This thing began as a way to espouse ideas that you’d want to discuss in a bar. On day one I wrote: The goal is to give you something to talk about and places to go.

In that same piece I also pointed out that I have a kid and this site it for parents while not being a parenting site. We invited everyone to the party, especially people molding brains. 

A few months later Live Life Like You’re in a Bar went up. The sentiments behind that piece are sort of our rulebook for social media. If you’re not cool, you’re kicked out.

That was the premise of Recommend If You Like we in 2021 and it still is. The biggest difference between now and then is the way people are finding this magazine.

It used to be better. Social media was a pretty good digital space between 2007 and 2014. Myspace was a net positive, especially when it came to discovering local music. Facebook was always gatekeeper-y, based on Hot or Not MySpace clone but wasn’t a total waste until the Brexit campaign. The first iterations of Instagram and Twitter were damn near perfect because you only saw the stuff you chose to see in chronological order. The moment Facebook, Instagram and Twitter decided to screw around with the algorithm and throttle certain posts, the end was in sight. It appears the end is closer than ever. 

The idea of a digital town square has died. All things Meta are rotten, Twitter hasn’t been useful for years and Bluesky just doesn’t have the users needed to take over. TikTok is fine for short form video but that’s not exactly social media in the same way as the others. All of this is fine for us, we don’t break news or depend on virality, but it still sucks for, you know, everyone in the real world. 

Our mailing list was and is the most effective tool to getting eyes on articles. But that’s not free to maintain. Social media in 2021 was a close second to getting those views. In 2025, it’s pay to play. All of social media is damn near useless.

We will not purchase any ads to promote our articles and essays on any social media platform. Never have, never will. But we will keep sharing all those articles and essays on most every social media platform because, for better or worse, that’s where some of our readers originate. It may not be the 20-30% it was in 2021, but even at 10%, that’s a substantial number of strangers hopefully stumbling on something no one else is publishing.

We will never use AI. Well, we will do our best to never use AI. We all Google and it feels like we’re minutes away from bad programming that’s incredibly destructive to the actual real world (that’s what AI really is, it’s not ‘artificial’ or ‘intelligence’, it’s the worst of programming unleashed on unsuspecting fools and knowledgeable assholes) becoming all search engines. But we won’t knowingly use artificial intelligence. 

We’re against paying for eyeballs and bad art that’s destroying the globe for what should be obvious reasons. But we’re playing in the same sandbox because that’s the current technology most people use to spread ideas and art. That’s all we’re trying to do, spread ideas and art. Isn’t that everyone’s goal? That is clearly not everyone’s goal. 

What is this all for? That is not an existential question about everything. That’s a tangible ask that any writer should be able to answer. We ain’t selling shit and we don’t want to sell shit.

This was started before the death of David Lynch. A guiding light for so many of our writers, myself included, these thoughts of commerce, media distribution and art have become even clearer.

As Lynch said on Late Night with David Letterman, “Twin Peaks people are party people.” Damn right. The whole point is the party. This is the party. Come to the party. Talk about big ideas. Everyone is invited. We’ll keep inviting people on platforms owned and operated by losers and creeps because the party will outlast all of them. The art will outlast all of us. This is what I’m attempting to teach my kids, that everyone is invited to the party. 

We’re not stoping posting on social media. But we’re also not engaging in pointless debates. Every child knows the right side of history. Not every adult does. For those that forgot to be cool and invite everyone to the party, there’s another Lynch line that’s been running through my head, “Change your heart or die.”

It used to be better. But you can’t live in the past. We’ll keep using their tools to invite everyone, everyone, to the party. Let’s rock. 

Recommend If You Like is not owned or funded by a billionaire or even a millionaire. We do have a Patreon. If you can’t afford to become a patron, please sign up to our mailing list. It’s free and we’re asking here instead of a pop-up. Pop-ups are annoying.