing theirs, and blaming you. . . . The world will be yours and everything in it, what’s more, you’ll be a man, my son.
Rudyard Kipling
08/04/2021 @ 4:45 pm
!…alleluia…!
07/19/2021 @ 4:52 pm
I’m usually the guys who keeps his wits about it him (I have very fast reflexes, still, even at this age) but I have always hated that Kipling quote. Here’s my rebuttal:
If you can keep your wits about you while everyone else is losing their shit, the chances are that you are too fucking dumb to understand the shit storm you’re in.
07/19/2021 @ 5:07 pm
Not a bad retort…
“If you can keep your wits about you while everyone else is losing their shit, the chances are that you are too fucking dumb to understand the shit storm you’re in.”
Or, you’re the cause of the shit storm.
Keep in mind that there are some first responders who would take issue or offense with your rebuttal.