Life After Substack

My response to a disappointing response.

In mid-December, I co-signed an open letter to the leaders of Substack urging them to stop profiting off white supremacist newsletters. I’m not naïve about the state of the Internet, and I know that Nazis will lurk in every corner of every platform. However, there’s a difference between trying to moderate that content, and openly profiting from it. The newsletter urged Substack to quit monetizing hate speech, which didn’t seem like the most outlandish ask in the world. But apparently, it was, and Substack’s response boiled down to, “We’ve heard you, but we’re going to keep making money off Nazi content.”

This is leading to an exodus from the platform, although I’m not sure how widespread. For my part, I wanted to let you know about my thinking, and what’s next for me.

What I really loathed about Substack’s response is that it was so disingenuous, and it treated its publishers like chumps. In his response, Substack co-founder Hamish McKenzie hid behind notions of “free speech” and letting readers decide in the marketplace of ideas. The most charitable reading of this is that McKenzie is hopelessly naïve in his libertarian values when he says, “We believe that supporting individual rights and civil liberties while subjecting ideas to open discourse is the best way to strip bad ideas of their power.” Except he immediately follows that with the bad faith argument, “As @Ted Gioia has noted, history shows that censorship is most potently used by the powerful to silence the powerless.” Except no one was asking for censorship. Substack was free to keep running white supremacist content; the ask was to quit monetizing it, which isn’t censorship. No one is entitled to make money from any speech.

The truth of the matter is that Substack can’t afford to lose its Nazis. The platform is living off VC cash (there’s no way it can be profitable by offering up so much free space to creators, only making a percentage when creators choose to turn on paid subscriptions), and they can’t go to those VCs and say, “Hey, we need more money for moderation so we can have fewer people who make us money.” Perhaps it’s comforting to McKenzie and his cohorts to hide behind free speech ideals. But we’re all adults here, and we know that this is about money. The fact that McKenzie didn’t have the temerity to simply say “We can’t afford to lose revenue from these white supremacist publishers” tells me that this is a guy who lies but expects you to trust him as a honest broker.

That’s not a business relationship I want to be in. I had considered turning on paid subscriptions this year, even though I hadn’t quite reached my goal of 1,000 subscribers, simply because at the current rate, I wouldn’t reach that number until 2026, and who knew if Substack would even still exist by then. Also, I feel like I’m turning out pretty good work, and if people feel like that work has value, then there’s no harm in putting out the hat.

Except now I don’t want Substack to get 10% of what I’m earning. If someone is going to behave dishonestly in their business dealings, then it bodes poorly for what comes next for the platform.

So now what?

I’ve thought about this over the past couple weeks, and come to the following solution.

First, if you’re subscribed, please stay subscribed! I won’t turn on paid subscriptions for Substack, nor will I activate any pledges. None of your money will go to Substack. But by staying subscribed, I can move my subscription roll to a new service. I’m not sure what service that will be (some folks are moving to Buttondown, others are considering Beehiiv), but it will be something once I’m satisfied that A) it will fulfill my publishing needs; and B) they won’t have the same response to white supremacist content as Substack, which would necessitate me having to move all over again.

Second, I feel like pursuing paid subscriptions is a worthwhile goal, and I’m committed to providing commentary that I feel is sorely lacking in entertainment websites that now lean heavily towards SEO-friendly volume rather than a specific voice that can cut through the noise. I’ve been writing consistently not only for my entire professional career, but I’ve tended to my newsletter on a regular basis since my position at TCM was eliminated last June. You can trust that I’m still going to deliver for you, and my goal in 2024 is to provide exclusive content for paying members (the Substack platform made exclusive content fairly easy, but alas).

So in the meantime, I ask that you consider supporting me on Patreon. I know that dirtbag white supremacists probably also use Patreon, but Patreon isn’t giving me some nonsense about “free speech,” and I consider it more like how Nazis can exchange cash like anyone else. I’m not thrilled about it, but at least Patreon is more about directing funds, whereas Substack is about directing readership and saying, “We’re going to put your newsletter about movies next to Der Stürmer.”

While I’m disappointed by Substack’s response, I’m not particularly surprised. This is the mentality of tech guys who pride themselves on rationality, but come to the dumbest conclusions. At the end of the day, it’s a business, and I don’t need a song and dance about how they’re actually doing the right thing by making money off people who call those not like them “vermin.” Substack may claim to not like Nazis, but they sure like their money, and that relationship means you like them at least a little bit. That may be fine for McKenzie, but not for me.

Recommendations

I wanted to recommend two Substacks that helped shaped my thinking on my response to McKenzie’s idiotic note. The first is from Ken White at The Popehat Report, who helped to breakdown why McKenzie’s arguments were so gratingly disingenuous.

Substack Has A Nazi Opportunity

The second comes from Dave Karpf, who addresses the tech side of things in terms of Substack alternatives, and why using Substack without paid subscriptions is beneficial for the time being even though the platform’s lifespan is clearly limited.

My Substack Year-in-Review (plus some thoughts on Substack's Nazi moderation problem)

Finally, I’m going to go back to recommending a Blu-ray/4K deal weekly if I see something good because I feel like physical media needs our support now more than ever. As a note: I make a percentage of the sale from Amazon. It’s not much (I’m an Amazon Associate, but as of today, I’ve made a grand total of $0.00, so it’s not like this is a lucrative side-gig where I need to sell you stuff to keep my margins up), but I’d appreciate it if you do buy the movie, you do it through the link.

I’m kicking off the year with a film that’s fun for the whole family: Rosemary’s Baby! The new 4K came out last October, and it’s on sale for $13.99 (46% off). If you’ve never seen it, I’d say it’s worth a blind buy, and if you’ve been meaning to add it to your collection, this is probably the best price it will be for a while (also, the Criterion Blu-ray went out of print, so this the best option right now).

What I’m Watching

I probably love physical media a little too much. When I was in college, one of the biggest problems I made for myself was collecting DVDs even though those DVDs would have to be packed up every May and August as I moved between campus and home. Still, it’s my addiction, and I tend to buy discs of movies I love because I’m protective of them, I don’t fully trust streaming, and if movies are my profession, then it doesn’t hurt to have a library of movies at my disposal.

However, this had led to a slight backlog of discs, and you can see them piled up on my office floor. One of my 2024 resolutions is to clear these stacks. If you’d like to follow along on my journey, be sure you’re following me on Letterboxd. Movies from the piles will be tagged “the stack.”

What I’m Reading

I’ve decided to finally read Dune. I tried to read it over a decade, but had trouble getting into it. In my defense, the book throws a lot at you in terms of terminology: Muad’Dib, Kwisatz Haderach, Bene Gesserit, Gom Jabbar, etc. But having seen the first part of Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation, I feel like I have a better grasp on the world. Plus, with Part Two due out in March, I feel like now is the best time to read the book.

So far, I’m really enjoying it. I’m about 300 pages in, and I’m really loving all the palace intrigue stuff. The sci-fi world building can be a bit of a lift, but I’ve never felt lost. So yeah, you heard it here first: Dune is a good book.

What I’m Playing and Hearing

My new relaxation is popping on a podcast and playing PowerWash Simulator on PS5. I don’t want to do the actual chore of power washing in real life, but just washing the gunk off stuff is oddly satisfying. Pair it with episodes of either You Must Remember This or The Chernobyl Podcast, and I’m pretty content.