Thank you for signing on to the joint anti-Nazi letter to Substack's leadership and for sharing your thoughts. I'm afraid that their response leaves their position unambiguous and unacceptable. I’ve been here before, and I’ve learned not to drink at Nazi Bars. I hope you’ll consider an alternative, such as buttondown.email. With best wishes for the New Year,
It is certainly a problem. I know that one should never visit the comments section without having Virgi along to guide them, but when I do I see a lot of real, actual antisemitism (no, not "From, the river to the sea…"—that's not antisemitic—more along the lines of Protocols of the Elders of Zion crap).
I’m reminded of this extraordinary video with Substack’s CEO where he refused to weigh in on content moderation. It’s worth remembering that an accelerationist anarcho-libertarian is his VC backer, which explains a lot. Of course, Musk, Andreesen, Zuck, and Thiel (all profiled in The End of Reality by Jonathan Taplin) not only control this site but also Post, FB, and X. Here’s that 2 minute video:
My preference is that anyone who shows us they are fascist is excluded from participation in any public activity and forum.
If the operators of Substack take down all such content, I'm for it.
However...
If they don't, I don't believe it makes sense for any of us who lean anti-fascist to leave.
To revisit a notion I suggested to you previously: with regard to the universe of electronic communications- there are no clean tools in this filthy shed.
At the very least I think they should revoke their ability to monetize their substacks and PROFIT from being Nazis. The site should also not in any way actively promote or badge these subs in ways that bring them more attention and puts them in front of more readers.
That's the bare minimum. Let them post their racist, bigoted shitty opinions in the "public square" if that's what the CEO thinks is "fair." But should being a Nazi be a lucrative career via substack? Hell no.
You want to waste your time posting that kind of garbage, then you should be doing it at your own time and expense, with no monetary rewards.
**Also, it's not like the underlying technical architecture of the substack platform is that complicated. The owners should be advised that a competing platform with low cost overheads is not a heavy lift for anyone so inclined.** They are openly inviting someone else to move the sandbox and poach the talent.
The draw of substack is really just having the ability to collect and collate the work of some great writers and personalities in one place and support them directly with a monetary contribution if one is able. If they force the good writers to take their work elsewhere, there will be no reason for the vast majority of their current subscribers to remain here if the real talent and quality jumps ship.
The quality of the work and community is the thing of value. Don't foul it up with Nazi dipshits.
Your comment is fair enough as far as it goes, but Katz's point is substack management is (apparently cheerfully) accepting $$ from nazis to publish their shit. Substack could shut them down anytime they wanted to, and NO ONE's rights would be harmed – let 'em migrate to Regnery Press with all the other nazis.
Disclosure: I'm just a reader so not financially linked to the health of Substack. But FFS I get enough nazism every damn day from most all the other media sloshing around this idiot nation.
"Substack could shut them down anytime they wanted to, and NO ONE's rights would be harmed..."
Exactly, it's a private business, not Hyde Park Speaker's Corner. Substack would be totally within their rights to decree tomorrow that only cat-related content will be allowed, and if they did that nobody's free-speech rights would be violated, because they're not the government. Come to think of it, maybe that's the solution, although then we'd probably have to deal with an infestation of Kitlers.
Thank you for signing on to the joint anti-Nazi letter to Substack's leadership and for sharing your thoughts. I'm afraid that their response leaves their position unambiguous and unacceptable. I’ve been here before, and I’ve learned not to drink at Nazi Bars. I hope you’ll consider an alternative, such as buttondown.email. With best wishes for the New Year,
Mario Savio and his Berkeley compatriots must be spinning in their graves.
Thank you for participating in this important effort!
I subscribe to a few newsletters (some free, some paid) and only one other and you sent this out. So, no need to apologize for timing!
It is certainly a problem. I know that one should never visit the comments section without having Virgi along to guide them, but when I do I see a lot of real, actual antisemitism (no, not "From, the river to the sea…"—that's not antisemitic—more along the lines of Protocols of the Elders of Zion crap).
Thank you for signing this.
I’m reminded of this extraordinary video with Substack’s CEO where he refused to weigh in on content moderation. It’s worth remembering that an accelerationist anarcho-libertarian is his VC backer, which explains a lot. Of course, Musk, Andreesen, Zuck, and Thiel (all profiled in The End of Reality by Jonathan Taplin) not only control this site but also Post, FB, and X. Here’s that 2 minute video:
https://x.com/verge/status/1646588861529706497?s=46&t=b8ypCCrTvcadVEtBucI2CQ
Always. Follow. The . Money.
My preference is that anyone who shows us they are fascist is excluded from participation in any public activity and forum.
If the operators of Substack take down all such content, I'm for it.
However...
If they don't, I don't believe it makes sense for any of us who lean anti-fascist to leave.
To revisit a notion I suggested to you previously: with regard to the universe of electronic communications- there are no clean tools in this filthy shed.
We make use of the tools we have.
At the very least I think they should revoke their ability to monetize their substacks and PROFIT from being Nazis. The site should also not in any way actively promote or badge these subs in ways that bring them more attention and puts them in front of more readers.
That's the bare minimum. Let them post their racist, bigoted shitty opinions in the "public square" if that's what the CEO thinks is "fair." But should being a Nazi be a lucrative career via substack? Hell no.
You want to waste your time posting that kind of garbage, then you should be doing it at your own time and expense, with no monetary rewards.
**Also, it's not like the underlying technical architecture of the substack platform is that complicated. The owners should be advised that a competing platform with low cost overheads is not a heavy lift for anyone so inclined.** They are openly inviting someone else to move the sandbox and poach the talent.
The draw of substack is really just having the ability to collect and collate the work of some great writers and personalities in one place and support them directly with a monetary contribution if one is able. If they force the good writers to take their work elsewhere, there will be no reason for the vast majority of their current subscribers to remain here if the real talent and quality jumps ship.
The quality of the work and community is the thing of value. Don't foul it up with Nazi dipshits.
Your comment is fair enough as far as it goes, but Katz's point is substack management is (apparently cheerfully) accepting $$ from nazis to publish their shit. Substack could shut them down anytime they wanted to, and NO ONE's rights would be harmed – let 'em migrate to Regnery Press with all the other nazis.
Disclosure: I'm just a reader so not financially linked to the health of Substack. But FFS I get enough nazism every damn day from most all the other media sloshing around this idiot nation.
"Substack could shut them down anytime they wanted to, and NO ONE's rights would be harmed..."
Exactly, it's a private business, not Hyde Park Speaker's Corner. Substack would be totally within their rights to decree tomorrow that only cat-related content will be allowed, and if they did that nobody's free-speech rights would be violated, because they're not the government. Come to think of it, maybe that's the solution, although then we'd probably have to deal with an infestation of Kitlers.