Hello #WritingCommunity
Apparently #Google has changed their privacy policy and now says that they'll scrape everything you post online to train their AI tools.
I even post my #Fiction online on #Substack & my #Wordpress blog and now wonder if this is a bad idea.
They say paywalls could deter the scraping.
What do you think writers can do to protect their content? Or should we just roll over and accept that this is the way things will be from now on?
As I scroll through #Substack, which is VERY North American, and read their content ... I keep wondering: Do US folks think about perspectives beyond their own?
The answer doesn't seem to be yes 😆
I don't blame US folk in any way. It's just that we Internationals know a lot about the #US and talk, write & even discuss their issues with them, but we don't get that in return.
Interacting on a platform heavily dominated by one #culture can be an experience.
This is our 3rd quarterly update on which platforms are growing, new entries such as #BlueSky, #Substack Notes, #Nostr & all public data on Meta's #project92
Includes latest on the #RedditMigration,
New polling, new posting data & more.
In einer Welt, in der offene Protokolle das Ende der Gatekeeper eingelaeutet haben, gibt es keine Ausreden mehr wenn es darum geht sich gegen wirre Content-Policies der Plattformen zu positionieren. #MeTacheles zieht bei #Substack die Reissleine!
Anstand ist nicht verhandelbar & genau deshalb verlasse ich die Plattform, die Nazi-Content monetarisiert.
Wuerde mich mehr denn je freuen, wenn ihr diese Ausgabe teilt, repostet und boostet.
Only on #Mastodon do I see people judging others being on #Substack and #X, seemingly implying that they are better humans for not being on it.
This betrays their massive privilege & ignorance of how cultures outside their own operates on #SocialMedia.
People fm less privileged countries rely on them to get their messages out. Self-hosted options are priced for Americans. It is not "the price of a cup of coffee" for everyone.
So, you are not impressing me with the virtue signalling.
It feels like the world is ending from every possible direction.
Maybe you feel like your world is ending too. And neither of us benefits from putting on a fake smile and keeping on as if we aren’t dealing with deep, existential, debilitating fear.
So here’s an uncomfortable question: does #marketing work even matter during an apocalypse?
Lots of people throwing #Substack alternatives out there, but I haven’t seen much love for @buttondown. No idea why, because it’s awesome.
With Buttondown you get:
✅ Fully hosted
✅ Newsletter, RSS and public archive (a blog)
✅ Custom CSS for both newsletter and web
✅ Run by a really cool person who’s always adding new features
✅ That warm fuzzy feeling of supporting indie devs
So #TwitterDown is trending on #Mastodon today. Here's another lesson why using platforms like #Twitter & #Substack as your content home is a bad idea. Publish your content the POSSE/PESOS way instead.
#substack, by first refusing to ban nazis under the guise of being a "free speech" platform, and then turning around and saying "actually we'll ban some of the nazis", has taken the route that will piss off the most people possible
All right, for anyone wondering I am definitely planning to move off of #Substack quite soon. I want to take a moment to share some specifics about why it's hard for a lot of people to move off the platform, even though you "own your list".
I think most of the stories people are seeing about migrating away from Substack are from prominent writers. If you have a large subscriber base, it is cheaper to use a different platform:
It is 100% hilarious but it never occurred for me to mirror my content to #Medium until @justin wrote this.
As a reader this makes a lot of sense as I can financially support as many authors as I can with one payment. I wish more #Substack writers will consider mirroring their content to Medium so I can help support them.
Radley Balko responds to Substack's argument that it cannot exclude Nazis from its platform:
"The problem is that Substack hasn’t been letting everyone in. They’ve been drawing lines all along. They do moderate some content — sex worker newsletters, for example — which makes it harder to swallow the argument that the decision to keep hosting newsletters by Nazis (yes — actual Nazis) is grounded in some purist devotion to free speech."
So, I've been thinking about the future of Vibes Based Hockey, and I have come to the decision that next season, the coverage is going to look different. The actual newsletter is going to focus more on stories of general interest in hockey around the world. Going to keep doing weekly women's hockey roundups and “Hockey Isn't For Everyone” articles, but the other articles will focus more on interesting stories that others aren't talking about, from all across the globe. 1/3
Tonight, I watched a big-name writer bully another writer with a smaller presence. Basically, threaten to sue said writer.
I’m done with #Substack Notes. Watching this happen was the last straw for me. If this is how the “best” of Substack behaves, I want out.
I do not want to be somewhere where I’ll be subject to this toxicity or see others being subjected to it.
So, I will no longer be using Notes.
Am actually relieved cos I can now focus on what matters.
I can’t support #Substack in light of their announcement today. They have a choice whether to support fascist content, and acting like they are forced to platform these views is unacceptable.
I am planning to move my newsletter to a different platform, and will be working on figuring out the migration the rest of this week. I am very relieved that I chose to build my platform as a newsletter, since I own my audience and can take my subscriber list with me.
i spoke personally with hamish mckenzie last week, and came out of the conversation with very little faith in the company's approach to moderation. i'm glad they caved on this point (or promised to cave?), but i am not optimistic something similar won't happen yet again