4 ms·

I never understood the appeal in platforms like Medium and Substack. But then I am a pathological contrarian and have an allergic reaction to anything any kind

I never understood the appeal in platforms like Medium and Substack. But then I am a pathological contrarian and have an allergic reaction to anything any kind of advertising signal to buy, force you to have an account for consultation, subscribe, send like and whatever and tend to avoid most of these platforms. You are free to add an rss xml file to your website though.

screenothethird 3y ago
[dead]
deely3 3y ago
For me its ok. It looks like this: I found the author that Im imterested in and copied blog url into my RSS reader. Works for Substack.
foreverobama 3y ago
[dead]
tiborsaas 3y ago
You don't have to deal with any tech stuff, basically that's the appeal. No server management, no separate newsletter service, no nothing. Log in to your account, write and publish with built in monetisation.
- ghaff 3y ago
  The monetization is worth pretty much zero for most people. But it's low friction and at least Medium used to have an aura of carrying more reputational weight than a personal blog did. (Which was BS but was the case at least once upon a time.)
  - bluejellybean 3y ago
    > Medium used to have an aura of carrying more reputational weight than a personal blog did. At least within the realm of technical discussion, I'll be continuing to view it as a mostly negative signal. The institution is very rarely the individual, and there isn't value in assigning positive weight when said institution doesn't carry any itself. Increased friction is counter-intuitively a positive here, it shows that the author has at least put some real investment into the presentation of their work. Don't get me wrong, doesn't need to be a fully self-designed/built website, just spending some cash on a domain && Wix template is at least _something_ more than throwing words at a page to profit.
    - ghaff 3y ago
      I've been going back and forth for a blog/website relaunch. My current thinking is I'll just go with a new template on Google Blogger. I've actually been happy enough with that over the years. I don't cross-post to Medium any longer.
- prmoustache 3y ago
  But then aren't people sick of moving from platform to platform? I've read recently some people saying they were fleeing from substack (many presumably were previously on medium) because of neonazi contents being non moderated. I'd rather pay a little for my own domain and hosting (you don't even have to manage the server and a cms) than having to migrate every few internet dramas.
wruza 3y ago
I remember watching a video from an LA real estate review youtuber where she shared how much money she makes on different platforms, including articles on medium. It ranged from $9k to $30k per month, medium alone. And her content overall wasn't even... sexualized (anticipating the obvious). Neither was she a "stellar" content creator, I mean there was no stupid "show" in each content piece. She didn't show any sign of being able to set up her own blog.
poisonborz 3y ago
The appeal is that you get exposure from their readerbase. They ship you a - minor, but still - audience with the chance that it grows larger. It's not about the money and getting subscribers, very few reach that, and every author hates ads (the downside of these platforms, Substack is much better there). It's about you liking to write, and liking that people read what you write, not income.
alberth 3y ago
They are the modern day "OpEd" of physical newspapers. You publish there because they already have a large reader base, so that your voice can be heard.
rchaud 3y ago
The appeal of Substack is akin to sharecropping on the land of a different feudal lord. Instead of fighting SEO optimizers on Google, you can now be a guinea pig for Substack as they figure out how to make money.

screenothethird 3y ago

[dead]

deely3 3y ago

For me its ok. It looks like this: I found the author that Im imterested in and copied blog url into my RSS reader. Works for Substack.

foreverobama 3y ago

[dead]

tiborsaas 3y ago

You don't have to deal with any tech stuff, basically that's the appeal. No server management, no separate newsletter service, no nothing. Log in to your account, write and publish with built in monetisation.

ghaff 3y ago
The monetization is worth pretty much zero for most people. But it's low friction and at least Medium used to have an aura of carrying more reputational weight than a personal blog did. (Which was BS but was the case at least once upon a time.)
- bluejellybean 3y ago
  > Medium used to have an aura of carrying more reputational weight than a personal blog did. At least within the realm of technical discussion, I'll be continuing to view it as a mostly negative signal. The institution is very rarely the individual, and there isn't value in assigning positive weight when said institution doesn't carry any itself. Increased friction is counter-intuitively a positive here, it shows that the author has at least put some real investment into the presentation of their work. Don't get me wrong, doesn't need to be a fully self-designed/built website, just spending some cash on a domain && Wix template is at least _something_ more than throwing words at a page to profit.
  - ghaff 3y ago
    I've been going back and forth for a blog/website relaunch. My current thinking is I'll just go with a new template on Google Blogger. I've actually been happy enough with that over the years. I don't cross-post to Medium any longer.
prmoustache 3y ago
But then aren't people sick of moving from platform to platform? I've read recently some people saying they were fleeing from substack (many presumably were previously on medium) because of neonazi contents being non moderated. I'd rather pay a little for my own domain and hosting (you don't even have to manage the server and a cms) than having to migrate every few internet dramas.

wruza 3y ago

I remember watching a video from an LA real estate review youtuber where she shared how much money she makes on different platforms, including articles on medium. It ranged from $9k to $30k per month, medium alone. And her content overall wasn't even... sexualized (anticipating the obvious). Neither was she a "stellar" content creator, I mean there was no stupid "show" in each content piece. She didn't show any sign of being able to set up her own blog.

poisonborz 3y ago

The appeal is that you get exposure from their readerbase. They ship you a - minor, but still - audience with the chance that it grows larger. It's not about the money and getting subscribers, very few reach that, and every author hates ads (the downside of these platforms, Substack is much better there). It's about you liking to write, and liking that people read what you write, not income.

alberth 3y ago

They are the modern day "OpEd" of physical newspapers. You publish there because they already have a large reader base, so that your voice can be heard.

rchaud 3y ago

The appeal of Substack is akin to sharecropping on the land of a different feudal lord. Instead of fighting SEO optimizers on Google, you can now be a guinea pig for Substack as they figure out how to make money.