7/

The only thing he said he wished was different about Substack was —

He wishes it was easier to republish posts for everyone which had been originally only posted for paid subscribers.

(He felt this was a minor thing though.)

6/

Another factor (for him) seems to be —

It was free for him to give Substack a try.

He didn't have to pay money to get started with or use Substack.

5/

Another factor (for him) seems to be —

Once he was on Substack he was able to find an audience — who read his work, who subscribed to him, who commented on his posts, who favorited and who shared his posts.

4/

Another factor (for him) seems to be —

He saw some of his peers join Substack and have success there.

So, he was inclined to do similar.

3/

Another factor (for him) seems to be —

He perceived Twitter as being prone to censorship. Including politically motivated censorship. Censorship of individual posts, and even by suspending Twitter account.

And thus risky to build an audience on Twitter — since your digital identity could be taken away from you at any time (by Twitter)

He felt that Substack was not only much more tolerant, but had a policy of being anti-censorship.

2/

One factor (for him) seems to be —

He seems to tend to prefer to write long-form content.

Long essays.

Even series of long posts that could be turned into a book.

My mother's half-brother was in the battle at Anzio and was in a cavalry unit that marched up through Italy and into Russia, where he saw scenes of mind-boggling carnage that deeply scarred him psychologically.

Not one of these family members came back to the US praising Nazis. Quite the contrary: they had stories to tell, when they were willing to talk.

I remember and am shaped by those stories. And I'll keep remembering.

#CitizenJournalism #Substack #broligarchy
/5

His brother received medals for bravery due to his actions on flight missions into the Low Countries to liberate them. Their brother-in-law had a brother who died a hero's death in France at the hands of Nazis.

My mother's brother was in the first Army unit who arrived on the scene of the Gardelegen massacre soon after it took place. He captured an SS officer, risking his life to do that.

#CitizenJournalism #Substack #broligarchy
/5

I'd miss all these if I took a purist approach to an imperfect platform — though I absolutely do think the question of a platform boosting pro-Nazi voices has to be discussed openly.

Unlike many of those using that discussion now to divide progressives into purer and less-pure camps, I actually have some historical proximity to these questions due to my age.

My father was a WWII soldier wounded at the attack on Pearl Harbor.

#CitizenJournalism #Substack #broligarchy
/4

I just subscribed to Citizen Journalism on Substack and look forward to reading its postings there — as I do to reading incisive, informed progressive commentary by Cadwalladr, Anne Applebaum (whom she cited in this posting), as I do the other 74 good commentators to whose Substack blogs I subscribe, usually for free, since I'm a senior citizen on a fixed income who already stretches that income by donations to multiple worthy groups.

#CitizenJournalism #Substack #broligarchy
/3

"Substack, has the familiar problems of other VC-funded platforms, but it has also become a thriving hub for independent journalism. And I believe we need to build media networks not empires and collaborating with properly independent voices is how we build a new information ecosystem free from billionaire influence."

#CitizenJournalism #Substack #broligarchy
/3

"It’s an initiative from the Citizens, a non-profit seeking to hold Silicon Valley companies to account. It runs most of its activities including its newsletter, the Citizens Dispatch, from Ghost which is widely seen as the ethical alternative to Substack.

But they’ve joined me over here on Substack too because there’s no doubt there is a growing audience here."

#CitizenJournalism #Substack #broligarchy
/2

@w7voa but they realize #substack directly supports AND helps fund the individuals and groups trying to end democracy, right?

Every time someone clicks to substack, they give $ and a platform for those scum.