I am hoping to find a way to turn off “Notes” in Substack, and be greeted only by the authors I subscribe to. I doubt it is allowed. Substack used to be a quiet place for reading. Now it is a reverse library - where silence is forbidden and one must find mental salving amid an atmosphere of pelting, irrelevant, narcissistic noise.
"...there are no jurors, no judges, no discernible design to the spectacle. Only a befuddled audience, wondering if they truly asked for any of this at all."
Good read. I’ve been on substack for three or four years, and since I don’t use it much as a social platform, I haven’t witnessed all that you’ve discussed. But I do tire of the sort of high school feel of it all where the spotlight goes to the biggest, most celebrated accounts, and never to the smaller but worthy accounts. And I shouldn’t say “account” so much as author. And getting the substack announcements of new authors who are already famous or well-established just feels….gross and defeating. Like it’s gone from a place to engage to just a throbbing swirl of popularity.
I enjoyed the article and it makes many good points. Most of us who write on Substack have noticed the haphazard way changes are being rolled out and the rise of Notes is certainly pulling in the type of person that used to be more common on X. It's awful and I hope the company wakes up to what it's doing soon.
I don't think the "enshittification” process has a long life as, at some point, customers walk away from bad products. My Space, Blackberry, Kodak, Blockbuster, and many other companies were dominant 20 years ago but failed to adapt. "Enshitification" is a strategy for short-term profit, not long-term success.
We're not living thought "late-stage capitalism," we're living through a second progressive era caused by corruption and greed. It will end but it won't lead to utopian communism that the Marxists who coined the term dream of.
So far, I've managed to avoid any significant impact on my personal life from algorithms. I find I'm way too unimportant. Now, if I could only do something about the trolls and bots.
The glass is both half empty and half full, at least for adults. As far as children, they should be kept far away from screens as much as possible while their brains mature. I despise the click and rage bait-y algorithms, but I also ask myself if that's what one usually has to do to get eyeballs in our information cornucopia. If I had 30 newspapers laying in front of me and I could only choose one to read, I expect there would print tactics to grab the eyeballs. But the writing still matters and if the paper is full of trash, then on to the next choice, just as I do online. I will also defend some AI, such as the hilarious Diaper Diplomacy. Humor, just like the not AI Dave Chappelle, is a gift to humanity. They're short and give a nice mental break from the rest of the reading.
I am hoping to find a way to turn off “Notes” in Substack, and be greeted only by the authors I subscribe to. I doubt it is allowed. Substack used to be a quiet place for reading. Now it is a reverse library - where silence is forbidden and one must find mental salving amid an atmosphere of pelting, irrelevant, narcissistic noise.
"...there are no jurors, no judges, no discernible design to the spectacle. Only a befuddled audience, wondering if they truly asked for any of this at all."
One also wonders if there are even any winners.
Broadly speaking, no…a few do get paid which is a win for many, despite what happens to their humanity along the way…
Fair point. I suppose in the spirit of ends justifying means, and those ends being revenue generation, yes.
Good read. I’ve been on substack for three or four years, and since I don’t use it much as a social platform, I haven’t witnessed all that you’ve discussed. But I do tire of the sort of high school feel of it all where the spotlight goes to the biggest, most celebrated accounts, and never to the smaller but worthy accounts. And I shouldn’t say “account” so much as author. And getting the substack announcements of new authors who are already famous or well-established just feels….gross and defeating. Like it’s gone from a place to engage to just a throbbing swirl of popularity.
Judson,
I enjoyed the article and it makes many good points. Most of us who write on Substack have noticed the haphazard way changes are being rolled out and the rise of Notes is certainly pulling in the type of person that used to be more common on X. It's awful and I hope the company wakes up to what it's doing soon.
I don't think the "enshittification” process has a long life as, at some point, customers walk away from bad products. My Space, Blackberry, Kodak, Blockbuster, and many other companies were dominant 20 years ago but failed to adapt. "Enshitification" is a strategy for short-term profit, not long-term success.
We're not living thought "late-stage capitalism," we're living through a second progressive era caused by corruption and greed. It will end but it won't lead to utopian communism that the Marxists who coined the term dream of.
So far, I've managed to avoid any significant impact on my personal life from algorithms. I find I'm way too unimportant. Now, if I could only do something about the trolls and bots.
The glass is both half empty and half full, at least for adults. As far as children, they should be kept far away from screens as much as possible while their brains mature. I despise the click and rage bait-y algorithms, but I also ask myself if that's what one usually has to do to get eyeballs in our information cornucopia. If I had 30 newspapers laying in front of me and I could only choose one to read, I expect there would print tactics to grab the eyeballs. But the writing still matters and if the paper is full of trash, then on to the next choice, just as I do online. I will also defend some AI, such as the hilarious Diaper Diplomacy. Humor, just like the not AI Dave Chappelle, is a gift to humanity. They're short and give a nice mental break from the rest of the reading.