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We’re the founders of Substack, we just launched an iOS app. AUA

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Re: We’re the founders of Substack, we just launched an iOS app. AUA

#221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

this makes no sense, ppl are paying to suport creators, like patreon

It absolutely makes sense to have those peoples money go to the creator instead of some to substack, some to the creator. Its a glorifed blog hosting service.

substack only takes a small amount

Re: We’re the founders of Substack, we just launched an iOS app. AUA

#222
post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

2: We do have a strong philosophical stance on this. We think taking a strong stance in favor of freedom of the press is both the right thing to do, and critical to the success of our broader mission. We've written about this a few times, e.g. https://on.substack.com/p/substacks-view-of-content-moderati... and https://on.substack.com/p/society-has-a-trust-problem-more That is incidentally a big part of the answer for…

> We talk about this with folks we are hiring, and it helps people choose for themselves if the approach we take is something they are excited to get behind. I'm interested in hearing more, I recently had a Substack recruiter reach out to me and was curious about this because I work at a tech company w/ some internal "activists" (I don't consider them to be activists). How would you talk about it with them while hiri…

Sounds like you need a new job with a more inclusive culture.

Re: We’re the founders of Substack, we just launched an iOS app. AUA

#223

Substack is a pyramid scheme in terms of "payments" - I am sure they will start up a "search" for the newsletters and then paid advertisements. To all the HN regulars here - own your medium instead. Own your content. There's no need to stick to yet another VC funded "writing experience". Many potential readers will eventually hit a subscription fatigue. There are several proven strategies to monetise your content (an…

My question is who is starting the Signal equivalent of Substack? You know, for when these guys stop loss-leading, fuck everyone over and start monetizing.

Re: We’re the founders of Substack, we just launched an iOS app. AUA

#224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a follow-up question to #3. Like the parent post I commend your stance on free speech, but recognise you host some controversial figures that other platforms have been happy to ban. The range of opinion that Big Tech deems permissible seems to be getting narrower and narrower, and as Substack gets bigger it's naturally going to attract more attention, both from those who call for increased censorship, and from…

> The range of opinion that Big Tech deems permissible seems to be getting narrower and narrower I'm not affiliated with Substack, but I'm having difficulty with your premise here. There's literally a Trump app on the App Store right now dedicated to spreading falsehoods about the 2020 presidential election. What opinions is "Big Tech" "censoring" and why should one think there's any validity to your slippery slope a…

Feels weird to have to say this, but Trump is the leading candidate to become US president in 2024, not some fringe extremist.

Re: We’re the founders of Substack, we just launched an iOS app. AUA

#226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It absolutely makes sense to have those peoples money go to the creator instead of some to substack, some to the creator. Its a glorifed blog hosting service.

substack only takes a small amount

And they’re wildly unprofitable. Wonder how that will resolve?

Re: We’re the founders of Substack, we just launched an iOS app. AUA

#227
post #108

Hi Hamish -- how much of your success do you attribute to the secret benefits you offer certain writers to prevent them from leaving? And is it sustainable in the long run (or does that not really matter to you?)

Is this a guess? Do you have any evidence of “secret offers”?

There are a number of writers who have disclosed their “offers too good to refuse” from substack, including their first big name who they paid well into six figures to jump platforms.

Re: We’re the founders of Substack, we just launched an iOS app. AUA

#228

Are there any plans to allow readers/subscribers to decouple identities between different newsletters? Or, asked a different way, will the app allow you to "subscribe" to newsletters anonymously? I find myself very reluctant to sign up for new newsletters on Substack now because my identity is shared across all newsletters, so I feel I can no longer keep my interests separated. To be clear: after commenting on one ne…

Honestly, I hope this doesn't change. As an author, I think the reason why the comments section of my newsletter is such a positive place is because all of the commenters are doxed and have a profile. In addition, that's how I find other writers to follow—you can see who follows what and follow that thread which is nice.

I don't think people being "doxed" is the secret to creating positive interactions. See Facebook, for example. Even LinkedIn has a surprising amount of toxic threads, considering people's professional reputations are at stake.

The issue I have with Substack in particular is that it was essentially founded around political newsletters. I'm not sure, but I think Bill Bishop might've been their very first newsletter... and he writes about Chinese politics. Of all topics, that is one where people might have good reason to want to be able to preserve their anonymity. Of course, you could get around this by signing up for different newsletters with different email addresses, but that makes it unnecessarily difficult to read paid subscriber-only posts. I feel like the company took a wrong turn in adding social network features instead of keeping the focus on individual writers and their individual audiences.

Re: We’re the founders of Substack, we just launched an iOS app. AUA

#229

Substack is a pyramid scheme in terms of "payments" - I am sure they will start up a "search" for the newsletters and then paid advertisements. To all the HN regulars here - own your medium instead. Own your content. There's no need to stick to yet another VC funded "writing experience". Many potential readers will eventually hit a subscription fatigue. There are several proven strategies to monetise your content (an…

> There are several proven strategies to monetise your content (and Substack isn't one of them).

Surely Substack is no less proven than any other content monetization strategy for individual authors. Most people simply can't make a living from writing, regardless of their monetization strategy. And at a minimum, Substack at least has proof points [1] that their platform has been working for someone.

[1] https://reader.substack.com/discover

Re: We’re the founders of Substack, we just launched an iOS app. AUA

#230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The range of opinion that Big Tech deems permissible seems to be getting narrower and narrower I'm not affiliated with Substack, but I'm having difficulty with your premise here. There's literally a Trump app on the App Store right now dedicated to spreading falsehoods about the 2020 presidential election. What opinions is "Big Tech" "censoring" and why should one think there's any validity to your slippery slope a…

Feels weird to have to say this, but Trump is the leading candidate to become US president in 2024, not some fringe extremist.

Trump was always going to be the leading candidate. He could have won a second term if not for his fumbling over COVID and his meltdown over secret commies stealing his votes. No one was ever going to vote for Biden twice, the left only hates him less than they hate Trump and half the country never stopped drinking the Trump Kool-Aid. You can't beat a man who has a cult and started a revolution with... whatever the hell Biden has going for him. Once again the Democrats will probably snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
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