I Just Lost 74 Followers in Eight Hours

Summary

Annie Trevaskis, an autistic writer, experienced a sudden drop of 74 followers on Medium within eight hours after posting a humorous piece, leading to speculation about the cause, including a possible offense, a family intervention, or a platform purge.

Abstract

Annie Trevaskis, a Medium writer, faced a perplexing situation when she noticed a significant decline in her follower count, from 927 to 853, after sharing a light-hearted anecdote about her school days. The loss of followers prompted her to consider various explanations, such as the offended subject of her story rallying her family to unfollow her, past articles inadvertently causing offense, her own family's concern over her writing leading to a mass unfollowing campaign, or Medium's removal of inactive accounts. Trevaskis, who is autistic, expresses concern about unintentionally offending people and acknowledges her fixation on reaching 1,000 followers, which she humorously refers to as her "dancing milestone."

Opinions

The author believes that the sudden drop in followers might be due to a humorous post about a school friend named Judith, which she does not think was offensive.
She considers the possibility that an earlier article about a motorcycle crash and poor underwear choices might have offended motorcyclists.
The author humorously suggests that her family might have orchestrated the mass unfollowing due to concerns over what she might write about them.
She posits that Medium could have conducted a purge of dead, dormant accounts or bots, which might have contributed to the follower loss.
Trevaskis admits to being a bit obsessed with the number of followers she has and is disappointed that she won't be celebrating her goal of 1,000 followers just yet.
She expresses a desire to understand if there is something she did to cause the exodus of followers and is open to feedback, especially considering her autism might lead her to unintentionally offend others.

How did I manage that?

Not mine. I have yet to write an International Bestseller. Photo by Clayton Robbins on Unsplash

I’ve only posted one Tiny Humour Splash today, and I’m pretty sure it wasn’t too offensive.

It was about my school friend Judith who was so busy copying me that she also copied her name into the top right corner of a test paper, which meant I had to explain later why I had handed in two. It takes less than a minute to read.

This morning when I published it, I had 927 followers. I know because I checked. I checked partly because I like numbers but also because I have promised myself a celebration that may or may not involve dancing when I reach 1K followers. I know. I am shallow. I admit it: I have become a bit obsessed with this particular number.

Imagine my surprise to log in just now and discover that my number of followers has gone down to 853. Seventy-four people have deserted me in one fell swoop. Or is it fail swoop?

Let us examine the possible causes.

Judith has seen my post and has called her extended family, all 73 of them, and she and they have all unfollowed me in disgust. (Not impossible, but unlikely.)

Something I wrote earlier has caused offence. Perhaps all those who have left in their droves are motorcyclists who never break the speed limit (Not impossible but unlikely.) Please see the link to the possible offending article below, which I include in the hope you will find it so funny you will immediately follow me and tell your friends to do the same. Hopefully, you have got 74 friends.

My entire family have suddenly got wind that I am posting articles and mentioning them by name. They are worried about what else I may write and have written to everyone they know, offering bribes so that they unfollow me. (Hmmm. Definitely the most likely so far.)

Medium has done some sort of purge and removed dead, dormant accounts or bots. Probably all three. (Possible)

I would love to know if anyone else is to blame or can shed any light on the matter. I am autistic and can sometimes offend people without meaning to.

Sigh. No dancing for me for a while.

I Just Lost 74 Followers in Eight Hours

How did I manage that?

The Tale of the 120MPH Motorcycle Crash and Bad Underwear: Part 1

A tragic tale of humiliation. And epic failure in the wardrobe department.

Ooh LOOK! Something to Click on.

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