If you had told me when I started this blog way back in 2010 that I would still be churning out posts most days in 2026, I really wouldn’t have believed you.
It has been a wild journey being the sole force behind an online publication such as this.
And as the online world continues to morph, shift, and change, I’m struggling to understand how relevant a blog is in this current digital landscape of highly-responsive algorithms and artificial intelligence. Does writing about new vegan restaurants, upcoming events, and my personal take on a wide range of topics on this platform still matter?
Or is it time for it all to come to a dignified end?
Read more below.
I’ve been considering the future of fatgayvegan.com quite a bit over the last few months.
I have mostly been able to keep up with the daily postings and on average, between 700 and 1,000 unique viewers visit every day. That isn’t too bad for what many people consider an antiquated publishing form. There is interest from me to continue writing AND a little bit of interest from my readers. It seems to have a place in the world… just.
But is that interest enough to justify the survival of my blog and everything that entails?
When you look at the audiences of new forms of online communication such as streaming, the viewing figures this blog achieves are miniscule. Even Little London Vegan on Instagram reaches tens of thousands of people with each Instagram post. I’ve been thinking that perhaps my energies would be better spent in a different way, especially when I see how many people these other channels reach in comparison.
And it isn’t just the energy and time I spend each day.
Running a blog is a costly undertaking. I pay for the URL, the hosting, security software, and of course the hardware such as having a certain standard of laptop and phone to publish. When I think about all of the money the blog has cost me in the 16 years of its lifespan, it starts to make me feel a little queasy!
But of course this money and effort has been justifiable. FGV has been a form of activism. It has been one of the ways that I have supported compassionate people on their vegan journeys. It has given me a voice in a world that often tries to silence us. It has brought people together by way of the events I’ve been able to promote.
Overall, it has been an undeniable force for good so even considering to bring it to a close is emotional.
At 52-years old with not a lot of personal financial security (read broke), I wonder if it is time to transition from the financial demands of this blog and perhaps find a way to share my thoughts elsewhere.
The idea of fatgayvegan.com no longer existing is poignant and rather confrontational, but I also understand that nothing lasts forever. Even if this blog closes, I will still be able to share my experiences via Instagram or maybe I could start a low/zero cost page such as Substack.
Moving on and away from the blog is going to be a hard decision to make and I don’t know how I’ll understand when the time is right. Heck, if somebody came along to sponsor it I would probably keep posting indefinitely. I love it, but I just don’t love being broke for diminishing returns.
This isn’t a closure announcement. I suppose I’m simply doing what I have done since December 2010. I’m sharing my feelings and asking for your feedback.
How would you feel if fatgayvegan.com came to an end?
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HI, I enjoy getting the email telling me there’s a blog post. I do subscribe to insta and Facebook but all too often it seems it’s them showing me what they want me to see rather than me seeing what I choose to see. (Facebook especially) So the good thing about your blog is that when meta implodes it’ll still be here.
I really like the blog – but guess if you decided to transfer the content to Instagram (or other social media) I would still read it…
For me a “view” probably is not the same as actively choosing to open and read content.
However totally appreciate that you need to do what it best for you (financially etc etc). Would rather that you were posting somewhere than nowhere!
As I’ve said to you before, I really appreciate that you revived the blog, and I absolutely do think the blog has had a big impact. Page impressions aren’t a very clear indication of ‘relevance’. If you take that old quip by Brian Eno about The Velvet Underground’s first album having sold few copies, but everyone who bought one started a band, that’s even more relevant in the age of the Internet, because everything is so easily copyable, and originality always starts somewhere. Remember that anti-social media page impressions aren’t necessarily high quality. People are bombarded with far too much crap to really take it all in.
I’m amazed and obviously enjoy that you post almost every day, and there’s no question that consistency helps, but I wouldn’t hold you to that kind of work rate. Also, pickings may be slimmer in Brisbane. 🙂
Your blog is one of the best things on the vegan Internet and certainly my favourite. It’s actual people posting real things that make the Internet interesting, not utility web-sites or exploitative data collection sites that people don’t realise they merely serve as unpaid employees, constantly doing unpaid work feeding data into the maw of the machine. I say keep blogging and rest assured there are plenty who keep reading it.