21 Comments

I laughed out loud over your comment on Elizabethan sonnets. Well played.

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Aug 28Liked by Henry Oliver

I’m feeling a bit left out. I subscribe to the substacks of people I like and don’t really see anything else.

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Sturgeon’s Law —> 90 percent of everything is crap.

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I agree wholeheartedly. People who are pedantic about what Substack should be are annoying. If y do not care for notes, no one is forcing you to use the feature. I have seen others insisting there should be no podcast or video components. Why not let individuals decide what media they choose to employ? No one is forcing anyone to subscribe to content. I love Notes myself.

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Aug 28Liked by Henry Oliver

I just wish there was a way for the algorithm to understand that just because I tell the occasional white supremacist that they’re full of shit, it doesn’t mean I now want lots of white supremacists in my feed.

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Thanks for this. I haven’t seen a lot of the whining pieces you mentioned yet but I’m new. This is good for me to keep in mind as I learn

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It is the last one that so many of those complaining struggle with. When I hear people complaining about this or that awful piece of writing or bad book I always say "have you tried not reading it?".

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Couldn’t agree more.

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I have been writing on substack for a couple of years now. I don't hear anybody whining about substack but then I don't read that much on substack. I am too busy writing stuff that I think is valuable to my very specific audience. I don't even know what is on substack to tell you the truth or how it even works except for the few interesting people I have found to subscribe to and develop relationships with. I am an old guy and probably a bit slow but I think I like substack and how the writer end of it works. Write shit, publish, bang. And it is nice to have a few paying subscribers but then I am not trying to make a living at it although that could be cool I guess. I am shooting, tongue-in-cheek, for one million subscribers. only 998,500 to go! So subscribe.

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That last one tho 🔥😂

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🎯

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Truth.

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Lol

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author

Which way is that lol lolling!?

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Hahah just love the tone of this post. (And I agree with you.)

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author

I try not to get too grumpy but you know… (there’s a growlery section actually it should be in there)

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I do so LOVE comparisons!

We are often told that without sadness we know no joy - perhaps a little joy but that would appear muted and outweighed. Also heard is that bad examples are useful because they are a guide to doing better...well, alrightie then!

Substack is neither awful nor glorious, it just is. Doubtful that the next Susan Sontag or Stephen King will arise here, but strange unexplained things happen this universe and to find them we must contend with sputtering nonsense - yes?

Block and Mute are your friends. Do you know what else is? Stubby complaints!

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Whining is OTT, but it probably is sensible to be "on guard" about anything that may make the whole experience worse than it once was. There is also a bit too much in the other direction as well - for example, I think that Ted Gioia's stack has got worse in the last 2 years, and his Substack evangelising has been sickly for about the same time.

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I haven't seen any whining. I don't even find time to read all I want to read from the lovely folk I subscribe to. I don't scroll - I left that behind on the bird shit site. I have a real creative and busy retirement that is never up to the minute. My advice is slow down and be much more circumspect. You don't need so much stuff - I think it is now called 'content'...

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