Most of last year, WordPress’s Machiavellian master processor (AI with a lot of A and too little I) busied itself with systematically removing my subscribers. The only upside was that I had more time for other projects.
Then, last spring, I discovered WordPress was shifting toward email-based subscriptions. So, I clicked “Yes, please, notify me of posts by people I’ve subscribed to.”
Result? I now get over a thousand email notifications a day! Which is great…ish. Yes, blog traffic is up—way up. But now every day is an All-the-WordPress-You-Can-Eat buffet, and my other projects have been shoved into a tiny corner.
Also, although I now know when my favorite bloggers post something, I also know when the who’s-that?-ers do. And so, sadly, while I try to read as many posts as I can, I constantly give short shrift to you, my beloved blogger buddies (yeah, I know, that was, like, gag-me corny, right?).
Therefore, in an effort to restore some kind of cosmic balance (i.e. trim that massive email barrage), I’ve begun doing the following:
- Shifting blog notifications from “Instantly” to “Daily” for people I only hear from occasionally, or who post multiple times a day.
- Shifting notifications from “Daily” to “Weekly” for people I rarely (or never) hear from.
- And turning off notifications for people who’ve decided I no longer live in their universe.
Corrections needed: If you’ve been un-subscribed (un-followed, or un-deaded) dear freind, please let me know—because I didn’t do it (WordPress did 😣). And if you’ve been wrongly “downgraded” or cut-off, please forgive me and set me straight! The bullet-pointed action plan above depends on my far-less-than-perfect memory.
Plus, if your blog site is titled Dave’s Dark World of Death Metal, I may not realize you’re actually the blogger named Silly Sally (with a profile picture of Hello Kitty) who regularly visits me!
Love,
Starla the Fairy Princess
(a.k.a. Mitch Teemley)
I feel you, Mitch. I went on a month long cruise with limited email access and just blindly deleted thousands of emails I received while I was gone.
Yep, I’ve been forced to do the same at times, Carla.
Too weird…
I’m still getting your notifications, thankfully. I love to read your posts even though I don’t always comment. I haven’t posted on my WP for so long I have no idea what’s going on with that. I just wish there was some kind of button that would delete all of the spam and phishing e-mails I get. I spend more time trying to unsubscribe and/or block sender than I care to think about and then don’t have much time to read what I really enjoy. Hope your problem is resolved quickly.
Thank you, Diane, and likewise!
Tip – if emails pile up, gmail lets you delete them without even reading them.
I hear ya!
🤣😂😅😁
That’s a great way of managing it, Mitch, especially with the number of subscribers you have. I don’t have that many, so after visiting my favorite bloggers on Mondays and Tuesdays, I visit the rest throughout the week, reading at least their latest post, and more if I have the time. I’m usually done by Friday afternoon. I only answer comments on the weekend, if there are any.
You’re a smart man, Edward.
I think you have a better system than I do. Have a great weekend.
Thanks, Edward, you too!
I don’t know if you will receive this… becuase commenting on your blog also seems altered. It doesn’t seem to recognize me and forced me into a drop=down box to declare my email, etc. For me, receiving emails about WP posts is unhelpful clutter. I simply consult my reader every couple of days and this reliably shows me what has been happening. Though I have near 1000 subs, and follow at least half that. the amount of people who actually post content in a given week span is maybe 20 or 30.
Does that manage your subscription email or whatever, works. I’ve never tried to fiddle with it yet. All I can say is, happy sorting them out Mitch 😆
Oh, just FYI – I may not always comment and miss reading on that day but I’m here and I catch up with old ones 😁..
Bless you, Iba, I appreciate your frequent visits. Yes, managing the email categories helps, but I have to be pretty aggressive about it.
This is a sublect that burns me up. I litterally don’t have enough hours in the day to keep up with the email I get let alone have WordPress send me more. It’s almost like they’re trying to discourage me from putting my work out there. But I wil perservere. 🤣😎🙃
Thanks Mitch, this helps me understand better what’s been going on with my blog traffic, my followers are down to about 10% of what they were. One interesting thing was getting 36 likes from one new follower–all for different posts, and all dated at the same minute! AI, I assume!
Wow, that’s quite a drop, Ramona. As far as multiple likes within a minute, I usually assume that’s someone trying to get my attention (doing me a favor by giving me lots of Likes), so I’ll visit and follow their blog.
I’ve had that happen, too, and came to the same conclusion.
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You chose wisely, Starla.
;>) Thanks, Jennie.
You are welcome!
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Mitch,
On my daily to-do list, I usually include delete X-amount of emails. Despite this, my email box gets fuller and fuller. I’d like to say I read them all, but I don’t have the time.
Good luck with your WordPress account. ~Nan
Thanks, Nan. You too.
whenever subscribing i immediately switch off email notifications. i prefer to check through new posts from subscribed sites using WP Reader—on MY OWN schedule…
⬻𓂀✧ 🔺 ✬ღ☆ 🔺 ∞ ♡ ∞ 🔺 ☆ღ✬ 🔺 ✧𓂀⤖
Well phrased report, Mitch. And also, me, too. I WANT to open, view, read, like, and comment on ALL of the posts of my “beloved blogger buddies” – but BOY there are too many for me to catch ’em all. Always glad to open your posts, though!
Thanks, Ed!
For a minute, I thought I had become popular. Then I read this and realized all these emails I haven’t been reading are automated responses from wordpress. It deflated my chest by three inches.
;>)
How very annoying! I like to tell people that the internet/technology is, much like Terry Pratchett said, run by drunk gremlins.
;>)
My blog is nowhere near popular as yours. So despite needing to do some housekeeping of my own, I think I would have an easier time compare to you. Not that I have many subscribers or people whom I follow to begin with. The cleanup mostly would be about reorganizing everything so it is nice and tidy.
Nice and tidy sounds like a worthy goal, Tanish.