It was once THE place for contrarian thinking and reporting. Now nearly all its biggest newsletters/podcasts serve conventional liberal/woke pap. Is that really its future?
I mean seriously. Is there a single person who subscribes to UT that believes Robert Reich organically grew his Substack form zero to over 1 million subscribers in just a couple years.
Or that he has 10,000+ paid subscribers (some independent sites put that number north of 100,000) who pay to read his drivel.
C’mon man. They’ve been bought off.
It’s been memory holed now. But one of the first things Doge discovered was that the Bidan adminstration (and I’m sure it didn’t start there) was paying for 10s of 1000s of subscriptions to the NY Times, WaPo, LA Times, Politico, Axios etc.
There are deep pockets behind many of these high sub left wing hacks. And probably deep state pockets as well.
I'm sure bots can be used here just as they can on every internet media site. I can't imagine Substack is rigorously checking that every subscriber paid or unpaid, is real. Ignore "popularity" it's too easy to fake. Paid subscriptions are a little better but even then there are those with deep pockets who will pay for bots to "expand the reach."
I would judge a Substack by the quality and robustness of the comment section. In that respect, I have faith in Berenson, el gato malo, Childers, Simulation Commander, and others.
Amen brother. Look no further than California elections to understand it’s all Oz behind the curtain. If you have to commit fraud to win, and you do so blatantly, the train’s running out of track.
Ya. The train is running out of track. My fear, given that those operating the train are totally corrupt, and those who could properly operate the train don’t seem interested, is that the rest of us will be aboard when it finally derails.
Alex, the people who still want good content like yours on Substack can find it, regardless of what management promotes. The key point is the commitment to free speech, as you discussed in a previous post. Are you going to call them out about that?
Trump Derangement Substacks are making millions. They claim to have tens of thousands of subscribers, even though engagement is low and they regurgitate MSM slop. Heather Cox Richardson, Robert Reich, and Paul Krugman are among dozens of these writers who might be inflating user/revenue numbers with DNC email lists and ActBlue slush funds: https://yuribezmenov.substack.com/p/trump-derangement-substack-profit-analysis
I agree. Having boring content added doesn't bother me as long as the interesting authors are still there. I've never found a Substack author through Substack. Usually I see them on X first and follow them here.
Substack was a place for long-form news and information. Now it is just X or Facebook without the advertising.
The problem is too much flow that is managed by algorithms. It causes groupthink bubbles to form. It causes trolling and the lack of good intelligent conversation.
It is absolutely a problem of left-drift.
I use the WSJ comment section as an example. It used to be a place for educated conservatives and moderates. The comment content was very high-end. You would not dip your toe in that unless you knew the material and could write. Then the idiots decided that free academic subscriptions should be given access to comments. The old conservatives were dying off and the future was to attract more younger subscribers. Now the comment section is a mess of left-leaning trolls with TDS. The entire Newspaper has gone into the toilet... barely recognizable as being any different than the NYT.
Liberals are just flawed in that they don't come to the table with any good intentions for debate. Their ideological beliefs are so baked to their identity, that they become assholes in flamethrowing crap in opposition to anything that challenges their beliefs. They crash the quality of the conversation in any comment facility.
Substack is a place I escaped too. Now I am looking for ways to escape from it.
I accidentally "subscribed" (free) to one last week, because the name intrigued me. Turns out the name was a cover-up for "grim history" with a heavy scent of TDS. As of yesterday, Substack still will not let me unsubscribe. "Caveat Subscriptor."
Don't give up! Despite the trend going south potentially. People still enjoy your writing, at least I do and I believe many others as well. It is hard today to stay on the conservative blend and not be abused, etc. But look at our forefathers 250 years ago. Many of them were also criticized. What saddens me and I would think a lot of others is that with only a month away from 250 all I hear about is the World Cup not the 250th. Not that I don't think the World Cup is an exciting event for soccer fans, but seriously who are the other 250 year old free countries that everyone tries to live in but criticize for all its supposed faults?!? What other country is it?
Jim, I hear you. Our 250th less than 23 days away and crickets! Really bizarre and it hurts to witness. Was checking out some celebration options this weekend for the 4th. I fully expected there would be no rooms available....Wrong! Unbelievable! With 2 young men from my family headed for USMC bootcamp and the many service members already in the theatre of action to protect us and the enormous number of those who stood at the ready and sacrificed for us allowing us the privelege of freedoms only seen in this country.....for 250 years seems less significant than cutting the ribbon to a new dog park. (slight exagerration but you get my point).
I've been a subscriber to The Free Press from the beginning when it was Common Sense and while the readers might be independent or right leaning, Bari and most of the writers are liberal. All these accusations (not from Alex but the main stream media) that she was brought into CBS to appease Trump are wrong. She didn't vote for Trump. As near as I can tell she and Nellie are backing Newsom though if Shapiro made a good run I'm sure that would their preferred candidate.
Bari seemed reasonably sane to me (left but not nuts and willing to be honest about the facts) but I can't say the same for Nellie. In fact after about a year I cancelled my Free Press subscription because I found Nellie's work so irrational. I re-subscribed for Coleman Hughes and Abigail Shrier but am still uncertain about it.
I subscribed to Abigail's Substack and was happy when she joined TFP. I'm a right leaning libertarian but subscribe to a number of former lefties like Taibbi who now come across as moderates because the left has gone so far left. Case in point: Coleman describes himself as liberal and voted for Biden in 2020. But he is a rational actor so somebody I can read and listen to.
Weiss talks the talk but does not walk the walk. She has the same worldview as everyone at the NYT has. 100% of her employed writers have that same worldview. She does buy content from folks like victor David Hanson but she amazingly is unable to find not a single young conservative writer who has an opinion that differs from her to hire. If you want to get sent to time out just criticize Hilary Clinton.
Yes, I was trying to make that point. She and most of the writers are liberal. She has been labeled right-wing and MAGA since joining CBS which is ridiculous if you actually listen or read her.
I loved Common Sense/Free Press. But I refuse to double pay for a subscription after Substack canceled all of mine. That said, I'm okay withe Left/Independent thinkers who I don't agree with as long as the writing is great. Nellie Bowles is a terrific writer. Bari too. Sorry to have lost her to CBS for I do not know what reason other than money.
I willl reread your column and comment more thoughtfully later, but as someone who has been self-employed and struggling for 30+ years, I'll simply say, don't let perfect be the enemy of the good. Understand that those in charge are motivated by the good life, as just about everyone is. The true iconoclasts may be otherwise, but just keep doing your thing.
I'm nominally conservative, though I have problems with the do-nothing GOP as much as I do with the do-evil Dems. Reading is not something my conservative friends do. Because I read obsessively, especially long-form content of both mainstream and alternative sources, many of them come to me to ask about controversial, but obscure, topics. I watch my share of videos too, but my conservative friends almost entirely get their news from videos on YT. Substack, by its nature as an uncensored blog platform, was always going to trend left. It could have stayed more alternative if the censorship regime on YT and X had not been almost entirely removed. Even facebook, the worst of the worst when it came to censorship, has eased a little. If no one is engaging in mass censorship, then Substack's raison d'être is no longer unique.
Nevertheless, I pay of well over 20 Substack creators, and will continue to do so into the future, as it represents one of the few places to find alternative voices that aren't trite (TikTok), insane (X), or more entertainment than informative (YT).
My late husband, who was a pediatric oncologist at MSKCC and first biotech analyst on Wall Street to be an actual having practiced his craft MD, once told me that if you see something in the widespread media about a company or a stock, it's time to sell. He was on an airplane and read in the airplane magazine about a biotech stock....thus his comment I just mentioned. That's what happens to many good things like Substack. Everyone wants to get in on it, and it's no longer what it was.
People like you, need to just keep writing the truth.
I watch very few podcasts, they are simply too time consuming. I'd rather read and skim if necessary. That on the whole Substack is trending left doesn't bother me yet, but it will if they start censoring views they don't like. The AI comment "algorithm" is a shot across the bows for a coming crackdown on unapproved voices. If that happens, I'll hope that the people I follow here will find an alternative platform that I can follow them to, and cancel my Substack subscriptions.
My understanding is CBS bought The Free Press. as an inducement to Bari Weiss Is that a causal effect for why Substack is starting to look at kissing the ring, so to speak?
I joined to write. Not news or commentary. Just my little creative health-related-ish news. Then I had to take an extended break. Still on it. I never made more than a few hundred dollars but wasn't in it for the money (yet?). Sad to hear it's losing the original focus. I heard from someone else they may also be censoring.
Alex, READERS follow good or great Writers. We don't need to agree on all, in fact, that would be beyond boring. But, reading clear words, thoughts, premises, and having the backing of resources to make sense of the less-known is vital to learning. Speaking for myself only, life-long learning is why my Substack subscriptions have dwindled. I prefer the written medium and that means Substack. I've been subscribed for years. Thank you for persevering in the written form.
Are we shocked? Stopped reading years ago bc it was so obvs it was going to the dark side of TDS and embarrassing writing that lacked integrity, intelligence and research
None of that ‘growth’ on the left is organic.
I mean seriously. Is there a single person who subscribes to UT that believes Robert Reich organically grew his Substack form zero to over 1 million subscribers in just a couple years.
Or that he has 10,000+ paid subscribers (some independent sites put that number north of 100,000) who pay to read his drivel.
C’mon man. They’ve been bought off.
It’s been memory holed now. But one of the first things Doge discovered was that the Bidan adminstration (and I’m sure it didn’t start there) was paying for 10s of 1000s of subscriptions to the NY Times, WaPo, LA Times, Politico, Axios etc.
There are deep pockets behind many of these high sub left wing hacks. And probably deep state pockets as well.
I'm sure bots can be used here just as they can on every internet media site. I can't imagine Substack is rigorously checking that every subscriber paid or unpaid, is real. Ignore "popularity" it's too easy to fake. Paid subscriptions are a little better but even then there are those with deep pockets who will pay for bots to "expand the reach."
I would judge a Substack by the quality and robustness of the comment section. In that respect, I have faith in Berenson, el gato malo, Childers, Simulation Commander, and others.
Exactly
Amen brother. Look no further than California elections to understand it’s all Oz behind the curtain. If you have to commit fraud to win, and you do so blatantly, the train’s running out of track.
Ya. The train is running out of track. My fear, given that those operating the train are totally corrupt, and those who could properly operate the train don’t seem interested, is that the rest of us will be aboard when it finally derails.
Alex, the people who still want good content like yours on Substack can find it, regardless of what management promotes. The key point is the commitment to free speech, as you discussed in a previous post. Are you going to call them out about that?
Trump Derangement Substacks are making millions. They claim to have tens of thousands of subscribers, even though engagement is low and they regurgitate MSM slop. Heather Cox Richardson, Robert Reich, and Paul Krugman are among dozens of these writers who might be inflating user/revenue numbers with DNC email lists and ActBlue slush funds: https://yuribezmenov.substack.com/p/trump-derangement-substack-profit-analysis
I agree. Having boring content added doesn't bother me as long as the interesting authors are still there. I've never found a Substack author through Substack. Usually I see them on X first and follow them here.
Nailed it.
Notes f*cked it all up.
Substack was a place for long-form news and information. Now it is just X or Facebook without the advertising.
The problem is too much flow that is managed by algorithms. It causes groupthink bubbles to form. It causes trolling and the lack of good intelligent conversation.
It is absolutely a problem of left-drift.
I use the WSJ comment section as an example. It used to be a place for educated conservatives and moderates. The comment content was very high-end. You would not dip your toe in that unless you knew the material and could write. Then the idiots decided that free academic subscriptions should be given access to comments. The old conservatives were dying off and the future was to attract more younger subscribers. Now the comment section is a mess of left-leaning trolls with TDS. The entire Newspaper has gone into the toilet... barely recognizable as being any different than the NYT.
Liberals are just flawed in that they don't come to the table with any good intentions for debate. Their ideological beliefs are so baked to their identity, that they become assholes in flamethrowing crap in opposition to anything that challenges their beliefs. They crash the quality of the conversation in any comment facility.
Substack is a place I escaped too. Now I am looking for ways to escape from it.
“You would not dip your toe in that unless you knew the material and could write.” — this phrase is pure 🔥🔥🔥. Spoken like a true ‘Frank’ 🫡
Wherever you go, I will follow you there. That said, what a bummer that Substack is now using AI censors and leaning left. Boo hiss.
i follow ZERO woke substacks.
I accidentally "subscribed" (free) to one last week, because the name intrigued me. Turns out the name was a cover-up for "grim history" with a heavy scent of TDS. As of yesterday, Substack still will not let me unsubscribe. "Caveat Subscriptor."
Alex,
Don't give up! Despite the trend going south potentially. People still enjoy your writing, at least I do and I believe many others as well. It is hard today to stay on the conservative blend and not be abused, etc. But look at our forefathers 250 years ago. Many of them were also criticized. What saddens me and I would think a lot of others is that with only a month away from 250 all I hear about is the World Cup not the 250th. Not that I don't think the World Cup is an exciting event for soccer fans, but seriously who are the other 250 year old free countries that everyone tries to live in but criticize for all its supposed faults?!? What other country is it?
Jim, I hear you. Our 250th less than 23 days away and crickets! Really bizarre and it hurts to witness. Was checking out some celebration options this weekend for the 4th. I fully expected there would be no rooms available....Wrong! Unbelievable! With 2 young men from my family headed for USMC bootcamp and the many service members already in the theatre of action to protect us and the enormous number of those who stood at the ready and sacrificed for us allowing us the privelege of freedoms only seen in this country.....for 250 years seems less significant than cutting the ribbon to a new dog park. (slight exagerration but you get my point).
I've been a subscriber to The Free Press from the beginning when it was Common Sense and while the readers might be independent or right leaning, Bari and most of the writers are liberal. All these accusations (not from Alex but the main stream media) that she was brought into CBS to appease Trump are wrong. She didn't vote for Trump. As near as I can tell she and Nellie are backing Newsom though if Shapiro made a good run I'm sure that would their preferred candidate.
Bari seemed reasonably sane to me (left but not nuts and willing to be honest about the facts) but I can't say the same for Nellie. In fact after about a year I cancelled my Free Press subscription because I found Nellie's work so irrational. I re-subscribed for Coleman Hughes and Abigail Shrier but am still uncertain about it.
I subscribed to Abigail's Substack and was happy when she joined TFP. I'm a right leaning libertarian but subscribe to a number of former lefties like Taibbi who now come across as moderates because the left has gone so far left. Case in point: Coleman describes himself as liberal and voted for Biden in 2020. But he is a rational actor so somebody I can read and listen to.
Weiss talks the talk but does not walk the walk. She has the same worldview as everyone at the NYT has. 100% of her employed writers have that same worldview. She does buy content from folks like victor David Hanson but she amazingly is unable to find not a single young conservative writer who has an opinion that differs from her to hire. If you want to get sent to time out just criticize Hilary Clinton.
Yes, I was trying to make that point. She and most of the writers are liberal. She has been labeled right-wing and MAGA since joining CBS which is ridiculous if you actually listen or read her.
I loved Common Sense/Free Press. But I refuse to double pay for a subscription after Substack canceled all of mine. That said, I'm okay withe Left/Independent thinkers who I don't agree with as long as the writing is great. Nellie Bowles is a terrific writer. Bari too. Sorry to have lost her to CBS for I do not know what reason other than money.
I willl reread your column and comment more thoughtfully later, but as someone who has been self-employed and struggling for 30+ years, I'll simply say, don't let perfect be the enemy of the good. Understand that those in charge are motivated by the good life, as just about everyone is. The true iconoclasts may be otherwise, but just keep doing your thing.
I'm nominally conservative, though I have problems with the do-nothing GOP as much as I do with the do-evil Dems. Reading is not something my conservative friends do. Because I read obsessively, especially long-form content of both mainstream and alternative sources, many of them come to me to ask about controversial, but obscure, topics. I watch my share of videos too, but my conservative friends almost entirely get their news from videos on YT. Substack, by its nature as an uncensored blog platform, was always going to trend left. It could have stayed more alternative if the censorship regime on YT and X had not been almost entirely removed. Even facebook, the worst of the worst when it came to censorship, has eased a little. If no one is engaging in mass censorship, then Substack's raison d'être is no longer unique.
Nevertheless, I pay of well over 20 Substack creators, and will continue to do so into the future, as it represents one of the few places to find alternative voices that aren't trite (TikTok), insane (X), or more entertainment than informative (YT).
My late husband, who was a pediatric oncologist at MSKCC and first biotech analyst on Wall Street to be an actual having practiced his craft MD, once told me that if you see something in the widespread media about a company or a stock, it's time to sell. He was on an airplane and read in the airplane magazine about a biotech stock....thus his comment I just mentioned. That's what happens to many good things like Substack. Everyone wants to get in on it, and it's no longer what it was.
People like you, need to just keep writing the truth.
As the business model for traditional media continues to collapse they migrate over here in an attempt to continue earning a living.
I watch very few podcasts, they are simply too time consuming. I'd rather read and skim if necessary. That on the whole Substack is trending left doesn't bother me yet, but it will if they start censoring views they don't like. The AI comment "algorithm" is a shot across the bows for a coming crackdown on unapproved voices. If that happens, I'll hope that the people I follow here will find an alternative platform that I can follow them to, and cancel my Substack subscriptions.
My understanding is CBS bought The Free Press. as an inducement to Bari Weiss Is that a causal effect for why Substack is starting to look at kissing the ring, so to speak?
I joined to write. Not news or commentary. Just my little creative health-related-ish news. Then I had to take an extended break. Still on it. I never made more than a few hundred dollars but wasn't in it for the money (yet?). Sad to hear it's losing the original focus. I heard from someone else they may also be censoring.
Alex, READERS follow good or great Writers. We don't need to agree on all, in fact, that would be beyond boring. But, reading clear words, thoughts, premises, and having the backing of resources to make sense of the less-known is vital to learning. Speaking for myself only, life-long learning is why my Substack subscriptions have dwindled. I prefer the written medium and that means Substack. I've been subscribed for years. Thank you for persevering in the written form.
Are we shocked? Stopped reading years ago bc it was so obvs it was going to the dark side of TDS and embarrassing writing that lacked integrity, intelligence and research
Getting annoyed with Substack because I keep getting notifications I never signed up for, for very leftist commentary!