The Only Metrics That Matter

I don't run analytics tools on my blog or The Index.

Why would I?

I don’t write for numbers. I write for people.

There are no ads, no sponsors, and no investors to placate with colorful graphs and charts.

In my experience, most metrics measure the wrong things.

Page views, time on site, bounce rates—these are vanity metrics that create the illusion of progress.

They're designed for ad-supported businesses selling your attention to the highest bidder. They track what's easily countable, not what's actually valuable.

I’ve worked in publishing and marketing long enough to know what happens when you optimize for these numbers: sooner or later, you start writing for algorithms instead of humans. You train yourself - however unconsciously - to avoid topics that don't "perform well." You succumb to bullshit clickbait headlines. You break articles into multiple pages. You create content that performs well according to machines but it treats your readers like fools.

Your writing becomes predictable, safe, and forgettable.

I won’t participate in that system. I don’t pay attention to social media followers, likes or boosts, either. It’s all just noise.

I have two metrics that matter: newsletter subscribers and paid supporters. That’s it. To the exclusion of literally everything else.

My metrics measure commitment, not drive-by traffic. When someone subscribes to my newsletter, they're inviting me into their inbox—one of the last sacred spaces in our digital lives. When they become a paid supporter, they're making a declaration: "This matters enough that I'm willing to fund it."

These actions require deliberate choice. They can't be gamed or manipulated through SEO tricks. They are tangible proof of a genuine connection between creator and audience.

Without the distraction of real-time, faux feedback, I'm free to pursue ideas that might not immediately generate clicks, but profoundly impact a smaller group of committed readers who give a damn.

The internet’s only shot at a future is through creators and participants who reject the attention economy's false promises, who build direct relationships with each other, who create and share value instead of parasitically extracting it and feeding on each other in a data-driven frenzy.

Traditional analytics serve the old system—a system designed to commoditize your attention and sell it to advertisers. They measure what matters to platforms, they don't measure what matters to people.

I have no interest in becoming another content creator trapped on the hamster wheel of performance metrics, constantly tweaking my voice to please algorithms and advertisers who wouldn’t give a flying fuck about my message if push came to shove.

And push is, increasingly, coming to shove.

If opting out of the Internet of Surveillance somehow stunts my growth, I’m directionally okay with that.

I don’t need a weather app to tell me if it’s raining.

And I don’t need Google Analytics to tell me if people are reading.