I read a wild story on Tumblr this week: an artist named Danae was messaged on Instagram by a person asking to use one of their photos as inspiration for a tattoo. And that's how Danae discovered a random photo of a two-headed rabbit doll they had made in 2007 had gone viral.

In the nearly 15 years since I had uploaded this photo it had gone BERSERK. Pinterest has dozens of copies of him, artwork of him, remakes inspired by him, DUPES being sold for years online. Reverse image search showed countless pfps, album covers, memes, edits, A PICREW, endless amazon and alixpress and redbubble products with him slapped on it.

I also found plenty of art, edited videos, all sorts of positive things. And all together its been a rollercoaster of emotions watching something you made when you were a teenager skyrocket in popularity and no one thought to tell you.

No one thought to tell them. 15 years of this photo, posted on DeviantArt, which has a comment section(!), travelling around the internet, and no one thought to credit the artist, to message the artist, to send an email to the artist and say, hey, I love this thing you made can I make something out of it?

As I read this, I was reminded of an internet aphorism I was sure I had heard first from Andy Baio. The way it's been stuck in my head (probably for the same 15 years that two-headed rabbit has been travelling) is "For every 1 person who leaves a comment, at least 1o people silently appreciate what you made."

Here's what he actually said, and he posted it nearly every year between 2013 and 2019 (that's a non-X.com link so everyone can read it):

A reminder to everyone making stuff: For every random jerk trashing you online, there are many more who quietly love you.

And if you love someone's work? Tell them. They probably need to hear it right now.

In this age of metrics and analytics, it's easy to see this in practice. Take my recent YouTube video as an example: as I write this post, it has 953 views, but only 6 comments (from 5 people). It also has 103 thumbs up, and I received 1 email about it. Maybe all those other people who viewed the video hated it. But maybe not; it's received 0 thumbs down.

For my own mental health, it's much better to remember that more people online quietly love the thing you made than those who love out loud. Take this reminder for yourself if you need it right now.

But take this, too, as a gentle nudge to write a note to someone who makes the work you love. As I was reading that Tumblr post above, I checked my email (I know, I know, I'm testing an ADHD medication) and I had a new comment on a story I posted in 2014 (imagine those numerals are in capslock).

It's never too late to send some love.