Nova Daily - 28 September 2025: Popularity (Recap Week 39)
Hi!
It seems that the blog viewer bug has finally been solved. For several weeks the views on my and many others's blogs have been skyrocketing. But they're finally back to normal, with my yesterday's blog not having hit 200 views within the span of one night's sleep.
Popularity
Popularity is superficial and ephemeral.
- Robert Greene
It may not surprise my readers that I don't often look at how many views my most recent blogs have received. It's an honour if people find my blogs nice, but I'm not writing to create a following or to become popular, and so I don't usually do more than clean up my language a tiny tad. I moderate my tone and verbalise things in a milder way than I'd say in front of my family and friends, but I don't go out of my way to not offend some people. The only thing I don't do that I otherwise have strong opinions on is to discuss divisive and sensitive subjects in my blog. My blog is not a place for polemics.
A topic that I do often discuss is the incentives that people have for doing things. Popularity is a common topic, and it often happens that people expose themselves online in an attempt to generate the next viral video on TikTok, to become partnered with Twitch, to find their way into stardom. The hunger for success and the need to relive the same success spike feeling makes for people to become slaves to the desires and wants and needs of their audience. If your entire sense of self-worth hinges on the quantitative attention that you and your actions receive, you're chasing a quick fix, a dopamine rush; something that only goes skin-deep.
The irony with Tones and I is that she became famous with this song and now she's expected to repeat this song wherever she performs.
There's a particular thing that almost always crops up when your pursuit is quantitative: you compare yourself to others, and you want to outperform them. If your goal is to acquire as much money as you can, then "I'm broke because I only have two hundred million dollars in my bank account while my best friend has eight hundred million" will sound reasonable to you. But on a smaller scale, seeing that your best friend has 400 likes on her duckface IG post as compared to your 250 is a clear statement of how worthless you should feel.
I'm not saying that attention isn't nice. I'm not saying that you should stop finding out what works and/or resonates with the people you want to connect to. I am saying that popularity for the sake of popularity is an empty bubble of air.
The week in chess
I too have quantifiable goals, and my blog is a way for me to work towards achieving those goals. As I told someone who asked me in my DMs earlier today for tips to improve faster, there's nothing that can replace doing the work. No quick fixes that can create durable improvement. Just get going.
Several of my ratings took a bit of a hit this week, but I can live with that. I had a bit of rest, and I have something up my sleeve for the upcoming week. At least two of my ratings are at an all-time high now.
My current scores:
Rapid rating: 2349 (+13)
Blitz rating: 2537 (-9)
Bullet rating: 2522 (-30)
Survival: 63 (=)
Puzzle Battle: 2148 (+11)
Puzzles: 3811 (-40)
Repertoire: 4486 moves (=)
