Glad you're here. I gave up on Medium a while ago and moved over here. Your writing was one of the few things I missed. It's much easier to find like-minded people and build a following here.
Hi John - Nice to see you here! I can't believe I stayed on Medium as long as I did. Thank you for your kind words. I look forward to following more of your work on here as well. Onward!
"If anyone has meta thoughts about Substack, I’d love to hear them."
Alright then!
First, SS has a better visual format than other platforms. It could use a few more editing features, but it's working well enough for now. Of course since it's a business venture with a fixed address, it's susceptible to all the usual shenanigans encountered on other platforms. For example, I got a 7 day ban for pointing out a conflict of interest in one of the stackers they were featuring as an example of how to build a subscriber base. She (forget her name) was putting herself out as an expert on the vaccines, and the ban came when I pointed out she'd worked for the CDC, and also had no real understanding of virology or epidemiology. So basically free speech unless you gore their ox. No different from anywhere else.
In trying to avoid the advertising model they missed an opportunity. The main complaint about advertising is it's not in control of the author. Well, make it so! Provide a list of potential advertisers and let the writer decide which ones (if any) will appear on their site. For example, my site is about music, so I'd have no problem carrying a couple of music related ads per post - maybe Gibson, Marshal or Yamaha... things my subscribers might be interested in. Got a hiking or cooking site? Ads about hiking or cooking gear. It's so obvious I don't understand why they haven't done it.
The subscription model definitely gets in the way of what I'm doing, which is not so much about using the medium as studying it (Media Ecology). I visit a ton of substacks to see what people are talking about, but I don't have the budget to subscribe to many, so when I hit a paywall I just move on. Truth is my discretionary spending goes to legal defence funds and disaster/refugee relief. I can't really justify anything else.
For writers struggling to get traction in this medium, all I can say is try the music industry. Like the difference between talking and singing. For example, one of my favourite bands that nobody's heard of work in different cities, compose their material via the internet, and get together to rehearse and perform whenever they can schedule the time. They play in venues that barely cover their costs, and they'll probably never make any money at it, but they keep right on going because they love what they're doing, and I love them for that. Brothers and a sister I've never met.
Echo chambers and fan clubs? No different than anywhere else I've found. True, Substack carries content that would be banned elsewhere, specifically vaccine and pandemic related material, but those sites are just as much fan clubs as anywhere else, with minor exceptions. They're also pretty good money makers with large followings of paid subscribers, so no conflict there, right?
The killer app of publishing has yet to emerge IMO, but when it does, it will have to be open source and widely distributed using individual home computers as servers, which is practical now that the bandwidth is there. Substack, as much as they've stood for free speech for which I give them credit, are still vulnerable for the reasons mentioned. It's much easier to limit free speech when it has a fixed address and shareholders with financial interests. Ultimately what's needed is a new architecture for the internet, but that's a long way off (if ever) and beyond the scope of this comment, so I'll just leave it at that.
Re: your note about the better visual format -- Have you ever used Medium? Because both interfaces are virtually identical. They both use similar (very basic) markup language, and Substack is not quite as flexible as I hoped it would be. So I don't really see this as a unique advantage for Substack.
I hadn't actually heard of anyone getting a temporary ban - that's very interesting and notable given Substack's cheerleaders often laud it as being pro-free speech, and that's what sets it apart from its (few) competitors. Have you written about this? I would be interested to learn more.
I think eventually they're going to haemorrhage enough money that they will need to come up with other ideas to bring in a profit. Reason I say this is because I think they're still relying on VC-money and they've poured a lot of money into getting some big names on the platform (like Bari Weiss, Glenn Greenwald, etc).
I agree with you: All creative pursuits are a grind, but I still think Substack disproportionately rewards established legacy writers. Because of this, I think it would be nice for them to make it easier to actually find other writers from all backgrounds and levels of experience. As it stands, the best way I've found new creators is by looking at my own follower list and seeing who they follow, which is not ideal.
I just see Substack as a repackaged blogging platform with a subscription model, not as anything 'revolutionary' or subversive. But that's not to say it doesn't threaten mainstream media. I just think the hype surrounding it is greatly exaggerated.
But ultimately I agree with you - what is needed is a new architecture for the internet, but sadly I think that will remain a pipe dream. I would love to see other open source platforms out there, but you're right, there's surprisingly so few *good* publishing tools out there.
Haven't used Medium but I'll have a look. Always good to have a plan B.
On the 7 day ban, that was a bit of a joke. I wrote asking for an explanation and got none. Since it was sponsored content, a promotional basically, I assume they had a monitor on duty, most likely a former Twitter employee - it was around the time that a lot of them were laid off - but who knows? No rules were broken, I just challenged the writer's credentials and pointed out a conflict of interest.
As far as any effect the ban had, it only worked to their disadvantage as I changed my strategy after that. Originally I'd planned to have paid subscriptions with my part of the income going to charity since I don't need the money. Now I just post a link to that charity and Substack gets nothing. Not that it amounts to much at present, but they burned any future earnings I might make for them. Kind of stupid really because you never know who's going to go viral, like that guy with the hokey freedom song. Who saw that coming?
I don't think Substack ever intended to become a bastion of free speech, they just ended up there by default, and once it landed in their lap they made the best of it (so far). As for reaching a wider audience, I have my own theory of that. I believe change happens at the margin, not as a result of any sort of populist or mass movement. Those are too easy to infiltrate and derail. So I don't promote my site, in fact I'm intentionally obscure, which is why the title is in Russian, the theory being that only the curious will follow the link.
I don't want any politics on my site, just music. Of course my site IS political because it's putting a human face on the youth of the former USSR, including the Muslim republics, but that's not something that draws a lot of heat. More like planting seeds that may eventually take root. Older people are fixed in their thinking. Not interested in them, even though I am one myself...lol. Young people have the flexibility and more importantly, the time to effect real change, and they tend to be serious about their music, so I'm trying to reach them where they live. So that's my audience. It's up to 65 now, with about half of them active. Not bad for a year of doing absolutely nothing to promote the thing...lol.
My thoughts are echoed in a few of your comments. You have also thought through many excellent criticisms that never occurred to me. I shall take a closer look at your longer essay on the topic.
A concern of my own is that I don't trust Stripe with my banking information. I don't agree to the reports they provide to gooferment (whether those reports are required by the gooferment or not) and I don't consent to be paid through an untrusted third party.
My approach to this issue is a free 'stack with utterly no intention on my part to ever charge a fee. I have a couple of sponsors of sorts for books we publish and I can imagine some adverts being economically viable one fine day. And of course I could post BTC addresses or CashApp cashtags in the footer if I were so inclined. But it's generally a bad idea to publish crypto addresses. And I don't really need the money rn, praise God. Amen.
What I do need is the catharsis. It's not for the audience that I write. If I were to not write, I would not be able to get through. A lifetime of alienation and surviving violence has led to certain accommodations. Writing and praying are two that work for me. Chocolate is another. 😁😎
Thank you for your writing. I look forward to future posts. God bless you. Amen.
"Posts from the North, from the East, from the West, and from the South from which we get our word NEWS." ~Boswell maybe
Your comment definitely resonates with me, particularly this part:
"What I do need is the catharsis. It's not for the audience that I write. If I were to not write, I would not be able to get through. A lifetime of alienation and surviving violence has led to certain accommodations. Writing and praying are two that work for me. Chocolate is another."
Thanks for sharing your experiences with blogging. I started my web blog on Strikingly which hasn't censored anything I've written but also didn't allow me to be discovered. It did give me a space to gain experience in research and writing a blog. Looks like I'll do better here on Substack. Already gotten more attention than I ever did otherwise.
Glad you're here. I gave up on Medium a while ago and moved over here. Your writing was one of the few things I missed. It's much easier to find like-minded people and build a following here.
Hi John - Nice to see you here! I can't believe I stayed on Medium as long as I did. Thank you for your kind words. I look forward to following more of your work on here as well. Onward!
"If anyone has meta thoughts about Substack, I’d love to hear them."
Alright then!
First, SS has a better visual format than other platforms. It could use a few more editing features, but it's working well enough for now. Of course since it's a business venture with a fixed address, it's susceptible to all the usual shenanigans encountered on other platforms. For example, I got a 7 day ban for pointing out a conflict of interest in one of the stackers they were featuring as an example of how to build a subscriber base. She (forget her name) was putting herself out as an expert on the vaccines, and the ban came when I pointed out she'd worked for the CDC, and also had no real understanding of virology or epidemiology. So basically free speech unless you gore their ox. No different from anywhere else.
In trying to avoid the advertising model they missed an opportunity. The main complaint about advertising is it's not in control of the author. Well, make it so! Provide a list of potential advertisers and let the writer decide which ones (if any) will appear on their site. For example, my site is about music, so I'd have no problem carrying a couple of music related ads per post - maybe Gibson, Marshal or Yamaha... things my subscribers might be interested in. Got a hiking or cooking site? Ads about hiking or cooking gear. It's so obvious I don't understand why they haven't done it.
The subscription model definitely gets in the way of what I'm doing, which is not so much about using the medium as studying it (Media Ecology). I visit a ton of substacks to see what people are talking about, but I don't have the budget to subscribe to many, so when I hit a paywall I just move on. Truth is my discretionary spending goes to legal defence funds and disaster/refugee relief. I can't really justify anything else.
For writers struggling to get traction in this medium, all I can say is try the music industry. Like the difference between talking and singing. For example, one of my favourite bands that nobody's heard of work in different cities, compose their material via the internet, and get together to rehearse and perform whenever they can schedule the time. They play in venues that barely cover their costs, and they'll probably never make any money at it, but they keep right on going because they love what they're doing, and I love them for that. Brothers and a sister I've never met.
https://ebear.substack.com/p/pinkshinyultrablast
Echo chambers and fan clubs? No different than anywhere else I've found. True, Substack carries content that would be banned elsewhere, specifically vaccine and pandemic related material, but those sites are just as much fan clubs as anywhere else, with minor exceptions. They're also pretty good money makers with large followings of paid subscribers, so no conflict there, right?
The killer app of publishing has yet to emerge IMO, but when it does, it will have to be open source and widely distributed using individual home computers as servers, which is practical now that the bandwidth is there. Substack, as much as they've stood for free speech for which I give them credit, are still vulnerable for the reasons mentioned. It's much easier to limit free speech when it has a fixed address and shareholders with financial interests. Ultimately what's needed is a new architecture for the internet, but that's a long way off (if ever) and beyond the scope of this comment, so I'll just leave it at that.
Ooh, nice to see someone taking me up on this!
Re: your note about the better visual format -- Have you ever used Medium? Because both interfaces are virtually identical. They both use similar (very basic) markup language, and Substack is not quite as flexible as I hoped it would be. So I don't really see this as a unique advantage for Substack.
I hadn't actually heard of anyone getting a temporary ban - that's very interesting and notable given Substack's cheerleaders often laud it as being pro-free speech, and that's what sets it apart from its (few) competitors. Have you written about this? I would be interested to learn more.
I think eventually they're going to haemorrhage enough money that they will need to come up with other ideas to bring in a profit. Reason I say this is because I think they're still relying on VC-money and they've poured a lot of money into getting some big names on the platform (like Bari Weiss, Glenn Greenwald, etc).
I agree with you: All creative pursuits are a grind, but I still think Substack disproportionately rewards established legacy writers. Because of this, I think it would be nice for them to make it easier to actually find other writers from all backgrounds and levels of experience. As it stands, the best way I've found new creators is by looking at my own follower list and seeing who they follow, which is not ideal.
I just see Substack as a repackaged blogging platform with a subscription model, not as anything 'revolutionary' or subversive. But that's not to say it doesn't threaten mainstream media. I just think the hype surrounding it is greatly exaggerated.
But ultimately I agree with you - what is needed is a new architecture for the internet, but sadly I think that will remain a pipe dream. I would love to see other open source platforms out there, but you're right, there's surprisingly so few *good* publishing tools out there.
Haven't used Medium but I'll have a look. Always good to have a plan B.
On the 7 day ban, that was a bit of a joke. I wrote asking for an explanation and got none. Since it was sponsored content, a promotional basically, I assume they had a monitor on duty, most likely a former Twitter employee - it was around the time that a lot of them were laid off - but who knows? No rules were broken, I just challenged the writer's credentials and pointed out a conflict of interest.
As far as any effect the ban had, it only worked to their disadvantage as I changed my strategy after that. Originally I'd planned to have paid subscriptions with my part of the income going to charity since I don't need the money. Now I just post a link to that charity and Substack gets nothing. Not that it amounts to much at present, but they burned any future earnings I might make for them. Kind of stupid really because you never know who's going to go viral, like that guy with the hokey freedom song. Who saw that coming?
I don't think Substack ever intended to become a bastion of free speech, they just ended up there by default, and once it landed in their lap they made the best of it (so far). As for reaching a wider audience, I have my own theory of that. I believe change happens at the margin, not as a result of any sort of populist or mass movement. Those are too easy to infiltrate and derail. So I don't promote my site, in fact I'm intentionally obscure, which is why the title is in Russian, the theory being that only the curious will follow the link.
I don't want any politics on my site, just music. Of course my site IS political because it's putting a human face on the youth of the former USSR, including the Muslim republics, but that's not something that draws a lot of heat. More like planting seeds that may eventually take root. Older people are fixed in their thinking. Not interested in them, even though I am one myself...lol. Young people have the flexibility and more importantly, the time to effect real change, and they tend to be serious about their music, so I'm trying to reach them where they live. So that's my audience. It's up to 65 now, with about half of them active. Not bad for a year of doing absolutely nothing to promote the thing...lol.
I'm just waiting not to be censored here!
My thoughts are echoed in a few of your comments. You have also thought through many excellent criticisms that never occurred to me. I shall take a closer look at your longer essay on the topic.
A concern of my own is that I don't trust Stripe with my banking information. I don't agree to the reports they provide to gooferment (whether those reports are required by the gooferment or not) and I don't consent to be paid through an untrusted third party.
My approach to this issue is a free 'stack with utterly no intention on my part to ever charge a fee. I have a couple of sponsors of sorts for books we publish and I can imagine some adverts being economically viable one fine day. And of course I could post BTC addresses or CashApp cashtags in the footer if I were so inclined. But it's generally a bad idea to publish crypto addresses. And I don't really need the money rn, praise God. Amen.
What I do need is the catharsis. It's not for the audience that I write. If I were to not write, I would not be able to get through. A lifetime of alienation and surviving violence has led to certain accommodations. Writing and praying are two that work for me. Chocolate is another. 😁😎
Thank you for your writing. I look forward to future posts. God bless you. Amen.
"Posts from the North, from the East, from the West, and from the South from which we get our word NEWS." ~Boswell maybe
Your comment definitely resonates with me, particularly this part:
"What I do need is the catharsis. It's not for the audience that I write. If I were to not write, I would not be able to get through. A lifetime of alienation and surviving violence has led to certain accommodations. Writing and praying are two that work for me. Chocolate is another."
Happy to have you here.
Glad to be here. And likewise, very glad to see you here as well. God bless you. Amen.
Thanks for sharing your experiences with blogging. I started my web blog on Strikingly which hasn't censored anything I've written but also didn't allow me to be discovered. It did give me a space to gain experience in research and writing a blog. Looks like I'll do better here on Substack. Already gotten more attention than I ever did otherwise.