how to have a healthier relationship with your stats page
1. Understand what stats can tell you - and what they canāt
AO3 stats tell you whether or not another user clicked something. Thatās it. Hits tell you whether a user clicked the title of your fic. Kudos tell you that a user clicked the little ā¤ at the bottom of the page. Comments tell you that a user typed something into a box and then hit the comment button.Ā
Stats do not tell you whyĀ a person did any of those things. They also donāt tell you why a person didnāt do them. You know why you do those things yourself, but there are many types of people in the world and we all have our reasons why we do things. You canāt assume that every other user of AO3 uses the site the same way you do.Ā
Stats are not a reliable way to find out if youāre good at writing. Theyāre not a way to tell if you are loved. They have nothing to do with the quality of your work or your worth as a person.
2. Donāt compare yourself to others - or yourself
Because stats are not a reliable way to judge quality or skill or the effort you put into a story, comparing your stats against another author will alsoĀ not tell you which of you is theĀ ābetterā author or which of you has aĀ ābetterā story. They can tell you which story was more popular, but popularity itself has very little to do with skill or quality.Ā
This is also true of your own work. Chances are very real that the story youāre most proud of is not the story with the best stats. Donāt let one storyās relative success or failure affect how you feel about anotherās.Ā
3. Focus on things you canĀ control instead of things you canāt
Once youāve posted your story, the reaction to it is out of your control. It will get however many hits, kudos, and comments other people decide to give it and you canāt do much about that at all.Ā
What you canĀ control, however, is the work you put into the story before you post it. Celebrate statistics like word count or time spent writing or the number of WIP youāve managed to finish. Those are all numbers that are in your control, that you have the power to alter and affect.Ā
Find something in every story that makes you happy. It doesnāt have to be the whole fic. It could be one particular characterization, a scene, or a line. Maybe you wrote a particularly funny joke or a really moving description or a hot love scene.Ā
Highlighting positive emotions and being proud of your own work will make you less reliant on the opinions of other people. Youāll develop more confidence, and that will help you avoid the stats spiral in the future. Finding motivations inside of yourself is much more reliable than getting motivation from people who might or might not continue to provide it.
4. If you canāt ignore stats, avoid them
The first time I had an unhealthy relationship with my stats page, I ended up quitting fic entirely for about a year. I still wrote, I just didnāt post anything on AO3. I couldnāt trust myself not to focus on the numbers and make myself crazy, and so I didnāt allow myself to look at them at all.Ā
The second time I found myself starting down the stats spiral, I knew the signs and I was able to pull myself out of it. I stopped looking at my stats page, but I was able to continue posting work. I still refreshed the page for the first day to see the hits/kudos/comments but after that first day I only returned to the fic in order to post a new chapter or answer another comment.Ā
There are tools you can use to help you avoid stats. This AO3 skin hides stats entirely. This code hides hits. Hereās one for hiding kudos with additional instructions on how to hide any stats you choose.Ā
5. Be your own cheerleader
When it comes right down to it, the reason why we focus in on stats is because weāre looking for reassurance. We want to know for sureĀ whether weāre a good writer or not. Unfortunately, our stats are never going to tell us that.Ā
A lot of us are also told by others that being proud of something weāve done or liking something that weāve created is boastful or bragging or other negative personality traits. But thereās a difference between bragging about how good you are and acknowledging your own skills.Ā
Give yourself permission to like your own work. You might never get that permission from someone else, so you need to take that on yourself.Ā
Start talking to yourselfĀ the way youād talk to a friend of yours who was working on a fic or a piece of art or doing anything else that requires time and skill. You wouldnāt tear them down, so donāt tear yourself down. Build yourself up. That positive self-talk can be difficult at first, but itās a habit that pays off over time.Ā
6. Know that IāmĀ proud of you
It takes courage and strength and determination to have an idea and then to act on it. Itās easy to think. Itās a lot harder to write things down. No matter whether you post your story online or you keep it to yourself. No matter whether you get a thousand hits or a dozen. Youāre still amazing, and Iām so glad you took that leap ā¤
