What's Wrong with Recent User Blogs (and How We Can Fix It)

Recent User Blogs. It's a place where JetPunkers share things they find interesting, entertaining, or otherwise worth sharing with the community. In this blog I want to talk about how we can improve this section.

But wait... hasn't Fuse already done a blog on that topic (it's even linked in the blog editor)? Well, you might not be aware of it, but apparently, people seem to be enjoying blogging so much that they're forgetting some of the basic principles of RUB. You'll see what I mean in just a bit.

Well, the first thing is that some people just seem to be obsessed with making game-show blogs. What's wrong with them, you ask? Well, there are two main points.

For one, they don't appeal to a lot of people. When an average user sees a blog titled "[some game], Season X, Episode Y", they probably won't even click, unless they're genuinely interested or they themselves are a participant of the game. And guess what, those people only make up a minority within the JetPunk community.

Now, you could argue that niche blogs are fine. Sure, you have a point... for now. I haven't mentioned the biggest issue with game-show blogs yet: the sheer quantity of them.

Many game-show blogs publish new episodes regularly, with some even getting daily or near-daily updates. In case you didn't know, RUB presents blogs in reverse chronological order, with each new blog pushing older blogs further down the list and making them less likely to be seen. Imagine that a truly well thought out blog immediately gets pushed off of the first page by a bunch of daily game-show blogs. How would that blog's creator feel in this situation?

Another major problem is the use of generative AI tools to write blogs for the RUB. I don't know exactly why people are doing it, but in my honest opinion it completely defies the very purpose of RUB.

Believe it or not, those blogs are by no means hard to spot. Anyone who has engaged with GenAI fairly regularly should be able to tell the difference between human-made blogs and AI-written ones - the latter tend to repeat the same idea, use fancy words that don't mean anything, and even fill entire paragraphs with what looks different but is essentially the same as placeholder text (think "Lorem ipsum...").

Seriously, what are those people thinking? Isn't the RUB supposed to be a place where you share your own thoughts with the community? Anyone can generate text with GenAI. Those aren't your thoughts. Those are the AI's thoughts. And RUB isn't meant to be a place to publish AI-generated content.

The current situation is a sad and rather worrying one, but it's not hopeless. The RUB is made up of our own creations, and every one of us can play a part in improving the quality of the section.

Instructions work best when they are simple and straightforward. Therefore, I'll be listing off some of the things you can do to contribute to a higher-quality RUB section, in bullet points:

- Make game-show blogs in moderation.

Don't make them every day; instead, opt for weekly or bi-weekly updates. This gives a chance for other (potentially higher-effort and less niche) blogs to be seen.

- If you do make game-show blogs, try to put more stuff into them.

A short blog gives a strong impression of a lack of effort. If you feel like you're "out of ideas", just make game-show blogs less often and "ideas" will naturally come as your game progresses.

- Never use generative AI to write blogs.

It's fine if you're using it to give a rough outline or to proofread, but don't use it to write whole paragraphs or entire blogs. That would go against the fundamental principles of RUB. Also, if people find out you wrote a blog with GenAI, it can and probably will affect your reputation as a blogger.

We are all in this together, and we've been here before. If you recall what happened back in 2021, you'll know what I'm talking about. Right now, as RUB is on the point of diverging from the right track again, all we need to do is try to follow what I said earlier, and with time, things will get better.

Thank you for reading, and happy blogging.

P.S. This blog was not generated by AI. I swear.