Still thinking about PAY FOR VALUE or Equipoise. This is how real business (not Wall Street) works.
Substack claims to be different because it depends mainly on payment from readers, not advertising.
BUT: It fails the basic requirement of Equipoise. The algorithm doesn’t listen to the concerns of paying readers. No matter how often I block or mute unwanted shit, the SAME KIND of unwanted shit keeps pouring in. Other platforms shape the feed toward your expressed likes and dislikes or upvotes and downvotes.
Adam Kuznia is trying to persuade the management to add an Agriculture category. He has 1200 subscribers helping the push, but nothing changes. Silicon Valley sees farmers as unnecessary yokels who must be replaced by IPOs for synthetic lab-grown food.
Quora does an excellent job of feeding mostly what I’ve read and liked, emphasizing the SUBJECTS I enjoy (programming and lawyer stories) and providing very little of subjects (sports) that I never read. Quora does have a paid option, but I’ve never paid and it still shapes its feed to my expressed tastes.
I’ve been paying about $100 a month in various subscriptions on Substack, and it still doesn’t listen. Lately I’m cutting down fast because there’s no value in response to the payment.
Polistra's Mill 