Don't call it a Substack. - Anil Dash
This paragraph nicely summarizes why I didn’t like having a substack:
We constrain our imaginations when we subordinate our creations to names owned by fascist tycoons. Imagine the author of a book telling people to “read my Amazon”. A great director trying to promote their film by saying “click on my Max”. That’s how much they’ve pickled your brain when you refer to your own work and your own voice within the context of their walled garden. There is no such thing as “my Substack”, there is only your writing, and a forever fight against the world of pure enshittification.
I want my writing to be my own, not within a walled garden that someone else controls.
The closest outside service I’ve found is Hey World which I don’t write on anymore for the same reason. Someone else is in control.
Now, perhaps the same could be said of this web site, that the hosting company I use is in control. But they could shut down, and I can just choose a different host. They could kick me off, but I could just find a new host.
They could develop policies that I don’t like but I could find a new host.
Same goes with podcasts, which Anil alludes to in his post as well. Anywhere you listen to podcasts is amazing because podcasts are open and a direct connection to your people, despite what companies like Spotify are trying to do.
I also appreciate Anil’s post because Substack is the last blog I need to port over to this site. All my writing is now here since I started blogging in 2006, the year I got my first real job.
via [[Anil Dash]]
See my frustrations with Trying to Export Substack and Move from BlogTalkRadio to Transistor