Is Substack awful?

No, stop whining.

Lots of people are writing about how Substack is going to the bad and content on here is becoming repetitive dross. I won’t link, you’ve seen the pieces.

Well, if you think Notes is the enshitification of Substack and that the algorithm is secretly leading to lots of generic content, etc etc, consider the following.

• Most people’s marginal taste is homogenous in some way.

• Many people are not high in openness.

• Normal distribution applies to content.

• Growth of excellence is part of the same system that grows mediocrity.

• Are you seriously assigning zero explanatory power to revealed preference?

• Demand curves slope downwards.

• It was true historically that lots of content was repetitive, even Elizabethan sonnets.

• You can change your setttings, mute people, and choose not to read stuff.