Shameless Self-Hype

The Rabbit Hole

Hi everyone
As much as I try to avoid it, from time to time I still get tricked into clickbait, bullshit commercial news ads, intelligence tests and contests on the internet, usually while searching for something worthwhile. A waste of time, there’s no question.

Yeah, Sure

But back in September, I hit on an online trivia contest. In four months, it hasn’t tried to sell me anything, get my phone number or my credit card information. It does have ads, but they’re unobtrusive and can be ignored. There’s no prize except for bragging rights.
After a few weeks of playing it for about half an hour every other day, I was pleased to see that I was making progress.
The game lists the number of current players, and it’s refreshed every morning at 1 AM PST. It also shows where I rank. The lower the number, the better.
The amount of players varies, but it’s never under one million, four hundred thousand active contestants. 
I was thrilled when, after just a few weeks of playing, my ranking was under one million. 
As of today, Tuesday, January 20, I’m listed at number thirty! 
It’s designed to keep people like me coming back, but to what end? They can’t be making that much money from a few ads.
It’s independent of YouTube, so it’s not getting paid for “likes” or “subscriptions”. 

Erin Go Bragh

This could only mean one thing. I’m being groomed for an international trivia game show jointly streamed by Hulu, Netflix, and Prime. I’ll be famous and rich. 
At that point, I will join the ranks of other Irish celebrities and set about saving the world. 
Don’t say you weren’t warned.