What is the Worth of a Follower? · 2:14am Nov 30th, 2014
I realize belatedly that I've never given a statement on how I feel about those silly 227 people who expected or continue to expect something meaningful or long-lasting from me. I guess now is the time to share my sentiments on what it means to be followed or be a follower.
In His Infinite Grace and Wisdom, knighty decided to bestow upon us a means of "watching" other users to see what they do. The system, known as followers, is the FIMFiction equivalent to a popularity contest.
Now, having a high number of followers is not in any way proportional to one's ego. Those who have a big ego in the first place continue to have their ego inflated as their follower numbers go up, but even the unpopular retain their ego and believe that they are still hot shit because they got 30 likes on the first chapter of their fourth story (something my stories struggle to do prior to completion) and no matter how hard you rip into their alicorn OC fic, they won't be deterred and they'll keep writing alicorn OC fics until they write that one that changes a human into an alicorn OC and it gets featureboxed.
I mean, you can't change the chemical make-up of someone's brain by giving them popularity. It's a fairly universal phenomenon that popularity changes people, not something that's specific only to a certain group meeting set criteria. Being the guy that everyone talks to, that everyone knows--that takes a toll on anyone's humility. Quite frankly, the prospect of having that stripped away from me for some kind of vanity is terrifying. My humility is difficult enough to maintain as it is; I've been struggling with arrogance for about half my life now, and I'm only just starting to get good at remembering that I'm most certainly not more important than anyone else. It's a rough road, and one made only more difficult when I'm thrust into the spotlight that some part of me desperately wants but every other inch of my being remembering being the person I hated.
If I think critically about it, 200 followers isn't a... huge accomplishment. It's modest. It's what anyone who's been lurking around on this site as long as I've been should be getting up to... right? I mean, it's not because I update stories with astounding regularity, or update a ton of them, or even blog a lot. I even delete the blogs that I don't think have a point, after I leave 'em up for a little while. I don't... want to be known as someone too iconic, for fear that my follower count will rise too high and I'll become the douche I've been working years to shake the concept of myself being.
Am I happy? That I have over 200 followers, I mean. Well, yeah. That means 200 people thought I was cool enough in my stories, my blogs, or my general opinions/interactions that they saw fit to click that little button. Over 200 people have come to my page and wondered what I'm capable of. For that, I am grateful.
My mental well-being is a... delicate balance. I can get set off like a match to paper if someone says something wrong. I think reaching 1,000 followers would be the equivalent of Chernobyl for me. I'm not sure I'd ever be able to recover from something like that.
I'm fine now. I love getting new followers. Whenever I check my notifications and see I got a new follow, it brings a smile to my face. I have no clue why they decided to follow me, but I guess they have their reasons, just as I do for following others.
What are my criteria for following people? Well, sometimes they consistently have story premises that sound interesting to me, though this is uncommon for me, because, despite my brony name, I don't do nearly as much story reading as I expect the average user does. More often, something they said or did caught my interest... a thoughtful comment, or a funny one, something that made me think to myself, "This is someone worth hearing from." A surprising amount of times, a name and avatar combination alone is enough to get me to say, "You show promise!" and click it. There's really no telling if it's one of those specific reasons or a combination or something different altogether. I guess, most of all, I lack consistency in how I respond and handle follows here.
How much is too much? I think I'll be able to retain my sense of self and not blow up like a balloon if I stay below... I dunno, 500 followers sounds like that "over the hill" point. Not everyone who's broken that amount is like that, but... I would say that a surprising amount of users have turned from awesome to meh around then because they believed they were special and it made them... not special anymore. They changed.
Pen Stroke is surprisingly aloof for how many followers he has. I can't imagine how fucking awful of a person I would be if 6.5k people received updates to their feed of what I was writing and what I was saying. I'd shit my pants over how awesome I thought I was.
I truly do love knowing that people out there care what I think. I often care what others think, and having the feeling reciprocated... is gratifying. I am happy that so many people want to know what's going on with me, and I hope nothing I do pisses so many of my followers off that they mass exodus. I just... gotta take a few deep breaths sometimes. I know I don't have it as hard as some of you out there, but I struggle with my issues all the same, and I'm glad that you guys have stuck around.
I don't feel like putting a shitty ending to the blog, so for anyone who's read this far, I will share with you guys some fun stuff I feel like sharing.
I learned what the sine, cosine, secant, cosecant, tangent, and cotangent are today. I work for a living; my coworker taught me. I still say fuck math, but at least now I know what the hell those are.
I took a learning module today on hazardous chemicals and one of them said something funny. I don't remember what it was, but you'd laugh if you knew. Sucks that you weren't there.
My car got a flat tire last night and I work Friday thru Monday 7:00AM to 5:30PM, and all of the auto places close at 6:00PM. I'm supposed to pick my girlfriend up at the airport on Tuesday afternoon in that car and am pretty sure the car isn't hiding any spare tires. Fuck you, Murphy.
I saw a solid C penis today because I asked for nudes and got them. The internet is a cruel place.
I am stoked for that new Star Wars movie.
I wish that Prince Blueblood's character was expanded upon. He's almost as one-dimensional as Spike at this point, but unlike Spike, the fandom typically writes him as incredibly unrelatable. As if arrogance isn't commonplace in first-world society today or something. I wish people would write a more human Prince Blueblood than just use him as a cardboard cutout.
I spent my entire Thanksgiving washing clothes because of a flea epidemic in my apartment instead of getting to chill with my roommate's relatives. "That's Life" by Frank Sinatra also plays through my head whenever I think about all the holidays I've spent being a loner.
Till the next text-wall. Skodareader, Element of Octavia, out!
I know what you mean regarding followers. I sometimes ask myself how I managed to get 127 followers. It's a nice accomplishment, but I never really see it as something to brag about. It's just nice knowing that some people on this site are interested enough in my stories or who I am that they follow me, kind of like what you said.
Same here. In fact, I think this applies to most minor characters, with him, Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon, Celestia, Gilda, and the Wonderbolts as the most deserving candidates. I want to know more about them and want them to have more fleshed out characters. It'll never happen, but I guess that's what this site is for.
Anyway, I hope that you have a great future.
a much beter person than I am, I mean I'd take a long look at myself If I had half as many followers as you
but you are humble and that makes you better than I, whom, whenever someone commentsw on one of my stories i say to myself i wonder how I screwed up to get the ire of someone
but you think positive3ly and that makes you better than me
hell, I have no ego (A point of worry according to my therapist) when someone faves a story my first thought it "this person must have a glitchy computer, I write shit and that's being polite" or when I get a follower "Why? aren't there better people than a hack such as I?"
but you stay neutral and humble, thus you are better than I
have a nice day!
-a hack
Heh. I've been around for... What, 2 years? 2 and a half, maybe? All i've managed to obtain in this time is 18 followers. I mean, it's not too surprising; I spend most of my time just reading on here, and most of my comments exist on questionable fics. My blog posts have been few in number, too. Only wrote my first fic around a month or so ago, and the most of my followers I think i've only gotten from commenting in other's blog posts.
I get how you feel, though, at least in some sense. I'm far too humble to handle becoming popular. I don't really express myself much, and really, I don't think i'm too terribly interesting, if at all. While being popular does LOOK appealing, there are much more things to it that make me kind of want to avoid it. More attention on me, and the more I have to watch what I say (not that I ever say anything particularly harsh or controversial on here, but still), and even just being humble, there exists the possibility that I wouldn't be able to not lose my cool.
I think i'll be fine, though. Becoming popular doesn't seem like something that will happen to me. I mean, sheesh, my most popular blog post is just me making fun of the letter "Y" for technically being a vowel. If that's an omen for my future, I don't think I have anything to worry about.
I'm glad to hear you've been trying to combat whatever arrogance you might have. Really, I think that's more of a sign of your capability. The fact that you can realize your faults and work to keep them from becoming weaknesses is admirable. I haven't personally ever seen you being arrogant, but all the same.
Buona fortuna, Scoot; stay golden.
Having roomed with Pen stroke at BABSCon And hung out with him at EFNW I can confirm he is a fairly chill person in person.
Hey I surpassed your follower count today. Yay!?
For a great interpretation of blueblood, read the 4th chapter of Chuck Finley's "The Quiet Equestrian.
I am learning them next week. Wish me good luck.
So you can cross that off your check-list now! I've been wondering when that one would have been accomplished.
You're picking up Lisa, yay! Also, are you sure you used your car's spare? Or do you not know how to change it? My dad taught me, I've changed a tire three times now in real-life situations
And I did read the other stuff if you were wondering, but my response probably wouldn't be worth reading.
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No, you're way more humble than I am!
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When I first started on this site, I had one idea to bring to life. My entire plan was to write that one idea, then disappear into the nothingness from whence I came, leaving the legacy of an amazing story that was wildly popular, but whose author mysteriously disappeared.
That idea in its entirety saw the light of day, but the wave of popularity I expected--the nail-biting suspense that I thought my readers may have as I waited at least a week before releasing each new chapter--never happened. As my story neared the end of its life, I came to terms with the fact that I hadn't written anything profound or deeply original, though it was unique in its own way, and stewing over my thoughts on where I should bring my first story led me to think of other stories, of which several more have seen the light of day, and more continue waiting for me to update them and I'm too lazy to update them.
I realized that I never had my idea because I thought of how popular it was going to be, nor did I continue to write it because I expected the popularity. I just expected the popularity because I was self-centered and believed I'd written something no one else had conceived of. Turns out, my ideas aren't completely original... but I love bringing them to life all the same.
I lost sight of that when I saw the popular authors of the site and believed I could be one of them. I'm actually relieved that none of my stories are all that popular, just as I'm not all that popular. They're... special, somehow. They hold a magic that would just poof if they rocketed up to the thousands in views. I dunno what it is... but I like where I am, and I hope that middle ground between being invisible and being easily visible continues to be walked upon. 
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So I've heard. He doesn't sound like the kind of guy who has 6.5k followers. He has handled his fame well, I think.
Congrats. You are officially more popular than I.
I shall possibly read that. 'Tis a shame so many of them waste his character, though.
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Not what you do with them. What they are, by definition. Why they're important and unique and why you use them to solve so many bloody equations. Not just that they're a wave pattern, but why they're a wave pattern and why they're different and why everyone but me seems to grasp the concept of what the fuck they are and why they're so crucial to basically everything in mathematics past Algebra basics.
Actually, I specified a girl... and, in the case of the junk mine eyes have been subjected to, I have no way of verifying if what I got is legal or not.
Please don't tell Chris Hansen on me.
My roommate could not locate it.
Bullshit. Share.
2624300 I... I don't have a response to that... thank you
but I don't think I'm humble, just self-loathing most of the time but people are always telling me I am good at making them laugh and think when I'm not trying... thank you so much
2624300 He couldn't locate it in the car or...?
I'm overly proud of myself for getting that reference.
NEVERRRRRRR
"Remember, you to are mortal." A little introspection is a good thing, and keeps you firmly grounded. Sorry to hear about Thanksgiving. Know that you're far from the only one who had a bit of an unorthodox one.
LEL, you fucking faggot, you sound like the character description of an edgy OC.
TL;DR.
Join the dark side, Scootareader, let the arrogance flow through you.
This fic does a good job of making Blueblood relatable. The Quiet Equestrian. And this one does it too, but it's odd in that every chapter is a different explanation for what happened at the gala besides him being an ass. For example, one chapter's about how Blueblood's a spy and he believes Rarity's his contact, and every asshole thing he does was meant to be a code. Another chapter he's a nice guy, but misunderstands social situations so much he looks like an asshole. It's hilarious.
And my opinion of followers is that it's like the game Cookie Clicker. Getting a high number is an achievement that you can brag about, but it makes you look like an ass and it's ultimately meaningless. Still fun though.
I think I have like... three followers. Two of which I made by making rather impressive (not really) comments on their stories. When I got my first one I didn't notice until about a week later, when I was changing my avatar.
I believe I should make some content for those poor fools who follow me. I wish I was creative though...
Bah... I should still try.
Sorry about your car hey. Hopefully you will get the tire fixed by tomorrow.
Have a good one, buddy.
~Adjier
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Yes. It appears he found it afterward, though.
I think I may do that too much.
Well, Darkness Awesome is a self-insert.
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mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/rsz/mlfw9606_huge.png
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That is a wonderful analogy.
Mind if I use it from time to time?
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I'm waiting for you to impress me.
2625184 Lel.
2625184 You may absolutely use it.
Next meetup I see you at I'm givin' you a hug
Yeah dude, I've noticed this when it comes to followers too. And I've definitely let it get to my head sometimes in the past... I mean having an entire brigade of hundreds of people to share your insane ideas and flaunt your ego with at the click of a mouse is sometimes too tempting to pass up.
You've got the right idea Scootareader. And sorry about your unfortunate situations XD.
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I think you know what's important in life, seeing as school takes precedent over FIMFic, meaning you're not exhibiting the "I must be with my people 16 hours a day" symptoms characteristic of someone arrogant. Your popularity here is not your life. 
It tends to ebb and flow, from what I've seen. I think you're handling your popularity well, considering the behavior of some with 400 followers.
2635263 Lol... cough cough *regidar* cough cough
Yeah schoolwork definitely does, and I sure have a lot of it with 6 classes this semester. It's quite shitty. I have very little time to write lol, but I really may again once I get my shit together. If so would you still be interested in editing for me?
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Things have changed in my personal living situation; editing is a large amount of work for me (because I'm so fickle about it) and using something like Google Docs cuts into free time since I can't use it at work. I patrol this site almost exclusively on work time, so when I go home, unless someone tells me outside of FIMFic about my editing work multiple times, chances are I'm not going to remember or be bothered to edit.
You'd need to e-mail or text me consistently until I edited for you. I'm more than happy to edit, but it's getting me when there's not all that many words to edit and staying on top of the reminders so I don't wander off. It's a bit of a chore.
2635303 Ah, if it's too much work or too much of a burden for you then I understand.
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It's not too much work or too much of a burden; I just can't remember when to edit on GDocs for the life of me.
Well.... I see why you send me to this, but I have an ego because I'm an engineer
....
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What field of Engineering are you in?
I'm a NOC Technician for a five-state enterprise.
2650817 electronics, electricity and programming.... A bit of everything
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No specialty yet? Or, are you still in school or working?
2650876 well, I'm at school, but my best skill is programming.... And electricity.
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I suck at electricity, but I took programming in high school and loved it.
2650900 it is. It really is. It gives you insight
Popularity serves as such a lovely arbitration of self-esteem. Occasionally, I like to follow people and wait for them to thank me. Then I unfollow them. When they ask me why, I refollow them.