Stacking subs
This Substack was originally launched as a place for commenters who were unhappy with the new comment system at the new The Dispatch website. I say that as an explanation for this newsletter’s recipients who didn’t come here from The Dispatch back when this newsletter/blog was launched back in October. The main purpose of this Substack still is the comment section, with a brief newsletter/blog text about some idea that has recently tickled my fancy serving as a potential comment-section conversation starter. I’ve also adapted it to my needs with an eye to keeping it going on a regular basis for the long term, six days a week.
As a platform, Substack itself has continued its evolution in that time, too. Sometimes, like yesterday, the system seems to get gummed up or bogged down in the process. Yet, on the whole, Substack has continued to provide a very reliable, user-friendly platform for writing a newsletter/blog and managing content as the writer sees fit. I can’t praise it enough for its ease of use and flexibility.
Anyone with a Substack subscription—paid or free—can set up a newsletter here. Substack makes it easy and convenient. They also make it easy to charge for subscriptions, if this is how you’d like to try to make a living. In fact, if writing is your aim, this site offers a lot of options and tools—most of which I haven’t even tried.
I’d like to mention two of the new features they’ve introduced just since this blog began. One is chat for subscribers—something I don’t quite comprehend, to be honest. It might be because we have been using the comment section here as a chat room of sorts anyway, open to anyone, the only requirement being to sign up for a free Substack account, whether or not you subscribe to any newsletters.
The latest new feature is the ability to set up an entirely private newsletter, without any publicly visible pages. Thus, if I understand it correctly, you could set up pages like this one, but just use it for sharing information with family, work groups, or social organization. You can already set up your newsletter in a variety of ways as it is: sent to everyone who has signed up for emails or only to those who have paid subscriptions; open for comments to all comers, or open to subscribers only; etc.
I mention all that in case anyone has been looking for such a service. But also because after using the site as a blogger (which is, in fact, how I use it), I have come to appreciate Substack as a product all the more. And I hope they keep it open to anyone who wants to use it for free, too, with their earnings coming as a percentage of paid subscriptions. Although it is essentially a form of social media, Substack’s model for making money (to my knowledge) is not based on selling tracking data about all of us as users to some amorphous and shadowy gang of advertisers and marketers—unpopular practices that have irked Facebook and Google users.
As long as this continues to serve as the business model, I heartily endorse the site and encourage its use. They have to make money on this operation some way, after all. And so long as it isn’t from methods that seem sneaky and underhanded, and that feel like semi-creepy data stalking without the user’s consent, I am more than pleased with the product.
I just saw this headline in Time: "Trump Delivers Bitter Speech Filled With Falsehoods in New Hampshire". Aside from the fact that there is a paywall, I will not break my own rule and read more than a headline about him. I do wonder when it will be, or if it is time, to stop reporting on him lying, for even those reports feed the beast. Must we wait for him to self-destruct or be sentenced to jail? If no one wants to devote even a moment to him and therefore not comment, I'll fully understand. I write even this with some hesitation.
As you are pleased with Substack, so I am pleased with CSLF. Worth every darned penny I spend on it. A bargain at even twice the price.
Sorry not sorry.