Writer's Blocked

 What's going on? I mean, besides all the dumb stuff? Plenty:

I'm still having battles with Meta over Stu News; Meta really likes to parse when it comes to promoting. There's an exemption for politics and civics, but it applies to candidates, non-profits, and action groups, and not comedy or satire. I've been able to promote content, but I can't use a sitting politician's name or mention specific political parties. Typing "T***p" or "B***n" dulls the edge, so to speak. This annoying crap has been going on for a few years.

Two weeks ago, however I found this new red flag. FB won't suggest Stu News to friends of friends anymore because of my content. I've been mistaken for a bot (here and IRL) before, I understand that. In nearly 13 years, those "other sensitive subjects" have become Stu News' bread and butter. I'm not interpreting this as censorship so much as AI-fueled gatekeeping. 

If this limits my page's reach long- or short-term, I'm at peace with that. I'll still be posting new jokes and fresh "reports" six days a week. That's where you come in, friend; Stu News has over 2,800 followers largely by word of mouth, and I hope that you continue to read and share the content I post. If you're weening yourself off FB, I'm also on Twitter/X, Threads, and BlueSky; just look up the #StuNews hashtag. I also set up a Patreon to help pay for some of that promotion overhead. What started as an opportunity to potentially land a comedy writing gig morphed into something else entirely, and I hope it's one of the reasons you're still on this flawed site.

Meanwhile, one of my best friends had a baby! Congrats to Dan and his wife on their son, born March 2nd. That also means Flower Shop Bangers is still, still on hiatus. If you're a comedy friend reading this, I'm still seeking out a collaborator; I had a couple projects in the last year that were dead-ends.

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