I realize, as things go, I am one subscriber and who really cares what I think. Having said that, I am profoundly disturbed by the performance of Substack’s CEO in an interview with Nilay Patel. Patel put a simple yes/no question to him: if someone wrote notes advocating for less brown people in the US, would that violate TOS and would Substack do something about it. The CEO, visibly uncomfortable on camera, would not say yes even when made aware that every other social media CEO said yes to that question. What most people take away from that interaction is that Substack is interested in revenue no matter where it comes from. I can’t say, but what I can say is that Substack is clearly not looking out for marginalized communities *first.*
This is a little disappointing to read - I think what we're seeing is that Substack can easily get influencers to push Notes because influencers already have their audiences built here. I wish folks with audiences would think more about the implications of their platform choices and the social infrastructure we need to build to get democratic control of our own writing and social media content, and less about their own followings. Substack has problems, we really should be either building up infrastructure in the Fediverse or pursuing similar tech.
Join me on Notes!
I realize, as things go, I am one subscriber and who really cares what I think. Having said that, I am profoundly disturbed by the performance of Substack’s CEO in an interview with Nilay Patel. Patel put a simple yes/no question to him: if someone wrote notes advocating for less brown people in the US, would that violate TOS and would Substack do something about it. The CEO, visibly uncomfortable on camera, would not say yes even when made aware that every other social media CEO said yes to that question. What most people take away from that interaction is that Substack is interested in revenue no matter where it comes from. I can’t say, but what I can say is that Substack is clearly not looking out for marginalized communities *first.*
Well, here I am. I keep trying these platforms, but my people are still wandering in the musky wilderness. Thanks for your guidance.
I am 1000% with Michael about Substack.
I will endorse with great vigor the community I've found in the Fediverse on Mastodon -- I have an account on m6n.io and really like it.
This is a little disappointing to read - I think what we're seeing is that Substack can easily get influencers to push Notes because influencers already have their audiences built here. I wish folks with audiences would think more about the implications of their platform choices and the social infrastructure we need to build to get democratic control of our own writing and social media content, and less about their own followings. Substack has problems, we really should be either building up infrastructure in the Fediverse or pursuing similar tech.
I'm liking it, I will say that.