Hello Alan! I wasn't expecting a response! An article talking about author burnout sounds like what I remember. DamnInteresting always appeared organically in Stumble Upon, reddit or digg for me, so there was never any reason to "subscribe," then it just kind of disappeared, exactly like you said many people experienced.
I have a distinct memory of reading the sex life of bananas article (https://www.damninteresting.com/the-unfortunate-sex-life-of-...). After reading it, I have actively searched for unique types and varieties of fruits, particularly when traveling. It's habit formed after reading that article that has led me to novel experiences and made a small consistently positive impact on my life. Thank you for that! I remember reading the Galloping Gertie article and the Outer Space Exposure article and thinking "damn that was interesting!" afterwards too. Promises made were delivered.
My default hypothesis was that long form articles are harder and harder to read given the dopamine flood gate that is TikTok/Reddit/YouTube etc. Algorithms that optimize for quick attention would prefer content that requires less investment, resulting in migration to primarily video/gif content. My gauge was that reddit's algorithm (which I still believe is mostly organic) hasn't picked up articles, so it would make sense that Facebook hasn't either. When DamnInteresting was showing up on my social media, Randall Monroe of XKCD was still contributing directly to reddit, and I haven't seen xkcd comics or himself for a long time either. I was kind of expecting an Eternal September situation (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_September) for social media, resulting in optimization for lowest common denominator content, which is not what DamnInteresting is.
If it's happening to short form media as well, then it is sad to see that it appears to be direct extortion. If it's any small consolation, I have already quit Facebook myself and won't touch anything Meta, employment wise or otherwise.
I have a distinct memory of reading the sex life of bananas article (https://www.damninteresting.com/the-unfortunate-sex-life-of-...). After reading it, I have actively searched for unique types and varieties of fruits, particularly when traveling. It's habit formed after reading that article that has led me to novel experiences and made a small consistently positive impact on my life. Thank you for that! I remember reading the Galloping Gertie article and the Outer Space Exposure article and thinking "damn that was interesting!" afterwards too. Promises made were delivered.
My default hypothesis was that long form articles are harder and harder to read given the dopamine flood gate that is TikTok/Reddit/YouTube etc. Algorithms that optimize for quick attention would prefer content that requires less investment, resulting in migration to primarily video/gif content. My gauge was that reddit's algorithm (which I still believe is mostly organic) hasn't picked up articles, so it would make sense that Facebook hasn't either. When DamnInteresting was showing up on my social media, Randall Monroe of XKCD was still contributing directly to reddit, and I haven't seen xkcd comics or himself for a long time either. I was kind of expecting an Eternal September situation (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_September) for social media, resulting in optimization for lowest common denominator content, which is not what DamnInteresting is.
If it's happening to short form media as well, then it is sad to see that it appears to be direct extortion. If it's any small consolation, I have already quit Facebook myself and won't touch anything Meta, employment wise or otherwise.