14 Comments

I’ve enjoyed learning from you through your posts, Cass. Hopefully I’ll find my way to Beehiiv!

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You don't need to do anything! You'll still continue to receive my posts. I'm just changing the software I use to send them. :)

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Sorry you’re going. It’s a healthy ecosystem, and you have a place in it.

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I'll still be around! Just using a different software that better suits my needs

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I can always rely on you to be ahead of the curve. I’ve had my own unease about the platform for a while and not done anything about it. I’ll be interested to find out more about Biihive. Thank you

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It was VERY easy to transfer my stuff there and I really like using the software so far!! Glad to hear I'm not alone in having a sense of unease about Substack <3

Thank you for understanding!

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I don’t understand. Maybe I’m a Luddite but moved to Substack fro xitter and found lots of great content. I don’t know Biihive or how to find it. I respect your decision and have learned a lot from you posts. Thank you for making a difference.

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You don’t have to do anything! You’ll receive my posts like you always have. The underlying tech (for me) is changing, but the experience for you of receiving the newsletter will not ! ❤️

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That’s a relief but will I continue to see your posts here on Substack? Am I on the wrong side of something bad about Substack that I should know about, and should I be moving again to a purer information gateway?

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They won't be on Substack, no—but they will still come to your email inbox. I'm happy to share more with you about my decision to leave Substack, but don't want you to feel like YOU have to leave just because I chose to. There are certainly many great writers here, you are right!

For me, it's a combination of being flummoxed and frustrated by the regular press releases the founders of Substack put out - which often defend "free speech" from very deplorable people, in very clumsy and shallow ways. I worry these guys are building a giant and powerful media ecosystem where people are allowed to monetize and weaponize terrible misinformation and hateful ideology without oversight or concern. I also discovered, a month or so ago, that they had silently inserted a toggle into my settings that allowed my content to be used to train AI products. This action seems consistent with the vibe I get from their leadership - cowardly and thoughtless.

So I decided to leave.

Smaller stuff includes the fact that they're just building out the product to be more like a traditional social media platform, and I really just want a simple newsletter. I'm paying them a pretty big fee from my paying subscriber base for stuff I just don't want or need! But that wouldn't bother me if not for all the (to me) weird and bad behavior of the founders, haha.

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Thank you for the update.

I hope to see you on the other side.

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Yes! You will

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Why are you leaving Substack

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Many reasons - unease with the decisions of leadership, the product being developed in a direction that isn't making sense for my needs, wanting a flat fee for use of a product vs paying an increasing percentage etc

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