Substack

Did you ever see a T-shirt emblazoned with the words: “Think. It’s Not Illegal…Yet”? I remember the first time I saw that and my thought was “Gee, that’s an overreach”. But my second thought was ”Maybe not…Remember the book 1984…Remember the book Fahrenheit 451?” Do high school and college students even read those anymore? Were they banned? I’m new to Sub-Stack. I’d heard about it for several years but I am a satisfied reader, happy I took the plunge and signed up for a few free subscriptions after hearing a commentator on a news channel. And what’s so wrong about “talking heads” anyway? I say they are “thinking heads”! I even pay for a couple subscriptions because I want to support these diverse writers who think independently and aren’t dependent on a mega-corporation owned by an authoritarian billionaire. Try it! It’s not illegal yet! It’s uncensored thinking that’s written and updated often — you don’t have to wait for the book.

OK I will change fro 2 stars to 3. I am still trying it, but really. Inconsistent appearance web and within the app.😵‍💫….. Easy to get started…. But user interface is confusing. Please just a bit more work would make such a difference. An app for readers and writers…. Reading other people’s ’publications’ is relatively easy, but creating your own is a bit of a chore since you never know where you are within this app. For example clicking on “settings” can give you two completely different screens depending where you started… I think. No manual. Search for help via Google etc. and you get offers to subscribe to someone’s sub-stack publication that will help you use sub-stack. If they tried to write a manual they would see how flawed the UI is. Also, pushes unwanted publications …. A serious no-no. You apparently can’t say ‘don’t do that’… you can only unsubscribe from every one of them only to have them replaced by another batch when you log on again. Overall, Is is a great idea… help writers connect to their audience in a coordinated manner. Several well known bloggers/writers use it. So far, I like the idea, but not the implementation. NOTE: some of the reviews here in the App Store refer to specific publications/blogs not to the app itself. ?? AND ALSO….. Your ‘BIO’ can only be 250 characters! Really. At First I thought is was 250 words. Nope. 250 characters 😏

Hey Jeff. Great “ride home”. Thanks to you, AD, coach, GOAT and whoever else made decisions to let you sit in the GOATS seat. You stated many times you were having FUN. Being at the game, I did not hear the broadcast although did hear the wrap up. And now listening to the ride, there will be no one that doubts you are having fun. Throw in knowledge of game and great presentation, I feel there will be many years for you to be “behind the mike”!! Last night brought back so many memories. My first MSU game, I attended with my parents at an early age in Carr Health Gym. Watched them dig the hole for racer arena. Sold drinks in the stands for a couple seasons. Too many memories to start naming. But one, watching my son, Shane, being a ball boy for games (the ones in those days that had wiped up the sweat😁). Continue the excellent job, not work. You’re having too much FUN to call it work. Lifetime fan of Racer athletics!! Steve Andrus

Downloaded the app, went to log in, and the input fields are incapable of pasting values from my password manager, which is one of the highest-rated and widely trusted ones. Whoever coded this app apparently doesn't even realize that many people use long character strings as passwords, and expect to be able to paste them from a password manager, not rekey them manually. If they don't even know that, then do I even want any app that they coded on my phone at all, given what else might be wrong with it via the coders not knowing any better? Update: I logged in anyway and began using the app. I wanted to check what it would cost to upgrade a certain subscription from free to paid. D--ned if there is any way --- any way AT ALL --- to find the super-hidden Easter egg that would let me manage my subscriptions, upgrade one of them to paid, and so on. If you find the deeply hidden menu controls that let the user do one of the most basic functions like managing their subscriptions, let me know! I gave up hunting after a while, in disgust at how bad this app is!

Great format, sub stack. I’ve read only yeah right right here. Yes ma’am gonna have an x-ray on. Do you need to have it? Yeah I was good since it’s her one article here by Steve Schmidt that he just wrote on the January 6 select committee final hearing. Steve Schmidt has got to be one of the most articulate and elegant writers on political affairs that I have encountered. This article knocked it out of the park for me. This article presents a situation that engenders both hope and fear. People of good will stood up and called out the evil among us. What hope this gives me! I feared and still fear that their voices would be silenced. Those who sponsored and promoted this kind of power grab are capable of violently enforcing a new power structure in this nation. A power structure that will crush the innocent, the earnest seekers of the means to feed their families, educate their children, and live a peaceful, safe life - the ordinary Americans. It almost happened in Germany when fascism nearly crushed whole cultures. We must heed the warnings that Steve Schmidt and those like him who see the imminent risk presented by our native born American oligarchs. We don’t have to give up our beliefs about religion or how the country should be run, but we must protect the rights of all to prosper without the threat of the greedy, the power hungry destroying our democracy. Great job, Mr. Schmidt!

Even before Drudge appeared on the sene it was a challenge to find honest journalism and I don’t mean that they needed to be in agreement with my perceptions, just honest. And yes, if they “Sold Out” as on the case of “ The Drudge Report” then I pack up my time and seek out new journalists! Frustrating but necessary if I am determined to be well educated & informed. If I find a news source that is anything but honest then I move on ( this happened quite frequently ). But I have been diligent and have found a small group of educators aka journalists “because” that’s what journalism does - it educates & informs so that I can make informed decisions. And so I thank all of you who are true to your profession. This latest article by Emerald Robinson is a perfect example; not that I already lost trust in Lutz but I just wasn’t aware of so much in her latest writing of him and his antics. This helps me confirm my suspicions and complete my life long passion for the truth on people & subjects. So to that end, I want to say “Thank You” Emerald Robinson for using my time wisely. Since I have precious little of it to source my providers, it’s a confirmation that my new subscription to you has already confirmed my investment in this endeavor has paid in dividends yet again. Please continue….. Paul Q

I remember saving babysitting money for the release date of Stephen King’s latest. The anticipation building on the drive to the mall. The moment of panic when I saw the size of the crowd at B. Dalton. What if they were sold out already?! The immense relief when I got my hands on it. How I would try to read slower and slower as I got closer to the end. Rationing out every last bit because I didn’t know how long it would be until more was coming. How cool would it have been to be able to read new stuff almost as soon as the thoughts crossed his mind? To be able to tell him that I cherished every sentence? How much sooner would I have started writing, if I had not only him but other writers to learn from and share dreams with? So very grateful for this opportunity and the platform that has provided it!!

Update: as a writer using SubStack, I would not recommend that writers jump onto the SubStack platform until things get worked out. Stripe, the company that processes payments, charges 15%. That is outrageous and unacceptable, and they don’t tell you that up front. As stated before, there is NO way to contact any customer service. While there are some things I like about SubStack, I really regret having jumped into it at this point. Now that I have subscribers, there is no easy way to just stop. I think that’s what SubStack is counting on. Currently, the app is not working. There is NO customer service. You cannot talk to a human being if you encounter a problem. The thing I like about Substack is it’s simplicity. It’s a newsletter only, without extra nonsense. It’s great when it works. When it doesn’t work, I guess you just have to hope it does work again, eventually, somehow. I got the impression that SubStack was all about connecting readers and writers, and the whole concept seemed clean and honest. So far, it is not turning out that way.

I was really excited to see there was finally a Substack app and I was really pleased with the experience of the app until I realized I wasn’t receiving all my posts into my inbox. I’m baffled by this but it turns out that rather than including your whole feed inside the app it only shows posts that were sent as emails. making this a essentially a sandboxed email app rather that a Substack specific feed reader. This means that you will be completely aware of any posts your subscriptions post to the web only. And in turn this means that if you want to read ALL of your feed the app (what a crazy idea!) you need to go to each subscription individually to check for any posts not sent as email. Nobody is going to do that. Nobody sane. The funniest part is that the “beta” version of Reader on the web DOES show all post in your feed. So until this is resolved I will be deleting this app and sticking with the web.

I truly love Substack. It has been a great platform and really helped me grow but this app… Please for the love will you guys please add the ability to write and publish and interact in a more cohesive fluid and easily interactive way I feel like the app is just utterly useless at the moment. I want and I’m looking for something similar but more beside of or a kin to what discord has done in the voice and video communications department, and community building. I hope that Substack one day adds the ability to stream live publish more fluently on mobile ads more features, and improves layouts templates and customize ability. I truly believe in Substack as a viable and truly revolutionary platform as opposed to having 25 or 30 other social media websites that you have to constantly post to for algorithmic likes. Please get to work on this app. It is nearing the middle of 2024. You have a great great possibility to be the it platform.

Being prompted to review an application after only a few days worth of spare time usage, from a guy that isn't very internet savvy; may be a part of the development process of platform? I've only recently come to know of SubStack, through contacts on other platforms. I don't fully understand the organization of the "library topics", yet; I find it comparable to setting a toddler loose in a public library, that has no clue to how the books are organized... though I've managed to find a few items of general interest to me by happenstance browsing. I can say, when looking for my contacts by name (searching), I have no problems finding exactly where I need to get to, thus far. As I'm not very familiar with the platform yet, I'm not displeased, but I haven't found any form of "how to use this platform", or instructional, "tips and tricks" page yet either? I'm sure at a later time I may be prompted for another review? Hopefully by then, I'll be able to deliver a better review?

I think Substack is a great idea and a great platform, but it just needs a few tweaks. Navigation. It’s a little confusing and not intuitive. I also don’t like that if I choose to follow someone instead of subscribe, there’s no straightforward way to find them. I don’t want to just randomly subscribe to anyone pushing words onto the net. Some people I want to see a little more growth and quality but still have them on my radar. My problem with notifications is that they’ll switch back to email from push if I don't visit Substack. I don’t want more emails and my life doesn’t revolve around apps. I think of Substack as “higher quality” in thought, but “pushy” behavior like this reminds me of a sleazy car salesman. If I’m not visiting Substack as often as YOU want, don’t change a setting and then start spamming my email. Become the platform that people CHOOSE to come back to. My recommendation is start with the above and make navigation more intuitive.

I identify with many of the situations here. I haven’t been successful so my husband didn’t seem to support me. I realize much of that is his upbringing. You don’t flatter too often. His father especially did not seem to compliment or encourage. Still I often felt lonely. Jeff, you writing, “Don’t say you’re going to be a writer, say, ‘I am a writer,’”when I started my writing career, changed my life. I had spunk at fifty one and self published four novels in four years, kept a blog going and really believed I could do this, what I wrote mattered. Then the world felt like it rocked under my feet. I sputtered around but lost some of that confidence. After five years of a slog, some writing, but dull zeal, I’m coming out of it. I thank you or the mail chimp powers, for inviting me to Substack. I joined on New Years Day. Here’s to success in our writing souls!

A rare beacon in todays world: aware and steeped in philosophical truth and wisdom of the ages, much like America’s Founding Fathers, combined with many insights from times since; politically and ruling elite irreverent, read and thoroughly appreciated for over 20 years now. As I am now residing in Córdoba, Argentina with one of my brothers, away from the insanity of the “developed” economies of the northern hemisphere, one of my longest desires is to visit him on his ranch, drink some good wine and engage in a meaningful conversation, maybe lasting for days I hope Bill, that you will grant me that wish when you return to Argentina, as I am earnest in that wish, and I hold that in my mind during this Thanksgiving 2022. Ad thanks for being you! A common and humble man, follower and subscriber of B.P.R, and numerous Agora publications since 2001. John Gudgeon

Mary Trump tells it like it truly is. I have relatives that remember how horrible Donald Trump was in doing his best to get those 5 young teenagers convicted of a crime they did not commit.. Thank you so very much for putting out Information on him.. one of my family members said he use to be in Albany, NY years ago working at a public school with children and she met him. I’ve tried to tell her gently Donald Trump was never in Albany, NY working under anyone in the school system for children .. but you know something I may be wrong maybe he did some type of intern work.. based on how he is now I can never believe that he worked in a public school helping any children.. His own children seem like they fear him especially his sons. It’s sad.. I really appreciate the writings that Mary Trump tried to get out to the public.. he has followers that no matter what truth is told about him they will not believe it.. he is not a good man and he definitely should not be President of these United States ever again. Thank you Mary Trump for all you do to get the message out there to people that will listen.. I’m hopeful that those that read your works will pass it on to others.. God bless you..

I check my emails on my laptop. I enjoyed the convenience of hearing robert Reich’s podcast by clicking on the email. I don’t like the extra steps needed going through Substack. I also don’t like the female robot voice reading his work either. He has his own form of inspirational speech. Please make all of his recordings available through clicking on email. Substack should be available on MacBook Pro. I have it on my iPhone, but I don’t like switching my earphones to my phone. My laptop continues to be my workhorse. I view my iPhone as an entertainment device, but listening to Mr Reich is a part of my work routine, as pleasurable as it is…. Thank you. Also, commenting should also be made more easily available on my laptop too, btw. This was the original sin. Now I have to login through my iPhone, which knocked my rating down yet another star…

I’m excited to see that Substack has an app now so that I can view all of the writers I’m subscribed to. Since I started with reading Glenn Greenwald’s substack, the site has been my go-to for journalism that I find trustworthy and worth reading. Individual people putting out their own content free of corporate pressure (at least that’s what it’s billed as). Having them all come through e-mail was fine generally but I enjoy the smooth movement into the app to see all of my subscriptions on one list instead of hunting for them in my email. I know it just started and will need to be updated so I fully realize the possibility of future issues with the app that will need correcting but nevertheless I’m glad to see that it’s been created.

The mainstream media is biased and extreme in both conservative and progressive world views. But their biggest failing is what they don’t report on or intentionally leave out. Often their stories are accurate but irrelevant because they simply edit out or ignore anything that contradicts their world view. The Substack media platform, with its full range of publishing tools has given a voice to real investigative journalists, advocates of category subjects (energy, environment, finance, sports, travel, health and more), and invited the readers to participate in much needed social debates. Substack is emblematic of freedom. That’s why I subscribe and follow the producers on Substack. Still, never stop using your critical thinking skills.

For the most part I’m really enjoying the substack app. The UI is great, it’s easy to navigate between specific substacks or just look at your combined chronological feed, etc. I’m only giving three stars for now because there are a few features missing (or not working on my device? iPhone X, so not that old): - minimize comment thread! This exists on the main site, so hopefully it was just a small oversight (or it wasn’t considered a priority for release) that it’s not on the app … - minimizing a comment thread should send you to the next comment, rather that keeping your distance scrolled constant. This matters because oftentimes I’ll spend some time reading replies and then want to close the parent comment and move on to the next one, but the way minimizing works on the desktop site if you do that you’ll be in the middle of the replies to a later comment - if you tap the top of the screen and are sent back to the top of the article, it would be nice to be able to tap it again to return to where you were. As someone with aggressive thumbs this feature is a lifesaver elsewhere that it exists Again, the app is mostly great, but these three issues are huge for my enjoyment, so I’ll be leaving my review at 3/5 until they’re added.

The new updates have made it essentially impossible to upload a header for your account. Even upon editing an image to fit the proportions. Images that previously worked are now not allowed, and from a coding perspective it seems completely nonsensical. For such a simple feature to be so impossible to navigate is beyond frustrating and the lack of options or remedies is insult to injury. Makes me want to find a new place to house my publications. Please consider letting us upload images outside of the required 1100px x 220px, and if they stretch so be it. Or at the very least allow the images that MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS to upload. Edit: After reading other reviews my highest advice is to fire your wildly incompetent coders, they are destroying your website and app and I will now definitely be finding a new place to upload my work. Sad to see a decent platform be demolished by crap tech hires.

I use this app every day and find it useful. I like that the app keeps track of how much of each article I’ve read, but this functionality is glitchy in its current implementation— often, after finishing an article, I find that it has not been marked “read” and I have to go back into it and scroll all the way to the bottom and exit again to get it to show as “read”. (Yes, I am certain that I had scrolled all the way to the bottom the first time I read it.) And there have been a couple of very short articles that I was never able to get marked “read” no matter what I tried. I would also like to be able to delete (not just archive) individual posts. Thanks for your work!

If I could give zero stars, I would. It’s a cool platform with great potential, but what you need to know is that if anything goes wrong, you will have absolutely no way to fix it or contact someone to help you adjust the scenario. Getting double charged? You’re on your own. Locked out of your account? On your own. There is neither a support email nor a support phone number that exists for this company, which itself should have you running away. What you do have access to is an utterly useless, frankly insulting, AI bot that will tell you it will help you but weeks later nothing will have happened. Rinse repeat; it’s mid September, I’ve been locked out of my account since June. Obviously I’m just gonna have to write it off as a loss and get on with my life, but honestly, I wouldn’t wish this experience on my worst enemy. I’ve been growing my following for two years and now all that effort is wasted.

The picture that Robert Reich paints of our nation’s future is frightening — and it could happen, with all the money and greed of powerful and influential billionaires fueling the election of Trump and other right wing nuts. An article in yesterday’s New York Times features Hillary Clinton, warning all of us of the very real danger of a Trump election wherein he would indeed be a dictator for one day, and change the world as we know it. Clinton also reminded us that while the Supreme Court was being stacked by Trump and while votes were taken in the Congress, the Democrats seemed to be asleep at the wheel in circumventing a fascist nation. Her words ring true, but unfortunately the Democrats lacked majorities that could make a difference.

The app is fine, and I would use it more if it did all of what the web site does. The feature I miss most when using the app is the ability to collapse comment threads in the comment section. There are usually long threads, and I often collapse them so I can move on to the next comment without having to scroll through pages of replies. This is not a small omission because even when in the app, I will close it and go to the web site to read comments. The other feature I miss in the app is the ability to scale up the text using pinch-to-zoom. My eyesight isn’t great, and sometimes I like to make the text larger to make it easier to read. As far as I know, the app does not support this. Even just a setting to change the font size would work. The only thing the app does better than the web site might be notifications. Also, the web site has a feedback problem when you click like on a comment where sometimes it works but there is no visual feedback. That does not happen in the app. But, overall, the app is not as functional as the web site, and so for that reason, I don’t see much reason to use it.

My paid content is hidden away. It doesn’t appear under the paid section or any of the three bottom nav bar buttons. Instead, I have to tap through to my profile pic, then find the paid content and tap there and it opens up the paid stuff. Instead of seeing the newer paid content, I’m seeing older stuff from random people or nothing in the paid tab. Why hide the stuff I’m willing to pay for? I can’t believe anyone who uses substack would think this is good. You have to be going out of your way to sabotage the app. Let’s also not talk about asking me multiple times to connect to my contacts. You asked once, fine. But to keep asking? If the person creating content I’m willing to pay for offers his stuff anywhere else, I will dump this garbage happily. Amateur hour at best. Substack? Substandard.

I subscribe to a dozen or more Substack newsletters. I’m also one of those people who has a fraught relationship with their e-mail inbox. I don’t want to spend more time in my inbox(es)! This app is delicious nectar from heaven. It just works. My newsletters show up. The reading experience is smooth. The app is quick. And I don’t have to be distracted by the wayward work email or wild email promo when trying to catch up on reading. The inbox reminds me of the good old days of social media. I subscribe to certain creators and what they published is served up to me in chronological order!!! Thanks for building this. Excited to see what comes next.

The new audio feature is great, essentially turning articles into podcasts. There’s an annoying bug. I only want to play one article at a time and despite never creating a playlist, previously played articles appear in the Next list and there’s no way to remove them. I don’t want a playlist. An even bigger problem with the app is that not every article displays in the main feed. You have to go to an author’s page in the app to see all their articles. I have no idea why and there’s no setting to list all articles in the main feed. This means email is still the most reliable way to see what’s happening. Finally, notifications don’t work at all for me.

Two hundred years of indoctrination has brought us to this point. The question is, was the vaccines contentious at the time of small pox, polio , Spanish flu etc. was the propaganda machine ( safe & effective , science is setteled , there is no link between vaccine & Autism etc. etc. ) operative at that time , indoctrinating institutions , scientists & doctors like at the present time ? Where was the real science ? Don’t they know the data on the health of American children are abominable ? To truly answer these questions one has to go back to the root of the problem, during the time of Louis Pasture & the unknown Anthony Beauchamp. This should shed a huge amount of light between the “ anti vaxers & the vaccine cultists or the vaccine euphorics I

Mostly love the app and the things I get to read. But the housekeeping stuff (credit cards, notifications) is too hard to find . . . . Since we each have a profile, it should be easily found from there - especially since choices are applied to everything attached to the person/profile! Glitches galore emerging: ALL in Inbox is a month old; everything froze the past few days is flagged as saved though I didn’t flag it bon the other hand, at least I see it somewhere! Give us a way to choose the order of our inbox (oldest to newest or newest to oldest, but definitely NOT RANDOM or mosh mash!). And GIVE US ACCESS TO DIRECT PROBLEM REPORTING. Support doesn’t help if I’d doesn’t answer OUR questions!!!!

I love Substack from both a Reader standpoint and a Writer standpoint. It is an intuitive and user-friendly platform that has exactly the tools and features I find most useful. And it gives them to us in a professional, elegant interface where we get to hang out with one another. Love having my favorite writers all in one place, and as a literary professional, I’m enjoying building a Substack presence far more than my experiences with social media and personal websites. Substack does for writers and readers what Apple did for computer users—provides an enjoyable experience within a “lean production” environment—simplicity, efficiency, productivity.

How fortunate are we Democrats to have such amazing grownups in the room like Simon—researching, reporting, illuminating and helping us better understand what is happening in our beloved country at This Exhilarating Moment!! And yes to everything he said about the loving and common sense perspective of VP Harris to not just SAY IT but to demonstrate by her ACTIONS that she intends to be President for ALL Americans, including those who live in the Heartland. Selecting Gov. Walz was brilliant in so many ways but mostly it was brilliant in its simplicity—we cede no corner of the country and everyone is important whether you live on the Coasts or in the freaking middle of rural America. Let them call us coastal elites and anything else they want to throw at us because, when it’s all said and done, this election might not even be close! And one of the biggest reasons for that will be that we made the decision as a party to cast a wide net and welcome in any and all who want to look for and work toward a beignter future for themselves, their children, and their communities! W-O-W!!! The times they are-a-changin’!

I downloaded and subscribed in order to support Chris Ryan’s work. First, instead of a password setup, Substack uses the “we’ll send you an email link to sign in” tedious nonsense. So got the link, set up a name and a picture, then searched for “Chris Ryan” “Ryan” Christopher Ryan” “Tangentially” and even searched “T”…. Not a single one of those terms came up with ANY results- his or anyone else’s! Maybe my security settings conflict with whatever Substack is doing in the background, but if whatever they are doing in the background is invasive enough to break their website then uh-oh. I have turned off content blockers, no difference in search results. Without the ability to search for content then Substack is pretty much worthless, hope they get some engineering attention on one of the most basic needs of such a site…

I have followed Bob Sturm for years and have learned a lot more about the game of football as a result. So many NFL analysts just regurgitate information you already know. Not Bob. He helps me see the game in an entirely different light. And he has the film breakdowns and the stats to back up his insights. I’ve been a diehard cowboy fan since before the ice bowl. But I’ve learned so much more about the game by reading Bob’s columns. The other thing about Bob is he is a workhorse. He cranks out the material, week after week. It always is always superb. As far as I’m concerned, you’re really not a Cowboys fan if you don’t subscribe to Bob Sturm. It’s that simple.

I prefer to read my subscribed Substacks in email, but I find the app super useful for finding previous posts, missed details, etc. However, it’s really only great on my phone. The iPad app is, well, it’s a giant iPhone app. No sidebar, no navigation, no taking advantage of the larger screen and additional input methods. Sure it’s fine for reading in portrait mode, but when you’re looking for something, trying to catch up on a bunch of subscriptions, etc., I find myself wanting something more akin to the Apple News app. Also, the “you haven’t enabled notifications” pop-over video you can’t close is annoying. Why not the standard “please enable notifications” dialog that every other app uses so I can tell it no right there?

I can completely identify with your thoughts in this article. For decades, as a successful and well-known artist in Japan and now back in New York, I’m writing a memoir of that time. Anticipating deadlines, worrying about them, trying to organize myself to get the work done, then handing it to the client and walking away feeling suddenly free – all of that, yes. I know everyone’s different, but I imagine what you wrote is universal among creatives. The challenge for me is to organize myself better and with more lead time so I’m not rushing to finish by the deadline, so I’m not afraid of it looming too close… Even after all these years.

First, you can’t manage subscriptions or cards from the app. Thats quite inconvenient. But what’s worse is the app directs you to the substack website, which on iOS safari will not let you remove any credit cards. I had an expired card and couldn’t remove it. Incredibly poor user experience. Wasted fifteen minutes trying to delete my card on file. For the PM - I was trying to update a card on a subscription page and kept getting captcha. Then once captcha complete I couldn’t change card. So my old (expired) card was still there. I’d hit submit, get a decline, then could enter a new card. BUT hitting submit would trigger another captcha request but the captcha would not reappear. And what’s even worse is the AI chatbot not only tells me it is possible but refuses to connect me to a live support agent. Worst customer support ever.

It’s not so much the app although the interface isn’t great, it’s that the experience of being on this platform is yet more of the same ugly political hatred I saw on the originalTwitter platform. It’s as if the same horrid people who said they were taking their ball and going home left and headed straight for Substack or other platforms to do their complaining and make attacks on everyone over everything until what once were kinder voices faded into oblivion. Kind people must have either left or sat watching the misery go by silently but I couldn’t take it anymore and deleted my account. Rich Demuro led me into using it and I know he meant well, but sorry Rich, this isn’t a paradise or even a place where cooler heads prevail. I had hoped for better, a place where we could hold actual conversation or share thoughts, but that didn’t happen.

Ok, we all know Substack has great content, but they’ve gone above and beyond by giving users an easy to use and reliable app now too! I saw today they added the ability to have articles “read” to us and added a “play next” function, so I wanted to drop a positive review here. I love that the are investing in their product in smart ways and executing well too. (Side note: about a month ago I emailed their support team and asked them to add a feature that would allow readers to expand or collapse comment threads, and a HUMAN engineer replied that she liked the idea and would add it to their RFE list. Great touch, Substack!)

Loved the app before the update that reorganized my feed. Absolutely hate that it isn’t most recent first. Time exists. stop trying to get rid of it. I promise I will find more things to devote time and attention and money to when my feed is chronological. It’s just so much more enjoyable and less infuriating and more straightforward and on and on I could go. Also why does it update itself and kick me out of anything I'm doing if I respond to a text and try to go back to what I was reading/listening to? I can’t even find it sometimes? Help! Fixing bugs is great and adding capabilities is great but making it impossible for me to keep track of stacks I'm following is frustrating. I want the last version back

Substack took a fairly minimalist design and has added so many bells and whistles that the bloat makes it non-functional. Unfortunately they didn’t bother to include features that are useful to the reader. You still can’t edit comments within the app—have to go into safari. If a notification pointa to a comment in a thread, clicking will take you to top comment in thread. Again, you have to open safari to locate a specific comment downstream. And if you want to manage a subscription, the app will no longer open safari. You have to open safari and navigate to the Substack or at best manually copy and paste the link. We readers are nether the customer nor the product. Those roles are assigned to creators. We are just the saps who are paying the bill and the app shows this attitude. Seems shortsighted

Arriving home from Jerusalem on Thursday, my husband and I were kvelling over the beautiful life our son and daughter in law and five precious grands have created in the land of milk and honey. But this joy was short lived when we woke this morning to reports of the atrocities being committed by terrorists just over the border. Then the lies and subterfuge began. “Battle between Israel and Gaza”, as in “we didn’t start the fire”. Grateful that our family and extended family is safe, we are proud that one grandson is serving in the IDF and another is preparing to serve. But it is time to speak out. Thank you for continuing to be our canary in the coal mine. Yasher koach. Bubbie Malka

Thanks for presenting a more nuanced understanding of the conflict in Gaza. I am filled with a loathing for Netanyahu and his administration, for the Israeli settlements in the West Bank, the dehumanization of Israeli Arabs but mostly for the horrific treatment of the Palestinians. I don’t want to blame one people over another, that will not lead to a settlement but something has to be done, some reason has to prevail I wonder sometimes in my darker more cynical moments how many Palestinians lives = one Israeli life An eye for an eye or 2, maybe 3, 5 children and 1 pregnant woman = 1 Israeli child? I apologize for this dark interpretation, this is a sad sad moment in our bloody human history

When attempting to re-publish after editing a post, the "Update Now" button is down below the visible pane but scrolling down doesn't scroll the modal view, only the text from the post behind it. Workaround is to select text then long hold the selector and drag it down to make the modal scroll. Also, to modify text (like making it bold) it's necessary to select the text then scroll all the way up to the top to hit the bold button. This can be pretty annoying. Also, when clicking the three dots button on my Published list, the pop-up menu is cut off at the top and i can't hit the post stats button. Please update the writer experience! All these little bugs add up to a clunky experience on mobile for me as a writer.

Good morning. I may have been mistaken and misjudged. Trust for internet articles is coming along slowly for me and my house. With all of the false narrative, alternate truths, fake news, scams of various descriptions, and misinformation being fed from what may on the surface seem reliable sources is it any wonder our world is as it presents itself to the hungry or hangry individual attempting to peek out from below the wreckage today? I am only one of those beaten up and scarred people who has been made to face fears of failing at life whose expectation was once somewhat brighter due to the ignorance of younger years. Well hello from the rubble. Maybe I was wrong and made a mistake which now needs correction! I choose to trust this medium of Substack.

After being swept up and away in a tsunami of graft and political corruption, bolstered by and cloaked in, a swirl of mind-clobbering cultural insanity, we in the hinterlands of America found an unexpected fingerhold to try and cling to rationality. There is apparently a froth of sanity perilously floating around the tumultuous surges of opaque floodwaters of lies and hysteria in our society. Like a snatched breath between dunkings, Substack may provide a glimmer of hope that the sun will shine again and that perhaps the final curtain won’t descend with a flash of retina-searing death from the skies brought on by our collective surrender to madness. In other words, I find Substack helpful and entertaining (esp the comments thereof)!

It’s so refreshing to have someone writing from a personal perspective the truth of how both candidates are going about this campaign. My spirits were uplifted the day Biden announced his withdrawal and then Kamala jumped in the way she has! I can’t wait to watch her eviscerate little donnie in the Sept. 10th debate. Hopefully she will ask him why he cheats at golf - which is well documented- and secondly why he cannot tell the truth. Both of these questions will fluster him since they cannot have been anticipated nor prepared for. I love the positivity of having a woman of color defeating an old white guy that’s such a narcissist lying racist!!

I love the idea of a substack app. I can subscribe to various publications of my favorite writers and when I log into the app i can view all the recent posts all in one place. It’s kind of like creating your own newspaper or magazine, which is really awesome. So this really has potential Unfortunately, the app needs an overhaul. You can’t change your subscription in the app. Apparently not every publication is shown in the feed. I don’t believe you can search posts within a publication. As a writer, it would be immensely helpful to be able to edit drafts in the app. There is a feature to post directly from the app but it’s lacking so many options compared to the web version that I just don’t see the point of using it. It would also be nice to edit your publication and change settings through the app. I realize that having all those bells and whistles would probably require a “Substack Writer” app, but I think it’s really needed. Cause this app is trying to do a little of both but as a result it’s not doing either all that well.

I truly like Ray’s articles. They are all good and it is basically what many are thinking. He just thinks out loud to all. He is telling the truth in articles of his and boldly. Most of his articles will make a person stop and think to re-evaluate to encourage us to dig deeper for ourselves to find out the truth in a world full of liars. Some of his articles there is some humor. I don’t like to be lied to and once I find someone has written an article based on untruths I cut them off and NEVER look at another one of their articles again. I don’t like to waste time reading falsehoods. Rays articles a good and well rounded.

Good app overall, but with one HUGE negative that desperately needs fixed: If you accidentally tap anywhere on the left side of the screen—ANY tap ANYWHERE near the left edge, not just on the back button—while writing a comment, you're taken back to the article/post, and whatever you had already written is gone forever. I've lost so many comments to this ridiculous functionality that I'm just going to delete the app and use the mobile web version of Substack from now on, but, for the sake of everybody still typing comments on the app, PLEASE make one or more of the following changes: /1/ Get rid of "tap left side = go back". Going back should require either a swipe, or a press of the actual back button at the top corner. /2/ Add an "Are you sure? Your comment will be lost." yes/no confirmation. /3/ Create a Drafts section where partial comments are saved by default if you leave the comment screen without submitting. Thank you.

I’ve been using Notes on the app for under a month and twice it has become unusable. The app shuts down when I select the Notes tab. The first time this happened, I reported it and received a meaningless response from support that didn’t resolve the issue. However it appeared to be an issue with a single post, so when that post was pushed further down the page I was able to use the app again - I just couldn’t scroll to the post that initiated the shutdown. And today it’s doing the same thing. I tried viewing notes in a browser instead but since I have the app it just switches to the app and then shuts down. I wish they would pay attention to this issue since it makes the app useless for Notes, which is central to the Substack community experience.