So Substack's Chosen To Welcome Nazis. What's Next For TPC?

The "Substackers Against Nazis" letter was received, but did it have an effect? I mean, you see the title of this post. You know it didn't. Let's assess this publication's future.

Hello friends,

Last week, we joined on to an open letter to Substack’s founders on the idea of deplatforming, or at least demonetizing Nazis on this platform. This week, we’re going to be quick about it - and we are not happy.

The open letter’s creator, Marisa Kabas, got back to those of us who signed on earlier this week, and she included a response post by Substack founder Hamish McKenzie. Here’s the key bits:

So basically: “We don’t lliiiiikkkkkeeee Nazis, but we don’t want to cennnnsooorrr them! That’d be just as bad! Worse, even!”

It wouldn’t be. We know this. We know Substack just doesn’t want to lose out on that sweet, sweet Third Reich Fan cash.

The Future Of The Progressive Cafe

I’m ‘lucky’ in that this blog has a subscriber count under 40, is not a monetized platform, and is in few ways dependent on Substack. I’ve been looking at Substack alternatives since this response letter came out, and there are a few options but none of them have the same combination of features Substack does. None that I’m aware of, at least.

PLEASE leave a comment below if you can help me figure it out. I want to know what you think in terms of what we should do.

The main things that Substack offers that are of interest to me are…

- Readers can sign up to the Cafe and have it function as a newsletter.
- Posts are automatically generated as newsletters. Hell, I can even see who is opening them.
- There’s decent commenting, sharing, and archiving features.
- I don’t have to pay to host it.

The Contenders

Now, there are some ideas out there that might or might not work. One of my leading contenders is an old favorite, Wordpress. I haven’t used it since around 2017, so I don’t know what features are compatible with it anymore. Installing features can be tricky, so I don’t know that I want to do it, but it’s an option.

Ko-Fi is built for post, newsletter, and other features, but it’s also built as a financing platform for creators to use. I could still make one, but I don’t know that it’d be the best place for it.

Ghost is apparently very similar to Substack, but I think it charges a monthly fee and doesn’t have a free version.

I could always just make TPC a Facebook Page, but that excludes the in-your-inbox features.

I could also create a Blogger/Blogspot site, but I don’t know how I feel about them because honestly I feel like the tech hasn’t been worked on in a decade. It works, sure, but I don’t think it has the same subscriber features. It feels less ‘professional’ too, even if TPC currently lacks its own domain.

…Which I guess I could solve.

Getting Our Own Domain

The thing is, if I made an actual website for TPC, I’d be tempted to at least create a tip jar. TPC currently is a free project, and I’d generally like it to stay that way.

Or, Stay And Fight…?

There’s a real argument for staying and fighting the Fash on the platform. It’s not like we can magic Nazis into oblivion (if only), but having a dissenting voice is a good thing. It just feels yucky to know Substack gets 10% of each Nazi’s subscription, and I don’t really want to…Do that, you know?

So What What Do You Think?

Seriously, I want to leave this as much to you guys as to myself. TPC is your cafe, after all.

Thank you for reading The Progressive Cafe.  If this article has helped you, please consider signing up for our mailing list.  This article is by Jesse Pohlman, a sci-fi/fantasy author from Long Island, New York, whose website you can check out here.