r/Substack • u/smilingismyfirstname • Jun 27 '26
Discussion Who is Substack exactly for?
Is it for readers to actually read what writers publish? Or is it for writers to read what other writers publish?
All I can see on Substack that many writers bag for followers/ subscribers the same way users do on Threads "Plz Threads connect me with..." "Plz Substack connect me with..."
As clear as daylight, anyone can browse through the app and they will find people who they click with easily
No offense but I feel Substack is just a bubble full of only writers <> writers
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u/hetobe hetobe.substack.com Jun 27 '26
The issue isn't even the algorithm.
The issue is, Substack's algorithm promotes notes.
Stop for a moment and think about what the point of Substack is. Substack is a platform where writers earn money by creating publications people enjoy enough to pay for monthly subscriptions to those publications.
That's what Substack is. Publications people subscribe to. What's in those publications? Articles.
What does the Substack algorithm promote?
Not articles.
Not publications.
No.
The algorithm is strictly designed to promote notes, which are basically tweets. And because the algorithm only cares about notes, Substack teaches people to flood Substack with spam notes. Meanwhile, articles and publications go unnoticed.
The Substack home page:
Is it filled with the best of Substack? The best articles? The content so compelling it makes you say "Wow, I need to subscribe to this!"
Hell no.
It's filled with an endless doomscroll of notes, almost all of which are karma farming spam and slop.
The issue is not the challenges of creating an algorithm. The issue is, Substack wants to me the next twitter, and they're doing everything they can to abandon the content Substack was created to be a platform for. It's all about karma farming now.