Interest and attention

TL;DR -- Interest is as old as the hills; the LLM brought attention to attention of late. So,we will pay attention. We allow our indeces for posts which are an iconic representation for the post to play the role of carrying meaning.  

--

Of late, or since 2023, we have heard a lot about attention which was brought into the public discourse by Google in the context of machine learning that became known via  ChatGPT, Gemini, and the like. And interest has been a concern for a while. 

In Apr, we had two post related to the subject. The last one (30 Apr 2026) looked at images related to the report on popularity that is on the "right" column of each post in this blog. In the image reporting the images, we compared two dates, namely the 3rd and 30th of Apr of this year. 

Contimuing this type of lookback for a while, we split out the three types of comparison: all time; recent; and last week. The following images are from those types. In the "all time", there was no change. That's understandable as those earlier post had a larger count. But, things do come along and shuffle their way into the top crowd. For instance, in the 3rd and the 30th, the posts were the same. But the order of general genealogy (royal types) versus the theme of "all things Gardner" switch. Generalities won out. How as this? Mainly through the efforts of David Todd Gardner (DTG) who has been working with a LLM on the documenation of the long history of Gardner and variants. 

Now, going with the next group (Recently popular), there was a lot of change. The attention on the Gardner Family Trust by DTG carried a few posts, such as Attainder grudge. Posts related to Memorial Day got more notice. Since are now back on WikiTree, the attention related to the "marriage news" came back into vogue. We will be doing more updates of the related material. 

Finally, at the weekly look, it might be considered as to be expected. The newer information would generate more interest. But some of these posts are older, such as Semper paratus which is about the 235th anniversary of the Coast Guard in 2025. Of interest to us was the role that Marblehead played which is in Essex County of Massachusetts. But an older post got attention, namely the "marriage news" which is from 2014. We also featured a hand edited, bespoke, site that transcribes local data so that it is availalbe on the internet. Remember that word, bespoke, which we will use a lot. 

This review was of a brief time period. We will dive deeper in the next goaround, as the 250th is a month away so that both interest and attention will be higher than normal. Except, as we mention, the 250th kicks off an eight-year perriod. That will be interestintg to watch. 

Remarks: Modified: 05/28/2026

05/28/2026 --