>As I perceive Substack model and positioning , I would guess that people would blame the author. That depends on the extent to which users see Substack as a p

>As I perceive Substack model and positioning , I would guess that people would blame the author. That depends on the extent to which users see Substack as a publisher vs a marketplace. If you think Substack's role is just infrastructural, you would blame the author. But if you think Substack has to provide value by cultivating good, high-quality newsletters, then you blame Substack. But in either case, if you're looking for an ad-free experience, an increase in ads will frustrate you. Even if you don't think Substack is responsible for ads, you may be using it specifically to find ad-free content creators. The moment that guarantee vanishes from the Substack marketplace, the service becomes less valuable to you. >Also, newspapers have a mix of subscription and ads for decades, Substack's business model is predicated on its dissimilarity to existing publishing forms. By choosing their own subscriptions and receiving them in their inbox, a Substack customer is doing the complete opposite to going out and buying a particular broadsheet printed by someone else. I doubt any Substack customer who is paying for an ad-free experience would appreciate the comparison to a newspaper.