Substack now has a brainfart interface called Notes
Amy enemy of Elon Musk's ad-driven, Musk-infested Twitter could be a friend
Twitter recently became hostile to most links to pages within Substack. This doesn't affect what I do at all, but a lot of writers with hefty Twitter followings pick up a lot of blog subscribers on that platform, so they're understandably peeved.
Although not even Twitter owner and CEO Elon Musk knows what most of his next moves will be, the likely catalyst for this was Substack adding a Twitter-like feature—a rolling whatever-stream users can curate like any other “social” feed, but has no ads whatsoever.
I assume it's practically impossible to get banned from Substack Notes, though I've no intention of trying.
I may use Notes to excrete snippets of interest that don't warrant full posts, or may be of special interest to a particular subset of readers (e.g., people who were runners during or before the Lyndon Baines Johnson administration) but outside everyone else's content wheelhouse.
This could come in handy for real-time discussion threads during extended competitions such as U.S.A. Outdoor Nationals and the World Athletics Championships along with major marathons, or for posting links to material that require brief or no explanation.
Here's an example. The animated short film is glumly enchanting, although it won't elevate your mood unless you think movies like The Handmaid’s Tale are slapstick comedies.
Notes is also where others can share links, nake short posts, upload photos, and so on. Readers can even use it to pitch ideas, nudes, or threats my way, separately or bundled, although e-mail works swimmingly for all three of these functions already.
Everything below is stock jabber from Substack's template.
How to join
Head to substack.com/notes or find the “Notes” tab in the Substack app. As a subscriber to Beck of the Pack, you’ll automatically see my notes. Feel free to like, reply, or share them around.
If you encounter any issues, you can always refer to the Notes FAQ for assistance. Looking forward to seeing you there!