One thing that I hate about FIMFiction that I feel like I really shouldn't because it's a well thought out feature. · 5:30pm Aug 31st, 2015
So, a big motivator on FIMFiction is the follower count. It validates ones existence and makes us happy when someone likes you enough to say they think you have something good or interesting to say.
But, sometimes people stop following others. In reality that's perfectly fine. People trim accounts that ween't as interesting as they thought they'd be, or people get annoyed/drift away in different direction. And when this happens, it's something that I wish FIMFiction would notify us about.
Now, don't get me wrong, I understand exactly why it's like that. It's extra work for something that just ends up causing headaches. I mean, a lot of people on here would get their feelings hurt, just like their feelings were boosted when they got that follow in the first place. Some people wouldn't respond well to that, might use that info to say mean things, or bother people. But, damnit, I'm the kind of guy who likes closure.
I'd rather say goodbye, or know why they left so I could improve as a person. Helk, sometime it might not have anything to do with you or them. I know there is a bug causing unfollows, and I know that people sometime make a mistake. I've unfollowed someone on accident before or suddenly realized that someone wasn't on my following list.
But then, sometimes I notice when someone unfollows me. It happened twice in the past two days. Once was seemingly an accident or a bug. He was happy to refollow and I didn't feel weird about mentioning it because when I contacted him about something else we hopped on skype and had a good time. But the other person I think I annoyed with my illuminati blog post and then misspelled something on their blog that kind of pissed them off. It's a shame to because I had a lot of respect for her. But, I have to put it aside and grow instead of getting pissy.
I sent her an apology and wished her well. Was it the right thing to do? Well, I don't know. Maybe, maybe not. Either way at least I knew why she likely unfollowed me.
But, what happens when I noticed someone unfollowed me and I have no idea why. Well, I don't say anything unless I'm reasonably sure that it's a mistake. Why? Well, if they meant to unfollow me, and they did so a long time ago, then I'm just being a dick. It's happened. And that time there was no closure. I just pissed someone off. And they said never contact me again.
So, I understand why it doesn't say when someone unfollows you, but that doesn't mean that there aren't times where it would be helpful.
(P.S. I don't normally go around scanning my followers. I generally only check if I happen to notice the number went down.)
Losing follows is not necessarily a bad thing. If someone does not like what I write, I'd rather they stop following me, than stay and write stupid comments on my blog. I note that after I've written blog posts on feminist issues I sometimes see my follow count fall by 1 or 2. I take that as a sign that I've written something interesting. Don't fall into the trap of thinking you have to please everyone.
As long as there's a net gain, I see no issue
I would check in PM if I was unfollowed by someone I recognized. Like, if you stopped following me, I'd ask why, because if I said or did something to annoy you I want to know, and if it was a mistake I want you back as a follower! Random people come and go, but the people I want to talk to need to stick around.
To that end, after noticing that bats accidentally unfollowed me (which we only noticed because he only follows, like, five people,) and within a week I somehow accidentally unfollowed Titanium Dragon, I downloaded the Nosey Hound extension for the site, which lets you keep track of both who follows you and who unfollows you (as well as giving you a searchable list of followers.) I probably wouldn't have bothered, but its hard for me to keep track off the top of my head of who's "supposed" to be following me and notice their absence.
3361417
Oh? I will look into that extension. Still, I realize why they don't have that.
3361787
Oh yeah. As a feature for everyone, that would be a drama magnet.