In the past two days, I've had 17 subscribers who "disabled their emails," per the email I just received. Four have disabled their emails since I just cross-posted this story 40 minutes ago!
I'm sure by 2 p.m. I'll have more than 20 people that disabled their emails. My total subscribers have dropped by 30 in 30 days. My paid subscribers have dropped from 311 to 270 (now back to 272) in the last 11 months.
On net, I now lose 1 to 2 subscribers with every story I post. Almost all of these subscribers are "free." I've also written at least 20 articles on "curious trends" on Substack. That probably doesn't make me popular with any would-be Big Brother types.
I wonder how many net subscribers Robert Reich, Paul Krugman and Terry Moran are getting. Last time I checked, they were adding thousands of new subscribers with every story they posted.
Here’s three fairly recent articles I've published on this subject. The third link might best address the eye-opening growth of left-leaning Substacks. Each of these articles would have other links in them:
Thanks for reading and sharing this post. This story got very few page views until about 8 days after I’d published it. It should have gone viral among my market of readers imo.
UPDATE (Friday morning): My email from this morning tells me that 24 of my subscribers have "disabled their emails from me" in the past 2 or so days - About 12 in the last 24 hours. So if Substack is working on this issue, I haven't noticed any change yet. It seems to be gathering speed.
Have you written to the email addresses to ask if they really did disable their emails? It seems to be the case when others have asked their people whether they had disabled the emails that they had not.
Not yet, but I need to. I get emails or Reader Comments all the time from readers who tell me they aren't getting my emailed dispatches and they are subscribers. Others report "fishy" things when they make or try to make Reader Comments. I've noticed major changes/declining metrics in the numbers of readers who comment at my site, the number of "likes" my articles get (compared to once they used to generate) and the number of "likes" that the Reader Comments generate.
Personally, I don't think I've changed as a writer. In fact, I think my articles are now better than they once were because they are now informed by more research and I've started to "connect more dots." So I don't think I've "lost my mojo" as a writer. I also think my "brand" is much better known than it was 2 1/2 years ago.
Nor do I think "Covid fatigue" would explain my sinking metrics as more than half of my articles don't have anything to do with Covid. I write about all kinds of topics. Of note, some of my most-read articles were ones I published on "strange Substack metrics." For example, two years ago, Robert Malone cross-posted an article I wrote on this topic. That article produced a record number of paid subscribers (40-plus!), free subscribers (500 or so) Reader Comments and cross-posts.
So I thought: "Well, there IS great interest in this topic." Skip forward two years and some of my latest "Substack metrics" stories have produced record low "page views," comments, new subscribers, etc.
A week after I'd published it, my story on "curious Substack leaderboards" had only generated about 3,400 page views - the lowest figure I've had with that metric in about two years.
Good Lord. What the actual? I hadn’t followed much of this being lil’ ole me. But now that ya mention all this shit—yeah! I have noticed a ghost or two in the SS machinery.
Fix this shit you well-paid yet unprofitable software munchkins 😠
Well, the preponderance of testimony here leads to the verdict that:
1. What I've been observing is not a manifestation of my own paranoid delusion.
2. At the very least, some of the "glitches" we suffer on Substack are not due merely to incompetence, but malevolence. Once might be an accident. Twice a coincidence. Three times (or more) is enemy action.
3. Incompetence is ALSO hard at work, evident in the skitzophrenic behavior of the algorithms.
4. Every mainstream platform, including this one is manipulated by Orwellian tech oligarchs to pick winners and losers--and independent-thinking right-of-center folks are who they want to lose.
5. Substack is merely Exhibit Z in the case to be made that meritocracy is a pernicious myth, and probably has been for all of our lives.
6. Starfire Codes puts an impressive amount of work into compiling these threads. In a better world, the Substack devs and tech support would work this hard to make their platform function fairly, sensibly, and consistently.
PS: As I was typing this, I evidently was signed out. Substack has never signed me out before. Ever.
One might ask: Would "someone" perhaps be interesting in suppressing the "reach" of writers who don't agree with the "authorized" narratives?
This is not even a hypothetical or rhetorical question as the Twitter Files and Congressional hearings prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a coordinated and massive effort already took place to do just this. (I lost track of the times my Facebook account was suspended for me writing true info about Covid and the response to Covid).
So another question might be: Would the people who are afraid of "Contrarian" or "skeptical" critics suddenly decide such people are no longer a threat ... and then cease and desist with all their censorship and algorithms?
I say, No they would not.
As Substack independent or "dissident" authors constitute the greatest threat to myriad bogus or dubious narratives, of course Substack would be an area of great interest.
This is a much bigger issue - and a potential seismic scandal - than many Substack authors might realize.
I'll be candid. This censonship wasn't happening here until there was an influx of money from transhumanists. Many wealthy transhumanists have a vested interest in maintaining the use of vaccines because shots are a quick and easy way to deploy biometric tracking. The goal is to achieve a monopoly on the development of a global panopticon and to maintain its ultimate control. So, health freedom advocates and those who believe that any form of governance is unethical are clear targets.
Censorship programs exist only to intimidate, punish and suppress the reach of people with the potential to detonate any false and harmful narrative. All they care about is blocking the influence of those who could get them purged, disgraced and maybe prosecuted. Most of these potentially-influential threats are publishing .... Substack newsletters. Trust me. They've noticed this and have a plan to neutralize this threat.
See my reply..above.. just kick back and say WHO GIVES A RIP... my grand mother was in the White Rose in Germany but lived long enough to give birth to my mother... the dominant recessive gene for FREEDOM WILL NEVER BE QUENCHED because GOD GAVE US FREE WILL. WE ARE PROGRAMMED BY OUR CREATOR TO SEEK FREEDOM. FREE WILL EQUALS FREEDOM
Really, I am confused but I do understand THAT. I am have made many many anti transhumanist statements on other sites about the trans humanists but I am still very confused as to what is going on here...a global panopticon wow. sort of like those "escape" movies with Sylvester Stallone Super max prisons... I am still wondering why Bill Rice is posting this. I will not bother to ask what you mean by that statement "those who believe in any form of governance is unethical" are clear targets.. because that brings up the people who believe they are self governed legally and then we start to approach anarchy. I met an attorney in Virginia who handled some cases of this (sort of like this:https://solveforce.com/autonomy-self-law-the-power-to-govern-oneself/) talk about ratified sophistry in my book. HOWEVER.. we actually are in a PANOPTICON right now. Yep... the money grubbing powerlusting assholes want to know what you had for breakfest! :) I just found out that Verizon turned my TV into a smart TV without my permission and I NO LONGER HAVE THE ABILITY TO HAVE AN UNMONITORED PHONE LINE.. All COPPER (WITHOUT PERMISSION) is being removed from Verizon's phone lines.. so we have FIOS which relies on the energy (electricity).. yesterday. I have a lot to think about these days and my time is short on this planet. I was blocked by Facebook in Sep 1 2023 I guess forever but I don't care. yeah. do not care. and blocked by Twitter several times. IT ONLY MATTERS IF IT MATTERS TO YOU. I am a Christian. I got my Degree.. and like I said about my sister at her funeral the day after my birthday: She is an artist and she don't look back: to quote Bob Dylan.. and Jesus is Lord. nuff said. I will add: in their vain imaginations they appearance became as fools. (paraphrasing my Bible) take care, my friend.
They are targeting the people who could expose their nefarious characters and toxic "solutions." They don't care about people who stay silent and never "rock the boat." They do care (greatly) about the people who threaten their positions of power and control. This would be the small cohort of writers who might, perchance, influence many more people ... If large numbers of these people were exposed to their content (which they are not - by design).
Spot-on. But if I move my effort to my own platform, the same Hive Mind, through Google and its imitators, will do the same and worse to ensure I get no reach or engagement there. That’s already been happening for years, in fact.
The censorship was happening back when everyone was getting banned from Twitter. Robert Malone was the first to move to Substack. They used to hide his notifications. I receive his notifications but I have a feeling no one gets notifications from me and I publish something at least three times per week.
I see the algorithm will shadow banned a person who interacts with another shadow banned person. It's like a virus to try to make people averse to following, liking, or subscribing to outcasts.
It's a very sophisticated operation. I keep writing about it only in hopes that people smarter than myself might figure how they are doing it. I will say - look at the number of comments on this post (and the growing number of cross-posts) - that more people are starting to pick up on the fact that "something has changed at Substack."
No, I'm focussing on the issues and trends I think are very important - things that are affecting the entire world - our lives today and the quality of our lives in the future. Trends that will affect what type of world our children and grandchildren live in. If you are disturbed by these trends, you better speak up ... right now.
I just wrote to three people I trust and know what they are doing.. who told me what to do..which is very complicated...about 0/S systems.. I will think about it. I don't program anymore but there is always, and I mean always an underground "blackboard" and exchange of ideas...good things..I am going to do a major back up.. of my stuff.. which I did the last time I felt this coming.. got 'em... all of them.. the UK,, really sucks,, they really did steal... photos from Facebook and now the UK wants backdoor access to Apple smart phones in the United States. Why? anyway. gotta go.. have a life to life.. :) lol.. enjoy.. just remember HAVE A BEAUTIFULLY FREE DAY.. :)
I can cite a germane example from this morning. A couple of hours ago Steve Kirsch (who has approximately 250,000 subscribers and many more "followers"), posted a dispatch telling his readers that he was going to do a live interview on the "embalmers' clots" topic tonight. While this is definitely a Taboo topic for the MSM, there's huge interest in this phenomena in the alternative media.
Two hours after he posted this story, a grand total of five readers had made comments (I was one of them). Only one comment got two "likes." Statistically, it seems almost impossible to me that such a minute number of people would make a comment on this high-interest subject at a newsletter with a 1/4-million subscribers.
I monitor subscriber numbers for the "Substack all-stars." While people like Robert Reich, Paul Krugman and Mayor Peter were soaring towards or past 500,000 subscribers (Reich has one million), Steve's subscriber numbers haven't changed in eight months.
One might say, "Well, that's just Covid fatigue," but plenty of other "Substack Contrarians" who write about numerous "off-limits" or taboo topics have also seen little to no growth in the same eight months.
I think the key to the operation for the world's narrative controllers is to make sure that the commentary, research and journalism of no smart dissident voice ever "goes viral" and, thus, will not breakthrough to the "mainstream" population.
The embalmers' clots story is THE story that can never "go viral."
Even us small timers see this in action. I see it multiple times a week, especially notes/comments from smellycarney, where i get the notification but when I click it I find that note/comment has disappeared and cannot be found again
"I think the key to the operation for the world's narrative controllers is to make sure that the commentary, research and journalism of no smart dissident voice ever "goes viral" and, thus, will not breakthrough to the "mainstream" population."
This is exactly what I believe it's about. Truth must be suppressed in the Empire of Lies. At least those who speak truth effectively and consistently.
And another Hive Mind agency is Amazon. Last year I found out that I had over 11,000 followers there (they have since hidden those stats--at least from me). I would bet money they did not alert a single one of them when I released a new book. Six new books released from 2023-24 and the only exposure any of them got was despite Amazon. They also go through periodically to nuke 5-star reviews off my books. Funny how they never, ever, make the drive-by 1-stars disappear.
The conspiracy - and that's what this is - to suppress the reach of the "adults in the room" is massive ... and never-ending. For the world's real rulers, this would be the "key to the operation." Put it this way: Without this operation, they probably lose all of their control and perks. They fully understand this.
I'm going to develop this point in an upcoming dispatch. I wonder how many people will see it? Fewer than would have seen it when I had a fraction of the "subscribers" I do now.
Tyranny has always prized division. Shocking, yes; unsurprising, no. Thanks for this. I wish we wouldn’t settle for poor imitations (John Hiatt) of the real thing-online connections for real communities, lust for love, drugs for experience, acting for life, numbness for health, etc. Green Day’s “economy-sized dreams of hope.” Those sitting at the top of hierarchies have far more selfish interests at heart than our welfare, and they have 5,000 years of experience in using our weaknesses and blind faith in (underworld) technologies against us.
Can’t tell you how much I appreciate you addressing this issue, even if I’m not directly affected, being in a vacuum as I am.
So glad I could contribute to these conversations. In my previous life I was a software developer, been involved in all facets production/coding side and at executive level on the management side. Being so old in tech is a huge deficit, many age out because they stop thinking and fighting the re-emergence of the trends that didn’t work the first time around. In the real world bigger is better, but in the tech world it works in reverse. Except that the tech bro’s IQs have followed the same law, along with their conscience. We have to remember that Peter Thiel proudly spoke at Google how competition is bad, and that the goal should be to become so big you don’t have to compete. So much for merit.
I see this as really a controlled, top down economy. A thinly disguised form of communitarianism that they are acclimating us to. It sucks on multiple levels because I think there are many here who want to be judged by their abilities, not their newly acquired pedigree in the hive mind system that jealously doles out opportunity. I know it runs the risk of allowing victimhood to become a rationale, but you have to wonder what levels of success many would truly experience if there weren’t so many invisible hands tipping the scales.
Thanks for collecting these conversations and getting our attention again. We need to build strong networks that survive the platforms.
Same. A massive slow down. And for everyone I get, I "lose" people from email disables that those people never set in motion, similar to what has been happening to MAA and Sasha. It seems some of us have our growth limited here. We are capped out with a glass ceiling. I hope I am wrong about that and I would welcome and would be happily surprised by Substack rectifying it. However, I am certain that if we are all experiencing the same or similar things, this clearly demonstrates some form of issue that needs to be attended to.
If it’s a choice to do this, which it may not be, I would look at who the rounds of funding came from and what their objectives/agendas are. Following the money tends to tell you everything you need to know.
I think they got a "shot across the bow" with that obviously-orchestrated campaign that Substack was being over-run by Nazis. Company founders and exectuvies then made a concerted effort to "recruit" as many traditional or narrative-supporting authors as they could and make sure these authors experienced tremendous growth and financial success.
That nipped any criticism of Substack in the bud. The founders have now positioned themselves where they can one day SELL this platform for a huge amount of money. Per my expectation/prediction, the people/organization that buys it will substantially ramp up the censorship of non-authorized "disinformation" newsletters.
I think what's playing out is a clever work-around to suppress the reach and influence of genuine dissident voices. It's a sophisticated operation and, as others have noted, much of the key changes might not even be coordinated directly via Substack.
Writers like myself are going to need a work-around for Substack, although I appreciate what Substack created and how it has helped me "grow my brand" as an independent writer.
It's not the same Substack. The Powers that Be belatedly figured out that Substack as it operated in its first years - especially in the first two years of Covid - was a significant threat that must, somehow, be dealt with or neutralized.
I appreciate the author highlighting the "email disabled" topic" and have enjoyed this comment thread. (Substack should be commended for allowing such stories and comments).
When SAN happened, I knew it was an extension of the long walk through the institutions and ended up writing about it to warn Substack not to give an inch because the second they did it was all over.
Sure enough.
Very few people understand the kind of chess mind it takes to protect assets, especially media assets, from that kind of deep infiltration.
But the damage was already done. And the people it came from, the camps that originated these attacks against health freedom advocates... they're so deeply embedded inside the health freedom movement that you would never guess for a split second who was behind it. I'll give them that - they're THAT good at playing Bernays that no one sees any of it for what it is until it's too late and they're already in pocket with no way out.
Well, I guess this is the way of things. Leftists will ruin this, and then an alternative will crop up, and we'll go there, and it will be good until leftists ruin that too.
It might be a challenge for an entrepreneur to start a really good alternative to Substack. This would cost tens of millions of dollars and this work-around would be viewed as a serious threat so it would be hard to find people who would fund it and it would be attacked by all the Powers that Be.
That is, the persons (or group) that come up with a solution can't be sissies!
A little tease here: There is an alternative that would/could work and I think would be very popular with both content creators and readers.
It seems to me that more citizens in the world should be "discovering" Substack by now. So even if "subscription over-saturation" is a major factor in these dramatic changes in the rate of subscriber growth, this would be offset somewhat by millions of more people who are now surfing Substack looking for content providers, including the best or better-known authors.
Per my analysis of Substack subscriber numbers (which are published), left-leaning or "Statist" authors are rapidly growing while "contrarian" or established writers are treading water or going backwards. By logic, it seems that almost all of the "new business" or new subscribers are coming from the liberal half of the population - which seems nonsensical.
What we might have here is a class-action lawsuit claiming violation of "fair trade' and/or discrimination. And violations of the First Amendment. These trend changes are costing me (and my family) a lot of money. Expressed differently, if these (likely) changes had NOT occurred, I would have many more paid and free subscribers than I do right now.
Of course, it's perhaps impossible to know how much revenue I might have lost. I will say that six months into my Substack, my Substack trends said I would have 20,000 total subscribers by the fall and winter of 2026, which would translate to 1,000 paid subscribers (if 4 percent of my subscribers were paid).
I now have 7,980 total subscribers and 272 paid subscribers (I peaked at 311) and I am losing about five paid subscribers every 30 to 60 days. By the end of next year, I'll be down to maybe 50 to 100 paid subscribers.
Christopher, And how - Yes, I do. I have probably written and published 20 articles on "curious trends" on Substack.
Here’s three fairly recent articles on this subject. The third link might best address the eye-opening growth of left-leaving Substacks. Each of these articles would have other links in them:
No. But they must know all about me. I’m the main writer who is questioning many aspects of these metric changes. I should be in the top 55 of their health politics category by their criteria.
Exactly this. Substack isn’t pushing subscribers anymore, they’re pushing followers. And that’s the trap. You can export subscribers. You can’t export followers. That’s how they keep you in their system while they roll out their ad model.
I saw the writing on the wall months ago. Open rates sat around 20–30%, but clicks and engagement were dead. Substack trained readers to skim, then delete. Now they’re shoving everyone into the app, which kills email engagement completely.
I moved my list to MailerLite and my own site, and the difference is night and day. Now I have clean metrics, better engagement, and no middleman holding my audience hostage.
Mark my words: Substack is going the way of Medium. If you’re serious about keeping your readers, get off-platform and own your email list before they flip the next switch.
The founders are also pushing "Notes" heavily, which (I guess) is where most of my "followers" come from. This, of course, is Substack's version of X. (I actually like it better).
One day, Substack (or whoever might buy Substack) will be able to "monetize" Notes by selling advertising.
Don't forget Elon Musk wanted to buy Substack and I wouldn't be surprised if Facebook/meta isn't a potential buyer in the future as well.
Also, take a look at what happened to the Drudge Report when that site was likely perceived as a "threat." It's not a threat anymore is it?
I didn’t come here for Notes years ago, I came here to write and build a subscriber base. Now that Substack is stripping that away, the platform has no real value. I’m not here to make A16Z or any other VC richer by giving away content they don’t create.
This is 2025. The Drudge comparison is irrelevant, this isn’t about competition, it’s about control. Remember this: you will own nothing and like it, not even your own subscribers.
I’ve already started moving my audience to my own site. Slowly but surely, I’m cutting Substack out of the equation because I refuse to let them hold my work, or my readers hostage.
I mentioned Drudge simply to provide an example of how a website that was running many stories the Establishment must not have liked was .... (somehow) neutralized.
If Substack is doing the same thing, the same people that might have said "Drudge has to be dealt with" might be saying the exact same thing about Substack.
BTW, has anyone seen Matt Drudge in person in the last two years? Is he still working at his own website or not?
I've never seen a person or a website that made a more dramatic ideological 180-degree turn faster than The Drudge Report and Matt Drudge. And nobody even talks about how this actually happened or why.
... FWIW, The Drudge Report had far more unique visitors at this website on a daily, weekly and monthly visit than Substack does or probably ever will.
... But not anymore. A site that used to publish 100 to 150 interesting stories every day, might now publish 30 to 40 - and none of them are "contrarian" stories or anything that would upset the Deep State.
The Drudge Report audience/traffic is probably down 85 percent. So if Drudge was making an economic decision by changing his political bent/focus, it was a very pecuiliar business decision.
Of course, somebody must have "made him an offer he couldn't refuse" or he just wanted to save his own life (if he's still alive).
You’ve put so much work compiling this Scroll Demi. I just read the linked article on saving my connections and content in case a glitch deletes everything. I have been saving all my posts as pdfs for easier management. Thank you for all your work in raising our awareness Demi!
I got the post and have reviewed the contents. This definitely should be something that is reparable but it requires concerted efforts by competent programmers and people who care enough to do it correctly. It’s maddening.
Yes, it shouldn't be sending 99+ pings to your notifications. The same thing happened to the Sci Fi Friday crew yesterday. And it's still happening - I asked for help and was told they would get back to me in 24, but nothing has been done yet.
I did not. I received an email notification about your most recent post with the cannibalistic in the title. I cannot find this one and to be honest I don’t even know how I get notifications other than when I receive a post in my inbox. I know I can look on the appbecause I choose to receive both notifications in the app and emails so it’s probably in the app too Substack is very counterintuitive has a steep learning curve many glitches and it is very hard to get any technical support.
In the past two days, I've had 17 subscribers who "disabled their emails," per the email I just received. Four have disabled their emails since I just cross-posted this story 40 minutes ago!
I'm sure by 2 p.m. I'll have more than 20 people that disabled their emails. My total subscribers have dropped by 30 in 30 days. My paid subscribers have dropped from 311 to 270 (now back to 272) in the last 11 months.
On net, I now lose 1 to 2 subscribers with every story I post. Almost all of these subscribers are "free." I've also written at least 20 articles on "curious trends" on Substack. That probably doesn't make me popular with any would-be Big Brother types.
I wonder how many net subscribers Robert Reich, Paul Krugman and Terry Moran are getting. Last time I checked, they were adding thousands of new subscribers with every story they posted.
Extremely fishy.
Here’s three fairly recent articles I've published on this subject. The third link might best address the eye-opening growth of left-leaning Substacks. Each of these articles would have other links in them:
https://billricejr.substack.com/p/substacks-curious-leaderboards
https://billricejr.substack.com/p/my-wife-can-see-what-im-seeing
https://billricejr.substack.com/p/analysis-liberal-writers-have-taken
very very interesting.
Thanks for reading and sharing this post. This story got very few page views until about 8 days after I’d published it. It should have gone viral among my market of readers imo.
UPDATE (Friday morning): My email from this morning tells me that 24 of my subscribers have "disabled their emails from me" in the past 2 or so days - About 12 in the last 24 hours. So if Substack is working on this issue, I haven't noticed any change yet. It seems to be gathering speed.
Have you written to the email addresses to ask if they really did disable their emails? It seems to be the case when others have asked their people whether they had disabled the emails that they had not.
Not yet, but I need to. I get emails or Reader Comments all the time from readers who tell me they aren't getting my emailed dispatches and they are subscribers. Others report "fishy" things when they make or try to make Reader Comments. I've noticed major changes/declining metrics in the numbers of readers who comment at my site, the number of "likes" my articles get (compared to once they used to generate) and the number of "likes" that the Reader Comments generate.
Personally, I don't think I've changed as a writer. In fact, I think my articles are now better than they once were because they are now informed by more research and I've started to "connect more dots." So I don't think I've "lost my mojo" as a writer. I also think my "brand" is much better known than it was 2 1/2 years ago.
Nor do I think "Covid fatigue" would explain my sinking metrics as more than half of my articles don't have anything to do with Covid. I write about all kinds of topics. Of note, some of my most-read articles were ones I published on "strange Substack metrics." For example, two years ago, Robert Malone cross-posted an article I wrote on this topic. That article produced a record number of paid subscribers (40-plus!), free subscribers (500 or so) Reader Comments and cross-posts.
So I thought: "Well, there IS great interest in this topic." Skip forward two years and some of my latest "Substack metrics" stories have produced record low "page views," comments, new subscribers, etc.
A week after I'd published it, my story on "curious Substack leaderboards" had only generated about 3,400 page views - the lowest figure I've had with that metric in about two years.
HA HA. My 30-day views have been reduced by about 150%, like an hour before I noticed this Scroll, but maybe after it was posted! LOL
Seeing all of this mapped out in the same place is insane. I hope it will get fixed!! 🙏🏻💜💫
Good Lord. What the actual? I hadn’t followed much of this being lil’ ole me. But now that ya mention all this shit—yeah! I have noticed a ghost or two in the SS machinery.
Fix this shit you well-paid yet unprofitable software munchkins 😠
Here's to hoping it will get fixed! 🙏🏻💜💫
Well, the preponderance of testimony here leads to the verdict that:
1. What I've been observing is not a manifestation of my own paranoid delusion.
2. At the very least, some of the "glitches" we suffer on Substack are not due merely to incompetence, but malevolence. Once might be an accident. Twice a coincidence. Three times (or more) is enemy action.
3. Incompetence is ALSO hard at work, evident in the skitzophrenic behavior of the algorithms.
4. Every mainstream platform, including this one is manipulated by Orwellian tech oligarchs to pick winners and losers--and independent-thinking right-of-center folks are who they want to lose.
5. Substack is merely Exhibit Z in the case to be made that meritocracy is a pernicious myth, and probably has been for all of our lives.
6. Starfire Codes puts an impressive amount of work into compiling these threads. In a better world, the Substack devs and tech support would work this hard to make their platform function fairly, sensibly, and consistently.
PS: As I was typing this, I evidently was signed out. Substack has never signed me out before. Ever.
Thank you, Henry. 🙏🏻💜💫
One might ask: Would "someone" perhaps be interesting in suppressing the "reach" of writers who don't agree with the "authorized" narratives?
This is not even a hypothetical or rhetorical question as the Twitter Files and Congressional hearings prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a coordinated and massive effort already took place to do just this. (I lost track of the times my Facebook account was suspended for me writing true info about Covid and the response to Covid).
So another question might be: Would the people who are afraid of "Contrarian" or "skeptical" critics suddenly decide such people are no longer a threat ... and then cease and desist with all their censorship and algorithms?
I say, No they would not.
As Substack independent or "dissident" authors constitute the greatest threat to myriad bogus or dubious narratives, of course Substack would be an area of great interest.
This is a much bigger issue - and a potential seismic scandal - than many Substack authors might realize.
I'll be candid. This censonship wasn't happening here until there was an influx of money from transhumanists. Many wealthy transhumanists have a vested interest in maintaining the use of vaccines because shots are a quick and easy way to deploy biometric tracking. The goal is to achieve a monopoly on the development of a global panopticon and to maintain its ultimate control. So, health freedom advocates and those who believe that any form of governance is unethical are clear targets.
We are the modern prophets. People hate prophets because we scream the truth. The truth hurts before it heals.
Censorship programs exist only to intimidate, punish and suppress the reach of people with the potential to detonate any false and harmful narrative. All they care about is blocking the influence of those who could get them purged, disgraced and maybe prosecuted. Most of these potentially-influential threats are publishing .... Substack newsletters. Trust me. They've noticed this and have a plan to neutralize this threat.
See my reply..above.. just kick back and say WHO GIVES A RIP... my grand mother was in the White Rose in Germany but lived long enough to give birth to my mother... the dominant recessive gene for FREEDOM WILL NEVER BE QUENCHED because GOD GAVE US FREE WILL. WE ARE PROGRAMMED BY OUR CREATOR TO SEEK FREEDOM. FREE WILL EQUALS FREEDOM
Really, I am confused but I do understand THAT. I am have made many many anti transhumanist statements on other sites about the trans humanists but I am still very confused as to what is going on here...a global panopticon wow. sort of like those "escape" movies with Sylvester Stallone Super max prisons... I am still wondering why Bill Rice is posting this. I will not bother to ask what you mean by that statement "those who believe in any form of governance is unethical" are clear targets.. because that brings up the people who believe they are self governed legally and then we start to approach anarchy. I met an attorney in Virginia who handled some cases of this (sort of like this:https://solveforce.com/autonomy-self-law-the-power-to-govern-oneself/) talk about ratified sophistry in my book. HOWEVER.. we actually are in a PANOPTICON right now. Yep... the money grubbing powerlusting assholes want to know what you had for breakfest! :) I just found out that Verizon turned my TV into a smart TV without my permission and I NO LONGER HAVE THE ABILITY TO HAVE AN UNMONITORED PHONE LINE.. All COPPER (WITHOUT PERMISSION) is being removed from Verizon's phone lines.. so we have FIOS which relies on the energy (electricity).. yesterday. I have a lot to think about these days and my time is short on this planet. I was blocked by Facebook in Sep 1 2023 I guess forever but I don't care. yeah. do not care. and blocked by Twitter several times. IT ONLY MATTERS IF IT MATTERS TO YOU. I am a Christian. I got my Degree.. and like I said about my sister at her funeral the day after my birthday: She is an artist and she don't look back: to quote Bob Dylan.. and Jesus is Lord. nuff said. I will add: in their vain imaginations they appearance became as fools. (paraphrasing my Bible) take care, my friend.
They are targeting the people who could expose their nefarious characters and toxic "solutions." They don't care about people who stay silent and never "rock the boat." They do care (greatly) about the people who threaten their positions of power and control. This would be the small cohort of writers who might, perchance, influence many more people ... If large numbers of these people were exposed to their content (which they are not - by design).
Spot-on. But if I move my effort to my own platform, the same Hive Mind, through Google and its imitators, will do the same and worse to ensure I get no reach or engagement there. That’s already been happening for years, in fact.
The censorship was happening back when everyone was getting banned from Twitter. Robert Malone was the first to move to Substack. They used to hide his notifications. I receive his notifications but I have a feeling no one gets notifications from me and I publish something at least three times per week.
I see the algorithm will shadow banned a person who interacts with another shadow banned person. It's like a virus to try to make people averse to following, liking, or subscribing to outcasts.
It's a very sophisticated operation. I keep writing about it only in hopes that people smarter than myself might figure how they are doing it. I will say - look at the number of comments on this post (and the growing number of cross-posts) - that more people are starting to pick up on the fact that "something has changed at Substack."
Big time.. well.. just let pass for now. that is what I am doing because I other things to focus on... and so do you..
No, I'm focussing on the issues and trends I think are very important - things that are affecting the entire world - our lives today and the quality of our lives in the future. Trends that will affect what type of world our children and grandchildren live in. If you are disturbed by these trends, you better speak up ... right now.
I just wrote to three people I trust and know what they are doing.. who told me what to do..which is very complicated...about 0/S systems.. I will think about it. I don't program anymore but there is always, and I mean always an underground "blackboard" and exchange of ideas...good things..I am going to do a major back up.. of my stuff.. which I did the last time I felt this coming.. got 'em... all of them.. the UK,, really sucks,, they really did steal... photos from Facebook and now the UK wants backdoor access to Apple smart phones in the United States. Why? anyway. gotta go.. have a life to life.. :) lol.. enjoy.. just remember HAVE A BEAUTIFULLY FREE DAY.. :)
🎁
I can cite a germane example from this morning. A couple of hours ago Steve Kirsch (who has approximately 250,000 subscribers and many more "followers"), posted a dispatch telling his readers that he was going to do a live interview on the "embalmers' clots" topic tonight. While this is definitely a Taboo topic for the MSM, there's huge interest in this phenomena in the alternative media.
Two hours after he posted this story, a grand total of five readers had made comments (I was one of them). Only one comment got two "likes." Statistically, it seems almost impossible to me that such a minute number of people would make a comment on this high-interest subject at a newsletter with a 1/4-million subscribers.
I monitor subscriber numbers for the "Substack all-stars." While people like Robert Reich, Paul Krugman and Mayor Peter were soaring towards or past 500,000 subscribers (Reich has one million), Steve's subscriber numbers haven't changed in eight months.
One might say, "Well, that's just Covid fatigue," but plenty of other "Substack Contrarians" who write about numerous "off-limits" or taboo topics have also seen little to no growth in the same eight months.
I think the key to the operation for the world's narrative controllers is to make sure that the commentary, research and journalism of no smart dissident voice ever "goes viral" and, thus, will not breakthrough to the "mainstream" population.
The embalmers' clots story is THE story that can never "go viral."
Even us small timers see this in action. I see it multiple times a week, especially notes/comments from smellycarney, where i get the notification but when I click it I find that note/comment has disappeared and cannot be found again
"I think the key to the operation for the world's narrative controllers is to make sure that the commentary, research and journalism of no smart dissident voice ever "goes viral" and, thus, will not breakthrough to the "mainstream" population."
This is exactly what I believe it's about. Truth must be suppressed in the Empire of Lies. At least those who speak truth effectively and consistently.
And another Hive Mind agency is Amazon. Last year I found out that I had over 11,000 followers there (they have since hidden those stats--at least from me). I would bet money they did not alert a single one of them when I released a new book. Six new books released from 2023-24 and the only exposure any of them got was despite Amazon. They also go through periodically to nuke 5-star reviews off my books. Funny how they never, ever, make the drive-by 1-stars disappear.
Everything is fake & gay in Clown World.
The conspiracy - and that's what this is - to suppress the reach of the "adults in the room" is massive ... and never-ending. For the world's real rulers, this would be the "key to the operation." Put it this way: Without this operation, they probably lose all of their control and perks. They fully understand this.
I'm going to develop this point in an upcoming dispatch. I wonder how many people will see it? Fewer than would have seen it when I had a fraction of the "subscribers" I do now.
Tyranny has always prized division. Shocking, yes; unsurprising, no. Thanks for this. I wish we wouldn’t settle for poor imitations (John Hiatt) of the real thing-online connections for real communities, lust for love, drugs for experience, acting for life, numbness for health, etc. Green Day’s “economy-sized dreams of hope.” Those sitting at the top of hierarchies have far more selfish interests at heart than our welfare, and they have 5,000 years of experience in using our weaknesses and blind faith in (underworld) technologies against us.
Can’t tell you how much I appreciate you addressing this issue, even if I’m not directly affected, being in a vacuum as I am.
Or is that vacuum artificially created? 🤔
Thank you so much, Jack! I hope these issues are resolved soon! 🙏🏻💜💫
Received
Thank you, Yuri!
So glad I could contribute to these conversations. In my previous life I was a software developer, been involved in all facets production/coding side and at executive level on the management side. Being so old in tech is a huge deficit, many age out because they stop thinking and fighting the re-emergence of the trends that didn’t work the first time around. In the real world bigger is better, but in the tech world it works in reverse. Except that the tech bro’s IQs have followed the same law, along with their conscience. We have to remember that Peter Thiel proudly spoke at Google how competition is bad, and that the goal should be to become so big you don’t have to compete. So much for merit.
I see this as really a controlled, top down economy. A thinly disguised form of communitarianism that they are acclimating us to. It sucks on multiple levels because I think there are many here who want to be judged by their abilities, not their newly acquired pedigree in the hive mind system that jealously doles out opportunity. I know it runs the risk of allowing victimhood to become a rationale, but you have to wonder what levels of success many would truly experience if there weren’t so many invisible hands tipping the scales.
Thanks for collecting these conversations and getting our attention again. We need to build strong networks that survive the platforms.
Good show, Demi.
Received, thank you for the research into how SS works!
Thank you! 🙏🏻💜💫
It's $$, not SS.
At one point, I was gaining 300 subs per month. Now, my new subs from the app are at about 60 per 30 days and my non-app subs just fell to zero.
One might reasonably expect *some* fall-off, as the low-hanging fruit is all plucked. But still, that is just weird.
Same. A massive slow down. And for everyone I get, I "lose" people from email disables that those people never set in motion, similar to what has been happening to MAA and Sasha. It seems some of us have our growth limited here. We are capped out with a glass ceiling. I hope I am wrong about that and I would welcome and would be happily surprised by Substack rectifying it. However, I am certain that if we are all experiencing the same or similar things, this clearly demonstrates some form of issue that needs to be attended to.
Did the WEF threaten Hamish and the gang? Or is Jim D. right—are they all cut from that same cloth?
If it’s a choice to do this, which it may not be, I would look at who the rounds of funding came from and what their objectives/agendas are. Following the money tends to tell you everything you need to know.
I think they got a "shot across the bow" with that obviously-orchestrated campaign that Substack was being over-run by Nazis. Company founders and exectuvies then made a concerted effort to "recruit" as many traditional or narrative-supporting authors as they could and make sure these authors experienced tremendous growth and financial success.
That nipped any criticism of Substack in the bud. The founders have now positioned themselves where they can one day SELL this platform for a huge amount of money. Per my expectation/prediction, the people/organization that buys it will substantially ramp up the censorship of non-authorized "disinformation" newsletters.
I think what's playing out is a clever work-around to suppress the reach and influence of genuine dissident voices. It's a sophisticated operation and, as others have noted, much of the key changes might not even be coordinated directly via Substack.
Writers like myself are going to need a work-around for Substack, although I appreciate what Substack created and how it has helped me "grow my brand" as an independent writer.
It's not the same Substack. The Powers that Be belatedly figured out that Substack as it operated in its first years - especially in the first two years of Covid - was a significant threat that must, somehow, be dealt with or neutralized.
I appreciate the author highlighting the "email disabled" topic" and have enjoyed this comment thread. (Substack should be commended for allowing such stories and comments).
When SAN happened, I knew it was an extension of the long walk through the institutions and ended up writing about it to warn Substack not to give an inch because the second they did it was all over.
Sure enough.
Very few people understand the kind of chess mind it takes to protect assets, especially media assets, from that kind of deep infiltration.
But the damage was already done. And the people it came from, the camps that originated these attacks against health freedom advocates... they're so deeply embedded inside the health freedom movement that you would never guess for a split second who was behind it. I'll give them that - they're THAT good at playing Bernays that no one sees any of it for what it is until it's too late and they're already in pocket with no way out.
Yep.
Well, I guess this is the way of things. Leftists will ruin this, and then an alternative will crop up, and we'll go there, and it will be good until leftists ruin that too.
I wonder what the common denominator here is………
🤷🏻♀️🤣🤣🤣
It might be a challenge for an entrepreneur to start a really good alternative to Substack. This would cost tens of millions of dollars and this work-around would be viewed as a serious threat so it would be hard to find people who would fund it and it would be attacked by all the Powers that Be.
That is, the persons (or group) that come up with a solution can't be sissies!
A little tease here: There is an alternative that would/could work and I think would be very popular with both content creators and readers.
Conquest's Second Law applies to any new alternative:
Any organization not explicitly and constitutionally right-wing will sooner or later become left-wing.
It seems to me that more citizens in the world should be "discovering" Substack by now. So even if "subscription over-saturation" is a major factor in these dramatic changes in the rate of subscriber growth, this would be offset somewhat by millions of more people who are now surfing Substack looking for content providers, including the best or better-known authors.
Per my analysis of Substack subscriber numbers (which are published), left-leaning or "Statist" authors are rapidly growing while "contrarian" or established writers are treading water or going backwards. By logic, it seems that almost all of the "new business" or new subscribers are coming from the liberal half of the population - which seems nonsensical.
What we might have here is a class-action lawsuit claiming violation of "fair trade' and/or discrimination. And violations of the First Amendment. These trend changes are costing me (and my family) a lot of money. Expressed differently, if these (likely) changes had NOT occurred, I would have many more paid and free subscribers than I do right now.
Of course, it's perhaps impossible to know how much revenue I might have lost. I will say that six months into my Substack, my Substack trends said I would have 20,000 total subscribers by the fall and winter of 2026, which would translate to 1,000 paid subscribers (if 4 percent of my subscribers were paid).
I now have 7,980 total subscribers and 272 paid subscribers (I peaked at 311) and I am losing about five paid subscribers every 30 to 60 days. By the end of next year, I'll be down to maybe 50 to 100 paid subscribers.
Do you have data that can dispositively demonstrate this left-growing, right-shrinking phenomenon?
Christopher, And how - Yes, I do. I have probably written and published 20 articles on "curious trends" on Substack.
Here’s three fairly recent articles on this subject. The third link might best address the eye-opening growth of left-leaving Substacks. Each of these articles would have other links in them:
https://billricejr.substack.com/p/substacks-curious-leaderboards
https://billricejr.substack.com/p/my-wife-can-see-what-im-seeing
https://billricejr.substack.com/p/analysis-liberal-writers-have-taken
Have you shown your data to Substack?
No. But they must know all about me. I’m the main writer who is questioning many aspects of these metric changes. I should be in the top 55 of their health politics category by their criteria.
My "paid ratio" has also plummeted from 4.9 percent of my total subscribers to, now, about 3.4 percent of my total subscribers.
Exactly this. Substack isn’t pushing subscribers anymore, they’re pushing followers. And that’s the trap. You can export subscribers. You can’t export followers. That’s how they keep you in their system while they roll out their ad model.
I saw the writing on the wall months ago. Open rates sat around 20–30%, but clicks and engagement were dead. Substack trained readers to skim, then delete. Now they’re shoving everyone into the app, which kills email engagement completely.
I moved my list to MailerLite and my own site, and the difference is night and day. Now I have clean metrics, better engagement, and no middleman holding my audience hostage.
Mark my words: Substack is going the way of Medium. If you’re serious about keeping your readers, get off-platform and own your email list before they flip the next switch.
The founders are also pushing "Notes" heavily, which (I guess) is where most of my "followers" come from. This, of course, is Substack's version of X. (I actually like it better).
One day, Substack (or whoever might buy Substack) will be able to "monetize" Notes by selling advertising.
Don't forget Elon Musk wanted to buy Substack and I wouldn't be surprised if Facebook/meta isn't a potential buyer in the future as well.
Also, take a look at what happened to the Drudge Report when that site was likely perceived as a "threat." It's not a threat anymore is it?
I didn’t come here for Notes years ago, I came here to write and build a subscriber base. Now that Substack is stripping that away, the platform has no real value. I’m not here to make A16Z or any other VC richer by giving away content they don’t create.
This is 2025. The Drudge comparison is irrelevant, this isn’t about competition, it’s about control. Remember this: you will own nothing and like it, not even your own subscribers.
I’ve already started moving my audience to my own site. Slowly but surely, I’m cutting Substack out of the equation because I refuse to let them hold my work, or my readers hostage.
I mentioned Drudge simply to provide an example of how a website that was running many stories the Establishment must not have liked was .... (somehow) neutralized.
If Substack is doing the same thing, the same people that might have said "Drudge has to be dealt with" might be saying the exact same thing about Substack.
BTW, has anyone seen Matt Drudge in person in the last two years? Is he still working at his own website or not?
I've never seen a person or a website that made a more dramatic ideological 180-degree turn faster than The Drudge Report and Matt Drudge. And nobody even talks about how this actually happened or why.
... FWIW, The Drudge Report had far more unique visitors at this website on a daily, weekly and monthly visit than Substack does or probably ever will.
... But not anymore. A site that used to publish 100 to 150 interesting stories every day, might now publish 30 to 40 - and none of them are "contrarian" stories or anything that would upset the Deep State.
The Drudge Report audience/traffic is probably down 85 percent. So if Drudge was making an economic decision by changing his political bent/focus, it was a very pecuiliar business decision.
Of course, somebody must have "made him an offer he couldn't refuse" or he just wanted to save his own life (if he's still alive).
You’ve put so much work compiling this Scroll Demi. I just read the linked article on saving my connections and content in case a glitch deletes everything. I have been saving all my posts as pdfs for easier management. Thank you for all your work in raising our awareness Demi!
Thank you - no problem at all! It seems to have happened to quite a few people - I hope everyone will back up their work!
I got the post and have reviewed the contents. This definitely should be something that is reparable but it requires concerted efforts by competent programmers and people who care enough to do it correctly. It’s maddening.
I agree, and I hope that we will witness that this is brought to resolution. Thanks for letting me know you received it!
That makes you not want to use a real email.
If I cant turn off email notifications for every move somebody makes.
I just want to see activity, IN the substack website.
Who's idea was this, cheap coding labor?
I do receive notices whenever I mentioned in one of your post and that comes in my email.
Yes, it shouldn't be sending 99+ pings to your notifications. The same thing happened to the Sci Fi Friday crew yesterday. And it's still happening - I asked for help and was told they would get back to me in 24, but nothing has been done yet.
I’m glad I get notified of a mention? Not getting multiple pings.
You may not have been tagged in the new one.
I did not. I received an email notification about your most recent post with the cannibalistic in the title. I cannot find this one and to be honest I don’t even know how I get notifications other than when I receive a post in my inbox. I know I can look on the appbecause I choose to receive both notifications in the app and emails so it’s probably in the app too Substack is very counterintuitive has a steep learning curve many glitches and it is very hard to get any technical support.
Here's a link to the new one:
https://www.starfirecodes.com/p/the-scroll-cannibalistic-nightmare
Received and than some👍🏻
LOL! Thank you, Frank! 🙏🏻💜💫