It's funny, your article was specifically about Substack but it applies so well to capitalism writ large. It really isn't the pursuit of profit that makes it so bad (most of the time), its the pursuit of profit GROWTH that causes the biggest problems.
Exactly! My standard line is ‘making a living vs making a killing’. Somehow the goal becomes unimaginable wealth rather than a solid stable income that will support a middle class lifestyle. I’m not saying that more than modest growth is wrong, rather it’s ok to not distort a good thing in pursuit of fabulous excess.
It’s the nature of the beast - the beast being capitalism with its sacred pillar of growing profit at all cost. It has seeped into the culture, this giant profit making machine, so that we have a materialistic value system. You can lie, cheat and kill as long as it’s in the name of reaping material benefits. And America is the standard bearer of that system.. but it will end up eating itself and the world,
Capitalism, yes. I likened the article to imperialism as well. The options of acculturation, assimilation, and integration apply to all communities, including those on Substack.
The need to make a profit. . . just to pay for permission to share a planet NONE of us actually own through capitalism specifically real estate. . .IS the problem.
it’s not just social media. Etsy was once a haven for creative folks (and a handful of pretentious assholes) that had discourse about whether a beaded item was “actually handmade”.
now they mostly feature dropship garbage from china and there isn’t even a feature to choose “only handmade” in the search any more.
I was also thinking of Etsy while reading this. I used that platform over ten years ago (maybe 15) but quit it when it was ruined by imported products, weird algos, and heavy handed fees. It’s a crap site these days for actual makers.
I first moved my shop to big cartel but when I switched my website to Squarespace I integrated it all there. My Wordpress blog is linked there as well and since I have regularly posted there since 2006 I direct people to my shop in that way. FB had been useful for that as well but has been much less useful these days.
I was also thinking of Etsy. I had my apothecary there from 2019 to 2022 and more. Especially during the lockdown, more shops popped up that weren't selling handmade items, which was frustrating.
Good read, watching closely. And / but for the record, FB didn’t innocently want to ‘connect the world’ - he was a total d*ckhead building a platform to rank and rate women. So I do wonder if the ‘quality’ and / or sincerity of the founders’ initial impulse & purpose - which in my experience taints & carries through an entire project - isn’t potentially an important differentiator somehow? In systems theory, the inner condition of the intervenor in a system has a discernible and real impact on the emergent properties in the system… c’mon Substack founders - give us some reassurance that free will has a role to play here!! Thanks for your writing.
Jack Dorsey wasn’t innocently intentioned either and calls Musk a champion of free speech—as does Chris Best one of the Substack founders/owners. Most of the folks listed always intended to become millionaires if not billionaires. No good will come of Substack. Ghost has a completely different culture. The fediverse is the best hope for any type of decent internet future. ✌🏼
I'd agree with you on the impetus, but I think that the system inherits from another system which is subject to entropy that influences the subsystems. So no matter one's intentions, it's the same end result every time.
It's what I call a 'race to the bottom', how little can you provide for how much and when that doesn't hold the customer you kill the competition so there's no choice. Like phone svc. In the 70s if your house line crackled you'd see 3 guys out in your backyard trying to sort out the lines, now you tell the cell Co you pay $100/Mo to that you can't get calls from your employer or Drs and they yawn (because entitled Americans are annoying and the customer svc agent is in the Philippines) and pretend they are doing something about it, click clack clack. And your phone svc is still crap after hours on the phone. Multiply everything we do by the same foot dragging customer svc as human shield policies of multiB cos and that's where everything ends up - every object and person monetized until there's no free space left. It's called feudalism.
It’s one thing to be a little sexist. Women are that way too, they just have a different way of doing it. Being a totalitarian asshole censoring posts some people don’t like and banning people, that’s an entirely different matter.
The Fediverse exists and so do other alternatives to this platform. After the extent of Nazi activity on the site was revealed in 2024 a number of writers departed for other platforms.
Some examples are shared within the original post like Ghost. They do not look exactly like Substack because their ethos is different (and I would argue better). Many of the original creators have left or are leaving Substack. It’s the second wave of followers building the place up now. Referring to the post, Substack is already in its mainstream era. Research “fediverse” and maybe listen to Flipboard’s podcast Dot Social. ✌🏼
Ghost has to be self hosted, right? Unfortunately I can't really afford hosting costs. I'm aware of the fediverse but I've not come across anything Substack-like on it.
I haven’t come across anything Substack like on the fediverse either, and I doubt that will happen anytime soon. Part of the ethos and appeal of the fediverse is no more walled gardens, so I think one app to do it all probably isn’t in the cards anytime soon in that space. BUT I don’t think one app trying to do it all without federating isn’t a good idea for any creator. I consume a bit of content here at Substack, for now, but I think content creators are replicating the same mistake thinking Substack is the alternative.
Ghost is free if self-hosted, but like Wordpress, they offer a paid hosted option. I feel you regarding the costs but for serious creators, self hosting or paying a set fee for a hosted option like Ghost is a better long-term solution, in my opinion. I’m also starting to question if it would really be so hard or expensive to self host using FOSS these days. Something to research for fun. ✌🏼🙂
This is pretty self evident. Many of us would like to enjoy the benefits Substack currently offers and deal with whatever comes down the line. We’ve already proven we’re willing to jump ship when things turn wrong.
He’s pretty rich (pardon the pun) putting it to the Billionaires then pausing to digress on the appropriateness of a million dollar watch because he’s a watch guy. I’d prefer he crawl his pompous condescending ass back to the hole he crawled forth from and save his dumbed down explanations for the common folk to share with his Amphibian friends.
That’s not a very nice comment. Just because someone appreciates a million dollar watch doesn’t mean anything. I appreciate million dollar houses that I will never be able to afford in a million years (pardon the pun), however it doesn’t stop me appreciating them. And that appreciation doesn’t make me pompous or condescending nor does it mean I cannot criticise billionaires who I believe are making the world a worst place to live.
Diane, I can now understand you don’t live in the same country as I do currently. Here in AU, the median home price is right on $1 Million and there is a massive housing crisis. It is far more complex than meets the eye here due to the concept of negative gearing on financing second, third and additional rental properties. As an immigrant, I’m not completely across it all but from ground level it seems like the being at the right place when these laws came in meant anyone who was doing well could drastically increase their position rather quickly. Young professionals are living with their parents for many years as it is not possible for them (on decent salaries) to purchase their first home until you have six figure deposits. What gets my back up is when people share their opinions then elaborate them beyond the initial conversation catalyst and establish blame but then bail out with the caveat it isn’t in their realm of responsibility to clearly explain the complex issue to the normal populace. In my experience, individuals who value million dollar watches also enjoy ensuring everyone is aware of their cultural status. At the end of the day, there are very few of us who elicit a second glance of those striding through the corridors of influence. I simply enjoy assessing where folks are with the goings on.
While I don’t live in the same country AU, I do live in the UK, and what you are describing regarding the housing market is exactly the same here, in fact probably worse. We are a tiny island with very little land for a growing population which currently stands at just over 68 million. The median home price here is £300k stg which is around 600k AUD. in January we experienced a 3% rise in house values. In 2024 the average UK earnings was £37k stg. To get a mortgage in the UK lenders will lend up to x4 to x4.5 salary at the top end this would be £166,500 stg. Therefore most people here in the UK cannot get on the property ladder either and are living with parents until their thirties and beyond in some cases or ending up in the rental sector. Added to that we have a poor stock of social housing (worked in that sector for a number of years) and in that sector we are not building at a rate that we should to meet the current housing crisis. Private landlord rents are for a three bedroom house range from £850 stg to well over £2000 stg depending on what part of the country you are in. A lot of families waiting for social housing end up in temporary accommodation for example hotels etc., at exorbitant costs to the housing association and so the cycle continues. My point was that just because someone appreciates a million dollar watch does not mean that the rest of their writing is not worthy of discourse and that the author shouldn’t be pigeonholed as elitist. I consider myself one of the common folk no college education or university degree, and yet I have had an awesome career despite that. I also feel, i believe like you, that there is a wealth imbalance in the world but on a greater scale than we have ever seen before. This wealth imbalance has resulted in white privileged men buying themselves into power, and while this is something that has gone on for all of time now it is very conspicuous. We cannot put the genie back in the box but what we must not lose sight of is that there are far more of us common folk than them and that they may well be riding high now but nothing stays the same forever. Fortunes are hard earned and easily lost because economics are a very fine balance made up of a lot of moving parts, and it takes very little to upset that balance. Globally we are going into a period of economic tumult because a toddler is in charge of the nursery. Those white privileged men who think they are invincible because of their billions may not however last the course. There is no such thing as too big to fail and that includes countries. You cannot play at economics it is akin to thinking you can beat the casino.
The entry of billionaires into global governance looks like the beginning of the end, the final act, bordering on the comical now. How much their downfall is going to cost us remains to be seen.
If the old adage is true when America sneezes the rest of the world catches a cold then I think we are potentially in for a pandemic. However while it will be painful for many for some time we will recover, and hopefully as history has shown us before lessons do get learnt.
I think there are algorithms here already, I have “suggested” profiles and I’m not subbed to in my feed and suggested people to follow related to things I’ve put interests in. Also, I was surprised to find there was a whole issue of them refusing to shut down neo Nazi’s…. sooo, I’m not sure how long I’ll stick around, because as you mentioned I see this quickly getting taken over by corporate interests.
Of course there are algorithms here. Have been from day 1. Don't fool yourself. This is another social network with writers as the product just like all of FB's users are the product.
I've seen many extremists on Substack but no Neo-Nazis yet, and neither did you apparently. What I did notice was a corporate media campaign promoting a Neo-Nazi narrative about Substack. I'm having doubts about the scale of this problem.
You're right, of course, but it goes back way further than that. The start of radio saw independent voices and amateur operators. Then, regulation followed by the emergence of big broadcasting networks. Cue the period of consolidation. We've seen that cycle repeat in media and technology time and time again (and much earlier in history): Innovation > independent voices/destabilization of previous paradigm > buyout/consolidation/monopoly. You're right that Substack won't remain as is, but that's OK. The trick is not to put all your eggs in one basket and to ride the wave of opportunity when it exists, while keeping your eyes on the horizon.
Regulation of broadcasters was required because they were using the same medium to broadcast their wares: the electromagnetic spectrum. There was no way to allow radio broadcasting without regulation.
I really liked this post for its realistic view and straightforward explanation. I hated it for the same reason. We all want to believe we have, at last, stumbled upon the real deal that will make the writing life grand. But it isn't to be. So, yep, we just stack like there's no tomorrow and pile up that email address list. And by the way, if this isn't precisely what is about to implode at Medium, I'm a monkey's aunt.
If there’s a silver lining… While I think the “fuse is lit,” I think the time for it to burn is still about two years. So the implosion is not imminent. :)
Nice piece, made me think. I’m curious about your ‘inevitable’ premise. I read a book about Visa some time ago, a platform that doesn’t seem to optimize for profit at the expense of the producer. I recall trust in payment was a key feature, a feature many of us early adopters value. It too grew to be a global system. Any thoughts on that?
Thanks for the thoughtful question. Visa's (BankAmericard) case is interesting, but I don’t think it contradicts the “inevitable” premise—if anything, it reinforces it.
Visa may have started differently, but it maximized profit, consolidated power, and engaged in anti-competitive practices like all of the other examples I cited. BankAmericard (later Visa) went from a cooperative structure to one of the biggest IPOs in history, faced major antitrust lawsuits, and lobbied to protect its market dominance at the expense of competition. That is, in part, how they became the biggest payment platform in the world, beating out American Express (who for most of this time was the worldwide leader.)
The “trust in payments” wasn’t a feature that kept it from profit-seeking—it was a business strategy that helped Visa become indispensable before shifting its focus to extracting revenue. That’s precisely the cycle I described in this piece—just in a different industry. Today, they continue to engage in the same anti-competitive practices as Facebook, Amazon, or Google (or quite frankly, that arrow is the other way around - Facebook, Amazon, and Google, engage in the same practices as Visa, since Visa engaged in these practices way before tech companies did.) As someone who operates a business that accepts credit cards (even here on substack) Visa isn't altruistic in any way (although AMEX is considerably worse to deal with as a merchant, which is why many merchants refuse to take AMEX.)
Hi. I need help. I’m a passionate Dem, full of righteous anger who feels compelled to write about the shenanigans Trump and Musk are perpetrating on our country. I just discovered MeidasTouchNetwork last month and revere the reporting and delivery of the three Meiselas brothers. But I need educating to get started. What is a substack and how do I learn about it? Can I actually have a writing platform on it? I chose you to ask randomly because I like your writing and am trusting my gut. I’d be grateful for any writing advice whatsoever! ☮️
No, I’m not ever going to monetize my work on here. I’m not in it for the money, education should be free and I don’t believe in gatekeeping access to important information. Can you imagine if some of histories most prolific literary prodigies kept out those who couldnt afford to subscribe? Not that I’m in any way comparing myself to them, that is not the point. Rather the point is that gatekeeping knowledge is elitist. I have the opportunity to use my voice for good. You cannot put a price on that. And lastly, to attempt to do so would mean I am essentially forced to churn out content way more often. I would be at the mercy of those who pay, instead of having the ability to post whatever I want, when I want to. I even go as far as to say that if people want to plagiarize my work or repurpose it in any way they’re welcome to do so if it means my message will be better received coming from someone else.
Lmao, I wish. My parents dont give me shit. In fact after I graduated I've been homeless 3 times. I have no support system whatsoever and I'm a gay transgender man. I still choose not to monetize my work. Maybe its cause I don't really feel like this is work, since I enjoy investigative journalism so much. I guess its kind of an escape for me... but more importantly, I write for other poor people who need access to the information I post. My articles consist primarily of research rather than my opinions. Not that there's anything wrong with think pieces as I write some of those too, but since the majority of my work is educational I believe it should, and will remain free.
I appreciate your philosophy as do your subscribers, I’m sure. There are a few writers who offer their newsletters and comments for free which is appreciated. Those I do pay for because they do things that way and I just hope they continue to do so. What I have changed though is I now subscribe by the month. It may be more expensive over a years time but if I get tired of reading the author I’m not locked in for the year.
I am trying hard to avoid PayPal, Starbucks, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and anything really that has transformed from cool way to do things - to the axis of evil, immoral owners. Teslas we shall not ever talk about.
But you are correct - everything changes - even open source solutions become corrupted in some cases. I just wish that ethics and morale would have a greater influence on the minds of owners, employees and employers. Altruism and compassion should become à la Mode again — that would be really really sweet.
You can get a low mileage salvage title Tesla for pretty good prices these days! I say let the Musk run, his cars are gonna be cheaper than anything comparable in a few months
True that. But I think, as a European - I rather buy European…. See what goes around comes around… This “Maga”-maggotry is not healthy for the world. More people will be isolationist (unfortunately me too, since I do not want my hard earned kronor to go to the axis of evil)… so terrifyingly sad.
Yep. I work in technology and I'm looking for non US companies for my next job. It was tiresome enough when we had to follow US legislation because one was working for an US subsidiary, now I don't want to make any of these people even richer.
Open source solutions can't be corrupted, Red Hat (now an IBM company) tried that once overtly and once clinically and in full view, and they have failed.
And if some orange tinted air headed person would try to ban sharing your work with others one people elsewhere can simply fork the product.
The hilarious part about Facebook’s much-vaunted “ultra-targeted marketing” is Facebook’s ads are such a sewer of con artists and snake oil salesmen I would NEVER buy anything from a company I knew only through Facebook.
A few months ago, there was a flood of ads advertising high-end name-brand guitars in some supposed Sam Ash music stores closeout sale, all at the unbelievable price of $129 with free shipping. No way it could be real, so I reported one of the ads. Facebook’s security team said there was nothing wrong.
Couple weeks later someone impersonated one of my friends and sent a friend request. After confirming with my friend it was bogus, I reported it. Facebook’s security team said - you guessed it - there was nothing wrong.
I treat EVERYTHING I see on Facebook as unverified and very possibly bogus.
I especially loved the creeps that commented on FB posts - hey I really loved your post and would like to be friends - my response was always this is not a dating app. I agree FB had devolved into a sewer long before Zuckerberg cow towed to the MAGA GOP regime.
I don’t even respond to people like that. Same with the strangers who send me friend requests out of the blue or try to contact me on Messenger. I don’t even know you - why would I accept your request or talk to you?
At least send me a message telling me why you want to be friends.
The only non-corrupt billionaires are some of the people who got the money through the luck of lottery or inheritance. But most of them have been corrupted also.
From what I know about Scott’s activities, I’ll agree on her. (Divorce settlement is another route). Swift? Perhaps not evil, but a dedicated moneymaker and careerist who I don’t see has a moral focus to her life.
Being a capitalist, chasing the dollars, corrupts everyone, or is an expression of an already compromised soul.
Somewhere between millionaire (which could come from owning a house for decades) and a billionaire there is a corruption line. If you make money by paying employees below-living wages, you've crossed over.
Go to Spoutible!!! If you want a platform NOT owned by billionaires with no algorithm, Spoutible it the best choice. We drive out hate, misogyny and fascists.
I was on Spoutible and supported it from the beginning. I eventually left because civil discourse about dems is squashed. I felt like it was not like Substack at all.
How many ships do you want to jump in your lifetime? I think much of what is detailed here stems precisely *from* those who jump – like so many social-media lemmings – over and over, from platform to platform: leading to an endless cycle of capitalist (but therefore not long-lasting) growth… – the same critical (but reflexive; not “critical” in a thinking way) mass causing the same problems. [That UK Labour has fallen into the same trap would be laughable, were it not our lives it was screwing with.]
Allied with this is the race for these platforms all to end up looking pretty much the same; offering the same functionality. It seems weird now, I suppose, that – in my lifetime, anyway – we suddenly decided that all our individual voices were important, that all the other ears had to listen to us, and we were afforded such abilities (not understanding – or ignoring – the price paid).
What interests *me* is those that don’t jump, but drop-out, scarred from their social media experiences (like me… – although I was never really that active, anyway): preferring to stay in touch with just family and a few select friends (like my partner does), or just blogging (rarely now: because there are more important things in my life) about things that catch my interest, but not caring one jot about the numbers I do or don’t attract.
Unfortunately (from my perspective), there always seem to be those willing to replace the drop-outs. But for how long? Have we reached peak platform? Or will there always be a certain section of society that sees shouting as its inalienable right?
It's funny, your article was specifically about Substack but it applies so well to capitalism writ large. It really isn't the pursuit of profit that makes it so bad (most of the time), its the pursuit of profit GROWTH that causes the biggest problems.
Thanks for the wonderful writing.
Exactly! My standard line is ‘making a living vs making a killing’. Somehow the goal becomes unimaginable wealth rather than a solid stable income that will support a middle class lifestyle. I’m not saying that more than modest growth is wrong, rather it’s ok to not distort a good thing in pursuit of fabulous excess.
It’s the nature of the beast - the beast being capitalism with its sacred pillar of growing profit at all cost. It has seeped into the culture, this giant profit making machine, so that we have a materialistic value system. You can lie, cheat and kill as long as it’s in the name of reaping material benefits. And America is the standard bearer of that system.. but it will end up eating itself and the world,
Desire is a deal you sell yourself, leaving you feeling incomplete until you get what you’re chasing.
BTW Sparky... you might want to read today (well yesterday's now) post... you might like it given your stack. :D https://substack.com/home/post/p-157160506
You nailed it. It's the growth of profit that is the problem. No investor is ever satisfied.
The more you have➡️the more you want➡️the more you need. More is never enough when the hole inside you is so big that nothing would ever fill it.
It applies to the concept of a frontier. Like Kevin Costner in Dances with Wolves. He wanted to experience it before it disappeared.
Capitalism, yes. I likened the article to imperialism as well. The options of acculturation, assimilation, and integration apply to all communities, including those on Substack.
The need to make a profit. . . just to pay for permission to share a planet NONE of us actually own through capitalism specifically real estate. . .IS the problem.
Wish huemanity would own up to this already.
yes!! Wholeheartedly agree!
it’s not just social media. Etsy was once a haven for creative folks (and a handful of pretentious assholes) that had discourse about whether a beaded item was “actually handmade”.
now they mostly feature dropship garbage from china and there isn’t even a feature to choose “only handmade” in the search any more.
I was also thinking of Etsy while reading this. I used that platform over ten years ago (maybe 15) but quit it when it was ruined by imported products, weird algos, and heavy handed fees. It’s a crap site these days for actual makers.
is there another upcoming platform for handmade stuff like etsy was? I loved etsy before dropshipping.
I first moved my shop to big cartel but when I switched my website to Squarespace I integrated it all there. My Wordpress blog is linked there as well and since I have regularly posted there since 2006 I direct people to my shop in that way. FB had been useful for that as well but has been much less useful these days.
I was also thinking of Etsy. I had my apothecary there from 2019 to 2022 and more. Especially during the lockdown, more shops popped up that weren't selling handmade items, which was frustrating.
Rip etsy
Good read, watching closely. And / but for the record, FB didn’t innocently want to ‘connect the world’ - he was a total d*ckhead building a platform to rank and rate women. So I do wonder if the ‘quality’ and / or sincerity of the founders’ initial impulse & purpose - which in my experience taints & carries through an entire project - isn’t potentially an important differentiator somehow? In systems theory, the inner condition of the intervenor in a system has a discernible and real impact on the emergent properties in the system… c’mon Substack founders - give us some reassurance that free will has a role to play here!! Thanks for your writing.
Oh that’s right I do remember that being its purpose for the geeks and guys to bond.
Jack Dorsey wasn’t innocently intentioned either and calls Musk a champion of free speech—as does Chris Best one of the Substack founders/owners. Most of the folks listed always intended to become millionaires if not billionaires. No good will come of Substack. Ghost has a completely different culture. The fediverse is the best hope for any type of decent internet future. ✌🏼
I'd agree with you on the impetus, but I think that the system inherits from another system which is subject to entropy that influences the subsystems. So no matter one's intentions, it's the same end result every time.
It's what I call a 'race to the bottom', how little can you provide for how much and when that doesn't hold the customer you kill the competition so there's no choice. Like phone svc. In the 70s if your house line crackled you'd see 3 guys out in your backyard trying to sort out the lines, now you tell the cell Co you pay $100/Mo to that you can't get calls from your employer or Drs and they yawn (because entitled Americans are annoying and the customer svc agent is in the Philippines) and pretend they are doing something about it, click clack clack. And your phone svc is still crap after hours on the phone. Multiply everything we do by the same foot dragging customer svc as human shield policies of multiB cos and that's where everything ends up - every object and person monetized until there's no free space left. It's called feudalism.
It’s one thing to be a little sexist. Women are that way too, they just have a different way of doing it. Being a totalitarian asshole censoring posts some people don’t like and banning people, that’s an entirely different matter.
Oh!.. FB...for a minute I thought you were talking about Trump..
I think we need a platform that works like a Co-Op. Owned by everyone who participated and won't be sold.
The Fediverse exists and so do other alternatives to this platform. After the extent of Nazi activity on the site was revealed in 2024 a number of writers departed for other platforms.
Can you give examples of these alternatives?
Some examples are shared within the original post like Ghost. They do not look exactly like Substack because their ethos is different (and I would argue better). Many of the original creators have left or are leaving Substack. It’s the second wave of followers building the place up now. Referring to the post, Substack is already in its mainstream era. Research “fediverse” and maybe listen to Flipboard’s podcast Dot Social. ✌🏼
Ghost has to be self hosted, right? Unfortunately I can't really afford hosting costs. I'm aware of the fediverse but I've not come across anything Substack-like on it.
I haven’t come across anything Substack like on the fediverse either, and I doubt that will happen anytime soon. Part of the ethos and appeal of the fediverse is no more walled gardens, so I think one app to do it all probably isn’t in the cards anytime soon in that space. BUT I don’t think one app trying to do it all without federating isn’t a good idea for any creator. I consume a bit of content here at Substack, for now, but I think content creators are replicating the same mistake thinking Substack is the alternative.
Ghost is free if self-hosted, but like Wordpress, they offer a paid hosted option. I feel you regarding the costs but for serious creators, self hosting or paying a set fee for a hosted option like Ghost is a better long-term solution, in my opinion. I’m also starting to question if it would really be so hard or expensive to self host using FOSS these days. Something to research for fun. ✌🏼🙂
What is FOSS?
My thought exactly. This would be a great model for an independent media platform.
if only means.tv expanded into written reporting...
100%
Can you please stop spamming this conversation with multiple links.
Dude has been frogmarched outta da building... thanks for bringing it to my attention. :D
This is pretty self evident. Many of us would like to enjoy the benefits Substack currently offers and deal with whatever comes down the line. We’ve already proven we’re willing to jump ship when things turn wrong.
He’s pretty rich (pardon the pun) putting it to the Billionaires then pausing to digress on the appropriateness of a million dollar watch because he’s a watch guy. I’d prefer he crawl his pompous condescending ass back to the hole he crawled forth from and save his dumbed down explanations for the common folk to share with his Amphibian friends.
That’s not a very nice comment. Just because someone appreciates a million dollar watch doesn’t mean anything. I appreciate million dollar houses that I will never be able to afford in a million years (pardon the pun), however it doesn’t stop me appreciating them. And that appreciation doesn’t make me pompous or condescending nor does it mean I cannot criticise billionaires who I believe are making the world a worst place to live.
Diane, I can now understand you don’t live in the same country as I do currently. Here in AU, the median home price is right on $1 Million and there is a massive housing crisis. It is far more complex than meets the eye here due to the concept of negative gearing on financing second, third and additional rental properties. As an immigrant, I’m not completely across it all but from ground level it seems like the being at the right place when these laws came in meant anyone who was doing well could drastically increase their position rather quickly. Young professionals are living with their parents for many years as it is not possible for them (on decent salaries) to purchase their first home until you have six figure deposits. What gets my back up is when people share their opinions then elaborate them beyond the initial conversation catalyst and establish blame but then bail out with the caveat it isn’t in their realm of responsibility to clearly explain the complex issue to the normal populace. In my experience, individuals who value million dollar watches also enjoy ensuring everyone is aware of their cultural status. At the end of the day, there are very few of us who elicit a second glance of those striding through the corridors of influence. I simply enjoy assessing where folks are with the goings on.
While I don’t live in the same country AU, I do live in the UK, and what you are describing regarding the housing market is exactly the same here, in fact probably worse. We are a tiny island with very little land for a growing population which currently stands at just over 68 million. The median home price here is £300k stg which is around 600k AUD. in January we experienced a 3% rise in house values. In 2024 the average UK earnings was £37k stg. To get a mortgage in the UK lenders will lend up to x4 to x4.5 salary at the top end this would be £166,500 stg. Therefore most people here in the UK cannot get on the property ladder either and are living with parents until their thirties and beyond in some cases or ending up in the rental sector. Added to that we have a poor stock of social housing (worked in that sector for a number of years) and in that sector we are not building at a rate that we should to meet the current housing crisis. Private landlord rents are for a three bedroom house range from £850 stg to well over £2000 stg depending on what part of the country you are in. A lot of families waiting for social housing end up in temporary accommodation for example hotels etc., at exorbitant costs to the housing association and so the cycle continues. My point was that just because someone appreciates a million dollar watch does not mean that the rest of their writing is not worthy of discourse and that the author shouldn’t be pigeonholed as elitist. I consider myself one of the common folk no college education or university degree, and yet I have had an awesome career despite that. I also feel, i believe like you, that there is a wealth imbalance in the world but on a greater scale than we have ever seen before. This wealth imbalance has resulted in white privileged men buying themselves into power, and while this is something that has gone on for all of time now it is very conspicuous. We cannot put the genie back in the box but what we must not lose sight of is that there are far more of us common folk than them and that they may well be riding high now but nothing stays the same forever. Fortunes are hard earned and easily lost because economics are a very fine balance made up of a lot of moving parts, and it takes very little to upset that balance. Globally we are going into a period of economic tumult because a toddler is in charge of the nursery. Those white privileged men who think they are invincible because of their billions may not however last the course. There is no such thing as too big to fail and that includes countries. You cannot play at economics it is akin to thinking you can beat the casino.
The entry of billionaires into global governance looks like the beginning of the end, the final act, bordering on the comical now. How much their downfall is going to cost us remains to be seen.
If the old adage is true when America sneezes the rest of the world catches a cold then I think we are potentially in for a pandemic. However while it will be painful for many for some time we will recover, and hopefully as history has shown us before lessons do get learnt.
I think there are algorithms here already, I have “suggested” profiles and I’m not subbed to in my feed and suggested people to follow related to things I’ve put interests in. Also, I was surprised to find there was a whole issue of them refusing to shut down neo Nazi’s…. sooo, I’m not sure how long I’ll stick around, because as you mentioned I see this quickly getting taken over by corporate interests.
Of course there are algorithms here. Have been from day 1. Don't fool yourself. This is another social network with writers as the product just like all of FB's users are the product.
I’ve suspected it for quite a while. Not too pleased.
Referring to the algos
I've seen many extremists on Substack but no Neo-Nazis yet, and neither did you apparently. What I did notice was a corporate media campaign promoting a Neo-Nazi narrative about Substack. I'm having doubts about the scale of this problem.
My feed has 1000% been responding to my likes and subscriptions
Thanks for that graduate level course on the lifespan of social media platforms. I’m sure you’re right but it’s awfully depressing.
Price of freedom is eternal vigilance and willingness to live out of a suitcase.
You're right, of course, but it goes back way further than that. The start of radio saw independent voices and amateur operators. Then, regulation followed by the emergence of big broadcasting networks. Cue the period of consolidation. We've seen that cycle repeat in media and technology time and time again (and much earlier in history): Innovation > independent voices/destabilization of previous paradigm > buyout/consolidation/monopoly. You're right that Substack won't remain as is, but that's OK. The trick is not to put all your eggs in one basket and to ride the wave of opportunity when it exists, while keeping your eyes on the horizon.
I studied this in my Sociology 101 class in 1966 in college; the progression toward institutionalization. It’s very predictable.
Unfortunately, people make a habit out of forgetting history.
I agree.
Regulation of broadcasters was required because they were using the same medium to broadcast their wares: the electromagnetic spectrum. There was no way to allow radio broadcasting without regulation.
I really liked this post for its realistic view and straightforward explanation. I hated it for the same reason. We all want to believe we have, at last, stumbled upon the real deal that will make the writing life grand. But it isn't to be. So, yep, we just stack like there's no tomorrow and pile up that email address list. And by the way, if this isn't precisely what is about to implode at Medium, I'm a monkey's aunt.
If there’s a silver lining… While I think the “fuse is lit,” I think the time for it to burn is still about two years. So the implosion is not imminent. :)
Nice piece, made me think. I’m curious about your ‘inevitable’ premise. I read a book about Visa some time ago, a platform that doesn’t seem to optimize for profit at the expense of the producer. I recall trust in payment was a key feature, a feature many of us early adopters value. It too grew to be a global system. Any thoughts on that?
Thanks for the thoughtful question. Visa's (BankAmericard) case is interesting, but I don’t think it contradicts the “inevitable” premise—if anything, it reinforces it.
Visa may have started differently, but it maximized profit, consolidated power, and engaged in anti-competitive practices like all of the other examples I cited. BankAmericard (later Visa) went from a cooperative structure to one of the biggest IPOs in history, faced major antitrust lawsuits, and lobbied to protect its market dominance at the expense of competition. That is, in part, how they became the biggest payment platform in the world, beating out American Express (who for most of this time was the worldwide leader.)
The “trust in payments” wasn’t a feature that kept it from profit-seeking—it was a business strategy that helped Visa become indispensable before shifting its focus to extracting revenue. That’s precisely the cycle I described in this piece—just in a different industry. Today, they continue to engage in the same anti-competitive practices as Facebook, Amazon, or Google (or quite frankly, that arrow is the other way around - Facebook, Amazon, and Google, engage in the same practices as Visa, since Visa engaged in these practices way before tech companies did.) As someone who operates a business that accepts credit cards (even here on substack) Visa isn't altruistic in any way (although AMEX is considerably worse to deal with as a merchant, which is why many merchants refuse to take AMEX.)
Extremely interesting article. Thanks.
Hi. I need help. I’m a passionate Dem, full of righteous anger who feels compelled to write about the shenanigans Trump and Musk are perpetrating on our country. I just discovered MeidasTouchNetwork last month and revere the reporting and delivery of the three Meiselas brothers. But I need educating to get started. What is a substack and how do I learn about it? Can I actually have a writing platform on it? I chose you to ask randomly because I like your writing and am trusting my gut. I’d be grateful for any writing advice whatsoever! ☮️
I sent you a Substack direct message a few minutes ago. Click the chat bubble icon at top of a page to find the message
No, I’m not ever going to monetize my work on here. I’m not in it for the money, education should be free and I don’t believe in gatekeeping access to important information. Can you imagine if some of histories most prolific literary prodigies kept out those who couldnt afford to subscribe? Not that I’m in any way comparing myself to them, that is not the point. Rather the point is that gatekeeping knowledge is elitist. I have the opportunity to use my voice for good. You cannot put a price on that. And lastly, to attempt to do so would mean I am essentially forced to churn out content way more often. I would be at the mercy of those who pay, instead of having the ability to post whatever I want, when I want to. I even go as far as to say that if people want to plagiarize my work or repurpose it in any way they’re welcome to do so if it means my message will be better received coming from someone else.
I also am not writing or reading for the money. I use it as a tool to express myself, which I needed after President Musk was inaugurated.
Did your parents leave you a fortune? How are you able to work for free? Can you cut me in?
Lmao, I wish. My parents dont give me shit. In fact after I graduated I've been homeless 3 times. I have no support system whatsoever and I'm a gay transgender man. I still choose not to monetize my work. Maybe its cause I don't really feel like this is work, since I enjoy investigative journalism so much. I guess its kind of an escape for me... but more importantly, I write for other poor people who need access to the information I post. My articles consist primarily of research rather than my opinions. Not that there's anything wrong with think pieces as I write some of those too, but since the majority of my work is educational I believe it should, and will remain free.
I appreciate your philosophy as do your subscribers, I’m sure. There are a few writers who offer their newsletters and comments for free which is appreciated. Those I do pay for because they do things that way and I just hope they continue to do so. What I have changed though is I now subscribe by the month. It may be more expensive over a years time but if I get tired of reading the author I’m not locked in for the year.
I am trying hard to avoid PayPal, Starbucks, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and anything really that has transformed from cool way to do things - to the axis of evil, immoral owners. Teslas we shall not ever talk about.
But you are correct - everything changes - even open source solutions become corrupted in some cases. I just wish that ethics and morale would have a greater influence on the minds of owners, employees and employers. Altruism and compassion should become à la Mode again — that would be really really sweet.
You can get a low mileage salvage title Tesla for pretty good prices these days! I say let the Musk run, his cars are gonna be cheaper than anything comparable in a few months
True that. But I think, as a European - I rather buy European…. See what goes around comes around… This “Maga”-maggotry is not healthy for the world. More people will be isolationist (unfortunately me too, since I do not want my hard earned kronor to go to the axis of evil)… so terrifyingly sad.
Yep. I work in technology and I'm looking for non US companies for my next job. It was tiresome enough when we had to follow US legislation because one was working for an US subsidiary, now I don't want to make any of these people even richer.
Yeah but would you want to be seen in one!
Still up too.
https://losangeles.craigslist.org/wst/cto/d/marina-del-rey-2020-tesla-model-free/7821063211.html
Open source solutions can't be corrupted, Red Hat (now an IBM company) tried that once overtly and once clinically and in full view, and they have failed.
And if some orange tinted air headed person would try to ban sharing your work with others one people elsewhere can simply fork the product.
Amen!
The hilarious part about Facebook’s much-vaunted “ultra-targeted marketing” is Facebook’s ads are such a sewer of con artists and snake oil salesmen I would NEVER buy anything from a company I knew only through Facebook.
A few months ago, there was a flood of ads advertising high-end name-brand guitars in some supposed Sam Ash music stores closeout sale, all at the unbelievable price of $129 with free shipping. No way it could be real, so I reported one of the ads. Facebook’s security team said there was nothing wrong.
Couple weeks later someone impersonated one of my friends and sent a friend request. After confirming with my friend it was bogus, I reported it. Facebook’s security team said - you guessed it - there was nothing wrong.
I treat EVERYTHING I see on Facebook as unverified and very possibly bogus.
I especially loved the creeps that commented on FB posts - hey I really loved your post and would like to be friends - my response was always this is not a dating app. I agree FB had devolved into a sewer long before Zuckerberg cow towed to the MAGA GOP regime.
I don’t even respond to people like that. Same with the strangers who send me friend requests out of the blue or try to contact me on Messenger. I don’t even know you - why would I accept your request or talk to you?
At least send me a message telling me why you want to be friends.
Andreessen Horowitz is a VC of Substack?? That’s some pretty disturbing information.
That's what got my attention, for sure.
Yikes, is that the same guy who hires killers as long as they are acquitted?
Money is capable of corrupting people, but only the corruptible ones.
Not all billionaires are evil.
The ones that are evil, were already creepy when they were poor.
The only non-corrupt billionaires are some of the people who got the money through the luck of lottery or inheritance. But most of them have been corrupted also.
Two generous, decent billionaires that come to mind are MacKenzie Scott and Taylor Swift…. hmmm, I just realized they are women.
From what I know about Scott’s activities, I’ll agree on her. (Divorce settlement is another route). Swift? Perhaps not evil, but a dedicated moneymaker and careerist who I don’t see has a moral focus to her life.
Being a capitalist, chasing the dollars, corrupts everyone, or is an expression of an already compromised soul.
Tell me you don’t know anything about Taylor Swift without saying you don’t know anything about Taylor Swift.
I’d suggest doing a little research about Taylor Swift. You’ve been given wrong information.
Melinda French Gates
Somewhere between millionaire (which could come from owning a house for decades) and a billionaire there is a corruption line. If you make money by paying employees below-living wages, you've crossed over.
Go to Spoutible!!! If you want a platform NOT owned by billionaires with no algorithm, Spoutible it the best choice. We drive out hate, misogyny and fascists.
I was on Spoutible and supported it from the beginning. I eventually left because civil discourse about dems is squashed. I felt like it was not like Substack at all.
If you drive out hate, misogyny and fascists, history proves you are the fascist.
Yep, I use it and support it as well and really like it.
No problem jumping ship when the time comes. We’ll find each other🙏❤️
How many ships do you want to jump in your lifetime? I think much of what is detailed here stems precisely *from* those who jump – like so many social-media lemmings – over and over, from platform to platform: leading to an endless cycle of capitalist (but therefore not long-lasting) growth… – the same critical (but reflexive; not “critical” in a thinking way) mass causing the same problems. [That UK Labour has fallen into the same trap would be laughable, were it not our lives it was screwing with.]
Allied with this is the race for these platforms all to end up looking pretty much the same; offering the same functionality. It seems weird now, I suppose, that – in my lifetime, anyway – we suddenly decided that all our individual voices were important, that all the other ears had to listen to us, and we were afforded such abilities (not understanding – or ignoring – the price paid).
What interests *me* is those that don’t jump, but drop-out, scarred from their social media experiences (like me… – although I was never really that active, anyway): preferring to stay in touch with just family and a few select friends (like my partner does), or just blogging (rarely now: because there are more important things in my life) about things that catch my interest, but not caring one jot about the numbers I do or don’t attract.
Unfortunately (from my perspective), there always seem to be those willing to replace the drop-outs. But for how long? Have we reached peak platform? Or will there always be a certain section of society that sees shouting as its inalienable right?