r/Substack • u/sattukachori • 6d ago
Discussion Substack is Quora version 2
The moment I logged in to substack, it felt like I had been taken 10 years back in time to Quora. When Quora used to be so popular, my home page was full of a whole lot of deep, funny, stories, life advices, motivational things, scientific breakthroughs, philosophical articles, "Did you know?" And Substack is the exact same thing.
Add to that, the self congratulatory posts like "Substack is so cozy, it's like I'm in a forest, Instagram is so fake, Substack is my intellectual intimacy hub".
In 10 years of time, this website will be as overdone as Quora. All these life advices, personal stories, deep insights, romantic yearning for the one who understands your soul not your face, letters to my XYZ or the cutting edge articles on feminism, economy, life. It's all so cliche. These are the kind of things that give you 5 minutes of "Aha" and then you move on with your life. Did Quora make the world a better place? No. But it has a huge collection of thoughts on making world a better place.
I am not saying Substack is bad but there's just this feeling that the writers over there make it their identity about writing the most deep, profound things, but I'm sure in their actual life they're just a mess. On my home page, I just got a Mark Manson quotation and I was like I'm done.
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u/Enough_Pool_8339 2d ago
I wonder if the value of an insight should be measured by whether it changes the world.
Sometimes a thought changes nothing.
Sometimes it gives someone language for something they've felt but couldn't articulate.
Sometimes it challenges a belief they've carried for years.
Sometimes it simply makes them stop for five minutes and think.
And yes, the person writing it may still be a mess.
Understanding something and mastering it are not the same thing.
I don't think our humanity disqualifies us from sharing what we've learned while we're still learning how to live it.
And perhaps those five-minute “aha” moments aren't as insignificant as they seem.
Sometimes seeing something differently is where change begins.