So I've been thinking about this for a few weeks. The short answer is: I'm not going to leave Substack, no, and I'd recommend against others leaving as well — though, ultimately, people can decide for themselves. I am trying to snag an interview that might help me flesh out my longer thoughts, we'll see where that goes.
So I've been thinking about this for a few weeks. The short answer is: I'm not going to leave Substack, no, and I'd recommend against others leaving as well — though, ultimately, people can decide for themselves. I am trying to snag an interview that might help me flesh out my longer thoughts, we'll see where that goes.
The medium-length answer: There are straight-up Nazis on this platform. They use Nazi iconography and are pretty straightup about being Nazis. They're pretty marginal and I have a suspicion that Substack blacklists then from the recommendation algorithm. Even still, I'd like to see them banned. I think "no literal Nazis" is an easy line to manage.
Then there are multiple Substacks that run the gamut from crypto-Nazi to white nationalist, roughly in line with Tucker Carlson. I don't see how you can set a test that doesn't either become extreme arbitrary or extremely strict. I don't like Substack recommending those outlets to my readers — and if they did, I'd have complaints. But I don't think it says anything about my publication that those publications exist on the same platform.
I'm just increasingly worried about balkanizing the internet based on lines that we all seem very unable to come to consensus on. And given that, we should revert to very clear lines and definitions we can all agree on.
I was at a conference the other week about the Splinternet: the risk that the internet will be split into interoperable or non-overlapping branches. Obviously there's Russia, China, Iran, etc. But we should also be worried about how we attack public spaces online. I was writing about this month's ago: we're gonna need big spaces and little spaces. In our little spaces, I think we expect and demand really stringent standards of participation and discourse. But you can't manage that in big spaces with millions of people. And we need big spaces.
Oh, and what makes Twitter different is that the leadership is trying to encourage this absolute bullshit and is using its mechanics to do so. Substack, as you note, doesn't.
I stressed that Substack is also unlike X in that if I go to "bugeyedandshameless.com" or "volts.com", I see only the author's content, not even thumbnail ads for any other material. By only subscribing from human recommendations, and then going to the substack-powered individual blogs, you can avoid "substack", as such, entirely. Not possible with, umm....ANY other social media??
So I've been thinking about this for a few weeks. The short answer is: I'm not going to leave Substack, no, and I'd recommend against others leaving as well — though, ultimately, people can decide for themselves. I am trying to snag an interview that might help me flesh out my longer thoughts, we'll see where that goes.
The medium-length answer: There are straight-up Nazis on this platform. They use Nazi iconography and are pretty straightup about being Nazis. They're pretty marginal and I have a suspicion that Substack blacklists then from the recommendation algorithm. Even still, I'd like to see them banned. I think "no literal Nazis" is an easy line to manage.
Then there are multiple Substacks that run the gamut from crypto-Nazi to white nationalist, roughly in line with Tucker Carlson. I don't see how you can set a test that doesn't either become extreme arbitrary or extremely strict. I don't like Substack recommending those outlets to my readers — and if they did, I'd have complaints. But I don't think it says anything about my publication that those publications exist on the same platform.
I'm just increasingly worried about balkanizing the internet based on lines that we all seem very unable to come to consensus on. And given that, we should revert to very clear lines and definitions we can all agree on.
This is why I didn't sign onto this broader petition, from some other Substackers. I think they raise some great points but I just don't agree with them about where the line ought to be: https://www.theverge.com/2023/12/18/24006405/substackers-against-nazis-want-the-company-to-explain-itself
I was at a conference the other week about the Splinternet: the risk that the internet will be split into interoperable or non-overlapping branches. Obviously there's Russia, China, Iran, etc. But we should also be worried about how we attack public spaces online. I was writing about this month's ago: we're gonna need big spaces and little spaces. In our little spaces, I think we expect and demand really stringent standards of participation and discourse. But you can't manage that in big spaces with millions of people. And we need big spaces.
Oh, and what makes Twitter different is that the leadership is trying to encourage this absolute bullshit and is using its mechanics to do so. Substack, as you note, doesn't.
Thanks! Here's where a Mastodon activist criticized SS, but also had only nice words for me when I said I'm not leaving yet:
https://urbanists.social/@angiebaby@mas.to/111622171633593631
I stressed that Substack is also unlike X in that if I go to "bugeyedandshameless.com" or "volts.com", I see only the author's content, not even thumbnail ads for any other material. By only subscribing from human recommendations, and then going to the substack-powered individual blogs, you can avoid "substack", as such, entirely. Not possible with, umm....ANY other social media??