Musings from 10 years of blogging about monarch research
- Andy Davis
- Aug 5
- 8 min read
Hi blog readers,
I never thought I'd see this day, or end up writing this post! Ten years ago this month, I began this journey, and I'm still at it, 170 blog entries later. I'm kind of surprised myself! When I started this gig I didn't really have an end-phase in sight, though I also didn't figure on doing this for 10 years either. There have been some ups and downs over these years, and it's been an eye-opening experience for me for sure, and today I thought it would be interesting (and cathartic) to write down some of what I've learned over this journey. These are things ranging from the practice of blogging, to the readers and their interests, and to what makes a "good" blog. Some of what I've learned may be helpful for other scientists to hear, such as those thinking of also doing this. Other parts may be of interest to the everyday monarch-lovers, though keep in mind that not everything in this post is rosy. I've learned some hard truths about people who love monarchs too much!
If you can't read between the lines above, I myself am still uncertain if this journey has been worth it, even after 10 years.
I'll organize these thoughts into categories, so as not to wander or get sidetracked.
What makes a good blog
Since the goal of the blogs is to convey the science to the masses, the thing that really matters is how many people read them. If only a few dozen people read the entry in question, then it has not done the job. So, over the years I've paid attention to the number of reads and shares of each blog, and also my website statistics. I've learned some hard truths about these numbers, which in a way, are kind of sad. Sad, because they point to some of our human failings. For example, one thing that really gets blogs read, and shared, is if they are at all controversial. Topics like tropical milkweed, where everyone has an opinion, and which always bring heated arguments, always take off. I've spoken to a number of journalists over the years who have also told me the same thing - controversy sells. This is a bit unfortunate, because it seems like it shouldn't be that way, that we humans, and our attention, can so easily be "hacked" for lack of a better word.
Another sad reality I've learned is that people are reluctant to read long posts. When I started this gig, I set out to really try to break down the science, like to describe each study's methodology, the results, etc. But over the years I would get comments back like "this was a long read," or "the dreaded "TLDR" (too long, didn't read). And, I've heard from many people in the Thoughtful Monarch facebook group that they really want bullet point summaries, and one-page infographics, with pretty pictures to go along with them. All of this tells me that people just want to hear the beats of the study, not the whole story behind it. Some people will try to argue that "they just don't have time," but that's bullshit. People make time for the things that are important, and if they don't want to spend 5 minutes reading about the study in question, then that means they didn't think it was important to do so.
Related to the point above about attention spans, the thing that seems to really matter the most about how much "attention" a blog gets, is the title! Apparently, a heck of a lot of people only read titles, and try to come to conclusions based only on that. I know, it sounds stupid when describing it this way, but this post itself may in fact prove this very point. I've gotten to the point where I can predict which post will go viral and which will languish, based on the title. This one will languish.
Some of this may seem like griping, but it sucks when I spend so much time on each post, delving into the research, describing the evidence, and using easy-to-understand layterms, and the post gets largely ignored. And all because of meaningless things, like the title wasn't juicy enough, the post was too long, or it wasn't controversial enough, or there weren't enough pretty pictures, or other ridiculous reasons.
Raising monarchs, and the people who raise them
This topic deserves its own section here for sure, because after 10 years of blogging, this one stands alone as the MOST contentious. While this contention does make the blogs on this topic spread, this is also the topic for which I get the most headaches from. As the long-time readers know, the majority of research around this issue shows how it is not helpful to the monarch population, and especially to the success of the fall migration. Some of this research comes from my own lab, some of it comes from other scientists. I've really just been the messenger here, but, a lot of people want to shoot the messenger on this topic. To be more specific, the people who raise monarchs in captivity are the ones who don't like this message, and they have come after me for (gasp) actually telling people what the science shows! In the 10 years I've been doing this, I've been called many names, I've been called a quack, I've had people post comments about my private parts, I've even had threats of legal action! All from people who don't like hearing about the research around captive rearing.
It's almost like a cult. That's right, I said it - a cult. It basically acts like one. There are leaders, influencers, and people who blindly follow them, all the while closing their eyes and ears to anything that goes against what they are doing. And, they attack others who don't share their belief. If that's not a cult, I don't know what is.
Another reason I say it's a cult is because whenever I hear from people who no longer rear monarchs, they all sound the same - they look back on their own lives and are ashamed at what they did. Some of them admit they even were one of the haters, helping to spread the hate to others, and the "don't listen to scientists" message. Others have revealed how they have seen how science gets purposely suppressed in the monarch rearing groups, so as to keep the followers happy. By the way, if you are reading this right now, and you have monarchs in a container, or a hamper, you are in the cult.
If it's not obvious already, I have no respect for anyone who openly dismisses science, and who tells others to do the same. That is the exact opposite of what this blog site stands for.
Why are people so uptight about sharing posts?
This is one that I can't figure out and it bugs me to this day. I started this blogsite thinking that by providing shareable posts about the research, that people would simply... well, share them. But apparently, they don't want to, and for a variety of reasons. Some of this is because of the cult mentioned above, where those in the cult will attack anyone who dares share a science post that goes against what they are doing. This then makes people wary of sharing these posts for fear of being attacked online. While I certainly understand the reluctance, keep in mind that the cult wins if the science posts are suppressed. This is why they attack, in fact.
Besides the fear of reprisal, some people don't want to share because "they only share things that they themselves have read and agree with." In other words, some people have to scrutinize each post, mull it over for a long time, and decide if this is something they want their friends to see. It's a really big deal for them, for some reason. It's a very, very personal action that people take way too seriously.
As you can see, I think this is ridiculous - just push the share button, for pete's sake. Even if you haven't read it!
People want all of this for free
Here's another hard truth I've learned. I see this blog as me performing a service. I read the science, break it down, highlighting the important parts, using layterms, and make it all shareable for the average person. All for free to the reader. But the crazy thing is, I pay for this. Running this website easily costs over $1000 per year, and now that I've been running it for over 10 years... you get the point. All of this is from my own pocket too. So basically, I'm running a public service that I myself pay for. It doesn't make sense. But, when I've brought up the idea of having the blogs be subscription-based, holy moly, what a ruckus that causes! People give so many reasons why they just can't, or won't, pay for this service. This has been a growing concern for me, as website costs keep rising. But apparently, if I start charging for the service, it won't be effective, because no one will read them.
Some successes
So as not to end on a low note, let me see if I can relate some of the successes here. There have been a few over the years.
Some of the successes are when the blogs themselves have generated publicity, in terms of media attention. I see this as helping to spread the science beyond the blog realm, and to basically reach more people with the science. For example, this happened when I blogged about the massive OE parasite problem in Florida (see here), or when I highlighted the dangers of road mortality (see here). There have been others too. This is all good.
I have also had people thank me for this blog over the years, which could be considered a success. I'm not sure if the number of 'thankers' outweighs the 'haters,' but it does help a little. But keep in mind that I'm really not doing this for the thanks, I see myself doing this for science. So please, no need to offer thanks on this post, or others. Thank me by helping to spread the science.
One other success that is not as obvious is the number of people and readers who are in positions of influence, or who are members of conservation organizations or government offices. A lot of these people remain silent, but I know they are on the email list of blog readers, or who are in the Thoughtful Monarch facebook group. So I know they are seeing the posts, which is great. Whether they do anything differently after reading the posts is another story, but at least they see them. To me, this is one of the reasons why I started the blog - to have a seat at the table (a virtual one) in the ongoing conversation about monarchs and their conservation.
Final thoughts
OK, well, this post was certainly cathartic for me.
I'm glad I wrote these thoughts down. Some of these issues have been simmering for years, while other issues have boiled over on occasion. My thoughts on these might be useful for people to hear too. I'll end with the following final messages.
For the people currently in the monarch rearing cult: I will say, you really, really need to do some soul searching.
For those people thinking of getting into the world of blogging about monarchs: get ready for the attention, both good and bad.
For the average monarch-loving citizen: thanks for reading this, and for following the science. The better we know about the science, the better we can tailor our efforts to help the monarchs.
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