Bleeding good writers like Luke in order to hang onto Graham Linehan and COVID misinformation is such a self-defeating choice. With time, this strategy leaves you with nothing but extremists. It's happened over and over to platforms with your naive "free speech above all else" approach throughout the history of the internet. You're doing well for now but one by one and then all at once, everyone will find something here they can't stomach sharing a platform with, except the worst of the worst. I'll be sorry to see it, you've built a good technical product and the model does work. I hope you manage to see your error before it's too late.
I’d much rather share a platform with people I disagree with than with folks who think just like me — what would be the point of that? Thanks for what you’re doing, Hamish
Keep up the good work, Hamish. All the way from Nigeria, I want to thank you and the Substack team for everything you do. I’d also like to encourage you by reminding you that the impact of your work extends beyond the US. Well done 👏🏾
This is really beautifully written, Hamish. Kind of reminded me why I fell in love with startup culture in my 20s. You’re a great founder (and writer, obvi.)
Free speech is beautiful and it’s pathetic when people use that as an excuse to platform hateful & dangerous speech. Anti-vaxxers are a reason why covid variants are still floating around. Graham Linehan should be talking to a wall; his substack is disgusting and hateful. Some transparency about how much money substack brings in with this constituency could possibly begin to breach that trust, but when you have a utopian vision for writing that starts with the outcasts of mainstream media (so often … not white men) those same outcasts are going to be pissed, fairly, when you also become a home to people whose fringe views make them a liability for mainstream media.
Hamish- I love your passion for what you're doing and its part of what has always made me feel very good about being here. The culture war demands that all must be swallowed and sucked into its abyss. But I know before I went down the newslettering path, how limited the choices were becoming for writers. For me the road was more or less at an end. The tools youve built have liberated me and so many others and that is what matters. Writing is a cause, a religion. The world used to believe that, but between commerce and cultural battles, thats been lost. Thank you for standing by that and what youve done to not just keep that flame alive but to help it claw its way back will be remembered.
Jun 10, 2022·edited Jun 10, 2022Liked by Hamish McKenzie
Nice one Hamish. Substack - and your attitude - are perfect case studies to illustrate the latest Not Boring article about the limitless scalability of optimism. From Luke's writing I get the sense of a restless, contrarian soul. The same qualities that made him the perfect early adopter of - and writer on - Substack may have also make it hard for him to stay.
You can't please everyone. By deciding to please the far Right, you have made this platform more hostile to queer and trans people, people of color, disabled people, etc and the allies on their side. It's not a matter of "differing viewpoints" when one side is "we want to exist in peace" and the other side is "we want to eradicate you." A few bad apples spoil the bunch, so have fun with your rotten apples, I guess.
Hamish, The Des Moines Register, owned by Gannett/Gatehouse was just exposed for taking on a commercial printing job publishing right-wing propaganda 'newspapers.' They are now experiencing a flood of reader cancellations, which any newspaper can ill-afford. Striking a balance between offering opposing views, while not caving into profiting from disinformation, is an important boundary to maintain. Thanks for what you've created. I'm happy to report I'm a part of a group of professional Iowa columnists now on Substack. We are collaborating and cross promoting each other. It's proving to be a successful model. You have made this possible.
An interesting article on the history of substack. I found it odd that you mentioned living off of scraps in a one bedroom apartment at the start of Substack, then talked about Luke making over a hundred thousand a year and buying a house. Would you mind updating us on your rough financial salary from Substack and your current living arrangements?
Solving the tricky problem of "how can I make everyone welcome on my platform?" with "everything is welcome" seems like a straightforward solution, but when you lend your platform to a large, powerful swath of people who want to eradicate other, less powerful groups of people, it undermines your effort at neutrality. Suddenly, you are giving money and influence to people actively hostile to the other writers you wish to host, and now you even have a financial interest in keeping those writers spreading their hostility through your platform.
In the face of such a dilemma, instigating basic community guidelines would not be tantamount to censorship, it would be in keeping with your mission to give writers more freedom and voice. As a subscriber of several writers here, (and of Luke's), I truly appreciate so much everything you've done to that end. I do hope you choose not to give yet another bullhorn to people publishing violent and hateful rhetoric. I love a diversity of perspectives as much as the next guy, (more than the next guy, even! Fight me, next guy!), but without guidelines for how to engage and publish respectfully, it winds up reducing, not expanding the constellation of voices and perspectives that we get to hear.
I love Substack because I can read those writers I respect and find interesting. You knew that the cancel culture would come your way. Keep things the way they are. Let all opinions be heard and keep up the good work.
Well written. For me, the most important point you make is that this is a platform that doesn't use AI to push other like minded viewpoints. I subscribe to several blogs on Substack and was blissfully unaware of any anti-vax or transphobic blogs. For me, it is a medium, like a phone. Phones were used to coordinate the recent right wing attack on the Pride parade in Coeur d'Alene but I don't feel the need to disconnect my phone (well, not for that reason, anyway).
Of course it isn't that simple, but I'm still comfortable continuing to follow the people I do on Substack.
I continue to subscribe to those on Substack and Luke on Ghost. Does Ghost gatekeep its writers? I have no idea, and that's just fine.
Very nicely written. I appreciate having a platform where I can write and have a connection to my audience without multiple filter levels. I don’t actually make a penny from my substack. Instead, the subscriber fees have gone into building a nationally syndicated radio program and paying the costs and salaries associated with that. It’s allowed me to be less focused on radio advertisers and more focused on my audience. I don’t think people associate Substack with me. It’s just the platform I use now instead of Wordpress and it is so much better. I hate that some people have so internalized the nation’s political disagreements that they can’t bring themselves to be associated with the other side in any form. I just don’t think that’s healthy and think Substack is making our discourse healthier through allowing all voices a platform on which to thrive.
Bleeding good writers like Luke in order to hang onto Graham Linehan and COVID misinformation is such a self-defeating choice. With time, this strategy leaves you with nothing but extremists. It's happened over and over to platforms with your naive "free speech above all else" approach throughout the history of the internet. You're doing well for now but one by one and then all at once, everyone will find something here they can't stomach sharing a platform with, except the worst of the worst. I'll be sorry to see it, you've built a good technical product and the model does work. I hope you manage to see your error before it's too late.
I’d much rather share a platform with people I disagree with than with folks who think just like me — what would be the point of that? Thanks for what you’re doing, Hamish
Keep up the good work, Hamish. All the way from Nigeria, I want to thank you and the Substack team for everything you do. I’d also like to encourage you by reminding you that the impact of your work extends beyond the US. Well done 👏🏾
I appreciate your principled stand.
This is a beautiful and well-written piece. Thank you for the transparency. I am beyond honored to be writing here!
This is really beautifully written, Hamish. Kind of reminded me why I fell in love with startup culture in my 20s. You’re a great founder (and writer, obvi.)
Free speech is beautiful and it’s pathetic when people use that as an excuse to platform hateful & dangerous speech. Anti-vaxxers are a reason why covid variants are still floating around. Graham Linehan should be talking to a wall; his substack is disgusting and hateful. Some transparency about how much money substack brings in with this constituency could possibly begin to breach that trust, but when you have a utopian vision for writing that starts with the outcasts of mainstream media (so often … not white men) those same outcasts are going to be pissed, fairly, when you also become a home to people whose fringe views make them a liability for mainstream media.
Hamish- I love your passion for what you're doing and its part of what has always made me feel very good about being here. The culture war demands that all must be swallowed and sucked into its abyss. But I know before I went down the newslettering path, how limited the choices were becoming for writers. For me the road was more or less at an end. The tools youve built have liberated me and so many others and that is what matters. Writing is a cause, a religion. The world used to believe that, but between commerce and cultural battles, thats been lost. Thank you for standing by that and what youve done to not just keep that flame alive but to help it claw its way back will be remembered.
Nice one Hamish. Substack - and your attitude - are perfect case studies to illustrate the latest Not Boring article about the limitless scalability of optimism. From Luke's writing I get the sense of a restless, contrarian soul. The same qualities that made him the perfect early adopter of - and writer on - Substack may have also make it hard for him to stay.
You can't please everyone. By deciding to please the far Right, you have made this platform more hostile to queer and trans people, people of color, disabled people, etc and the allies on their side. It's not a matter of "differing viewpoints" when one side is "we want to exist in peace" and the other side is "we want to eradicate you." A few bad apples spoil the bunch, so have fun with your rotten apples, I guess.
Hamish, The Des Moines Register, owned by Gannett/Gatehouse was just exposed for taking on a commercial printing job publishing right-wing propaganda 'newspapers.' They are now experiencing a flood of reader cancellations, which any newspaper can ill-afford. Striking a balance between offering opposing views, while not caving into profiting from disinformation, is an important boundary to maintain. Thanks for what you've created. I'm happy to report I'm a part of a group of professional Iowa columnists now on Substack. We are collaborating and cross promoting each other. It's proving to be a successful model. You have made this possible.
Hey Hamish,
An interesting article on the history of substack. I found it odd that you mentioned living off of scraps in a one bedroom apartment at the start of Substack, then talked about Luke making over a hundred thousand a year and buying a house. Would you mind updating us on your rough financial salary from Substack and your current living arrangements?
Solving the tricky problem of "how can I make everyone welcome on my platform?" with "everything is welcome" seems like a straightforward solution, but when you lend your platform to a large, powerful swath of people who want to eradicate other, less powerful groups of people, it undermines your effort at neutrality. Suddenly, you are giving money and influence to people actively hostile to the other writers you wish to host, and now you even have a financial interest in keeping those writers spreading their hostility through your platform.
In the face of such a dilemma, instigating basic community guidelines would not be tantamount to censorship, it would be in keeping with your mission to give writers more freedom and voice. As a subscriber of several writers here, (and of Luke's), I truly appreciate so much everything you've done to that end. I do hope you choose not to give yet another bullhorn to people publishing violent and hateful rhetoric. I love a diversity of perspectives as much as the next guy, (more than the next guy, even! Fight me, next guy!), but without guidelines for how to engage and publish respectfully, it winds up reducing, not expanding the constellation of voices and perspectives that we get to hear.
I love Substack because I can read those writers I respect and find interesting. You knew that the cancel culture would come your way. Keep things the way they are. Let all opinions be heard and keep up the good work.
Well written. For me, the most important point you make is that this is a platform that doesn't use AI to push other like minded viewpoints. I subscribe to several blogs on Substack and was blissfully unaware of any anti-vax or transphobic blogs. For me, it is a medium, like a phone. Phones were used to coordinate the recent right wing attack on the Pride parade in Coeur d'Alene but I don't feel the need to disconnect my phone (well, not for that reason, anyway).
Of course it isn't that simple, but I'm still comfortable continuing to follow the people I do on Substack.
I continue to subscribe to those on Substack and Luke on Ghost. Does Ghost gatekeep its writers? I have no idea, and that's just fine.
Very nicely written. I appreciate having a platform where I can write and have a connection to my audience without multiple filter levels. I don’t actually make a penny from my substack. Instead, the subscriber fees have gone into building a nationally syndicated radio program and paying the costs and salaries associated with that. It’s allowed me to be less focused on radio advertisers and more focused on my audience. I don’t think people associate Substack with me. It’s just the platform I use now instead of Wordpress and it is so much better. I hate that some people have so internalized the nation’s political disagreements that they can’t bring themselves to be associated with the other side in any form. I just don’t think that’s healthy and think Substack is making our discourse healthier through allowing all voices a platform on which to thrive.