Hey Kevin thanks for writing this. I actually have a draft where I’m planning to talk about the weird “show me people with less than 50 subscribers!” Notes, so it’s funny that you have been similarly put off by them.
I think you’re doing it the right way by talking to people and letting growth happen naturally. I also think there are things Substack could do to make natural growth easier by making it easier to find people with shared interests. It’s a new platform, so maybe it’ll come, but right now it does feel like a trudge.
Thanks for the kind words, I’m looking forward to reading your piece. It really is simple to just dm interesting people, but the search function is atrocious that’s where I’d like to see improvement.
Hey Kevin! I read your "Young men are obviously not worth listening to" post and then read this one. I've gotta say, it feels like you made a lot of progress in just a few weeks. The "Young men..." post was informative, but the reading on this post was much more enjoyable. It felt like a whole different style.
I think the best you can do is use this platform for what it adds over other social media platforms. Use it to write. To get better at writing. And as a consequence, get better at thinking. You can use it to farm followers, but there are other platforms that are better for that. And by the looks of it, although you would like to have a following---who wouldn't---I've got a feeling you looking for something more important.
Just keep putting your stuff out there. At least that's what I've been doing and it's been overall good, even though the avalanche of subscribers and the book deals never came. Who knows, maybe they will one day, in the mean time, I'm gonna try to enjoy myself.
Hey I really appreciate the feedback and kind words, honestly I feel like I’m happy to experiment a bit with the style and writing, but the new post is more authentic to who I am as a person and how I speak irl. I’m glad to report I’m feeling more comfortable writing in that style, and I believe there is a wealth of opportunities for me out there if I continue to apply myself, following or not. Thanks again for noticing :)
> Someone other than her I would have easily scoffed at and belittled their attempt at socializing on social media, because any hint of success would threaten my strategy of never trying.
> golden days of twitter, tumblr, or myspace, back when I’m told the internet was more sincere and the signal to noise ratio was better
very relatable, I will probably try to write about related issues at some point, though I've been doing my best to ignore these dynamics. I think there is very a fine line between intentionally doing things for engagement with good pure intentions (because it's genuinely nice to have the opportunity to connect with more people) and being led by the nose by my own envy, ego, and resentment of the algorithm (and what the algorithm says about people).
fwiw, I was born in 1991 and was on myspace in 2005, tumblr in 2010. Didn't get into twitter until later, like 2017. I mean, with the exception of community notes, x.com is genuinely worse than twitter, but tbh I don't think you missed much. Things got bad somewhere between 2010 and 2014.
Certainly a very fine line to be tread, I’m sort of the opinion that more people need to articulate their objections to the algorithm dynamics than not, but I sympathize with the quiet conscientious objectors too. It’s hard to spend any energy saying it when the tide seems all encompassing and inevitable, but I’d rather be delusionally hopeful. I look forward to reading your thoughts on said related issues at some point :)
personal experience please feel free to push back and tell me i'm full of shit but when i was on twitter before i feel like complaining and being overly meta about the algo just fed my bitterness and resentment.
i have had better results not censoring myself but also trying to focus on the positive, ignore the algo entirely, keep the feed on "following" only, and spend more time writing than reading.
I don't have enough experience with substack at this point to say it with high confidence, but I think this mostly comes down to personality differences, as to whether or not you can be overly meta about the algorithm and not have it affect your life/mental health in negative ways. My sense is that there's a healthier type of person and community here that is more likely to be open to those sorts of meta discussions without it degenerating everyone involved, and that the right amount of meta observation is more than zero, and should remain a strict minority of commentary around here, but more than zero. Good faith interlocutors should take advantage of the time and influence they have to shape norms and boundaries while a platform is young and growing, and shouldn't cede too much ground to the slop accounts.
Perhaps in a few months I'll check back in with you and see if my feelings have changed on this, personally I hope to not touch on this sort of topic more than 10% of the time, I'd really prefer to write and explore other interests. Next post will be something positive about something I mostly love and venerate.
i've said it already, and i'll say it again: great writing and just so true. i'm happy to have connected with you more authentically, it definitely adds a layer to enjoying this text. :)
Hey Kevin thanks for writing this. I actually have a draft where I’m planning to talk about the weird “show me people with less than 50 subscribers!” Notes, so it’s funny that you have been similarly put off by them.
I think you’re doing it the right way by talking to people and letting growth happen naturally. I also think there are things Substack could do to make natural growth easier by making it easier to find people with shared interests. It’s a new platform, so maybe it’ll come, but right now it does feel like a trudge.
Thanks for the kind words, I’m looking forward to reading your piece. It really is simple to just dm interesting people, but the search function is atrocious that’s where I’d like to see improvement.
Hey Kevin! I read your "Young men are obviously not worth listening to" post and then read this one. I've gotta say, it feels like you made a lot of progress in just a few weeks. The "Young men..." post was informative, but the reading on this post was much more enjoyable. It felt like a whole different style.
I think the best you can do is use this platform for what it adds over other social media platforms. Use it to write. To get better at writing. And as a consequence, get better at thinking. You can use it to farm followers, but there are other platforms that are better for that. And by the looks of it, although you would like to have a following---who wouldn't---I've got a feeling you looking for something more important.
Just keep putting your stuff out there. At least that's what I've been doing and it's been overall good, even though the avalanche of subscribers and the book deals never came. Who knows, maybe they will one day, in the mean time, I'm gonna try to enjoy myself.
Hey I really appreciate the feedback and kind words, honestly I feel like I’m happy to experiment a bit with the style and writing, but the new post is more authentic to who I am as a person and how I speak irl. I’m glad to report I’m feeling more comfortable writing in that style, and I believe there is a wealth of opportunities for me out there if I continue to apply myself, following or not. Thanks again for noticing :)
> Someone other than her I would have easily scoffed at and belittled their attempt at socializing on social media, because any hint of success would threaten my strategy of never trying.
> golden days of twitter, tumblr, or myspace, back when I’m told the internet was more sincere and the signal to noise ratio was better
very relatable, I will probably try to write about related issues at some point, though I've been doing my best to ignore these dynamics. I think there is very a fine line between intentionally doing things for engagement with good pure intentions (because it's genuinely nice to have the opportunity to connect with more people) and being led by the nose by my own envy, ego, and resentment of the algorithm (and what the algorithm says about people).
fwiw, I was born in 1991 and was on myspace in 2005, tumblr in 2010. Didn't get into twitter until later, like 2017. I mean, with the exception of community notes, x.com is genuinely worse than twitter, but tbh I don't think you missed much. Things got bad somewhere between 2010 and 2014.
Certainly a very fine line to be tread, I’m sort of the opinion that more people need to articulate their objections to the algorithm dynamics than not, but I sympathize with the quiet conscientious objectors too. It’s hard to spend any energy saying it when the tide seems all encompassing and inevitable, but I’d rather be delusionally hopeful. I look forward to reading your thoughts on said related issues at some point :)
personal experience please feel free to push back and tell me i'm full of shit but when i was on twitter before i feel like complaining and being overly meta about the algo just fed my bitterness and resentment.
i have had better results not censoring myself but also trying to focus on the positive, ignore the algo entirely, keep the feed on "following" only, and spend more time writing than reading.
I don't have enough experience with substack at this point to say it with high confidence, but I think this mostly comes down to personality differences, as to whether or not you can be overly meta about the algorithm and not have it affect your life/mental health in negative ways. My sense is that there's a healthier type of person and community here that is more likely to be open to those sorts of meta discussions without it degenerating everyone involved, and that the right amount of meta observation is more than zero, and should remain a strict minority of commentary around here, but more than zero. Good faith interlocutors should take advantage of the time and influence they have to shape norms and boundaries while a platform is young and growing, and shouldn't cede too much ground to the slop accounts.
Perhaps in a few months I'll check back in with you and see if my feelings have changed on this, personally I hope to not touch on this sort of topic more than 10% of the time, I'd really prefer to write and explore other interests. Next post will be something positive about something I mostly love and venerate.
i've said it already, and i'll say it again: great writing and just so true. i'm happy to have connected with you more authentically, it definitely adds a layer to enjoying this text. :)