Another Humorous Substack Panic

taibbi.substack.com

5 pointsphnofive2 comments

The Atlantic and the New York Times share a strategy of cloning the ideas that they think made Substack successful, while fundamentally missing the point that Substack does a good job at being minimally visible rather than (Atlantic) touting the importance of editorial oversight or (Times) arguing the value of a subscription bundle.

I might subscribe to the Times if not for the dark patterns in subscription retention or basic cable bundling of 90% fluff that's neither journalistic nor opinion.

Journalists and writers on Substack and similar platforms are entrepreneurs. They have to work hard to build a brand and ensure retention through superior coverage. If they are journalists they have maintain integrity with their audience. It is like the difference between Zoom as a point solution and Microsoft Teams as part of the Microsoft 365 suite bundle.

Lazy and sloppy ITs will subscribe to Microsoft suite offerings. Those who want to step up their game will buy best of breed point solutions.

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This is a good piece on the dark patterns NY Times employs and their signature hypocrisy:

https://www.nirandfar.com/cancel-new-york-times/

HN discussion on NY Times hypocrisy:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27338157

Reply on news.ycombinator.com