“I’m more interested in the things I can’t easily quantify,” writes Garrett Dimon about quitting analytics (via Manton Reece). “Did I write something that resonated with people enough for them to write me an email? Did somebody take the time to share it on social media?” He doesn’t really answer.
As noted after being attacked by Friday’s edition of Nancy, this blog “is basically all I have; this and my cats”. So, yes, I’ve been including analytics scripts in every page load. Earlier today, I removed them. The reality, though, is that I don’t have Dimon’s other metrics, either. No, nothing’s resonated enough for someone to send an email. No, mostly no one’s shares anything on social media.
For the most part, I receive little to no external validation, and I guess I’d been including analytics scripts in order to have some sense of just how dark and wide was the void into which I am spitting words.
I’ve no idea whether I will feel better or worse without being able to see visitor counts and referring links. Maybe the next time I have something to say about it I’ll have put analytics back into play.
My cats, at least, sort of have to validate my efforts, because I am their only source of food and clean litter. Here, I don’t really know what it is I expect. I don’t know even why I think I should expect anything. I’m just old, and tired, and I guess it mostly just seems I’ve long since finished contributing anything of note.