I’m going to begin this post with this very short, funny clip from a stand-up routine I saw on X yesterday.

Yes, the internet over the last few decades has resulted in abject morons clustering together. Just go read Facebook comment threads sometimes. Most of them are completely mindless in over 90% of moron commenters. And then, as the clip above attests, there are enough morons that there’s enough fake positive reinforcement to go around.

It’s dismal. I don’t miss being summarily booted from FB with no appeal even a little. My days are far better not even thinking about that stupid sewer. And just to be clear, my primary motivation for using FB was always to draw attention to this blog where I have paid subscriptions. I was never the product, as 99.9% of you are. Creating the content for FB, which makes billions of bucks per year showing ads to the people who look at the content you create for free. You don’t get a penny.

I’ll come back to this at the end to illustrate that there are better ways. The problem is, 99.9% of FB users are too fucking stupid to use any of them anyway. FB is the perfect platform for dummies who will always be dummies.

… This next section more typifies the title and title image of the post. Buttholes. I’m referring to those who become obsessed with you. Back in the Paleo days, I had my share because I had a non-insignificant influence and reach. Generally, I ignore them, and only the most stalwart stick around very long. I can recall two in particular that stuck around and harassed me for years. One of them even got my wife’s phone number and began harassing her!

Those two dropped off shortly after I moved to Thailand. Have never seen anything since. And especially when I added the paywall in 2021, one feature was that even if it’s a public, free post, you still have to be a paying member to comment. That’s a pure godsend. Why provide a platform for buttholes to give you shit?

My belief is that all obsessed obsessives, trolls, and shit stirrers are cognitively impaired in some way and, for certain, off the scales in terms of personal insecurity. Think about it. How insecure would you need to be to become obsessed with what someone else is doing, following everything they do?

Enter the last stalker, a “chiropractor” who insists on presenting himself as “Dr.” in every single communication (ever noticed how chiropractors, honorary PhDs, naturopaths, etc., always push the “Dr.” shtick everywhere?). Showed up in my comments here (pre-paywall) shortly after I moved to Thailand in 2020. Now let’s review.

I first visited Thailand in 1986, 40 years ago, at age 25. It was a US Navy port visit. Port visits are not “supervised,” as this moron jerkoff attests, and especially not for officers, and especially if they have filed for leave of duties. In seven trips to Thailand over the proceeding 5 or 6 years, there was only one other ship visit, and I was a staff officer on the 7th Fleet. Still not “supervised.” The other 5 visits were me flying out…usually for an entire month.

Now add to that, I’ve lived here for over 6 years. Chiang Mai, Sisaket, Jomtien, Phuket, Pattaya, and now, Mukdahan. I built a house in a village in Sisaket in 2020. Loved it so much I’m doing it again. This time, on a half acre. Plus, I have an absolutely great gal 20 years my junior who is a workaholic from 5am onward 7 days a week. I want for nothing.

Still, according to Dr. Moron, I’m not “immersed” in the culture. You know what counts as immersion? Flying over here for 6 months one time, hooking up with a “HiSo” (high society) who drives you everywhere in her BMW and pays all the bills. You never drive a motorbike. You never drive a car. You never cavort with a bar girl or freelancer. You express fear over everything.

I could go on and on, like the 100 times at least he’s told me he’s 10% body fat. Or the other 100s of times he’s told me the same story (cognitive impairment fueled by insecurity).

At times when I was cordially communicating, while I would very rarely initiate any communication, I could count on about 6 emails from him most days. Usually pictures of things like his feet, his meals, his drinks, sunrises, landscapes, or village buildings (he’s an expat in Mexico). He’d also send excerpts of the most laughably ridiculous writing I have ever seen. He aimed not to convey something to readers. He aimed to impress them with fucking obscure vocabulary (insecurity). He’s afraid to show his face.

A few months back I told him to fuck the fuck off for the 3rd time. I didn’t bother blocking his email this time, but I hadn’t heard from him…until yesterday. Now soundly blocked, so it will go straight to junk from here on out.

When are fucktards like this going to understand that I do not give a fuck what they think? One thing I sincerely appreciate about my friend Mark Sisson is that he has understood this about me since day one. The reason I know is that he has had to tell people in the past, during the whole Paleo thing, to people complaining in various ways about my antics.

There’s a lot more I could relay about this whole experience. I ought to have said at the outset that I don’t get into regular communication with non-members (paying). Cheap fuck.

… The foregoing was kinda all inspired by an email that came in yesterday from Jack Conte, founder of Patreon, subject: A personal note about the future of the internet. It really resonated because, contrary to popular belief, my waning interest in blogging has nothing to do with hooking up with Far permanently or even the construction I’ve been making videos and blogging about.

Nope. It’s that the internet generally fucking sucks. It’s wholly inhuman. I fucking hate every last corner of it and the vast majority of all people on it (exceeding 95%…wastes of air and flesh).

I’m going to quote the email in full. How much resonates with you?

I could write at length what I think about all that, but why? He laid it out pretty plainly. I’ll comment on a few wide areas.

First of all, “it felt unfair.” I understand. This blog is 23 years old, 5,500 posts. It’s difficult making money and a lot of work. Has to be a labor of love. But the whole internet was mostly geared that way. You need to work hard to gain and maintain sponsorships. You have to become a salesman through affiliate marketing. But for most, you’re just a product, churning out content so others like FB and Twitter rake in the dollars from ad revenue. You didn’t get a penny for bringing eyeballs.

Now that has changed a bit. Lots of YouTubers make good money, and some make a whole lot of money. YouTube shares the ad revenue you generate. With you. How novel. And since Elon bought Twitter and renamed it X, you can have paid subscriptions, and if you build a substantial following, it too shares the ad revenue you generate. That feels good and right.

Second, “feed the algorithm.” This is likely the main reason for my lack of success in all this except for paid memberships here, which is reasonable. And here, all I do is regularly create new content. I don’t use “keywords” or meta this and meta that. Bots are free to index my content.

I’ve engaged SEO companies in the past. Zero measurable results. Plus, the algorithms are always changing. Go to a conference and sit in on an SEO company’s presentation about what you need to do. Go to another conference in a few months time, listen to the same guy again, and it has all changed. What you did before that supposedly helps you, now hurts you. What you shied away from, now it’s the thing to do. The implication is, you need to keep this company on retainer, and they keep up with everything.

And that doesn’t even get started on how you’re supposed to structure posts, what you should put in posts, and what you should not put in posts.

Fuck all that.

Anyway, I’m going to check out Patreon’s “Quips.” Of course, as a means of attracting folks to come over and give FTA a look.

That’s all for now.