I Am Not Your Algorithm

This will probably cost me readers — again.

by Ben Cohen

Few things clarify your job security like watching a large exodus of members over something you’ve written. Over the years I have gotten better at handling what the industry calls “subscription churn”, but it still hurts. Not just because writing is my livelihood and the primary way I pay the bills, but because it sends a painful message: I don’t want to support you any more.

That, I guess, is the cost of self-publishing. There are no editors to hide behind when you screw up, no bailouts from investors when traffic dips — just a direct relationship with the readers who can drop you as easily as a Netflix account.

I say all of this not to elicit sympathy, but to explain what I believe is the value proposition of The Banter.

In the UK, ‘banter’ means to engage in lively, spirited conversation. That’s what I set out to create — a community built on strong writing, thought-provoking ideas, and sharp, sometimes uncomfortable debate. That means publishing things not everyone agrees with — like, for example, my view that racism wasn’t the reason Kamala Harris lost in 2024. I don’t want everyone to agree with me. In fact, I want a good chunk of readers to disagree — and then argue it out in the comments. That’s the point. That’s banter.

I’ve said this before, but my biggest fear as a writer is audience capture — the slow erosion of honesty, where you stop saying what you believe and start saying what you think your readers want to hear.

When independent publishing really took off on back in the mid to late 2000’s, publishers quickly figured out that shocking headlines and outrageous images hijacked our brains. BuzzFeed industrialized this with millions of dollars in venture capital and a team of “journalist” who pumped out listicles designed solely for engagement.

No one at BuzzFeed was proud of what they were making, but unlike many of us at the time (myself included), they had jobs.

But audience capture isn’t always so obvious. It’s often an imperceptible, slow descent into self-censorship and performative behavior that can almost never be reversed.

The internet is littered with the remains of once-great writers and thinkers who began by using self-publishing to speak freely — only to end up pandering to the loudest, most profitable segments of their audience. The temptation is subtle at first: a viral post here, a bump in subscriptions there. But over time, originality gives way to outrage, and conviction is replaced by performance. Just look at the trajectories of Jordan Peterson, Matt Taibbi, Glenn Greenwald, and Russell Brand. What started as independent thinking slowly morphed into grievance-fueled content machines — highly lucrative, but ultimately hollow. And that is the danger of audience capture. It doesn’t happen all at once — it happens one compromise at a time.

The sad stories of people I once respected keeps me awake at night. What if it happens to me? Will I wake up one day and write something I don’t believe just because I know my readers expect it? Do people know when they’ve sold out, or is cognitive dissonance so powerful they no longer know the difference?

For that reason I make myself publish pieces I know a lot of Banter readers won’t agree with. When I hit “publish” on yesterday’s piece about Kamala Harris losing because of her association with the woke left, I knew I’d lose subscribers. But I did it anyway. Because if I don’t feel that way on at least semi-regular basis, then I am betraying the core values of The Banter.

Here’s what I really think: Not all Trump voters are racist. The left’s obsession with identity politics has made the Democratic brand toxic. America is not a uniquely racist country, nor is systemic racism the defining feature of our society. Yes, concepts like “white privilege” and “white supremacy” are real — but they’re more complex than many liberals are willing to admit. Minorities can be privileged. White people can be oppressed. And black and brown people can be just as racist as anyone else.

These are uncomfortable ideas in many liberal circles. But these issues need to be debated because that’s why, at least in part, they continue losing elections. So I will keep putting forward my unpopular ideas in the hopes that at the very least, they stop being taboo. If the arguments against are powerful enough, I am more than willing to change my mind. I am still a liberal. I still despise everything Donald Trump stands for. But I do not want to serve as your algorithm. I am not here to feed you what you already believe — I am here to say what I think is true.

I’m genuinely grateful to the readers who’ve stuck with us over the years — even when they’ve strongly disagreed. That’s what a real community looks like, and to me, the only thing worth fighting for.

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