Unsubscribed

Today was the day. I finally did it. I don’t know why I didn’t do it sooner. But I finally had enough.

What did I do today?

Today I finally unsubscribed from one of the worst accounts I was subscribed to on Vocal. I honestly don’t know why it took me so long. Perhaps it was laziness. Or that I get easily distracted if I have enough tasks, and something is low impact. But here I am now, and I am happy to know I will no longer get their updates.

Why did I unsubscribe? And why does it make me happy?

I unsubscribed because I could see that their account had turned to churning out articles created by artificial intelligence writing apps. To be honest, I’m not even sure a real person was generating any of their content. Don’t get me wrong, I know there has to be a real person somewhere beneath it all because I assume someone is making money off of this account. However, the account also appears to focus on generating content as fast as possible, and on topics that are pulled straight from an SEO list of trending topics.

So, why does unsubscribing from such an account make me happy? Why even write an article about this? What is my critique anyway?

Unsubscribing from this account made me happy because it means that I no longer have my feed filled to the brim with what amounts to the Vocal equivalent of junk mail. This means that now I am more likely to see things created by the authors I follow who take the time to create original and captivating stories. And in turn, it means that I can read, like, and comment on someone’s story that is here because they enjoy writing, and aren’t here just for a quick buck.

So, why even write an article about this?

For those who have been around Vocal and other similar sites, for a while, we know that SEO-driven and A.I. written articles have been a problem for a while. And that is the core of my critique as well. While I do like that Vocal now makes it a requirement for people using A.I. to label their articles as such(if they’re being honest), the problem is now they have left the gate open for anyone wanting to cash in on generating content for content’s sake to do it with their blessing.

Why is that a problem you may ask?

Well, the effect of this is that it pulls readers away from authors who actually put in work to write their articles. And in turn, this can and will drive some of those authors away from the platform. I say this as someone who has been on both sides of that issue.

When I first joined Vocal, it was for a challenge that I hoped to make a considerable amount of money on if I had won. After not winning, or even knowing how I placed, I became disheartened until another challenge came up that I felt I could win. Again, like many, the prize would have been life-changing. Not lottery money life-changing, but it would have gotten me out of the debt I was in at the time. And that would have been enough breathing room for me to live a little easier. Unfortunately I didn’t win, again.

What did change after this challenge though was that I found some of the Vocal Facebook groups. This showed me how other people used the platform. It showed me that not only can you make money here, but that you can write articles that fit that SEO criteria without resorting to gimmicks.

However, with accounts like the one I just unsubscribed from, writing such articles, and getting recognition for those articles will become harder in the future. It doesn't matter if the recognition is in the form of a Top Story and/or the traffic generated from such an article, the motivation to write original content will go down. And this will drive some creators away because this only further dilutes the pool of readers. And it is this pool of readers that some authors rely on to keep them going. Not that we usually make enough here to live off of, but rather, many of those articles generate readership, that in turn helps elevate our works that might not generate that much traffic on their own.

So, what is my hope with this article?

One, I hope this encourages discussion on this topic from the community. I am not as plugged in as many. I don’t jump in the discussion chats on Facebook, do Discord, or any of the other things that I feel take away from more important things(aka actually writing or doing things IRL), but I do hope to hear back from my fellow authors and our readers to see how they feel about such accounts.

Thank you for reading my work. If you enjoyed this story, there’s more below. Please hit the like and subscribe button, you can follow me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @AtomicHistorian. To help me create more content, leave a tip or become a pledged subscriber. I also make stickers, t-shirts, etc here.

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