Like, Comment, & Substack
In the Sea of Writing Choices, Substack Feels Like a Vortex
Hello! I'm trying a new thing where I migrate away from Substack and move to Ghost because ... I mean, lots of reasons. What really did it for me was this:
Yeah, that's DIICOT arrestee and all-around dickhead Andrew Tate being featured prominently among "New Bestsellers." Gotta put money in the ol' legal defense fund somehow. Oh, and lest we forget, they also recently partnered with the super awesome people at Polymarket. This isn't the first time Substack has promoted/platformed/refused to excoriate people with, shall we say, questionable moral stances. And based on the picture above, it won't be the last. All's fair in pursuit of that bottom line, I guess. As long as the line keeps going up and to the right, who cares about the rest???
It's not like I have a massive following on Substack, so please don't mistake this for martyrdom. But I do like writing, which has gone from "audience of none" to "fledgling baby bird that doesn't actually know how to fly but a small group is watching after it," and that's not nothing! In a world where likes and views and follower counts drive everything, I still prefer the intimacy and connection of a small audience. Especially since I'm not trying to sell you shit or influence anything here.
Moreover, I've found a lovely little baseball community there, and any sense of community just feels nice. As easy as it is to condemn Substack, it's also difficult to want to move elsewhere – don't throw the baby out with the bathwater and all that.
It's so conflicting to be alive right now. Life is unquestionably a gift, but goddamnit if the Powers That Be aren't committed to the enshittification of that gift.
So yeah. I don't know. I was going to write a response – more like an addendum – to a thing Dan McGinn wrote the other day about the lies corporations tell. But I came across it on Substack and my heart isn't in it today. Feels too on the nose. In the meantime, I'm going to poke around Neocities to see if any semblance of the pre-capitalist Internet still exists. Wish me luck!
