Thanks for sharing your analysis Katie. I’ve been considering my own options and for now came to a similar conclusion for many of the same reasons. However, if you are taking time to look at other platforms, I used beehive for another newsletter for the better part of last year and it’s a great service with increasingly, many of the benefits they Substack offers. https://www.beehiiv.com
I'll look into that! I admittedly did not have the time to do all the in depth research on all the other options before writing this. (Which is why I haven't made a final decision yet.)
Solid analysis, Katie. I've been mulling over starting a stack of my own; to this point I subscribe to a select few and was a co-funder of another. First, I thought I read on Platformer (Casey Newton) that Mgt. has agreed to remove all offensive content on this particular subject matter. Perhaps its a matter of my family's history, but while I am an ardent supporter of free speech, when it comes to Nazism I draw the line, that as in Germany and elsewhere, that content should simply be banned. That said, its seems this needs to be given a chance, while continuing to consider alternatives. I've heard of something called BeeHive (spelling?) I've heard of Ghost as you noted, but the word here is not nearly as developed as Substack. The Institute here also uses Squarespace in addition to WordPress VIP, and while Squarespace offers considerable capability, we ruled it OUT for this type of content-driven community building as it would require a bit too much care-and-feeding by our web team, and personally none of us at the Institute have the time to self-administer. Appreciated your assessment chart. Seems like you are taking the right steps. Again, I'd give Substack mgt. an opportunity to follow through on what I thought I read they promise to do. If not, then Plan-B (or C).
This was a very thoughtful, nuanced look at the reasons why people stay or go. As a former tech employee, I think these are tradeoffs (cost, growth, and more) that everyone should be thinking about.
I sure wish more platforms would at least have thoughtful policies about preventing antisemitism (and Islamaphobia, and more)... but leaving is not always the (immediate, at least) answers for many folks.
Reputational risk of remaining on Substack seems to me to be the decisive criterion, overriding convenience, cost, community, etc. Your own brand will suffer if your trade-offs mean that you decide to stay...
Thanks for sharing your analysis Katie. I’ve been considering my own options and for now came to a similar conclusion for many of the same reasons. However, if you are taking time to look at other platforms, I used beehive for another newsletter for the better part of last year and it’s a great service with increasingly, many of the benefits they Substack offers. https://www.beehiiv.com
I'll look into that! I admittedly did not have the time to do all the in depth research on all the other options before writing this. (Which is why I haven't made a final decision yet.)
Solid analysis, Katie. I've been mulling over starting a stack of my own; to this point I subscribe to a select few and was a co-funder of another. First, I thought I read on Platformer (Casey Newton) that Mgt. has agreed to remove all offensive content on this particular subject matter. Perhaps its a matter of my family's history, but while I am an ardent supporter of free speech, when it comes to Nazism I draw the line, that as in Germany and elsewhere, that content should simply be banned. That said, its seems this needs to be given a chance, while continuing to consider alternatives. I've heard of something called BeeHive (spelling?) I've heard of Ghost as you noted, but the word here is not nearly as developed as Substack. The Institute here also uses Squarespace in addition to WordPress VIP, and while Squarespace offers considerable capability, we ruled it OUT for this type of content-driven community building as it would require a bit too much care-and-feeding by our web team, and personally none of us at the Institute have the time to self-administer. Appreciated your assessment chart. Seems like you are taking the right steps. Again, I'd give Substack mgt. an opportunity to follow through on what I thought I read they promise to do. If not, then Plan-B (or C).
This was a very thoughtful, nuanced look at the reasons why people stay or go. As a former tech employee, I think these are tradeoffs (cost, growth, and more) that everyone should be thinking about.
I sure wish more platforms would at least have thoughtful policies about preventing antisemitism (and Islamaphobia, and more)... but leaving is not always the (immediate, at least) answers for many folks.
Reputational risk of remaining on Substack seems to me to be the decisive criterion, overriding convenience, cost, community, etc. Your own brand will suffer if your trade-offs mean that you decide to stay...
I don't want jerks/Nazis/Commies/etc. to be censored because I want the whole world to see them for what they are.
If all the Nazis and Commies were driven underground, how would we know who they are and what they are up to?