For completeness, I have just found two other posts on this same topic that, WITHOUT endorsing, liking, approving... anything nazi in any way, and with a different approach than mine, come more or less to the same general conclusion:
if one DOES have a clue on how the web and "platforms" work, and of what happened before elsewhere, it's easy to see that there are better solutions (and attitudes) to neuter "nazis on substack", making them irrelevant and invisible, that are more efficient and much less likely to backfire than the ones I linked at the beginnng of my post
You have your reasons to stay, I have my reasons to leave. But I want to give you one last piece for thought, then I won’t ever bother you again, don’t worry.
You say: „I was forced to come here ...“. As long as nobody put a gun to your head, you weren’t forced. This is your decision on how to react to the „general ignorance...“. It was your free decision. Which is ok! As it is my free decision to leave.
That is a better way for you, as you don't see how writers can't live without Substack. But tell you what: there are millions of writers out there who do that! If you see it as cutting the branch you are sitting on, well, so be it. But with enough work i.e. on Pinterest or other platforms you can still reach your readers. It may be more work, but at least one isn't supporting a platform that infringe their own rules or even that of their business partner (Stripe).
First, you seem to have totally, totally missed the whole core issue that companies change ownership and policies without notice, or users control, which I explicitly mentioned: "if you seriously think this couldn’t happen anywhere, any time, just tell yourself “X” until you faint)"
Second, I know for a FACT that Substack is, comparatively speaking at least, WAY better to make me reach people than anything else I've tried in the previous 15 years. When that will change, I'll migrate. I need to spend my days on actual writing and other real work, not chasing moonbeans.
Third... Pinterest???
How on Earth would be a platform (from Wikipedia) "designed to enable saving and discovery of information (specifically "ideas") like recipes, home, style, motivation, and inspiration on the internet using images and, on a smaller scale, animated GIFs and videos" be relevant for writers and readers, except as a platform to sell writing courses, which is all you get if you search for "writers"?
Yes, you can reach readers in a thousand ways, THEORETICALLY. But trying to do it with something like Pinterest is like hammering nails with a chainsaw, because you don't like the guy who sells hammers. Not to mention that Pinterest doesn't allow unregistered users to access all content, as Substack does.
I explicitly asked to please not suggest alternatives that would never work. Pinterest definitely falls in that category.
I am NOT happy that I had to come here. Not at all. I was forced to come here by the general ignorance of how the web could and should work. I have already explained this at lenght, in this post, and in my very first Substack post.
It's not my fault that I was forced to come here. So, until Substack remains, by orders of magnitude, the least worst place for any writer like me, I and countless others are FORCED to stay here and try to change it from within where it really matters (*), rather than follow all-round complaints and proposals made in good faith, but obviously with little understanding of how web platforms work (**), and how we got to this state of things.
(*) by this, I mean: show me an open letter, petition, whatever... that ONLY asks Substack to stop allowing paid subscriptions for nazi newsletters, and I'll sign right away.
(**) e.g. not getting that even something simple as a mass campaign to only read newsletters by email, and never use the Substack app, would accomplish much more than a hundred people copying and pasting the current open letter
For completeness, I have just found two other posts on this same topic that, WITHOUT endorsing, liking, approving... anything nazi in any way, and with a different approach than mine, come more or less to the same general conclusion:
if one DOES have a clue on how the web and "platforms" work, and of what happened before elsewhere, it's easy to see that there are better solutions (and attitudes) to neuter "nazis on substack", making them irrelevant and invisible, that are more efficient and much less likely to backfire than the ones I linked at the beginnng of my post
https://www.elysian.press/p/substack-writers-for-community-moderation by @ellegriffin and
https://thestorytellerscorner.substack.com/p/on-this-supposed-problem-on-substack by @thestorytellerscorner
You have your reasons to stay, I have my reasons to leave. But I want to give you one last piece for thought, then I won’t ever bother you again, don’t worry.
You say: „I was forced to come here ...“. As long as nobody put a gun to your head, you weren’t forced. This is your decision on how to react to the „general ignorance...“. It was your free decision. Which is ok! As it is my free decision to leave.
That is a better way for you, as you don't see how writers can't live without Substack. But tell you what: there are millions of writers out there who do that! If you see it as cutting the branch you are sitting on, well, so be it. But with enough work i.e. on Pinterest or other platforms you can still reach your readers. It may be more work, but at least one isn't supporting a platform that infringe their own rules or even that of their business partner (Stripe).
Pinterest??? Is this a joke, or what?
First, you seem to have totally, totally missed the whole core issue that companies change ownership and policies without notice, or users control, which I explicitly mentioned: "if you seriously think this couldn’t happen anywhere, any time, just tell yourself “X” until you faint)"
Second, I know for a FACT that Substack is, comparatively speaking at least, WAY better to make me reach people than anything else I've tried in the previous 15 years. When that will change, I'll migrate. I need to spend my days on actual writing and other real work, not chasing moonbeans.
Third... Pinterest???
How on Earth would be a platform (from Wikipedia) "designed to enable saving and discovery of information (specifically "ideas") like recipes, home, style, motivation, and inspiration on the internet using images and, on a smaller scale, animated GIFs and videos" be relevant for writers and readers, except as a platform to sell writing courses, which is all you get if you search for "writers"?
Yes, you can reach readers in a thousand ways, THEORETICALLY. But trying to do it with something like Pinterest is like hammering nails with a chainsaw, because you don't like the guy who sells hammers. Not to mention that Pinterest doesn't allow unregistered users to access all content, as Substack does.
I explicitly asked to please not suggest alternatives that would never work. Pinterest definitely falls in that category.
I am NOT happy that I had to come here. Not at all. I was forced to come here by the general ignorance of how the web could and should work. I have already explained this at lenght, in this post, and in my very first Substack post.
It's not my fault that I was forced to come here. So, until Substack remains, by orders of magnitude, the least worst place for any writer like me, I and countless others are FORCED to stay here and try to change it from within where it really matters (*), rather than follow all-round complaints and proposals made in good faith, but obviously with little understanding of how web platforms work (**), and how we got to this state of things.
(*) by this, I mean: show me an open letter, petition, whatever... that ONLY asks Substack to stop allowing paid subscriptions for nazi newsletters, and I'll sign right away.
(**) e.g. not getting that even something simple as a mass campaign to only read newsletters by email, and never use the Substack app, would accomplish much more than a hundred people copying and pasting the current open letter