Substack, no alternative to independent websites and blogs

25 November 2024

Online publishing platform Substack, founded in 2017, was all anyone could talk about by 2022. Writers were scrambling to jump on the bandwagon, having heard tales of six-figure revenues being earned by some publishers. Even though we’ve heard those sorts of stories before. I even joined up myself, to see what the fuss was about.

But as someone who’s had their own web presence for decades, I couldn’t see the appeal of incorporating my brand into someone else’s. I think I only ever published one short article there.

But I’d already been hearing Substack appeared to permit the proliferation of misinformation, conspiracy theorists, and far-right ideologies, and was taking no action against the publishers of such content. I have no interest whatsoever in reading that sort of material, but it makes me wonder. Should content some people find objectionable actually be deleted by the administrators of a publishing platform like Substack? And then: how do we define what is acceptable, and what’s not?

For me, hate-speech and anything inciting violence or lawlessness, is unacceptable. Other topics, such as misinformation, and conspiracy theories, may be a little harder to quantify. During the COVID-19 lockdowns, almost everyone I knew complied with stay-at-home orders, and vaccine mandates. However there were some, neighbours, and others I’d see regularly, who hitherto seemed to be no different than me, convinced COVID-19 was a hoax, and the vaccines posed a serious threat.

I’d tell these people I disagreed with what they thought, but their resolve was unstinting. They believed absolutely in what they thought. They were wrong in my eyes, their views plain dangerous to say the least, but this is a democracy, and, like it or lump it, we’re all entitled to our opinion. No doubt, some of these people, would, if they read my blog, object to some of the content I publish here. But does that, of itself, constitute grounds for having it (somehow) forcibly removed?

But back to Substack. American blogger and entrepreneur Anil Dash, for one, believes the platform was created to give voice to extremists:

Substack is, just as a reminder, a political project made by extremists with a goal of normalizing a radical, hateful agenda by co-opting well-intentioned creators’ work in service of cross-promoting attacks on the vulnerable. You don’t have to take my word for it; Substack’s CEO explicitly said they won’t ban someone who is explicitly spouting hate, and when confronted with the rampant white supremacist propaganda that they are profiting from on their site, they took down… four of the Nazis. Four.

John Gruber, writing at Daring Fireball, however counters with the idea that Substack is simply an open-for-all publishing platform:

I know quite a few people whose opinions I admire who feel the same way as Dash here. I’ll disagree. I think Substack sees itself as a publishing tool and platform. They’re not here to promote any particular side. It makes no more sense for them to refuse to publish someone for being too right-wing than it would for WordPress or Medium or, say, GitHub or YouTube. Substack, I think, sees itself like that.

Despite my indifference to Substack, this is largely how I see things as well. I’ve read numerous articles published on Substack, which are just always useful and informative. I’ve never encountered anything hateful, deliberately misleading, or conspiratorial, though obviously such content exists. As it would on self-hosted websites/blogs that are not part of any publishing platform.

Calls to have such content removed seem pointless, unless laws, defamation for instance, are contravened. Fighting fire with fire may be the only option. Writing in response, and criticising material that is hateful or misleading. Do so from your own, self-hosted, independent, website though. Do not allow any publishing platform to assimilate your brand, or your content.

Charlotte Wood did not win the Booker Prize, still gets Booker bump

22 November 2024

Sales of Australian author Charlotte Wood’s latest novel Stone Yard Devotional have enjoyed a boost, as a result of being both long and short listed for this year’s Booker Prize. The phenomena is sometimes called the Booker bump:

Her publisher says that since winning the Stella Prize in 2016 for The Natural Way of Things, her blistering feminist critique of the patriarchy, “Charlotte’s books have been bestsellers — and Stone Yard Devotional is no exception. Since being longlisted for the Booker Prize, sales have increased by over 30 per cent. We have to date sold over 40,000 copies of this beautiful book.”

Anyone who makes it to even the longlist of any literary award, but goes no further, is a winner if you ask me.

Is the grass greener on the Bluesky side of the fence?

21 November 2024

Twitter-like microblogging social network Bluesky is having its moment in the sun. We’ve all seen the multiple headlines of late heralding the arrival of another several million new members, most of whom have migrated from Twitter.

The buzz is similar to that surrounding Mastodon about two years ago. Even if Mastodon’s decentralised structure confused many people. But it’s really not that puzzling. Ignore the decentralised talk — even though that sort of setup is probably a good thing — and just join.

If you’re in Australia, or want to interact in an Australian environment, and looking for somewhere you can discuss pretty much whatever you want (within reason) try Aus Social. For the most part, you’ll still be able to interact with people you know, even if they’re on a different instance (server).

I think if what has happened at Twitter has taught us anything, that’s not to keep your social network eggs in the same basket. Presently, I’m on three networks, Threads, Mastodon, and Bluesky. I’m hardly an active participant on any, but Mastodon is where I see the most response to something I post. Bluesky might be next, while I see the least amount on Threads, which to me, sometimes feels like a daytime soap opera.

But maintaining three social network pages isn’t particularly hard work, as I largely cross-post the same content across them all, as a write once, publish multiple times, strategy. There are apps, such as Croissant, that will do the same thing, if you’re prepared to pay a subscription.

The main reason I suggest having a presence on Mastodon, is because it’s decentralised and independent. No one can stage a complete buy-out, as they did with Twitter, because no one person, or entity, has total control. Every Mastodon instance, which makes up its decentralised network, is administered by different people. And anyone who feels so compelled, can setup their own instance, if they want to.

Bluesky, despite claiming to be decentralised, isn’t really, as Can Olcer explains. This puzzled me when I joined. I envisaged a sign-up process similar to Mastodon, where I had to find an instance I liked, and join through that.

Instead, I signed up at the Bluesky website, and that was it. There were no questions about whether I preferred to be on an Australian instance, a social instance, nothing. None of this is necessarily a problem though, but it does leave open the possibility that Bluesky, as a commercial, potentially profiting making entity, may one day follow in the footsteps of Twitter.

The W3C launches the Sustainable Web Interest Group

20 November 2024

The World Wide Consortium (W3C) has the emissions created by the internet in its sights… who knew just high web caused emissions were?

The mission of the Sustainable Web Interest Group is to improve digital sustainability so that the Web works better for all people and the planet. The digital industry is responsible for 2-5% of global emissions, more than the aviation industry. If the Internet were a country it would be one of the top five polluters. The amount of water, energy, and minerals required increases annually, often putting the burden on developing economies.

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Katie Cunningham: write badly to write well

20 November 2024

Australian author and journalist Katie Cunningham:

My high school English teacher told me that good writing is the tenth draft of bad writing.

I saw this in The Booklist, a weekly newsletter by the Sydney Morning Herald, the other day. Sometimes I feel as if I rewrite everything I post here ten times before publishing it.

Unification, a short Star Trek film, in memory of Leonard Nimoy

20 November 2024

To mark the thirtieth anniversary of the 1994 release of Star Trek Generations, comes Unification, which kind of picks ups after the conclusion of Generations.

But it’s also a whirlwind jaunt through The Original Series (TOS) universe. There’s a cameo by Gary Lockwood, of 2001: A Space Odyssey, who featured in Where No Man Has Gone Before, the third episode of the first TV series of Star Trek, made in 1966. Robin Curtis, who portrayed Saavik in 1984’s The Search for Spock, also appears.

If, like me, you were wondering how it all came together, Trekmovie has a great explainer about Unification’s production:

The characters from Star Trek history were brought to life through live-action performances, including Sam Witwer as young James T. Kirk and Lawrence Selleck as Spock. According to OTOY, they were filmed in costume, performing as Kirk and Spock on set, aided by “both physical and digital prosthetics resulting in period-accurate portrayals matching the appearance of the characters as they originally appeared in TV and film at the time.” William Shatner and Susan Bay Nimoy, widow of the late Leonard Nimoy, served as executive producers on the production.

Might this be Star Trek Seven, in TOS universe?

Dumbing down Notepad by giving it artificial intelligence

19 November 2024

Having barely touched their simple text editor, Notepad, in years, Microsoft has been laying on the modifications in recent times. A few months ago, they fitted out Notepad with an autocorrect and spell-checker feature. That’s fine for people wishing to use Notepad as a word processor (in preference to paying out for a subscription to use Word, for instance), but these are features that may not suit everyone.

In the past, I used Notepad to write HTML, CSS, PHP, and other stuff, for my websites. Autocorrect and spell-checker would be worse than useless in those situations. Imagine Notepad trying to “correct” HTML markup? Unless there’s a way to disable these new functions, Notepad will no longer be much use for coders. Coders want what they write, to stay written exactly as they wrote it.

While Microsoft may have decided people long since stopped simple text editors to create websites, in preference to other tools, a plain, simple, text editor, is still useful to have. But the “improvements” to Notepad haven’t stopped with autocorrect and spell-checker functionality. Emma Roth, writing for The Verge, says AI features are to soon to be rolled out:

Microsoft is adding AI-powered text editing to Notepad, the stripped-down text editor originally introduced in 1983. The feature, called Rewrite, is rolling out in preview to Windows Insiders and will let you use AI to “rephrase sentences, adjust tone, and modify the length of your content,” according to the Windows Insider Blog.

Now, AI may be helpful in writing HTML and CSS, if the bot knows what they are, and is able to assist with the writing constructively. But that might be asking a lot.

Merchant Ivory, a James Ivory, Ismail Merchant documentary, by Stephen Soucy

19 November 2024

Filmmakers James Ivory, the late Ismail Merchant, and Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, who collaborated as Merchant Ivory, made over forty features between 1963 and 2009. I think you’d be hard pressed to find any well-known actor of recent decades who did not work with them.

My favourite is A Room with a View, which I’ve written about a few times, though The Remains of the Day, is also up there. Now a documentary, appropriately titled Merchant Ivory, trailer, which chronicles their work and lives, has been made by Stephen Soucy. Required viewing for fans, I think.

Blitz, a movie by Steve McQueen, with Saoirse Ronan

18 November 2024

I’ve ended up seeing a stack of movies featuring Irish-American actor Saoirse Ronan, over the years. Tracking all the way back to Atonement in 2007, I think. Maybe I’m not so much of a Ronan fan, as I am the movies she’s in.

But it’s an impressive list of titles. The Lovely Bones, The Way Back, Hanna, Violet & Daisy, The Host, How I Live Now, The Grand Budapest Hotel, directed by Wes Anderson, Brooklyn, On Chesil Beach, Ammonite, The French Dispatch, again, directed by Wes Anderson, and finally, Foe. It could be then, I am as much a fan of Ronan, as the films she’s in.

Curiously, her latest film, Blitz, trailer, directed by British filmmaker Steve McQueen, and has some eerie parallels with Atonement. Both include World War II settings in London, and tube stations, where civilians sheltered during Nazi bomb raids.

Blitz screened as part of this year’s British Film Festival, along with another title starring Ronan, The Outrun, directed by Nora Fingscheidt. Talk about prolific output.

People also need a motive to start a personal website

15 November 2024

Garrett writing on his Mastodon page:

How do we make it easier for “everyone else,” the “normies,” all those “regular” folk who just want to get online, how do we reduce the friction required to get them to make their own little corners of the web? How do we make the #IndieWeb easier? How do we make the #WebRevival more convenient?

It’s the question of the times, and one I think about. Thing is, almost “everyone else” is comfortable with the ease of using a social media platform to get online. Set up an account. Find friends and follow them. Ask them to do the same. Start posting stuff. Sit back and enjoy the discussion that might accompany a post. No special knowledge required. Nothing else to worry about.

It’s just too easy. But the personal website space really seems reserved for people with a keen interest in creating their own presence online, because there are a few hurdles to entry. I could say — with my relatively low-tech website setup — “well, look at me. I don’t have that much technical knowledge, but see: I have a website, therefore so can you.” But that’s not really much help.

I wanted to have a personal website, and was motivated enough to figure what I needed to do, to make that happen. The problem is, I just don’t think there’s too many regular people, who are the same. Even if there are free-to-sign-up options, such as WordPress.com, or Neocities, open to them.

So, it’s not just ease of setup. Some sort of motive is needed. And motives have come along before. Fifteen to twenty years ago people left, right, and centre, were setting up blogs, motivated by the prospect of making money from them. Some bloggers boasted of “six-figure incomes.” It was enough to see complete novices figuring out content management systems, hosting, content production, and how to build an audience, all in the name of bringing in a dollar or million.

I don’t know what the prospects are like for website monetisation today. Sure, there’s people making some money from their blogs, but like fifteen-plus years ago, only a handful are earning enough to make a difference. Making money from a website may not then be the enticement we’re looking for.

If we are to lure more people away from social media, and encourage them to launch personal websites, presenting them with a motive is something that also needs to be considered.

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