Great conversation l. I have 53.5k followers on X and every week I gain 100 new followers and loose 100 followers. People even send DMs upset why they are no longer following me. Perhaps because my substack address is in my bio. Many of us are thinking it’s time to abandon X completely.
Hamish, Chris, I'd like to thank you both for what you're doing with Substack, it’s opened doors for me that I never thought possible. I grew up in a sad, rural town, in Kentucky, that's been decimated by drugs and crime. I literally didn't know a single person who wanted to be a writer or a journalist for that matter. I don't know what I thought journalism was, I watched the news, I did not have a clue. The extent of my knowledge as far as books go, I was a Harry Potter fan and was always told that J.K. Rowling wrote 'The Sorcerer's Stone' on napkins in a coffee shop. I've always been very curious and moved by words and combinations of words. I'd show other people close to me the same speech, or debate, or article, or podcasts and they're just like, "cool", look back over at me and I'm in tears, making a picket sign, ready to 'March on Washington!' I caught Chris' appearance on Rogan a few years ago, I was at this time, already paying attention to politics and journalism, especially Matt Taibbi and Glenn Greenwald, and I was part of the very online culture of the current generation, but his appearance was so great, so great for free speech, so bad for censorship and I was so impressed with the model of substack I made an account immediately, and decided I wanted to try something on here. It took me a few years to work up the nerve, but starting to write here was the best thing I ever did in my life. I believe I found my channel, my way to channel my expression, that I've been trying to find all my life, my reason for being. If I never make 10 cents off my writing I'll never stop writing, and I thank you both and anyone else involved,
Also, X, under Elon Musk, gave me a lifetime ban for ironically telling someone to kill their self. It was during the Twitter Files and so many trolls were attacking Matt Taibbi, saying the same shit over and over like they were bots and I said, "if you're this sad you should think about killing yourself". Probably a bad choice of words but to be the "arbiter of free speech" it's hard to then say your banned for suggesting a troll commit suicide, I really didn't believe it was a real person, and I'm sure no one died over it.
I think the problem with X's quest for clicks is that this privileges the influencer slop that has taken over the site over serious and interesting content, and in between that, Elon's strange infatuation with rightoid brainrot accounts, and at this point undoubtedly quite situational respect for freedom of speech, much of the Elite Human Capital that made Twitter what it is - a global public square - are now fleeing elsewhere. From a purely commercial perspective, It can still ride the clicks for a time, eating the seed corn accumulated in prior years. There's only so much time to reverse things before it devolves into something between Truth Social/Gab and TikTok.
It's a real pity. I had much higher hopes for Twitter when Elon bought it. They have their respective niches that they do best in - Twitter for hot takes and interactions, Substack for intellectual longform - and a symbiotic relationship between them would have been far preferable.
I know someone who had never been on Twitter/X prior to the incident. One day they created a sparkling new account and got BANNED FOR LIFE outright before even posting... Appeals went nowhere...
I prefer Notes to X, but I can’t be the only one who consistently posts to crickets, and ask themselves why am I do this? Is it really social when most people are on Notes just posting “hey, read my new newsletter.” Substack discovery needs some steroids.
As someone who never really considered Substack's business model, this was an interesting listen. It's nice to know that the business's incentives align with the best interest of readers and creators alike. Has the team considered integrating something like Buy Me a Coffee as a way for readers to support writers without committing to a monthly subscription? Subscriptions are obviously the holy grail, but it could be nice to easily have the option to say: "I like what you created, here's a beer or coffee on me"
Ah, wonderful, I just discovered the "listen" button on this "live" recording to take me to a "proper" substack media page where I can get to the transcript I've come to rely on. Whew! I was beginning to get worried that you were taking that away from me.
Now, is there someplace I can go to wait in line to get access to live? I might use it to ditch Zoom and hold all of my events as Substack exclusives... reposting only clips elsewhere. That could work, eh?
Elon Musk /X sucks-most intelligent, big picture thinking people now agree. You guys are refreshing in your humility. Please don’t lose it as you become more successful monetarily. God Bless @Substack !
Hey there, great talk. Please please add PayPal as a payment method. Stripe does not support many countries. By adding PayPal, you will benefit from and help more writers monetize here on Substack.
Great conversation l. I have 53.5k followers on X and every week I gain 100 new followers and loose 100 followers. People even send DMs upset why they are no longer following me. Perhaps because my substack address is in my bio. Many of us are thinking it’s time to abandon X completely.
I am finished with X! Going all in with my Substack. Especially since they are adding a live feature…
The fact I see zero sponsored ads is love. I have stopped using X altogether!
Hamish, Chris, I'd like to thank you both for what you're doing with Substack, it’s opened doors for me that I never thought possible. I grew up in a sad, rural town, in Kentucky, that's been decimated by drugs and crime. I literally didn't know a single person who wanted to be a writer or a journalist for that matter. I don't know what I thought journalism was, I watched the news, I did not have a clue. The extent of my knowledge as far as books go, I was a Harry Potter fan and was always told that J.K. Rowling wrote 'The Sorcerer's Stone' on napkins in a coffee shop. I've always been very curious and moved by words and combinations of words. I'd show other people close to me the same speech, or debate, or article, or podcasts and they're just like, "cool", look back over at me and I'm in tears, making a picket sign, ready to 'March on Washington!' I caught Chris' appearance on Rogan a few years ago, I was at this time, already paying attention to politics and journalism, especially Matt Taibbi and Glenn Greenwald, and I was part of the very online culture of the current generation, but his appearance was so great, so great for free speech, so bad for censorship and I was so impressed with the model of substack I made an account immediately, and decided I wanted to try something on here. It took me a few years to work up the nerve, but starting to write here was the best thing I ever did in my life. I believe I found my channel, my way to channel my expression, that I've been trying to find all my life, my reason for being. If I never make 10 cents off my writing I'll never stop writing, and I thank you both and anyone else involved,
Jordan Lee,
Declaration of Liberty Substack
Also, X, under Elon Musk, gave me a lifetime ban for ironically telling someone to kill their self. It was during the Twitter Files and so many trolls were attacking Matt Taibbi, saying the same shit over and over like they were bots and I said, "if you're this sad you should think about killing yourself". Probably a bad choice of words but to be the "arbiter of free speech" it's hard to then say your banned for suggesting a troll commit suicide, I really didn't believe it was a real person, and I'm sure no one died over it.
I think the problem with X's quest for clicks is that this privileges the influencer slop that has taken over the site over serious and interesting content, and in between that, Elon's strange infatuation with rightoid brainrot accounts, and at this point undoubtedly quite situational respect for freedom of speech, much of the Elite Human Capital that made Twitter what it is - a global public square - are now fleeing elsewhere. From a purely commercial perspective, It can still ride the clicks for a time, eating the seed corn accumulated in prior years. There's only so much time to reverse things before it devolves into something between Truth Social/Gab and TikTok.
It's a real pity. I had much higher hopes for Twitter when Elon bought it. They have their respective niches that they do best in - Twitter for hot takes and interactions, Substack for intellectual longform - and a symbiotic relationship between them would have been far preferable.
Love Substack. It is our “go to app.” Great listening to you guys!!
I never knew how crazy X was with censorship.
I know someone who had never been on Twitter/X prior to the incident. One day they created a sparkling new account and got BANNED FOR LIFE outright before even posting... Appeals went nowhere...
With this attitude, X is over if you ask me.
I found that when you use a custom domain on Substack, you don't face those limitations on X. It's the only way to use X with Substack for now...
Mind-blowing. This explains a few things.
Thank you
Yeah, I saw this from other writers who actively promote their newsletters on X, so I decided to try it, and it worked.
I prefer Notes to X, but I can’t be the only one who consistently posts to crickets, and ask themselves why am I do this? Is it really social when most people are on Notes just posting “hey, read my new newsletter.” Substack discovery needs some steroids.
"There's sort of like an alignment of incentives where if you're becoming your best self, that's also how the platform makes money. " - I love that.
Substack is a great platform, but you could lose your paid subscribers if Stripe chooses to ban you from their services.
I think going forward Substack is gonna have to diversify its payout partners.
A society that cannot detect lies has no freedom.
——Amusing Ourselves to Death (written by Neil Postman)
المجتمع الذي لا يستطيع اكتشاف الكذب لا يتمتع بالحرية.
As someone who never really considered Substack's business model, this was an interesting listen. It's nice to know that the business's incentives align with the best interest of readers and creators alike. Has the team considered integrating something like Buy Me a Coffee as a way for readers to support writers without committing to a monthly subscription? Subscriptions are obviously the holy grail, but it could be nice to easily have the option to say: "I like what you created, here's a beer or coffee on me"
I LOVE THIS IDEA
Ah, wonderful, I just discovered the "listen" button on this "live" recording to take me to a "proper" substack media page where I can get to the transcript I've come to rely on. Whew! I was beginning to get worried that you were taking that away from me.
Now, is there someplace I can go to wait in line to get access to live? I might use it to ditch Zoom and hold all of my events as Substack exclusives... reposting only clips elsewhere. That could work, eh?
Elon Musk /X sucks-most intelligent, big picture thinking people now agree. You guys are refreshing in your humility. Please don’t lose it as you become more successful monetarily. God Bless @Substack !
The media landscape will actually be better imho if Twitter/X will be no more.
I would welcome the complete demise of that platform as it was never about fighting censorship or freedom for the "free speech absolutist".
A world in which X doesn't exist is a BETTER world!
Hey there, great talk. Please please add PayPal as a payment method. Stripe does not support many countries. By adding PayPal, you will benefit from and help more writers monetize here on Substack.