A routine reminder that it's always a good idea to boycott #Substack.
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The blocker that is preventing writers from moving away from Substack is not technical migration issues, it's that they can reasonably expect their audience growth to stalll or even reverse when they leave the platform. Substack is good at cross-promoting, just as Medium or Tumblr were back in their day.
We don't have to like Substack to recognize this fact. I loathe the company for its Medium-esque hostile dark pattern-laden design, even before we discuss the fact it platforms actual Nazis.
Until there is an effective alternative solution to this discovery and audience acquisition problem, they will stay put on Substack despite any disquiet over the platform.
@fazalmajid @msmamet I remember reading reports of spikes in subscribers that had weird email addresses a while back. Even Molly White, who abandoned her Substack page - if I'm not mistaken - said she saw a steady growth in subscribers with fishy emails / profiles. It's a thing. And it helps cement the myth that people get steady growth on that platform. Well, steady growth may be bot farms...
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@codebuzz @_elena @jwildeboer it's not about one user, 'just saying' - JAQing off, more like. Don't do this.
He's an example. Even if it were just him, why would you want to share a platform with a rapist?@noodlemaz I think it's unconscionable to take a 10% cut of subscriptions earnings from the likes of him
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A routine reminder that it's always a good idea to boycott #Substack.
We have long known that it platforms and profits from Nazi publications. And now: #manosphere influencers with multiple accusations of serious crimes... so much so that there is a dedicated Wikipedia page about them: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_affairs_of_the_Tate_brothers
No problem for #Substack though! They happily take a 10% cut from all paid subscriptions.
There are many great alternatives to SS: Ghost, Buttondown, beehiiv, Patreon... no more excuses
@_elena we don't want to be open to human garbage like Andrew Taint and bigots. They do not deserve to be heard, only put down, like great aunt Hilda after she went berserk from fighting that rabid squirrel.
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A routine reminder that it's always a good idea to boycott #Substack.
We have long known that it platforms and profits from Nazi publications. And now: #manosphere influencers with multiple accusations of serious crimes... so much so that there is a dedicated Wikipedia page about them: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_affairs_of_the_Tate_brothers
No problem for #Substack though! They happily take a 10% cut from all paid subscriptions.
There are many great alternatives to SS: Ghost, Buttondown, beehiiv, Patreon... no more excuses
@_elena Beehiiv is a typical SV startup funded by VCs and exploiting the labor of its workers. I'd avoid it. (Ghost is a nonprofit and the software itself is free if you want to host it yourself instead of using their hosting service)
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A routine reminder that it's always a good idea to boycott #Substack.
We have long known that it platforms and profits from Nazi publications. And now: #manosphere influencers with multiple accusations of serious crimes... so much so that there is a dedicated Wikipedia page about them: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_affairs_of_the_Tate_brothers
No problem for #Substack though! They happily take a 10% cut from all paid subscriptions.
There are many great alternatives to SS: Ghost, Buttondown, beehiiv, Patreon... no more excuses
i have never given any money to substack so idk if that counts as 'boycotting" or not.
As for their free speech policy, it is lifted directly from the ALCU fwiw:
Defending Speech We Hate | ACLU
The record demonstrates the ACLU’s unwavering commitment to First Amendment rights for all.
American Civil Liberties Union (www.aclu.org)
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A routine reminder that it's always a good idea to boycott #Substack.
We have long known that it platforms and profits from Nazi publications. And now: #manosphere influencers with multiple accusations of serious crimes... so much so that there is a dedicated Wikipedia page about them: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_affairs_of_the_Tate_brothers
No problem for #Substack though! They happily take a 10% cut from all paid subscriptions.
There are many great alternatives to SS: Ghost, Buttondown, beehiiv, Patreon... no more excuses
@_elena send me a link to Nazis on substack please
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@_elena I've noticed a lot of folks have no idea what "Substack" is. They see a newsletter. It has information they agree with. They sign up. They don't think about it beyond that.
Basically, if we want to take a bite out of the SS, I think we need to educate folks on what the uniform looks like.
IMO that has to go hand-in-hand with reaching out to writers in our lives and encouraging them to look at alternatives.
@veronica absolutely.
And the Substack folks (management / power users / journalists) have been very good at getting « Substack » to replace « newsletters » … "she published on her Substack" has become so normalized (like Xerox for photocopy).
We can all do more… gently educating people about the reality behind the hype / surface
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@_elena send me a link to Nazis on substack please
Not just hosted - but actively promoted
: https://archive.is/2025.07.31-054239/https://www.usermag.co/p/substack-sent-a-push-alert-promoting-nazi-white-supremacist-blog “Substack sent a push alert promoting a Nazi blog” -
@jwildeboer I only abbreviated their name... pretty apt if you ask me... I also call Bluesky "BS"
@_elena Same! @jwildeboer
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@jwildeboer @codebuzz @_elena @codebuzz sounds like a fascist enabler.
@jaypeach53 I was thinking generic troll, but why not both? @jwildeboer @codebuzz @_elena
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"Rick Wilson, HCR, Joyce Vance"
We convince them to move
"That's what we call free speech"
Speech intended to limit the freedoms of those who are women, nonwhite, trans, gay, nonChristian, people with disabilities, etc is not free speech
How do you define speech against freedom as free speech?
@benroyce You are more generous than I am. The writers on Substack who made a name for themselves as antifascists should know better. Period. I have no use for people like that. Put your money where your mouth is.
It's disappointing, because there's a lot of people I've had to write off, but the eighth grader in me learning about propaganda during the Holocaust just *can't*.
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The blocker that is preventing writers from moving away from Substack is not technical migration issues, it's that they can reasonably expect their audience growth to stalll or even reverse when they leave the platform. Substack is good at cross-promoting, just as Medium or Tumblr were back in their day.
We don't have to like Substack to recognize this fact. I loathe the company for its Medium-esque hostile dark pattern-laden design, even before we discuss the fact it platforms actual Nazis.
Until there is an effective alternative solution to this discovery and audience acquisition problem, they will stay put on Substack despite any disquiet over the platform.
@fazalmajid Great, let them. But they can shut up about how antifascist they are unless they want to choke on their own hypocrisy. @msmamet @_elena
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A routine reminder that it's always a good idea to boycott #Substack.
We have long known that it platforms and profits from Nazi publications. And now: #manosphere influencers with multiple accusations of serious crimes... so much so that there is a dedicated Wikipedia page about them: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_affairs_of_the_Tate_brothers
No problem for #Substack though! They happily take a 10% cut from all paid subscriptions.
There are many great alternatives to SS: Ghost, Buttondown, beehiiv, Patreon... no more excuses
@_elena Another alternate is the worker collective that is comradery: https://www.comradery.co/
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@danneau I've noticed how some high profile accounts have moved to Patreon...
For the two accounts you mention, maybe you could add them to your RSS feed, so that you can (1) unsubscribe (2) don't give traffic to Substack?
And tell them about this...
I think these objections have worked for other creators... like Anne Helen Petersen of Culture Studies (one of the most visible / famous Substack newsletters back in the day)
@_elena
Thank you! -
@Torithom ABSOLUTELY!
I had 2 Substack newsletters years ago and I simply exported my subscriber list and moved to Ghost. It took a few minutes. Easy peasy. That's why I say there are ABSOLUTELY NO EXCUSES.
Ghost even offers a free concierge service for moving subscribers (incl. paid) off of Substack: https://ghost.org/move-to-ghost/
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@WTL Or we address the structure that leads to so many platforms turning sour
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@WTL Or we address the structure that leads to so many platforms turning sour
@Torithom Off the top of my head, I'd say for-profit, VC backed social media will always chase all the money, so will take anyone as customers, no matter how distastefully fascist they are.
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@Torithom Off the top of my head, I'd say for-profit, VC backed social media will always chase all the money, so will take anyone as customers, no matter how distastefully fascist they are.
@WTL yes, and is there a track record of running not for profit then changing model later on? Like with OpenAI? Meaning there needs to be more mechanisms shown from the beginning for added assurity when committing to a new platform.
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A routine reminder that it's always a good idea to boycott #Substack.
We have long known that it platforms and profits from Nazi publications. And now: #manosphere influencers with multiple accusations of serious crimes... so much so that there is a dedicated Wikipedia page about them: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_affairs_of_the_Tate_brothers
No problem for #Substack though! They happily take a 10% cut from all paid subscriptions.
There are many great alternatives to SS: Ghost, Buttondown, beehiiv, Patreon... no more excuses
we're policing our own platform, demanding tptb unNazi
don't take away the income of many excellent journalists and progressive voices because you think we can't manage our own Nazis
