Regarding the tracking links, I do not like them. For security reasons it is often recommended something like "never click on a link, type the link (url) manually by yourself", which becomes so hard with those links. Regarding tracking parts of links, Firefox has implemented a feature to erase that part, but I read Facebook appears to have implemented an encrypted tracking link as response. And those substack-links are in addition redirect links, so impossible to guess. Writing the source and Title in plain text should make it possible to find it without using the link.
Re newsletters - to be "succesful" to get subscribers, you need to have the audience first. A blog post does not need an audience to be possible to find its readers. An alternative to subscribing to newsletters is to subscribe to the RSS/Atom feed on the website - only I know I am subscriber and I can add and delete my susbcriptions immideately when I want to, and no need to give out any e-mail address.
A blog post is also far more possible to control myself, if I want to, I can even host it on a server under my desk, while Substack & Co have their conditions and who knows if they cease to exist or change conditions, like price, censor content etc.
I hate redirect links, especially when they're a paragraph of intentionally obscure alphanumeric hash. I even clicked on one to get here!
Newsletters are blogs, and you're right that anyone can get a blog in newsletter form by subscribing to an RSS feed.
Take a look at the work Dave Winer is dong lately to bring respect to RSS: http://scripting.com/ Follow his links there. Not a one is freighted with tracking.
It occurs to me that Substack is hot because it's an easy way for writers to publish, get lots of helpful metrics, and a route to steady income. But those metrics come with a moral cost.
Thanks, I read Dave Winers post. Also the one about a project to bring Twitter feeds to RSS is interesting (Aug 18).
I think we have to distinguish between newsletters which are part of a subsciption to give income or of any reason disired to keep them hidden for the public, and those newsletters that are free to sign-up to respectively. But well, the metrics can still be relevant, not at least if gives revenue by ads or something. The RSS can be a relevant choice for the "public" newsletters.
One paid newsletter I subscribe to (not Substack, I believe), is from an independent journalist, who split between open info on site and exclusive content in newsletter, so the newsletter income is then one of his incomes to do his job. I also understand the obscure links in that newsletter gives the journalist eg statitics which of the links in the newsletter that readers click on for further reading.
You can actually subscribe to the RSS feed at https://reality2.substack.com/feed. That doesn't address all the concerns, certainly, but it's nice that RSS hasn't been forgotten.
Odd that Substack wanted me to register as a commenter, even though I write here.
I'm still figuring that out too!
Regarding the tracking links, I do not like them. For security reasons it is often recommended something like "never click on a link, type the link (url) manually by yourself", which becomes so hard with those links. Regarding tracking parts of links, Firefox has implemented a feature to erase that part, but I read Facebook appears to have implemented an encrypted tracking link as response. And those substack-links are in addition redirect links, so impossible to guess. Writing the source and Title in plain text should make it possible to find it without using the link.
Re newsletters - to be "succesful" to get subscribers, you need to have the audience first. A blog post does not need an audience to be possible to find its readers. An alternative to subscribing to newsletters is to subscribe to the RSS/Atom feed on the website - only I know I am subscriber and I can add and delete my susbcriptions immideately when I want to, and no need to give out any e-mail address.
A blog post is also far more possible to control myself, if I want to, I can even host it on a server under my desk, while Substack & Co have their conditions and who knows if they cease to exist or change conditions, like price, censor content etc.
I hate redirect links, especially when they're a paragraph of intentionally obscure alphanumeric hash. I even clicked on one to get here!
Newsletters are blogs, and you're right that anyone can get a blog in newsletter form by subscribing to an RSS feed.
Take a look at the work Dave Winer is dong lately to bring respect to RSS: http://scripting.com/ Follow his links there. Not a one is freighted with tracking.
It occurs to me that Substack is hot because it's an easy way for writers to publish, get lots of helpful metrics, and a route to steady income. But those metrics come with a moral cost.
And we're mindful of that here, lemme tell ya.
Thanks, I read Dave Winers post. Also the one about a project to bring Twitter feeds to RSS is interesting (Aug 18).
I think we have to distinguish between newsletters which are part of a subsciption to give income or of any reason disired to keep them hidden for the public, and those newsletters that are free to sign-up to respectively. But well, the metrics can still be relevant, not at least if gives revenue by ads or something. The RSS can be a relevant choice for the "public" newsletters.
One paid newsletter I subscribe to (not Substack, I believe), is from an independent journalist, who split between open info on site and exclusive content in newsletter, so the newsletter income is then one of his incomes to do his job. I also understand the obscure links in that newsletter gives the journalist eg statitics which of the links in the newsletter that readers click on for further reading.
You can actually subscribe to the RSS feed at https://reality2.substack.com/feed. That doesn't address all the concerns, certainly, but it's nice that RSS hasn't been forgotten.
By the way, the Thunderbird blog wrote about his love for RSS earlier this year: https://blog.thunderbird.net/2022/05/thunderbird-rss-feeds-guide-favorite-content-to-the-inbox/