18 August 2021, Somewhere in the Metaverse - UplandDood (@Just1Dood) 

Written on 10 August 2021

The title sounds awfully like an equation, doesn't it? Don't let that scare you off. Hang around a little while longer.

If you are like me, you hated math or maths (depending on which side of the English divide you're championing). Regardless if it's called math or maths, I hated it and that's that. Whatever name you give it, it's still the same animal. Well, the good news is that this article is not about ... that.

We'll go through this equation quickly. I mean, real quick. Yeah, I know. We all have a short attention span.

Article Origins

This is how this title came about. I had thought that I could have plenty of time to review my article prior to posting today, clear all my notifications, and still have plenty of time to write another.

Boy, was I in for a rude awakening! Time and tide wait for no man. I don't mean the idiom. I really do mean that time and tide go about fulfilling their intended purpose without waiting for anyone. If I don't make an effort to expedite what I've set out to do today, I'll be left behind. Things to be done will just keep on piling up. There is no slacking off. I can't stop the time and I can't stop the tide. Incidentally, these readcash notifications feel like the tide. If I don't get on top of them, I'll drown. Thank God, there's a button to blow a big hole to drain off some quickly. LOL.

I have come to realize that it is impossible for me to cope if I don't use this reset button on a daily basis. It's just an unrealistic expectation, otherwise. I can't do it.

What has caused this tide of notifications? Growth of course. It is part and parcel of growth. You can't have one (the growth) without the other (notifications).

This leads me to the "Adding" in the title.

Adding (Growth)

All who has spent any amount of time here at Read.Cash will know that growth means knowing more writers and engaging constantly with the writing community here. You can't interact with yourself and expect to grow as a writer. You write alone but you interact to grow, as a person and as a writer. (You can read about my article on engaging and getting your articles read here.)

This was my case. The longer I am engaged here, the more writers I get to know, the more inspired I get. The more inspired I get, the more writers I follow and the more I write. The more I write, the more writers will engage with me and the more I know them. The more I know them, the more I read.

Granted, I'm still not at the level where some will receive hundreds of notifications in a day alone! This kinda reminded me of one of my previous job where emails can grow to that volume in a single day. Those were the days where I was so close to throwing that laptop on the floor and stomping on it. Fortunately, insanity prevailed and I continued working. LOL.

Okay, we move on to subtraction.

Subtracting (Pruning)

In short, when the addition of articles to read and notifications to clear adds up to a level that it is no longer humanly possible to dispense off in the usual way, i.e. read every single one, then drastic measures have to be put into place.

What do you do when your desk is cluttered? You get organized and whatever is no longer needed immediately is filed away and whatever that are no longer needed will be discarded. Otherwise, you'll need to get a bigger desk or another one to put next to the cluttered one to add space. Obviously, the latter is not an advisable solution. That will only add to your headache. Believe me, you don't want to go there.

Nice though it would be, I can't increase UplandDood's capacity or split UplandDood into two. So, expanding or adding another desk solution doesn't work here. See? Told you that wasn't a good solution.

What I have ended up doing is use the survival of the fittest rule. Not my survival...but your survival. LOL. Those who engage get the first dip. I'll spend more effort on those with whom I'm constantly engaged with. Relationships have their privileges.

Others will be slightly lower in the totem pole. When shove comes to push; those lower on the totem pole will get the "mark these as read" button. Sorry. To maintain my sanity, I need to do this. BUT, yes. There is a but. But if the title catches my attention, I may be drawn to it albeit it may take up unallocated time. See? We do judge a book by its cover. Don't let that give you a false sense of security. A good title only gets me through the door. If the content doesn't carry its own weight, then it may end up being a "mark these as read" casualty.

There is one other caveat. I am more generous with my time for newcomers. They need time to get a proper feel and footing. I do understand that. We all go through this rite of passage. Don't despair if you're new.

Equalizing (New Growth)

There will come a point where enough subtracting will bring with it an equilibrium. It is at this point that I can actively seek out or shortlist existing writers to pay more attention to.

Time and Tide (It's Cyclical)

The interesting thing about the above equation is that it's not permanent. I know mathematicians will flip if they hear this - my equation is ever-changing.

On certain days, I may not have to do any subtraction. I may be able to read all articles highlighted by my notification bell.

On another day, I may just have to nuke all. Hard to say.

What it means is that if for one day, you don't see me reading, upvoting, or commenting on your articles; it does not mean you've been put on the bottom of the totem pole. It could be that I was just too busy for that stretch of time to do any reading. I'll likely be back reading your articles again once I wasn't drowning. But look, readcash isn't perfect. It could also mean I didn't receive notifications for your posted article.

Nobody (Everybody)

In any case, I'm nobody to have such an impact that if you don't see me, it's the end of the world. I think this holds true for any writer here. The community is large enough that on any given day, we 'cover' for each other in reading and commenting, and upvoting.

I hope this has been helpful and I wish all my writing friends a balanced and enjoyable experience here! Keep on writing. Keep on reading. Keep on commenting. Keep on upvoting and most important of all, keep on pouring those BCH!

Sources:

Header: unsplash.com - Antoine Dautry

Image 1 by Andrew Martin from Pixabay 

Image 2: Unsplash.com - Crissy Jarvis

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