Low Traffic Blogging, or Please Don't Make My Posts Go Viral
Is it beating a dead horse if there's already three posts about the same topic in today's Discovery top ten?
Who cares, this is my blog.
I'm sure by now everyone has seen tons of these posts, so I won't rehash too much, but I will link the original and some responses I liked at the end.
What is the point of low-traffic blogs?
Across the board it seems to come down to two basic ideas:
- We enjoy the act of writing and hitting "post." It just hits different knowing that a handful of little weirdos (affectionate) might relate to our thoughts than keeping it completely private.
- The idea of thousands of people seeing it, or of god forbid, going viral, SUCKS.
I've had posts go viral and semi-viral on Tumblr, Facebook, and BlueSky. I've fucking hated it every single time. I'm so pleased when one of my little gremlin mutuals reshares or comments or likes a post. I'm delighted when one of THEIR little gremlin mutuals does the same.
The moment someone with any kind of following higher than two digits shares a post of mine, I am filled with dread. Because inevitably, when a post makes it to more than a dozen people, it happens. Trolls and people with intentionally bad-faith takes and no other hobbies to entertain themselves come in and stir up unnecessary trouble. Most recently I experienced this when giving an account of reporting racist comments at work to HR. While the majority of comments were supportive and helpful, eventually, it snowballed and broke containment. A bunch of older men felt it was their duty to inform me of their unsolicited and poorly reasoned opinions, sprinkled with expletives, insults, and threats.
I blocked, reported, and eventually muted the thread entirely, and still had to temporarily disable DMs.
This is the reason I prefer low-traffic blogs. The most views I have on Bear Blog is on my Starling House review, which has ten unique views. One of those is me, checking to make sure the markup did what I wanted. Of course I would love more views, and I welcome sharing and comments. But once exposed to the vastness of the open internet, even the most benign post can receive absolutely vitriolic hatred and ruin the entire experience.
I love low-traffic blogging. I like reaching people who are here because they want to be, who read with good faith and intentions, and have the presence of mind to simply click away if they see something that doesn't tickle their fancy.
And on that note, I want to both acknowledge the irony of bitching about virality in this post, as well as offer thanks to Same Old Story for publishing this tasty brain-food. I hope Bear-Blog Virality brings you delightful insights and interesting conversations and none of the stresses brought by virality on other platforms.
I also read and enjoyed the takes from Absurd Pirate and Sebastian. Thanks for sharing, everyone!
What are your thoughts on Low Traffic blogging? Share with me via email or the form below!
EDIT: Feb 23, 2026 8:43AM EST
Y'ALL WHAT THE FUCK DID I JUST SAY
(This is entirely in jest, I'm surprised and delighted that more than three people read my words and enjoyed them.)
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