Hi Marc, apologies for not asking about basketball (my inner fan is still just squeeing about everything Wembanyama does), but do you have any thoughts about the platform Substack is providing to other writers who are at least tied to hateful movements and ideas? I love your writing and the community you’re building here, but am having trouble with providing money and traffic to Substack. It’s not a simple situation, and I’d understand if you don’t have an answer/position/plan at this time, but hope you can address it at some point.
Zero apologies necessary -- thanks for your thoughtful comment. Been thinking about this tons because the problem is so distressing and disheartening and yet solutions are so elusive.
What I think (to this point) is that a platform 100-percent free of abhorrent content we never want to see does not exist (to my knowledge). There does not appear to be any pristine self-publishing mechanism that can ensure the same issues won't arise ... not unlike YouTube/Twitter/etc.
As a subscription service and publishing platform, Substack is set up so every single publisher is a community unto itself. The content you receive is only the content you subscribe to. My hope has always been to make this a place where we all meet, through stories I publish and our Substack Chat sessions, to obsess over #thisleague because we all want to follow it together.
I hope you will stick it out with me as I continue to determine the best course. And many thanks for reading me in the first place!
Marc, thanks for your thoughtful answer -- and to Charles for raising the question. The weak, logically-flawed response from the Substack founders is disappointing. For now, I'm staying only because of the great communities that you, Kevin Alexander (music), and Damon Krukowski (aka Dada Drummer, music and music business) have created. As I mentioned to Damon, these communities remind me of the golden days of email listservs and topic-based forums before the internet got so ugly.
Hi Marc, apologies for not asking about basketball (my inner fan is still just squeeing about everything Wembanyama does), but do you have any thoughts about the platform Substack is providing to other writers who are at least tied to hateful movements and ideas? I love your writing and the community you’re building here, but am having trouble with providing money and traffic to Substack. It’s not a simple situation, and I’d understand if you don’t have an answer/position/plan at this time, but hope you can address it at some point.
Charles:
Zero apologies necessary -- thanks for your thoughtful comment. Been thinking about this tons because the problem is so distressing and disheartening and yet solutions are so elusive.
What I think (to this point) is that a platform 100-percent free of abhorrent content we never want to see does not exist (to my knowledge). There does not appear to be any pristine self-publishing mechanism that can ensure the same issues won't arise ... not unlike YouTube/Twitter/etc.
As a subscription service and publishing platform, Substack is set up so every single publisher is a community unto itself. The content you receive is only the content you subscribe to. My hope has always been to make this a place where we all meet, through stories I publish and our Substack Chat sessions, to obsess over #thisleague because we all want to follow it together.
I hope you will stick it out with me as I continue to determine the best course. And many thanks for reading me in the first place!
Marc, thanks for your thoughtful answer -- and to Charles for raising the question. The weak, logically-flawed response from the Substack founders is disappointing. For now, I'm staying only because of the great communities that you, Kevin Alexander (music), and Damon Krukowski (aka Dada Drummer, music and music business) have created. As I mentioned to Damon, these communities remind me of the golden days of email listservs and topic-based forums before the internet got so ugly.