Community Comments: What's Going to Happen to Substack?
Substack is changing. Here's what you guys have to say about it.
Substack is growing. People are joining the platform in droves, and it seems like there has been a massive change in the way people act on here, even just in the last couple weeks.
With growth comes change. For better or for worse, a year from now, Substack will look completely different than it does today.
On one hand, I’m stoked about this. Of course I want more people to see my work. I will never turn my nose up at a new reader who is genuinely interested in what I have to say.
On the other hand… well, read the article:
I voiced two main concerns, which can be summarized as follows:
As Substack grows, it might begin to feel more like every other social media site than like a publishing platform.
If this happens, Substack might invite advertisers, which would undermine its commitment to thoughtful and free expression.
In short, I like Substack because it is authentic. The people on here want to talk, not to fight, and it is one of the few places on the Internet where we can genuinely say what we think and let the audience decide whether they agree.
I’m not the only one who feels this way. People love it here. And it seems like there’s a consensus as to why.
Check out this comment from
, who loves Substack precisely because of its ‘depth’ when compared to other social media sites.
And this one from
, who shares a similar sentiment, directly contrasting Substack’s algorithm to X’s incendiary and addictive one.
It should come as no surprise, then, that the comments were virtually unanimously against ads and censorship—the very things that other social media sites have that Substack does not.
However, there was one potential issue with Substack that surprised me. A couple people expressed concern about their use of Stripe’s payment processing services. Check out this Note from
:He made an interesting point. I suggest you check out the entire thread.
expressed a similar concern.
These really threw me for a loop.
Also, while I had mentioned the threat of selling in my original post, I hadn’t even thought about the prospect of the company going public, as
and point out here:
This comment from
actually got me a little worried:
Let’s hope this doesn’t happen.
Out of all the concerns voiced here, the possiblity of allowing advertisers was number one.
Check out this comment from
(whose Note from earlier this week sparked this entire discussion).
Luckily, while advertising would be profitable, there are other, more creative options.
proposed an interesting one about Substack having a hand in self-publishing print books:
said something similar about physical products including printed books and even merch:
In all, there’s reason to be optimistic.
Some people expressed that they don’t see an issue at all. After all, people are coming here; why would the creators ruin a good thing?
As this thing grows, it will change. It has changed already. Substack is becoming mainstream. This, of course, means that the mainstream is coming to Substack, for better or for worse.
articulated how this seems to be turning out very well:
I’m optimistic, though. I’m not concerned with sharing the platform with people who disagree with me, even if they are feral proponents of “The Approved Opinion™ (by the way,
, I want this phrase on a shirt). My only concern is this becoming the only accepted view on Substack.Luckily, I came out of this whole thing with hope. While no one really knows what will happen years down the line, it doesn’t seem like the core values of Substack are going to be compromised anytime soon.
It really seems like we have something great here. The owners of Substack seem to genuinely care about the principles upon which they founded this website. This is something so rare—I feel genuinely honored to be a part of it.
It’s so cool. The creators of this cite are actually genuine
shared this Note in which , a co-founder of Substack, addressed some concerns about advertising, stating that he agrees it would be terrible for the platform (and the world):
Phew. That makes me feel better.
I rarely feel hopeful about the world after spending large amounts of time on the Internet, but when I do, it’s usually on Substack. The comments to this post really showed all sides, but in all, I’ve left this discussion significantly more hopeful than when I went into it.
Of all the many wonderful things about Substack, my absolute favorite is having so many intelligent, interesting people read and discuss my work.
Thank you all for your comments.
I love the variety of writers on here and the fact that its very easy to find like minds. Yes, I too would be horrified to find that Substack began using ads. In my opinion, the introdction of ads is when platforms become slaves to their advertisers and start censoring and whatnot. No censorship. Ever. Please
As a very new Substacker, my take is the platform is trying to be all things to all people and confusion is the result. Are there any users who are here to read good stuff, or are we all, like babybirds with mouths wide open, simply here to sell? There's so much noise sometimes that I can't hear anything in particular.