Paul.E.Bailey’s World – A Little Help from Your Friends…

Posted on by Paul.E.Bailey

I’d love to say this post is on a positive note.

Sadly, that isn’t the case.

When I started this blog, I knew I’d need patience in waiting for its popularity to build. The progress has been quite steady and is building slowly. Some posts are more popular than others which is only to be expected depending on the subject matter. In the past week, the follows on my blog have increased and I’ve met some frankly amazing people. You know exactly who you are.

I made the decision to make my blog a general and all-encompassing one rather than restrain my writing by discussing just one subject. This is where my self-made quote comes from; “The world is a subject with many subcategories. Why not talk about them all?”

This has perhaps proven detrimental in some ways as it doesn’t apply to one target audience and that’s why some of my posts have a large amount of hits and some have decidedly few. I accept that as an occupational hazard.

However, there are a few things I’m finding rather difficult to grasp.

We pretty much all have a Facebook account in the first world nowadays. Let’s be honest; it’s how most all of us stay in touch with people we know. I have five-hundred and thirty-eight friends on my list at present. I didn’t even realise I knew so many folk.

So I’ve obviously got a fair few friends and accomplices. Now here’s the thing that troubles me. I have a page on Facebook dedicated to this blog. That too is named Paul.E.Bailey’s World. It currently has forty-seven likes and not all of those ‘likers’ are on my Facebook friends list.

Am I just being daft, or is that an absolutely shockingly small amount of likes for my page when compared to the amount of friends I apparently have? I sent personal invites to all my friends last week. You know how many responded by liking the page? One! Just one!

It doesn’t stop there. When I post links to my page, my blog or a post on my blog I’m very lucky if I get ten likes. It’s a good day if I get between five and ten, but generally I get less than five likes per post. Then I see status updates about somebody going on holiday or something they’re having for tea and that’s managed to amass thirty, forty, fifty or even more likes.

I always use asterisks to block out certain letters when using swearwords in my blog, but not today! WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?! Seriously; are my so-called friends taking the piss?

I fully appreciate that people are busy and have more important things to do than read my blog. I have absolutely no problem with that. But is it really so hard to humour me and just like my Facebook page and my posts? The answer is no! It’s as damned simple as that. More likes gives me more exposure. It’s not a difficult thing to work out.

Is this a recurring problem for most people? Do you seem to have trouble garnering genuine support from people? There are certain people who I know always read my stuff and like my posts and I am honestly so grateful for those people. They’re the reason I don’t just give up. That and I enjoy blogging.

Confidence is something I’ve never had a massive amount of so it takes all my willpower not to just throw in the towel when people simply aren’t arsed about what I do. The support of friends goes such a long way so when it appears that they don’t care it makes me feel as though I’m fighting the battle alone. Me against the whole world.

I don’t mind saying that it hurts. When I announce I’m annoyed about it I always get told to be patient and that these things take time. Bollocks! Attracting people that don’t know me and aren’t my friends takes time. Friends should just be prepared to do the minimum to support somebody they claim to care about in some way. Clicking the like tab on my Facebook page takes less than a second. Clicking like on a shared post takes less than a second.

I know there are going to be some people who read this and think ‘shut up moaning’. That is, of course, their prerogative. I make no apologies. What I’m saying in this post needs saying.

The message here is simple; support your friends. If they’re chasing a dream then give them a nudge in that direction. If it’s something as simple as a like on Facebook then just do it!

But let’s just delve into the psyches of these people who have no problem taking the time to watch and like a video of a fucking cat doing something fucking adorable, but are physically unable of doing the bare minimum to help along a friend or family member.

Are they just twats? Are they just horrible cretins that are doing it out of spite? Do they just simply not care at all? Or is it something more sinister? Do they actually want me not to succeed? Does my potential failure in achieving my dream please them in some way? These probably sound like stupid hypotheses to some of you, but this is honestly what starts happening to a person when people who call themselves friends don’t act like it.

I had one friend who liked my page and he messaged me saying “I doubt I’ll read anything you post because I’m not really interested”. You know what? Fair play to that man. I fucking love balls to bones honesty like that. The fact he’s taken the time to give my page a boost is plenty helpful and I massively appreciate that even if he doesn’t want to read my blog. If all my other friends did the same I wouldn’t be bothered.

But in light of the fact that all but one person ignored a direct invite to like my page I think that tells us all exactly what their thoughts on my blog and me as a person are.

I hope so much that one of those people who haven’t shown any support at all read this and write an arsey comment defending themselves. I pray to a god I don’t believe in for it! I’d love to hear their crap excuses.

In light of this shocking display of support from these people I’ve taken the decision not to show any support to any of them from henceforth either. Even if I believe in the cause they’re fighting for. There are some exceptions though. I’ll continue listening to and loving Stu Allan’s Old Skool Nation for example because he’s a hero of mine and I’m only punishing myself by not being involved in his work. Plus I imagine he’s getting invited to like, share and act on all sorts of crap daily owing to his fame. Same with Shaun Lever, and to be fair to Shaun, he has liked and shared some stuff from my blog. He’s a genuinely busy man so I’m flattered he’s taken the time to do so.

I understand people are busy nowadays, but I refuse to believe that around five hundred people are all too busy to like a page, but not too busy to like a meme with a bullshit motivational quote on it.

On a positive note though, I thank every one of those friends who have liked my page, my blog, my posts or anything else connected to my writing even once. The people who actually read my stuff are awesome! I mention Steve a lot, but there isn’t a person who’s supported my writing more than him so he will always receive honourable mentions on merit (Just a few words about…; follow it now).

To my WordPress followers, I appreciate you lot like you wouldn’t believe. I’ve already made some good friends on here and I spend most my time talking to you rather than looking through Facebook nowadays because of you. I’m seeing less and less of the aforementioned bullshit memes daily thanks to you lot.

Those who have supported, will support and are supporting my writing are just the best people and I will return the favour when the chance arises. I hope you’re enjoying my work. There’s an awful lot more to come.

To those who haven’t supported, don’t support and won’t support my writing…well, let’s just hope you don’t need my assistance anytime soon. If I’m not worthy of a simple act of friendship from you then maybe you aren’t worthy of being a friend full stop!

Be a good friend and support people who you care about. You never know when you’ll need them.

Do you agree that these people who can’t show even the most basic level of support are arseholes? Do I care if you don’t agree? Have you read this having never supported me and taken umbrage to what I’ve said? Give me both barrels and prepare to receive four in return!

trite
Take your inspirational memes with their 100,000 likes and shove them up your arse!

Please catch up with the follow-up to this post, A Little Help from Myself…, by clicking the link and find out how my mind-set has changed since writing this post.

50 thoughts on “Paul.E.Bailey’s World – A Little Help from Your Friends…”

  1. Pingback: Paul.E.Bailey’s World – A Little Help from Myself… | Paul.E.Bailey's World

  2. Nothing wrong with word creation, especially if you’re intelligent enough to do so. When idiots create words it grates on me because they haven’t had the decency to learn words that already exist first! My mind-set on this has actually altered in recent times and I plan on typing up a follow-up post in the foreseeable future, but I’m interested to know what conclusions your pondering led you to…

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  3. I do much agreed with you on so much levels.
    Why follow me if you are not interested in what I post..

    I tried to go through everyday all the people I followed and take time to read and make a comment if I have something constructive to say and add.
    I placed a like on every one ☝️ just to acknowledge my presence..

    As you stated . If you are a friend.. please encourage by reading 📖 and patronizing..

    It’s really a big boost..

    Don’t give up.. Paul..
    keep on sharing.. the right audience will find you soon enough

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

      1. Thanks for following me..
        And I will be following you…

        I’m still going through your posts one by one..
        and I do love ❤️ your aggressive and mean approach..
        I actually find it humorous and quite refreshing to read a man who is so straightforward and say it like he sees it..

        Liked by 1 person

  4. Keep up the good work, the writing… it’s obviously passionate for you, the fact that you throw yourself into it so boldly shows that. Keep motivated to do what your doing and people will see your talents and your blog will get the followers, numbers and respect it deserves.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Cheers bud. You’ve had a few honourable mentions in previous posts you know and there’s a couple of pics of you all young and sexy as well. Haha.
      Your words mean a lot though pal. As does your friendship

      Like

      Reply

  5. Hello 🙋 This post is soooo good, and even though I’m reading in the dark on hotel WiFi (which is shit) I wanted to laugh out loud in parts, because what you said is so fucking spot on and true!!! Your friends are cunts….yes I said cunts…they don’t give a fuck about helping you further your dreams, because they aren’t seeing it as such. They are so up their own arse, raised on a diet of “Facebook vacuous bullshit for thick people” that to bother to be intellectually challenged by reading your blog for five minutes might cause them to spontaneously combust from mental exertion and mind fuckery. They maybe don’t realise how much it means to you?You know like when people go clean, decide they wanna leave the drug scene behind…they find they can’t hang out with the crack heads anymore…well you are maybe realising how blogging separates you from the mindless masses even though you consider them all friends. Suddenly you don’t fit with them and they don’t fit so well with you….It goes to show how the number of friends on Facebook has zero correlation with the quality of friends. When we’re excited about things, we want our significant peeps to share our excitement, naturally, and it’s such a let down when they don’t. Blogging and Facebook do not meet in the middle, just like oil and water don’t mix, and sometimes friends and dreams don’t either, so you need to enjoy your WordPress friends and milk us dry. Fuck the FB”friends”. We like you because of your mind, intelligence, sharp writing, and ability to engage and entertain us. We’re your new audience 👊💕😘👍 ps. I’ve sent a few emails (or tried to) but they’re in my outbox still unsent. I’m definitely not ignoring you! Txt me when you can ok 😊 ps. You’re an amazing writer, in all genres, massive respect 👍

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. It’s hard to disagree with your assessment when, despite the very on the nose blog post, the likes of my page haven’t increased apart from a couple of people from, unsurprisingly, WordPress. Basically fucking strangers Summer! And people on Facefuck wonder why I’m always so annoyed and rant all the time. Don’t get me wrong; I have some ace friends on there with whom I can actually converse on some pretty deep subject matters, but your “Facebook vacuous bullshit for thick people” is definitely hitting the clit right on the nail. The stuff people find funny just leaves me scratching my head. Well, my balls if I’m honest because I’m a bloke. Metaphor o’clock of where a bloke’s brains are located.
      This post is basically an ‘I no longer care what any of you do’, even if it’s dressed up as the complete opposite. It’s basically saying I won’t be begging for people to like my page or anything else connected to my blog. Like it or lump it. Just don’t expect my assistance when the time comes that you need it.
      As for my WP family, that just extended beyond 50 followers and I got nominated for one of those awards yesterday. Just over two months blogging and I’m already getting ego boosting recognition. Yes, I think it’s fair to say that I’m somewhat taken by my WP family 🙂 x

      Liked by 2 people

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      1. Hitting the clit right on the nail 😉 Haha! That’s funny!!! Love it 🙂 WP will be so good for you. Well done of everything you’ve achieved so far. You’re a dynamo! XX

        Liked by 1 person

      3. If you read my email you’ll know I think it’s you that’s the true hero. You inspire me more than you realise hun X

        Like

  6. Pingback: A very open and honest blog from Paul. Read this and please like and share his pages. | Just a few words about ….

  7. Another great post Paul. I know how frustrated and pissed off you are at the lack of likes and shares from friends. These people are missing out on watching you grow and evolve as a writer. As I’ve said before, it’s their loss. Still, common decency and respect for a friend would suggest they would share your posts to get your name further out there.

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. They’ll change their tune if I make it bud. Only by then they’ll have burnt their bridges. Want a free copy? In the words of Sgt Abraham Ford, suck my nuts! Haha.
      Glad you enjoyed it bud. This kinda rant was always coming

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. I did enjoy the post. Perhaps this rant will kick start people thinking not starting to read your blog. It good to let loose every once in a while. I’m guessing you feel a lot better now you have this off your chest.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Ranting always makes me feel better. Whether it’ll have an effect on my friends is another question, but it’s always been about me and not them. The day I care more about affirmation than writing will be the day I stop writing completely

        Liked by 1 person

  8. Umm…my *like* was for the inspirational quote meme….jk

    See, I should have sent that optimism. I also don’t mix my FB and WP families. It would be awkward and to be honest, most of them aren’t readers. It’s easier on WP to get likes because people are on here to read new and interesting things, such as your blog! People go on FB for a quick funny while their taking a dump. It’s just about expectations, I think.
    On the other hand, I do agree that it would be nice if a few of your friends and family stepped up. Maybe send them each a personal message, not a mass one, asking for help. Make it known that your not looking for money, only button pushes. Or you could just say screw em all and forget about it. They can spread word that they know you when your book takes off! ☺

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

    1. That meme is brilliant to be fair. Haha.
      The invites I sent were all personal ones so they definitely all saw them and chose to ignore it. I don’t expect any of them to read my stuff (though with the crap that gets shared they’re obviously prepared to read utter bullshit half the time). A click of the like button is neither a big request nor a big task and it does have you questioning if they’re not doing it on purpose.
      Oh I have no doubt they’ll suddenly jump on the bandwagon if I’m successful. Just so long as they know I’ll treat them with all the humility they’ve treated me. Then I’ll get accused of not being humble by them no doubt.
      I’m disappointed nobody I know has commented defending themselves yet. I could go for a nice argument right now 😂
      Thank you for your support by the way. You’re right at the top of my awesome WordPressers list, both for the support and your brilliant posts 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

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      1. Everyone probably thinks your talking about someone else, I’m sure. Haha
        And thank you for saying that, you are at my top also. 😄
        I’m posting one today, but then no more till Monday. Deer season starts and I’ll be in the wilderness. Just so you know I didn’t keel over somewhere. Lol

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Killing deer? Have you no soul? I wish no longer to be associated with you! But please be sure to send me some venison steaks. Haha.
        Hunting sounds fun, but I couldn’t do it myself. I just don’t have the heart. I’d kill a human before an animal I reckon.
        I don’t think they do think I’m talking about somebody else. Never been shy about calling people out publicly for being a dick before. I expected at least one biter. I might go check Facefuck and see if anybody has yet.
        You’re welcome by the way. I look forward to your inbound post 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

      3. I am a soulless meat eater. Haha
        My dad was a hunting guide on the reservation so I’m pretty used to cleaning animals. My hubby’s the only one with a tag, I’m just along to spot, carry, and clean.
        You worried me a moment when I read your response. You never know how people will react.

        Liked by 1 person

      4. Haha. I was a little nasty as I sort of hoped to worry you initially 😉 I’d be going to hell if it existed, but it doesn’t so I’m good.
        I love a good slab of meat on my plate. Preferably rare so that I get a nice bloody garnish. Mmmmmmm! Kill them I can’t do, but I can eat the fuck out of them! Haha

        Liked by 1 person

  9. Bravo on saying what lot of us were thinking! I know exactly how you feel. What bothers me the most is when people like your blog post but they haven’t read it. Dont they know we all can see our stats?
    BTW, I just liked your Facebook page.

    Liked by 2 people

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    1. I know what you mean. Though that happened the other day and they’d commented too as though they’d read the post so I don’t know about that one. It might be if they read it on WP reader that it doesn’t count as a view perhaps. God knows!
      Thank you. Do you have a page on FB? If so then link me up 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      2. I try to remember to do that… you can also change your settings so that only a certain number of words will show on the reader so that if someone really wants to read it all they have to “read more” which will take them to the site

        Liked by 1 person

  10. From my experience, it’s harder to get Facebook likes unlike twitter or WordPress except you pay for it. I personally opened another facebook page for my blog which took a lot of time and effort to grow the likes, I would suggest you let it not bother you much. Blog likes grow over time, one need to dedicate like an hour per day visiting other blogs, reading, commenting, liking, participating in whatever is going on that seems appealing, and you will be surprised by the outcome. I love your blog and the effort you put into writing. I’m sure once people get to see it, they would feel same way i do about it.

    Liked by 2 people

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    1. Honestly, the page not getting likes from random people isn’t my issue at all. It’s just the so called friends that are pissing me off. I’m generally very happy with how WordPress is working out for me and the followers are building nicely. I’m enjoying it.
      I appreciate your support a lot. You were one of my first followers and you’ve been awesome. Your blog is brilliant too. Your posts have been a joy to read. Thank you for appearing in my world 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  11. I have the same kind of problem. I do have a handful of friends that read/like/comment on a semi-regular basis… but the majority can’t seem to be bothered liking or sharing and sometimes I feel self conscious like maybe most of my friends think my stuff is crap or they just don’t care. It feels more genuine somehow, though, when likes or comments come from strangers because usually they have nothing to gain (except maybe the hope of reciprocal likes/follows) …Wordpressland is pretty awesome

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. I definitely agree with that. A stranger liking it is because they’ve generally read it and genuinely like it. That does give you a nice, warm, fuzzy feeling inside. I do buy into the like for like mentality. Back scratching and all that. At least you both gain from it

      Liked by 1 person

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  12. I have kept my blog completely private from my Facebook real life friends. Partly because I’m scared of the reaction, possible negativity, it being scrutinised. Only a few are aware it exists through other social networking sites and has been reveived well to date. Unsure if I will ever announce its existence 🙂
    But I do agree if you put it out there some level of support would be great.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. I’ve noticed a few do the same as you. For what it’s worth I might as well do the same! A little support goes a long way and I appreciate all that I get; even just a simple like on my page. The fact that’s too hard for more than 90% of my Facebook friends makes me want to puke. Thanks for commenting (I fully intend on reading your earlier post as soon as I can by the way)

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      2. Oh, I never lose concentration on the writing. It’s the first thing I think about in the morning. Well, second. My little boy always comes first, naturally 🙂

        Like

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