On Leaving Substack - Evolving Our Platform, The Indie Web, and Staying True to Our Values
Today, I write to you not just as the creator of Mechanical Ink Studio and as Schalk Neethling, but as a fellow member of our vibrant community. It's important for me to address a critical issue that has recently surfaced in the public sphere concerning our current platform, Substack.
It has come to light that Substack has been grappling with content moderation challenges, specifically regarding Nazi-related content. While the platform's founders have taken steps to remove some of this content, they have decided not to alter the underlying policies that govern content on the site. This decision has sparked a significant debate and discomfort among many, including myself.
I want to make it unequivocally clear: I do not condone or align with such content or policies that provide it a breeding ground. However, as an individual creator juggling various projects, the decision to migrate from Substack isn't straightforward for me.
Despite these challenges, I've resolved to take a stand and transition away from Substack. This move, however, requires careful planning and execution. Unlike larger organizations with dedicated teams and resources, as an individual creator, the responsibility of managing this transition falls entirely on my shoulders.
Here's my plan:
1. Self-Hosted Newsletter: I will be deploying a self-hosted instance of the open-source Ghost platform for my newsletter.
2. Independent Blog: My blog will come back to life on schalkneethling.com and will be powered by Hugo, a robust open-source static site generator.
3. Podcasts on IndieCaster: I'm excited to host my podcast content on domains powered by IndieCaster, a product I've been passionately developing.
In the meantime
During this transition, I will continue publishing on Substack while simultaneously setting up my platforms. Rest assured, the quality and frequency of the content will not be compromised.
This is not just a logistical move; it's a reaffirmation of our shared values - integrity, independence, and a commitment to a respectful and inclusive community. By migrating to platforms that align with these principles, we're taking a significant step toward a future that we can collectively be proud of.
I understand that this might be an unexpected change, but I assure you it's a move towards a better and more aligned future. I appreciate your continued support and understanding during this transition. Let's embark on this new journey together, with the same passion and enthusiasm that has always been the cornerstone of our community.
Thank you for being an integral part of this journey. Your support means the world to me.
Salvador Lorca
Ciencias Sociales
5 mins ago
I tried Ghost many months ago, and in the end I decided to go for Substack, but there are 3 things I would like Substack to have that Ghost has:
1- Human support. Substack relies almost 99% on a bot (except for Substack VIPs), and although the bot says they pass the issue on to a human support team, it can take months for them to reply, if they reply at all. On Ghost, in my experience, a human answers, fast.
2-In substack, the posts are in /p/, and in Ghost they are not. So if we migrate from a blog to substack, all internal and external links to our new Substack will not work. Goodbye, SEO.
3- In substack, posts have limited urls, and not in Ghost. Therefore, if we migrate from a blog to substack, all internal and external links (which are somewhat long) to our new Substack would not work. Goodbye, SEO.
Note that I haven't talked about the economic issue, which is something that seems to worry quite a few people. I simply think they are two different business models. Nor that Substack is a proprietary system, and therefore more closed. Ghost is open source SaaS.
It seems to me that Ghost doesn't put non-follow links, Substack does, at least at first.
Despite all that, I'm on Substack (for example in <a href="https://dempresa.substack.com/">Derecho empresarial</a>, <a href="https://emprender.substack.com/">Emprender</a>, <a href="https://carreras.substack.com/">Carreras</a>, <a href="https://liderar.substack.com/">Liderazgo</a> ) because:
There are some things it does very well, like Notes.
I hope it fixes those flaws (the blogosphere is still huge, and someday they'll realise that it's worth migrating bloggers, not just twitterers).