I went from slow but steady growth until Dec 2024. I have gained less than net 50subs all 2025. Lost probably 300-400. My average reads of posts dropped about 35%
Maybe some censorship, but I see three things: Trump won, the feeling of existential dread on the right dropped; i changed much of the focus of my substack from politics to the esoteric spiritual so a lot of people were, Meh; a lot of people on the right have soured on substack because it is clear, substack admin means to be the clearinghouse for all things shitlib tds slop, does at best nothing for dissident right writers, and has downplayed long-form writing in favor of scroll addiction.
"Trump won, the feeling of existential dread on the right dropped"
—Yes, this notion has definitely occurred to me too. But my content isn't typical conservative stuff within the red-blue paradigm. I am an anarchist/voluntaryist/whatever.
Granted, I am stridently opposed to leftism as an ideological phenomenon, and many conservatives are borderline libertarians, whereas virtually no lefties really are. So this is certainly a possibility. If the GOP gets hammered in the midterms, or something else comes along to increase existential dread, and I go back to my growth rate of 2024, I will take this all back!
"a lot of people on the right have soured on substack because it is clear, substack admin means to be the clearinghouse for all things shitlib tds slop, does at best nothing for dissident right writers, and has downplayed long-form writing in favor of scroll addiction."
I call myself loosely an anarch, though I lean traditional conservative. I see anarchy as the perfect order of nature, and the far future of humanity, but currently, most unable to see the perfect order of nature, are incapable of ruling themselves.
I hope Substack reads this and takes action - offering audits by good-faith substack writers who can report their findings here for substack readers and writers.
The substack 'brand' is the most valuable thing that Substack has. I hope they don't sacrifice it for some imagined (but transient) political ax they hope to grind. Look at what happened to Snopes (for example).
Demi was very methodical, and went as far as to create tests with posts and notifications and submitted that as data for their team to assess as well. The technical explanations were a bit laughable, it became apparent that Substack could not triage events even with timestamps. Software as a Service 101 is that you track the paths the users take through your apps with timestamps so you can trace and eliminate anecdotal evidence.
I noticed the drop off when the internet censorship bills overseas began being discussed or suggested. It ramped up after that. @Runeknight3 and I are looking into self-publishing and removing anything resembling restraint on a movie rating. Think of what's coming as the brutal Director's Cut. Unrated.
My Australian Substacker says somewhat the same. Obviously they want an age-control but it goes further than that.
As to stagnating subscribers, I can testify to that. I already had 20+ paid subscriptions and started counting how much that cost on yearly basis. So now I have unsubscribed from most, so I will get notified when they have to be renewed, instead of automatical renewal. Already 4 have gone, some to my regret. I hope to cut down to less than 500 $ a year.
As I understand it Australia is even worse than the UK.
The censorship of my articles started on 20th November.
The UK censorship is supposed to protect children from websites promoting porn / drugs / suicide etc. My articles certainly don't do any of that, and no bad language either, yet they are censored.
His are all scientific, so none of that, either. It is sad, soon we won't be able to communicate altogether! Some stackers already announced they are looking into other channels. One is building an own web site.
Chris, I have the exact same story, as I'm sure many others do. It is hard to prove, but I occasionally stumble across some stat that makes NO sense that I can use to support my case.
This happened twice, most recently a week ago on a viral video I posted ( https://substack.com/@dukeofgood/note/c-187979354 ) which now has over 8500 likes (including you LOL). I pulled up the stats which showed over a hundred free subscribers from that one post - yet my overall subscriber count on my account had only grown around 25ish...BS.
So, I collected screenshots and contacted support. Like the last time I had evidence and contacted them, I never got any reply. However, my numbers slowly started aligning again, but very incrementally - after about a week now, I'm still down overall, but it's much closer to the real number. So, twice now, after contacting support, it starts adjusting back. Very suspect.
I think they certainly are fudging our numbers.
Fuck substack. Honestly I always have known this would be a short-lived endeavor, so I'm not really surprised. But I will certainly reach a point soon where it just won't be worth the effort and I'll leave.
I'll likely follow @stonebryson over to a site he's also migrating to, for the same reason. ( https://ko-fi.com/stonebryson )
I'm not in it for the money - I just want to spread truth. But it was a nice cherry-on-top, and it makes me feel like I'm being taken advantage of, and that I cannot do.
Meanwhile - I'm going to take advantage of your $1 sub - and I hope you can let me know what you learn when you learn if your unsubs are legit or not. I'm sure they are not. P.S. It seems it charged me $50 but y'know what? That's fine - go get yourself a nice sweater or something.. :D
"makes me feel like I'm being taken advantage of, and that I cannot do."
—Yes, we all have our breaking points.
"I hope you can let me know what you learn when you learn if your unsubs are legit or not."
—I will!
"P.S. It seems it charged me $50 but y'know what? That's fine - go get yourself a nice sweater or something.. :D"
—Weird. I know other people are doing the $1 thing okay. Not sure what happened, but if you need me to fix/refund anything, LMK. In the meantime, I have added a year onto the end of your subscription. I guess we'll see if we're both here by then :-)
As the saying goes; any business, no matter how whatchamadoddle it is. it will, with the passing of time become somethingorother.
I've liked and still like the substack platform -or more specifically, the writers therein I choose to read regularly. That it, the platform, will change for the worse over time? Based on everything from the Roman Empire, our Constitutional Republic to Starbucks, yep.
I first read about the subscriber revolt over Anomalous (Anomalous, even weirder [Which is not necessarily a bad thing, mind you.] than you, me or that Barsoom guy.). He wrote an open letter from him & a select group of other substackers to the owners giving them X days to reply and clarify or or their information will be turned over to da gubermint!
Anarcho- Capitalistically I've rather strong distaste for such, however we all gotta do what we all gotta do.
From where I set though, yep, look into it. Find out whatsup. But if you/we readers/writers find this shop unsuitable, perhaps it's time to build a better moosetrap and let the world beat an expressway to etc.....
"any business, no matter how whatchamadoddle it is. it will, with the passing of time become somethingorother."
—Are you talking about Robert Conquest's Second Law?
"I first read about the subscriber revolt over Anomalous"
—Can you tell me more, or where I can learn more? I had not heard of this.
"Anarcho- Capitalistically I've rather strong distaste for such"
—Yeah, I get that. But all of this could be a violation of terms, which could render it vulnerable to civil suit as well. At some point, some court is going to decide that you cannot shadowban some users and not others.
"perhaps it's time to build a better moosetrap"
—Yeah, that is going to happen at some point. And if enough people flee, this place will collapse.
Of course, that does not bother Blackrock or Vanguard or whoever is probably pushing this. Just one more nuked battleground, with casualties other than them.
Your other queries & some notes I haven't replied to yet, maybe, -40°, Xmas, etc. & ditto ditto and another ditto -all that I may get back to after. Grin.
I noted that My open rate is virtually the same from when I hit 500 subs, and now with 1200+. Ever since the ai took over at the end of 2023, this platform has degraded.
I found out about Substack in 2021, was suggested to me by a columnist for a conservative website I collaborated with on a mask article he wrote at my suggestion. He later complained to me that website started censoring his stuff later that same year, was called in by his editor and told that was the new rule, some things verboten, came down from higher up, if he wanted to keep writing for them he had to play by the new rules.
I resisted Substack at first, seeing the censorship winds gathering strength, looked into starting my own website, buying onto a blog template, finding my own server, host, security, etc. Having seen what happened to Parlor in early 2021 where AWS pulled the plug on them, templates like Wordpress revoking privileges, etc I figured out that to build a website that is hardened from all threats is expensive and limiting. Even Cloudfare is run by former top Obama administration officials, they pulled protection from disfavored websites.
Requires finding overseas services that ignore the legal notices of violations, at a cost. Not just financial, they are the services that the "bad guys" like Nick Fuentes and Daily Stormers have to use, which is considered the internet ghetto, will get links, posts and messages with those domains filtered from wider view.
When I finally understood the rules of the game were as rigged as they are I decided to go ahead and start my Stack, though I still have my domain 'freedomfoxes.com' reserved for the day I decide I need to go that direction. I never decided on what services, template is hardened enough, inexpensive enough, and won't land me in the ghetto before I do.
All good things must end, is why it makes sense to have Plan B's and C's and...
Yes, and we must continue to persist. And we must not solely relegate ourselves to a ghetto. A) That makes it too easy for them, in that they no longer have to play whack-a-mole with us. And B) if we are all clustered in one place, it makes it too easy for them to just wall us off completely.
At one point, I looked into a service in Iceland that billed itself as being censorship-free, and for journalists who are afraid in their own countries. Then I found out they were censoring their customers for talking about the BS of masking. Hypocrite coward posers!
I saw that one, too. Got my hopes up. Then discovered they, too, weren't what they were seemed.
I've explored what is done in China, knowing that the quest for free speech is alive there. But it is, as you describe, whack-a-mole.
Surpringly China has more variety in opinion, perspectives, media outlets and intelligent sharing of challenges to official narratives than we do in the US! Of all the things to discover about how much our "free speech" bastion idea is a myth.
China's speech policy is understood as free to opine on most anything, with the exception of some "third-rail" topics. That involve direct challenges to the supreme authority of the state or indirect challenges that gain sufficient following and amplification that they become an actual threat to the state.
They will cordon off, isolate those voices, will even allow them in a "ghetto" as long as they avoid direct confrontation and don't gain traction. The moment they reach a threshold that the state designates as menacing they have their plug 'pulled.' If the voices becomes direct, confrontational the voice will face sanction, punishment.
This model is what Putin in Russia once described when interviewed about what the USSR had done, reaching into homes, families, punatively for minor expressions of disagreement with authorities. Putin's model only cracking down on real, actual challenges to authority that posed a threat to the state in terms of reach, move from words to action.
The UK, Germany, Australia, most of the West today is far stricter and oppressive than either China or Russia. Thoughtspeech is criminalized over nonsensical things like gender, health choices, faith, etc in the West that is ignored in China, Russia.
And the US is just one presidential administration away from the same. Be under no illusion that US courts will intervene to protect free speech. There are only three justices who have consistently upheld the First Amendment as sacrosanct. The rest can be relied upon to find a compelling state interest in restricting speech that not only threatens authority but challenges narratives set by authorities. They may not issue rulings that expressly redefines constitutional protections on speech. They typically resort to not issuing rulings that expressly uphold constitutional protections for speech; they punt. Which is itself a decision.
It's all quite disgusting to me. Is not the values I was raised with, taught I had, joined the military to protect. It's the values I joined the military to oppose. I'm a free speech absolutist. To see us go from the People vs. Larry Flynt porn is protected free speech, but prayer outside abortion clinics, "misgendering" and "deadnaming," words and ideas that merely offend being criminalized, not protected is insane and absurd.
And SCOTUS not quickly stepping in when the First Amendment is under assault like that is, as stated, a decision itself to allow 1A to be eroded. Speech that does not threaten the state, just a narrative, that is more protected in China and Russia.
Cat and mouse, whack-a-mole speech restraints as those authoritarian models practice may soon be seen as more tolerant than speech restraints in the US and West. These are terrible, disgusting, filthy bastards we've allowed to gain control of the levers of power. Still, we will continue to persist.
Musk is no hero. First, his Twitter model is as he's always declared, “freedom of speech, not freedom of reach.” I.e. shadow-banning. And many still remain banned by Twitter/X.
And if that isn’t enough to take the shine off his 'free speech’ reputation there’s this very interesting - and ominous - development.
This article in a MAGA source is celebratory of a new system being implemented in El Salvador, posits it as a good thing, use of AI for "public safety" and developing a wholesome, better society.
Sounds good, right? Who would oppose such a benevolent betterment of humanity with the help of advanced technology? In the right hands, under an understanding of "better" perhaps you would? Maybe I could be tempted to support that type of "better."
Problem is, what is considered "better" is subjective. Subject to the whims, caprices, values, agenda, ethics of those in charge of it.
- "promote responsibility and ethics." Sounds good until you define those.
Who's idea of responsibility and what system of ethics? Is it my responsibility to close my business, wear a mask for a flu? for BLM defund the police rallies? Take a knee, repent for my "white privilege?" Is it the system of ethics you and I typically think of, known as Virtue/Kantian ethics, "do unto others as would be done unto you?" Or Utilitarian ethics, "all must be sacrificed for a greater good as authorities define it," "sometimes you have to break a few eggs to make an omelet" (Stalin quote) ethics? Ten-year-olds at no risk of severe disease and infection being forced to take an experimental biotechnology injection that has a greater risk of killing them than a disease itself to "protect grandma" ethics?
- "promotes respect for authority, patriotism, and family involvement." Sounds good until you define those.
Who's authority must be respected? What if I don't want to call Kenneth, "Bridgitte" because he identifies as a woman and authorities tell me I must? What if I don't want to wear a symbolic mask (is all they ever were) in a park, on a sidewalk, shopping in a store, walking ten feet from a hostess stand to a table in a restaurant? What if someone who's gained a position of authority demands I recite a passage from the Koran or the Communist Manifesto to enter City Hall? A supermarket? What if I want to make a meme that mocks a politician, authorities?
- "to form competent, disciplined citizens committed to society, strengthening social cohesion and traditional values.
helps keep young people away from crime and subversive influences."
What if I want to agitate for change from a system in power that I believe is corrupt, against my values, values of the nation I was born and raised in that's been perverted into a totalitarian system? And I use my voice in public, in chat rooms, books, blogs, letters to editors? What if I refuse to obey 15-minute city restrictions, try to form a group to help protest totalitarianism?
- "will include usage controls, parental supervision, and content filters to ensure that educational materials respect family and national values." Sounds good until you define those.
Who's values are deemed proper family and national values? A family with trans kids, children genitally mutilated, sterilized because the state's counselors tell a troubled child they are the wrong gender? A genetics test determines the family is below national standards, because they possess genes identified as dim-witted, disabled, antisocial and they must be sterilized? (SCOTUS decision Buck v. Bell from a century ago says that, never overturned.) Those family and national values?
- "respecting school structure and authority." OBEY! Always OBEY authority! 100% obedience is demanded!! Do not question authority!!
- "create a modern, safe education model aligned with Salvadoran culture." Who defines what is Salvadoran (US) culture?
What if the culture is defined by authorities as collectivist authoritarianism, communism, fascism, Marxism? Aligned with that definition of culture?
- "the strengthening of patriotic and family values." Same as above.
- "This initiative is an example of responsible planning that prioritizes security, discipline, and legitimate authority over left-wing ideologies that often neglect responsibility and social order." Who decides what authority is legitimate/illegitimate?
Right now D's (and many Rino's) say Trump's authority is illegitimate. Okay to disobey? Biden/Kamala/AOC's authority is legitimate? Must obey? Who's idea of responsibility and social order? I refuse masks. I refuse jab. I refuse preferred pronouns. I refuse to repent my white privilege. I disobey their idea of responsibility and social order, now what?
- "Responsible digital education strengthens social cohesion and provides real alternatives to crime and instability, showing that combining discipline, law and order, and advanced technology is the path to a safer and more prepared country.
The partnership with Musk and XAI thus becomes a strategic tool to ensure that future generations are competent, ethical, and committed to society."
This is Musk. Supposed hero of MAGA, Trumpism. Yet his system he is helping develop and install in El Salvador. And the US. Unless we find a way to stop it. Will not be limited just in schools, for kids. This is for all of society. Musk and his satellites won’t be protecting our voices.
If it makes you feel better, i can’t afford and don’t pay any Substack writers. Could it be that maybe people just can’t pay. May God bless you and your family?
I thought it was mainly because I had taken a break for a lil to handle personal stuff, but once I heard everyone else was experiencing the same thing in my corner of Substack, it seemed unlikely that the break would cause such a significant decrease in stats once we started hitting the ground running again.
As an avid reader I believe a possible part of the explanation is the subscription model which, in my opinion, is flawed. It’s as if your $10 in Spotify gave you access to one and only artist, instead of millions of songs. Who wants to listen to just one artist?
I believe a better model would be to pay by article/post and not get tied up for a full month.
In the current model you would expect the S curves you are showing, first, slow adoption, growth after an initial period when enough people have shared your posts and it gained exposure, followed by a plateau as there’s less and less of public for you. How could anyone think those curves could keep on growing, growing and growing?
It’s as if Substack was like the Federal Reserve and could just print readers to infinity, and beyond.
Is the algorithm manipulated? I don’t know, but for sure, the current subscription model doesn’t help.
Perhaps that is it. It is weird, though, that with several million users still available, a bunch of similar Stacks all plateaued around the same time.
Ah. ok, wasnt sure of the time frame you were seeing this. Have seen many others say similar for months too, so who knows what it is. Not a good look though whatever it is.
I like how I was writing a comment, moved away from my phone and came back to find SS had sent me to the homepage 🤣🤣🤣 coincidence? 🤣🤣🤣
Basically. I think it's super naive to believe any platform will have the content creators interests at heart. Just as rumble and odysee emerged in the wake of yt censorship, so too will it be useful to hedge your bets and not put all your eggs in one basket.
I saw a writer I'm subscribed to put out an ebook pdf (for free, but it doesn't have to be) of his best off posts for a given year or subject. For posterity I'd suggest writers do the same.
I'd also suggest lowering expectations. The entire complaint and various thesis you're mulling over stem from SS having standards that match your ethics. This is misguided.
Social media, in my opinion, should be a marketing tool. Here it shines. Some platforms allow monetization in various ways, but to somehow believe payment processors and platforms are your friends is a mistaken viewpoint. They're businesses. They make business decisions. Not all business decisions are based on fairness. Some are based on reciprocating back scratching. That's life.
It's also possible that as a platform goes mainstream it attracts bad actors who hack it from the outside, or the inside. Anything's possible.
But I'd explore being creative in terms of generating revenue across methods and with flexible business models. Many podcasters for instance create side hustles as consultants selling services, which are actually their main revenue sources. Another good idea is having your own website for certain exclusive content. But the trick is to use these platforms to build a brand name.
I know this sounds lame to a certain extent, but I think wisdom demands flexibility, friction and growth, not laziness and expecting to be served a lottery ticket.
Another thing to consider is the entire premise of an anonymous nom de plume is going to get harder and harder. It's a lot easier to create a nom de plume brand, but be transparent about who's behind it. And it's a lot easier to leverage how a platform works for you without being dependent on it. Time and time again every platform has updated it's algorithms and what worked previously stopped working.
I'm sure SS is up to whatever it's up to, it's pointless to whine and complain, so go with the flow and use this as an opportunity.
As a subscriber to a few sites on Substack, I have been very frustrated with my inability to access the sites. I get notices that have an icon that I am supposed to click on, but it either it doesn't work, or it seems to want me to download an app to my phone. I do not want to read The Freedom Scale or other substack sites on my phone. Is that part of your losing subscribers problem?
My subscriber chart looks like that. I focus mostly on content and what I can control, and there may be other reasons for it. However I have also found myself suddenly subscribed (once) to a Stack I would absolutely never follow, which makes me wonder if bots are building accounts as well as shaving them. I admit to paranoia, getting podcasts yanked off platforms in 2021/22 will do that to you. I also have had podcasts on YT shoot up to 1K views and decline to 500 the next morning. It will make you overthink it all - I have hidden work on socials, debated refusing all socials and recently decided to focus only on Substack this year as an experiment. This is a bit disheartening. But I appreciate it - thanks.
I went from slow but steady growth until Dec 2024. I have gained less than net 50subs all 2025. Lost probably 300-400. My average reads of posts dropped about 35%
Maybe some censorship, but I see three things: Trump won, the feeling of existential dread on the right dropped; i changed much of the focus of my substack from politics to the esoteric spiritual so a lot of people were, Meh; a lot of people on the right have soured on substack because it is clear, substack admin means to be the clearinghouse for all things shitlib tds slop, does at best nothing for dissident right writers, and has downplayed long-form writing in favor of scroll addiction.
"Trump won, the feeling of existential dread on the right dropped"
—Yes, this notion has definitely occurred to me too. But my content isn't typical conservative stuff within the red-blue paradigm. I am an anarchist/voluntaryist/whatever.
Granted, I am stridently opposed to leftism as an ideological phenomenon, and many conservatives are borderline libertarians, whereas virtually no lefties really are. So this is certainly a possibility. If the GOP gets hammered in the midterms, or something else comes along to increase existential dread, and I go back to my growth rate of 2024, I will take this all back!
"a lot of people on the right have soured on substack because it is clear, substack admin means to be the clearinghouse for all things shitlib tds slop, does at best nothing for dissident right writers, and has downplayed long-form writing in favor of scroll addiction."
—That could be part of it too!
I call myself loosely an anarch, though I lean traditional conservative. I see anarchy as the perfect order of nature, and the far future of humanity, but currently, most unable to see the perfect order of nature, are incapable of ruling themselves.
True true.
But if we are to get to that future, then we must keep teaching, working, and building. Though it is far off, the future begins now.
Maga was never really on Substack, they are were are on X. That said, anti vaxx, anti covid, free speech writers adjacent to it were on Substack.
There are a lot of overlap in those crowds, though. And in general, anti vaxx, anti covid, free speech, etc. are more to the right…
Only in past 10 years and particularly past 5. Something to contemplate...
Freedom is freedom. I just want to be free.
I hope Substack reads this and takes action - offering audits by good-faith substack writers who can report their findings here for substack readers and writers.
The substack 'brand' is the most valuable thing that Substack has. I hope they don't sacrifice it for some imagined (but transient) political ax they hope to grind. Look at what happened to Snopes (for example).
We have tried, my old friend. Demi Pietchell (Starfire Codes) especially did so much. She gave them mathematical evidence. They just didn't care.
Demi was very methodical, and went as far as to create tests with posts and notifications and submitted that as data for their team to assess as well. The technical explanations were a bit laughable, it became apparent that Substack could not triage events even with timestamps. Software as a Service 101 is that you track the paths the users take through your apps with timestamps so you can trace and eliminate anecdotal evidence.
Yes, I followed along with all of that, and have discussed it separately with her. It seems pretty apparent that substack does not want to help.
Just wait until they add the line “Our AI Agent did not detect any of the symptoms you forwarded to us.”
That’s the trend we’re all about to experience with most of the services we use today.
Lame. Totally freaking lame.
I noticed the drop off when the internet censorship bills overseas began being discussed or suggested. It ramped up after that. @Runeknight3 and I are looking into self-publishing and removing anything resembling restraint on a movie rating. Think of what's coming as the brutal Director's Cut. Unrated.
A new platform would be cool.
"I noticed the drop off when the internet censorship bills overseas began being discussed or suggested"
—Around when was that?
This was about the time Collective Shoit went after payment processors. I guess politicians saw their terrorism and decided to join in the fun
I wonder if it is possible (with lots of capital) to build a new online world that cannot be censored.
Numerous of my articles are age restriction censored in the UK. People can read them using a VPN.
Chat has become unusable. i cannot even see anybody elses chat, even with a VPN.
I have a separate substack account, just to check that my main account is indeed sending out email notifications.
My Australian Substacker says somewhat the same. Obviously they want an age-control but it goes further than that.
As to stagnating subscribers, I can testify to that. I already had 20+ paid subscriptions and started counting how much that cost on yearly basis. So now I have unsubscribed from most, so I will get notified when they have to be renewed, instead of automatical renewal. Already 4 have gone, some to my regret. I hope to cut down to less than 500 $ a year.
As I understand it Australia is even worse than the UK.
The censorship of my articles started on 20th November.
The UK censorship is supposed to protect children from websites promoting porn / drugs / suicide etc. My articles certainly don't do any of that, and no bad language either, yet they are censored.
His are all scientific, so none of that, either. It is sad, soon we won't be able to communicate altogether! Some stackers already announced they are looking into other channels. One is building an own web site.
I think building one's own website is the smartest way to go. Did people say which channels they were looking into if you don't mind me asking?
I found the article, there is a link in it I have not tried. SimpleX.
https://thedailybeagle.substack.com/p/im-very-disappointed-in-you-all?utm_campaign=comment&utm_medium=email&utm_source=substack&utm_content=post
hey thank you so much Ingrid!!! 🙏
Is SimpleX just chat? Or is it publishing too?
I think Ko-Fi is one. Stone Bryson has created a presence there.
Ditto Tess's question.
Chris, I have the exact same story, as I'm sure many others do. It is hard to prove, but I occasionally stumble across some stat that makes NO sense that I can use to support my case.
This happened twice, most recently a week ago on a viral video I posted ( https://substack.com/@dukeofgood/note/c-187979354 ) which now has over 8500 likes (including you LOL). I pulled up the stats which showed over a hundred free subscribers from that one post - yet my overall subscriber count on my account had only grown around 25ish...BS.
So, I collected screenshots and contacted support. Like the last time I had evidence and contacted them, I never got any reply. However, my numbers slowly started aligning again, but very incrementally - after about a week now, I'm still down overall, but it's much closer to the real number. So, twice now, after contacting support, it starts adjusting back. Very suspect.
I think they certainly are fudging our numbers.
Fuck substack. Honestly I always have known this would be a short-lived endeavor, so I'm not really surprised. But I will certainly reach a point soon where it just won't be worth the effort and I'll leave.
I'll likely follow @stonebryson over to a site he's also migrating to, for the same reason. ( https://ko-fi.com/stonebryson )
I'm not in it for the money - I just want to spread truth. But it was a nice cherry-on-top, and it makes me feel like I'm being taken advantage of, and that I cannot do.
Meanwhile - I'm going to take advantage of your $1 sub - and I hope you can let me know what you learn when you learn if your unsubs are legit or not. I'm sure they are not. P.S. It seems it charged me $50 but y'know what? That's fine - go get yourself a nice sweater or something.. :D
Merry Christmas backatcha and Happy New Year!
"Very suspect. I think they certainly are fudging our numbers."
—It makes me very angry.
"https://ko-fi.com/stonebryson"
—What do we know about Ko-Fi and who runs it?
"makes me feel like I'm being taken advantage of, and that I cannot do."
—Yes, we all have our breaking points.
"I hope you can let me know what you learn when you learn if your unsubs are legit or not."
—I will!
"P.S. It seems it charged me $50 but y'know what? That's fine - go get yourself a nice sweater or something.. :D"
—Weird. I know other people are doing the $1 thing okay. Not sure what happened, but if you need me to fix/refund anything, LMK. In the meantime, I have added a year onto the end of your subscription. I guess we'll see if we're both here by then :-)
Thanks!!
As the saying goes; any business, no matter how whatchamadoddle it is. it will, with the passing of time become somethingorother.
I've liked and still like the substack platform -or more specifically, the writers therein I choose to read regularly. That it, the platform, will change for the worse over time? Based on everything from the Roman Empire, our Constitutional Republic to Starbucks, yep.
I first read about the subscriber revolt over Anomalous (Anomalous, even weirder [Which is not necessarily a bad thing, mind you.] than you, me or that Barsoom guy.). He wrote an open letter from him & a select group of other substackers to the owners giving them X days to reply and clarify or or their information will be turned over to da gubermint!
Anarcho- Capitalistically I've rather strong distaste for such, however we all gotta do what we all gotta do.
From where I set though, yep, look into it. Find out whatsup. But if you/we readers/writers find this shop unsuitable, perhaps it's time to build a better moosetrap and let the world beat an expressway to etc.....
"any business, no matter how whatchamadoddle it is. it will, with the passing of time become somethingorother."
—Are you talking about Robert Conquest's Second Law?
"I first read about the subscriber revolt over Anomalous"
—Can you tell me more, or where I can learn more? I had not heard of this.
"Anarcho- Capitalistically I've rather strong distaste for such"
—Yeah, I get that. But all of this could be a violation of terms, which could render it vulnerable to civil suit as well. At some point, some court is going to decide that you cannot shadowban some users and not others.
"perhaps it's time to build a better moosetrap"
—Yeah, that is going to happen at some point. And if enough people flee, this place will collapse.
Of course, that does not bother Blackrock or Vanguard or whoever is probably pushing this. Just one more nuked battleground, with casualties other than them.
As to the can you tell me more about, here; https://anonymous8675309.substack.com/p/independent-substack-publishers-class
Your other queries & some notes I haven't replied to yet, maybe, -40°, Xmas, etc. & ditto ditto and another ditto -all that I may get back to after. Grin.
OK BIGGER GRIN!.
Gotcha, thanks, and Merry Christmas!
Restacked. Subscribed. I certainly hope this gets passed around broadly and catalyzes change 🙏🏻 Thank you, Chris.
DV
Thank you, DV. I hope so too!
I noted that My open rate is virtually the same from when I hit 500 subs, and now with 1200+. Ever since the ai took over at the end of 2023, this platform has degraded.
I did this piece...
Substack Censorship (article): https://amaterasusolar.substack.com/p/substack-censorship
Did your overall growth plateau?
A bit, though it does keep growing - just more slowly.
Was there a pretty obvious moment when it changed from fast growth to slow growth?
Not really but there was one piece - I forget which - that My numbers jumped, and they have been pretty steady but slow since.
Subby will be full blown leftist by 2029. Just in time for the next commie regime to take power in the DC Cesspool.
Then we will have to create a new platform. Samizdat. Whatever. We will win in the end.
I found out about Substack in 2021, was suggested to me by a columnist for a conservative website I collaborated with on a mask article he wrote at my suggestion. He later complained to me that website started censoring his stuff later that same year, was called in by his editor and told that was the new rule, some things verboten, came down from higher up, if he wanted to keep writing for them he had to play by the new rules.
I resisted Substack at first, seeing the censorship winds gathering strength, looked into starting my own website, buying onto a blog template, finding my own server, host, security, etc. Having seen what happened to Parlor in early 2021 where AWS pulled the plug on them, templates like Wordpress revoking privileges, etc I figured out that to build a website that is hardened from all threats is expensive and limiting. Even Cloudfare is run by former top Obama administration officials, they pulled protection from disfavored websites.
Requires finding overseas services that ignore the legal notices of violations, at a cost. Not just financial, they are the services that the "bad guys" like Nick Fuentes and Daily Stormers have to use, which is considered the internet ghetto, will get links, posts and messages with those domains filtered from wider view.
When I finally understood the rules of the game were as rigged as they are I decided to go ahead and start my Stack, though I still have my domain 'freedomfoxes.com' reserved for the day I decide I need to go that direction. I never decided on what services, template is hardened enough, inexpensive enough, and won't land me in the ghetto before I do.
All good things must end, is why it makes sense to have Plan B's and C's and...
..And, still, we persisted...
Yes, and we must continue to persist. And we must not solely relegate ourselves to a ghetto. A) That makes it too easy for them, in that they no longer have to play whack-a-mole with us. And B) if we are all clustered in one place, it makes it too easy for them to just wall us off completely.
At one point, I looked into a service in Iceland that billed itself as being censorship-free, and for journalists who are afraid in their own countries. Then I found out they were censoring their customers for talking about the BS of masking. Hypocrite coward posers!
I saw that one, too. Got my hopes up. Then discovered they, too, weren't what they were seemed.
I've explored what is done in China, knowing that the quest for free speech is alive there. But it is, as you describe, whack-a-mole.
Surpringly China has more variety in opinion, perspectives, media outlets and intelligent sharing of challenges to official narratives than we do in the US! Of all the things to discover about how much our "free speech" bastion idea is a myth.
China's speech policy is understood as free to opine on most anything, with the exception of some "third-rail" topics. That involve direct challenges to the supreme authority of the state or indirect challenges that gain sufficient following and amplification that they become an actual threat to the state.
They will cordon off, isolate those voices, will even allow them in a "ghetto" as long as they avoid direct confrontation and don't gain traction. The moment they reach a threshold that the state designates as menacing they have their plug 'pulled.' If the voices becomes direct, confrontational the voice will face sanction, punishment.
This model is what Putin in Russia once described when interviewed about what the USSR had done, reaching into homes, families, punatively for minor expressions of disagreement with authorities. Putin's model only cracking down on real, actual challenges to authority that posed a threat to the state in terms of reach, move from words to action.
The UK, Germany, Australia, most of the West today is far stricter and oppressive than either China or Russia. Thoughtspeech is criminalized over nonsensical things like gender, health choices, faith, etc in the West that is ignored in China, Russia.
And the US is just one presidential administration away from the same. Be under no illusion that US courts will intervene to protect free speech. There are only three justices who have consistently upheld the First Amendment as sacrosanct. The rest can be relied upon to find a compelling state interest in restricting speech that not only threatens authority but challenges narratives set by authorities. They may not issue rulings that expressly redefines constitutional protections on speech. They typically resort to not issuing rulings that expressly uphold constitutional protections for speech; they punt. Which is itself a decision.
It's all quite disgusting to me. Is not the values I was raised with, taught I had, joined the military to protect. It's the values I joined the military to oppose. I'm a free speech absolutist. To see us go from the People vs. Larry Flynt porn is protected free speech, but prayer outside abortion clinics, "misgendering" and "deadnaming," words and ideas that merely offend being criminalized, not protected is insane and absurd.
And SCOTUS not quickly stepping in when the First Amendment is under assault like that is, as stated, a decision itself to allow 1A to be eroded. Speech that does not threaten the state, just a narrative, that is more protected in China and Russia.
Cat and mouse, whack-a-mole speech restraints as those authoritarian models practice may soon be seen as more tolerant than speech restraints in the US and West. These are terrible, disgusting, filthy bastards we've allowed to gain control of the levers of power. Still, we will continue to persist.
Will we be driven to some dark-web approach? Or maybe a rich person like Musk puts up his own satellite and we use that…
Musk is no hero. First, his Twitter model is as he's always declared, “freedom of speech, not freedom of reach.” I.e. shadow-banning. And many still remain banned by Twitter/X.
And if that isn’t enough to take the shine off his 'free speech’ reputation there’s this very interesting - and ominous - development.
This article in a MAGA source is celebratory of a new system being implemented in El Salvador, posits it as a good thing, use of AI for "public safety" and developing a wholesome, better society.
https://gatewayhispanic.com/2025/12/el-salvador-launches-partnership-elon-musk-revolutionize-public/
Sounds good, right? Who would oppose such a benevolent betterment of humanity with the help of advanced technology? In the right hands, under an understanding of "better" perhaps you would? Maybe I could be tempted to support that type of "better."
Problem is, what is considered "better" is subjective. Subject to the whims, caprices, values, agenda, ethics of those in charge of it.
- "promote responsibility and ethics." Sounds good until you define those.
Who's idea of responsibility and what system of ethics? Is it my responsibility to close my business, wear a mask for a flu? for BLM defund the police rallies? Take a knee, repent for my "white privilege?" Is it the system of ethics you and I typically think of, known as Virtue/Kantian ethics, "do unto others as would be done unto you?" Or Utilitarian ethics, "all must be sacrificed for a greater good as authorities define it," "sometimes you have to break a few eggs to make an omelet" (Stalin quote) ethics? Ten-year-olds at no risk of severe disease and infection being forced to take an experimental biotechnology injection that has a greater risk of killing them than a disease itself to "protect grandma" ethics?
- "promotes respect for authority, patriotism, and family involvement." Sounds good until you define those.
Who's authority must be respected? What if I don't want to call Kenneth, "Bridgitte" because he identifies as a woman and authorities tell me I must? What if I don't want to wear a symbolic mask (is all they ever were) in a park, on a sidewalk, shopping in a store, walking ten feet from a hostess stand to a table in a restaurant? What if someone who's gained a position of authority demands I recite a passage from the Koran or the Communist Manifesto to enter City Hall? A supermarket? What if I want to make a meme that mocks a politician, authorities?
- "to form competent, disciplined citizens committed to society, strengthening social cohesion and traditional values.
helps keep young people away from crime and subversive influences."
What if I want to agitate for change from a system in power that I believe is corrupt, against my values, values of the nation I was born and raised in that's been perverted into a totalitarian system? And I use my voice in public, in chat rooms, books, blogs, letters to editors? What if I refuse to obey 15-minute city restrictions, try to form a group to help protest totalitarianism?
- "will include usage controls, parental supervision, and content filters to ensure that educational materials respect family and national values." Sounds good until you define those.
Who's values are deemed proper family and national values? A family with trans kids, children genitally mutilated, sterilized because the state's counselors tell a troubled child they are the wrong gender? A genetics test determines the family is below national standards, because they possess genes identified as dim-witted, disabled, antisocial and they must be sterilized? (SCOTUS decision Buck v. Bell from a century ago says that, never overturned.) Those family and national values?
- "respecting school structure and authority." OBEY! Always OBEY authority! 100% obedience is demanded!! Do not question authority!!
- "create a modern, safe education model aligned with Salvadoran culture." Who defines what is Salvadoran (US) culture?
What if the culture is defined by authorities as collectivist authoritarianism, communism, fascism, Marxism? Aligned with that definition of culture?
- "the strengthening of patriotic and family values." Same as above.
- "This initiative is an example of responsible planning that prioritizes security, discipline, and legitimate authority over left-wing ideologies that often neglect responsibility and social order." Who decides what authority is legitimate/illegitimate?
Right now D's (and many Rino's) say Trump's authority is illegitimate. Okay to disobey? Biden/Kamala/AOC's authority is legitimate? Must obey? Who's idea of responsibility and social order? I refuse masks. I refuse jab. I refuse preferred pronouns. I refuse to repent my white privilege. I disobey their idea of responsibility and social order, now what?
- "Responsible digital education strengthens social cohesion and provides real alternatives to crime and instability, showing that combining discipline, law and order, and advanced technology is the path to a safer and more prepared country.
The partnership with Musk and XAI thus becomes a strategic tool to ensure that future generations are competent, ethical, and committed to society."
This is Musk. Supposed hero of MAGA, Trumpism. Yet his system he is helping develop and install in El Salvador. And the US. Unless we find a way to stop it. Will not be limited just in schools, for kids. This is for all of society. Musk and his satellites won’t be protecting our voices.
Maybe we learn how to send smoke signals?
If it makes you feel better, i can’t afford and don’t pay any Substack writers. Could it be that maybe people just can’t pay. May God bless you and your family?
Who started Substack?
Can we write them?
I understand, and thank you.
I know a lot of people are struggling. That is part of the reason why I made it a dollar.
"Can we write them?"
—It's been done numerous times. They don't care anymore.
I do read and share here and on other places, and friends
Can we try again?
Sign a petition?
I was let go in August from job while I was still ok Workmans comp. Fractured bone in ankle. Waiting and hoping for unemployment. Applying to jobs.
"I do read and share here and on other places, and friends"
—Thank you! 🙏🏻
"Can we try again? Sign a petition?"
—Maybe down the road. We need to accumulate incontrovertible evidence.
"I was let go in August from job while I was still ok Workmans comp. Fractured bone in ankle. Waiting and hoping for unemployment. Applying to jobs."
—I wish you good fortune!
Thank you. Oh 🙏😞
God has us all in His hands
💙
Exactly happening to me
When did it start?
My post views are half and my notes are almost zero even though I stopped posting controversial topics
Oh, once they put you on the naughty list, I think you're there forever.
Appears so
I think it is because I posted about nigger fatigue and illegal invaders. The situation with Iryna Zarutska broke me.
Yes, that might've done it. And yes, the Iryna Zarutska situation broke a lot of people—understandably so.
Been brutal for a while. Stats basically got cut by 70-80% across the board minus our email readers. That’s stayed consistent. Oh well.
When did the drop happen?
Around end of 2024
Just a little bit before mine.
I thought it was mainly because I had taken a break for a lil to handle personal stuff, but once I heard everyone else was experiencing the same thing in my corner of Substack, it seemed unlikely that the break would cause such a significant decrease in stats once we started hitting the ground running again.
Idk. It’s all sketch.
Yes it is. But we must keep fighting.
Oh trust! I ain’t going no where. :)
As an avid reader I believe a possible part of the explanation is the subscription model which, in my opinion, is flawed. It’s as if your $10 in Spotify gave you access to one and only artist, instead of millions of songs. Who wants to listen to just one artist?
I believe a better model would be to pay by article/post and not get tied up for a full month.
In the current model you would expect the S curves you are showing, first, slow adoption, growth after an initial period when enough people have shared your posts and it gained exposure, followed by a plateau as there’s less and less of public for you. How could anyone think those curves could keep on growing, growing and growing?
It’s as if Substack was like the Federal Reserve and could just print readers to infinity, and beyond.
Is the algorithm manipulated? I don’t know, but for sure, the current subscription model doesn’t help.
Perhaps that is it. It is weird, though, that with several million users still available, a bunch of similar Stacks all plateaued around the same time.
In case you weren't aware, the Australia age verification bs went into effect and Substack is playing along. That surely is at least part of it
Yes, I know that is a big problem. That said, all of this started well before, back in early 2025 for most.
Ah. ok, wasnt sure of the time frame you were seeing this. Have seen many others say similar for months too, so who knows what it is. Not a good look though whatever it is.
💯
I like how I was writing a comment, moved away from my phone and came back to find SS had sent me to the homepage 🤣🤣🤣 coincidence? 🤣🤣🤣
Basically. I think it's super naive to believe any platform will have the content creators interests at heart. Just as rumble and odysee emerged in the wake of yt censorship, so too will it be useful to hedge your bets and not put all your eggs in one basket.
I saw a writer I'm subscribed to put out an ebook pdf (for free, but it doesn't have to be) of his best off posts for a given year or subject. For posterity I'd suggest writers do the same.
I'd also suggest lowering expectations. The entire complaint and various thesis you're mulling over stem from SS having standards that match your ethics. This is misguided.
Social media, in my opinion, should be a marketing tool. Here it shines. Some platforms allow monetization in various ways, but to somehow believe payment processors and platforms are your friends is a mistaken viewpoint. They're businesses. They make business decisions. Not all business decisions are based on fairness. Some are based on reciprocating back scratching. That's life.
It's also possible that as a platform goes mainstream it attracts bad actors who hack it from the outside, or the inside. Anything's possible.
But I'd explore being creative in terms of generating revenue across methods and with flexible business models. Many podcasters for instance create side hustles as consultants selling services, which are actually their main revenue sources. Another good idea is having your own website for certain exclusive content. But the trick is to use these platforms to build a brand name.
I know this sounds lame to a certain extent, but I think wisdom demands flexibility, friction and growth, not laziness and expecting to be served a lottery ticket.
Another thing to consider is the entire premise of an anonymous nom de plume is going to get harder and harder. It's a lot easier to create a nom de plume brand, but be transparent about who's behind it. And it's a lot easier to leverage how a platform works for you without being dependent on it. Time and time again every platform has updated it's algorithms and what worked previously stopped working.
I'm sure SS is up to whatever it's up to, it's pointless to whine and complain, so go with the flow and use this as an opportunity.
I hear you; makes sense.
Merry Christmas!
As a subscriber to a few sites on Substack, I have been very frustrated with my inability to access the sites. I get notices that have an icon that I am supposed to click on, but it either it doesn't work, or it seems to want me to download an app to my phone. I do not want to read The Freedom Scale or other substack sites on my phone. Is that part of your losing subscribers problem?
Maybe. I used the app for 20 minutes one day, and I hated it. The browser-based version works just fine. And it works on a phone, too!
My subscriber chart looks like that. I focus mostly on content and what I can control, and there may be other reasons for it. However I have also found myself suddenly subscribed (once) to a Stack I would absolutely never follow, which makes me wonder if bots are building accounts as well as shaving them. I admit to paranoia, getting podcasts yanked off platforms in 2021/22 will do that to you. I also have had podcasts on YT shoot up to 1K views and decline to 500 the next morning. It will make you overthink it all - I have hidden work on socials, debated refusing all socials and recently decided to focus only on Substack this year as an experiment. This is a bit disheartening. But I appreciate it - thanks.
Perhaps there is a platform out there that does not play these games…
🙏🏼