Althouse: I feel as though unseen readers are leaning on me to write about certain topics that I see out there.

November 21, 2025

I feel as though unseen readers are leaning on me to write about certain topics that I see out there.

That provokes me to resistance. I've been writing this blog for almost 22 years, and the reason it works for me is that I only do what motivates me. I realize that this feeling that you're leaning on me to write about [whatever] must necessarily come from within — It's coming from inside the Althouse — but please know that if it were coming from you, I would be asking you to cut it out.

78 comments:

Danno said...: Ann, only write on what interests you. We (the readers and commenters) can sort out what interests each of us.; 11/21/25, 5:05 AM
Danno said...: Also, I see you have taken charge and put that idea you should do 3,000+ posts per year and discarded it.; 11/21/25, 5:09 AM
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: Yep. Probably have done that myself. The only “success” amongst the commenters in sparking the host’s writing is when one of us, perhaps accidentally, mention something about the current topic from which Althouse somehow draws inspiration to write about it and if so usually because she already “had a browser open” to the topic or a post started in her Idea Mill.; 11/21/25, 5:11 AM
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: Danno’s first comment is wise. After a long time here I have learned to skip the many topics that don’t interest me or have a strong On Language vibe that moves me. The banter is not so lighthearted as it used to be. But then some subjects are deadly serious ones that are treated seriously by most commenters.; 11/21/25, 5:17 AM
Dave Begley said...: A major attraction of the Althouse blog - at least for me - is that Ann selects the topics and articles of the posts. That process gives the blog a unique feature. If Althouse wrote about what everyone else was writing about, the blog would get stale. How many times could she write about Epstein?; 11/21/25, 5:30 AM
lonejustice said...: Agree 100%. Don't become part of the "hive," the "Borg," the "echo chamber." Just continue to write about what interests you. That is why I come here every day.; 11/21/25, 5:39 AM
Joe Bar said...: Guilty, I think. I have have posted links to other articles I have found relevant to the conversation. If this is not allowed please let us know.; 11/21/25, 5:45 AM
rhhardin said...: People are always telling me what to comment.; 11/21/25, 5:46 AM
Ann Althouse said...: Silence is violence.; 11/21/25, 5:51 AM
Eric the Fruit Bat said...: The imaginary voices seem to come and go pretty much on their own, much like tinnitus.; 11/21/25, 5:54 AM
Inga said...: Cafe threads are safe spaces for topics Althouse chooses not to blog about, am I correct?; 11/21/25, 6:02 AM
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: Real writers have to write. You didn’t have to choose blogging but thank God you did. So many voices I loved to read have ceased blogging or changed their focus. Althouse is still here, still interesting, and best of all IMO so unpredictable.; 11/21/25, 6:08 AM
stlcdr said...: "What would Althouse say?"; 11/21/25, 6:11 AM
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: Yes Inga, I take great pleasure in confirming that the cafe posts are exactly for that. It reminds me of the pressure release valve my mom had: “You kids go outside and don’t come in until I call you for lunch.” Except instead of lunch Althouse calls us to the next post.; 11/21/25, 6:12 AM
Derve said...: You should stop faking facts, professor.
If you ARE going to write about something, you owe readers a duty to be honest.

Stick with the silly topics, because it is clear from your career you have no desire to actually do the work. (Grok--tell me what to think about this... and "What do the polls show? If we're all dumping on an unfavored minority -- no, not the Jews -- then I'm in. You're a real winner like that, annie...); 11/21/25, 6:15 AM
Jaq said...: Avoiding the issues that commenters here obviously want to talk about keeps your blog fresh. If people want red meat, there is always Instapundit, a place I visit less and less.; 11/21/25, 6:17 AM
Derve said...: It's all old undereducated middle-aged men who don't work anymore. That's who you've collected here, in your second husband's image. Be proud, I guess? The little girl in the little mini-skirt went into the pool room and is a smashing hit.; 11/21/25, 6:17 AM
Derve said...: Ann Althouse said...
Silence is violence.
---------
No, but if you play the damsel in distress -- "everyone is threatening me!" you draw more of these types of male's attention... Just keep packing. So you can eliminate any potential threats like the boogeymen chasing you in the woods. Don't shoot meade though. The cops will question why you killed your husband...; 11/21/25, 6:19 AM
Once written, twice... said...: Don't worry Ann, you aren't the only person who fell for Trump’s obvious bullshit.; 11/21/25, 6:20 AM
Derve said...: Mike (MJB Wolf) said...
Yes Inga, I take great pleasure in confirming that the cafe posts are exactly for that. It reminds me of the pressure release valve my mom had: “You kids go outside and don’t come in until I call you for lunch.” Except instead of lunch Althouse calls us to the next post.

11/21/25, 6:12 AM
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Sounds like mikey wants to suckle, mama althouse... lol.
Yep, quite the salon you have created here. (open the windows though... it always smells like old farts. lol. Onward, plenty of sites to check up on each day...); 11/21/25, 6:20 AM
Derve said...: Once written, twice... said...
Don't worry Ann, you aren't the only person who fell for Trump’s obvious bullshit.
-----------
LOLOL. And there it is! Truth comes out if you let the class discussions be real... You've lost control of the classroom when students challenge your (dizzy) take on the facts...

You can take the gal off the east coast, but you can't take the East Coast out of the gal! lolol; 11/21/25, 6:22 AM
NKP said...: Silence is violence

Profound.; 11/21/25, 6:25 AM
R C Belaire said...: I'm still trying to figure out what an "unseen reader" is and how such a reader can affect what the blog author decides to write about. If a reader comments is that reader now "seen?" A reader who does not comment remains "unseen?"; 11/21/25, 6:27 AM
Kevin said...: It's coming from inside the Althouse

Have you checked the commenters?; 11/21/25, 6:28 AM
NKP said...: If people want red meat, there is always Instapundit...

Yeah, but where else you gonna go to find good rotating toenail clippers?; 11/21/25, 6:29 AM
Rob said...: Writing a blog is work. You do it because you enjoy it or it's a job.; 11/21/25, 6:34 AM
Mr. D said...: It's one of the primary annoyances of blogging. When I was blogging regularly, I had a few commenters who had axes to grind. The refrain was "I noticed you haven't written anything about [some crap]. Why not?" It's a question that does not merit a response other than, "if [some crap] interests you that much, you can start your own blog, but I'll choose the topics here, by your leave."; 11/21/25, 6:41 AM
michaele said...: Reading the Althouse blog right off the bat in the morning and then checking off and on throughout the day seems to keep me ahead of the curve on some interesting topics in my small household.; 11/21/25, 6:49 AM
mezzrow said...: I'm taking this opportunity to observe that a corn dog and a Beef Wellington are basically the same idea for different socio-economic strata. A corn dog is not a sandwich, but the question is more ambiguous if a bun is involved.

Thanks to our host for the opportunity. I feel seen.; 11/21/25, 6:51 AM
rehajm said...: That provokes me to resistance

Sure write about what you want but this as a governing principle makes devoted to bikeshedding…; 11/21/25, 6:53 AM
rehajm said...: …and you become forever be vulnerable to the con.; 11/21/25, 6:56 AM
BudBrown said...: Huh? I'll be reading something and think hey the professor'll write about this sucker so I hustle over for the trees but stay for the forest. Ok. Sometimes I.m wreong but...; 11/21/25, 7:11 AM
Mr. T. said...: Professor Althouse's and Professor KC Johnson's are my favorite blogs.; 11/21/25, 7:11 AM
Temujin said...: We were all attracted to this blog to begin with by the variety of topics. We can pick and choose which to take part in, which to read, which to send to others to read, and which to link through the Althouse portal so that can buy something.

I love looking at the range of topics and the dives into 'proper' English and the origins of words.
And it's good to know you have those voices from within trying to direct you. They certainly can be annoying.; 11/21/25, 7:12 AM
Mr. Forward said...: Logging vs blogging
Axes to grind
Can't hear voices
Cutting out leaners; 11/21/25, 7:21 AM
MartyH said...: I said I was sorry to presume such a thing…; 11/21/25, 7:32 AM
bagoh20 said...: I have unseeingly demanded every post including this one. There is no free will but mine.
My mini Australian Shepard made me to say that.; 11/21/25, 7:37 AM
Beasts of England said...: ’Yeah, but where else you gonna go to find good rotating toenail clippers?’

Reynolds is under the control of Big Clipper.; 11/21/25, 7:43 AM
narciso said...: Like the rotating knives in the python abbatoir sketch; 11/21/25, 8:03 AM
RCOCEAN II said...: Unseen readers,
Whispering and pointing.
Unsatisfied Shadows,
Being assholes.; 11/21/25, 8:04 AM
Old and slow said...: No one likes to be told how to run their own show. Back when I had a bar, I had one customer who would repeatedly say to me "You know what you ought to do Danny?" My name is not Danny, and he spent a lot of time waiting for his drinks.; 11/21/25, 8:14 AM
rehajm said...: unseen readers

..one thing I learned a couple days ago from that poll with over 1,700 votes is the unseen reader group is likely quite large. I thought it was just us...; 11/21/25, 8:22 AM
Wince said...: “I am not going to be ignored, Dan.”; 11/21/25, 8:31 AM
Dunham said...: This is your church and you can preach the sermon however you see fit.; 11/21/25, 8:33 AM
Aggie said...: Yeah, not seeing those unseen readers, either. Have you considered the NSA?; 11/21/25, 8:36 AM
rehajm said...: night vision goggles help sometimes...; 11/21/25, 8:41 AM
Valentine Smith said...: By what means can unseen readers urge Althouse to cover topics they want? None that I can see or imagine. Perhaps there is A shift occurring within Ms. Althouse and she is resisting.; 11/21/25, 8:55 AM
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: Well I might have seen Jamie and Gharie at one time, given Gahrie and I worked at the same High School in Fontana, and Jamie said a couple days back that she grew up with him (I don't know where). But that was pre-Althouse.

Except for Mead we are all to an extent unseen here. I have a standing offer to provide a beer for Howard (yes that Howard) if he ever wanders down the coast and inland to Gainesville. We make a LOT of good beer.; 11/21/25, 8:57 AM
boatbuilder said...: Are the unseen readers in the room with us?; 11/21/25, 8:58 AM
Josephbleau said...: “In the room the women come and go
Talking of Michelangelo.”; 11/21/25, 9:01 AM
Readering said...: It worked? I hid as I thought hard about Althouse blogging on the potentially deadly effects of banning mail in ballots, and she maybe felt it.; 11/21/25, 9:01 AM
n.n said...: The phantom readers. Vote for me my Althousiastic bloggers.; 11/21/25, 9:01 AM
boatbuilder said...: Just having some fun, Althouse. Keep doing what you are doing.; 11/21/25, 9:07 AM
Randomizer said...: Talk about what you want. That's why I've been coming here for so many years. The majority of your posts are about something that I wouldn't have known about.

There are plenty of other blogs to read about topics in which I have a specific interest.; 11/21/25, 9:11 AM
BarrySanders20 said...: Is this a small problem, a big problem, a small problem the size of a big problem, or a big problem the size of a small problem? Size matters.; 11/21/25, 9:11 AM
Rusty said...: The interest, for me, is the variety of topics. If it interests me I'll comment.; 11/21/25, 9:20 AM
Howard said...: Nights in white satin
Never reaching the end
Letters I've written
Never meaning to send
Beauty I'd always missed
With these eyes before
Just what the truth is
I can't say anymore; 11/21/25, 9:23 AM
Ice Nine said...: What's wrong with simply ignoring these (for some reason) onerous "unseens" and not even thinking about them enough to bother writing about them?

Whoops, I think I might have just told Althouse what to do. My bad.; 11/21/25, 9:23 AM
Iman said...: You are getting drowsy… your eyelids are getting very, very heavy…; 11/21/25, 9:24 AM
Howard said...: I admit, I like giving you a hard time when you don't cover a story that would obviously upset your Trumper clients and/or Husband.

I am assuming you are referring to us whom comment: We are not seen but heard. I guess that means we are the opposite of children.; 11/21/25, 9:26 AM
Big Mike said...: Is Meade whispering into your ear at night?; 11/21/25, 9:28 AM
Iman said...: an insurrection
woman with barrels of ink
army of rat finks; 11/21/25, 9:31 AM
FredSays said...: The scariest revelation in a horror movie is when the characters realize the noise they’re hearing is inside the ‘house’. Never fear, the lead usually survives.; 11/21/25, 9:35 AM
Iman said...: “Made it through another week without turning my thoughts and feelings into felonies”; 11/21/25, 9:36 AM
Lawcruiter said...: What Wince said! LOL; 11/21/25, 9:37 AM
Dude1394 said...: Keep doing what you are doing. This is my first stop in the morning.; 11/21/25, 10:06 AM
Narr said...: "This is my first stop in the morning."

This is the only blog I frequent. I wouldn't dream of suggesting topics for the Prof and am amused when others do.

That said, I skip 60-75% of the posts, particularly the political-legal ones, to concentrate on what interests me.; 11/21/25, 10:34 AM
robother said...: Am I the only one who wondered which of her commenters are these "unseen readers" pressuring Althouse? My inner Travis asks "Are you talking to me?" Kind of like the nuns and priests who suddenly began cautioning us about impure thoughts in 7th Grade. I understand trying to get ahead of the curve, but in my experience, that triggered the curiosity that eventually lead to the very problem they were worried about. So what is she resisting blogging about: the Cheney funeral?; 11/21/25, 10:41 AM
Shouting Thomas said...: Matt Taibbi’s X feed is consumed with exactly this, but real. Everyday, some commenter tells him he should immediately cease writing about the subjects of his choice, and start writing about what interests the commenter.; 11/21/25, 10:47 AM
hombre said...: The topics are fine, mostly. It’s a very good, usually interesting blog.; 11/21/25, 11:07 AM
hombre said...: Thank you!; 11/21/25, 11:08 AM
Skeptical Voter said...: Ah we'll take what crumbs we get. Intelligent observers (and our host is one) often hopscotch around ideas and events to find one that takes their (note "their" includes both his and hers) interest that day.; 11/21/25, 12:10 PM
LibertarianLeisure said...: Rightly so! You spelled it out. From ' Who is Ann Althouse?' " ...This blog is about nothing more than what interests Althouse at any given moment. She encourages comments but don't try blaming her for not getting to a subject you think she should be talking about..."; 11/21/25, 12:16 PM
Lazarus said...: Yes, and beware of the time-travelling hackers who are changing your earlier blog posts.; 11/21/25, 12:43 PM
John Marzan said...: I only read blog post that interest me by looking at the tags.; 11/21/25, 1:55 PM
wildswan said...: Blog on. But maybe?, let us know if AI starts to be an unseen reader and how that works. We know how the real people are doing it. I think.; 11/21/25, 2:32 PM
Levi Starks said...: The nerve, to imagine Althouse has ever done something she was told.; 11/21/25, 3:39 PM
Smilin' Jack said...: "I feel as though unseen readers are leaning on me to write about certain topics that I see out there. That provokes me to resistance."

Aha.

You should write more about Epstein. You must. We want Epstein. Epstein, Epstein, Epstein. Give us more Epstein. Do it!; 11/21/25, 3:55 PM