I'm losing hope this blog is ever going to attract a decent-sized audience. My latest post got only 16 page views in a month. Other articles show a similarly abysmal level of traffic in the last 30-day period.
Lowering my spirits even further is the fact that I've been writing this blog for over 18 years now, and Covina Past still has only 1 follower. On the whole internet, just one person is interested enough in my content here to subscribe to it?
This is disheartening to say the least.
What's to be done? One thing I believe would help my blog gain readership is if the Covina Valley Historical Society were to regularly post links to my articles in their newsletters and socials. It would help even more if the Firehouse Museum were maintained in a manner that allowed its holdings to be used for historical research. They have a treasure trove of printed and photographic material in their trust, but it's completely inaccessible. There's no phone, no email, and it's only staffed for a couple of hours one day a week. Meanwhile, dozens of bound volumes in their archive just sit locked away gathering dust, along with thousands of photos stashed away in envelopes, never to be digitized and thus effectively lost to present and future scholars. This is very frustrating to someone like me who is eager to turn this invaluable storehouse of information into something truly useful.
If I still lived in the Covina area, I could and would get directly involved in the Historical Society and go full activist on the research and education front, but I'm 700 miles away now and have no means to travel, so that isn't an option, unfortunately. So I'm kind of left without hope that any of these things are ever going to change.
And then there's simply the matter of time. I just turned 70 a couple of months ago, so this could very well be my last decade of life, and I really have to ask myself: is this blog a productive use of my remaining years on this earth? Would someone of any age think it's worthwhile to write for such a tiny and apparently indifferent audience? I think the objectively obvious answer is no, it is not.
Consequently, as much as I love Covina and its history, I've decided it's probably for the best that I wrap things up here. I'll continue to do research on my own, and there are a couple more topics in my queue that I've been working on that I feel I owe it to myself to publish on this blog, but after that, I think the time has come for me to move on.
I’m so sad to see this post. I really wish you’d keep up the great work and continue to post. I really love all the content you’ve published!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your efforts, Scott. I, too, grew up in Covina and was about five years behind you. The blog really resonated with me.
ReplyDeleteAs for following? Didn't know I could do that (or maybe I did).
Worry to see it end as it was truly a great trip
I agree with the previous comments. I have been looking on the page, but do not know how to follow either. I would definitely like to add myself as a follower.
ReplyDeleteAppears it might be moot, RDT.
DeleteYou are probably right, but I wanted Scott to see that he does have supporters out there.
DeleteI'm sad you're discontinuing this blogspot. I grew up in West Covina and enjoy all the history and old photos of where I grew up. I'm class of 1966 South Hills High School (first graduating class and "opened" the school in 1964) and lived in West Covina from 1955 to 1972. I live in Monrovia now and have often driven by some of the locations you've identified. Many of my classmates lived proximal to Covina Hills Road - not too far from where you grew up. Also, I played at WC American Little Leage from 1959-61. Sorry to see you go; but, I understand.
ReplyDelete