Substack does play around in many ways. Like all social media platforms, they mess with ranking which essentially shadow bans people that they don't want to get traction.
They also changed the default sorting on the website subscriptions feed to "relevant" instead of latest. It hides some posts.
You would think that if it was all about business and money, they would do this.
Rumble was supposed to be that alternative to YouTube but I've found that it also plays games.
I think when they became popular, they got audience captured. In that case, it pays for them to cater to a certain audience that tends to pay over the majority that aren't obsessed over a certain topic.
The Jimmy Dore show which I've liked for a decade also fell into this trap. These days he spends half his show on the stupid TPUSA (tpCIA 😂) Charlie Kirk, Candace Owens drama. Why? Because it gets him those obsessed pay pigs.
I do not like brownstone. I still get their posts but it has been ages since I read one. I got a rumble account but do not use it. Strange enough I have no problems with Google (I am on Google chrome and like it a lot) and few with YouTube. I get the tube without adds thanks to a chrome extension. I think all internet has been infected by some sort of censorship.
at first it seemed okay. but a few of their writers appeared on a page with wellness co. I am not sure how involved they are, but someone who defends the kind of stuff they sell, I rather find someone else.
I completely understand. I see that across platforms. Someone gets some traffic and boom; they start selling some really sketchy stuff. The podcast world is worse.
It has taken me almost 2 years since I started my stack to get to 4,500 subs (8,300 followers). I started posting notes each week about 6 weeks ago which include photos of clots texted to me by embalmer Richard Hirschman that week. Virtually no views/comments on these notes. As Bill Rice says, the subject of the embalmer clots is a thermonuclear truth bomb, so there’s my answer for my shadow banning.
As far as X is concerned, they are still up to their shenanigans. Over two years ago, Richard posted a video showing him removing a clot from a jugular vein. He and I watched that post in real time go viral. It got 20M views in less than 48 hours before it was shadow banned. Anyone without an X account (which includes me) could no longer view it. Ever since then, Richard is seriously shadow banned and is even on a “list”. Strangely, the other day he posted pics of clots which he hasn’t done in 3-4 months and got over 350k views before it was shadow banned (I could no longer view it - it was marked as age restricted content). Richard says those of us talking about these clots are in a “gulag”.
I'm so new to SS I still don't quite understand restacking and some of these other features that have to do with Notes. I guess I'll have to look and see how that works. And yes, I know what you are talking about Laura. I had a post go viral back in the day, several hundred thousand likes/shares on FB. All that "social proof" is gone today. I write because I enjoy it. Putting up with the BS is, well, BS, and it looks like it's not going away.
I seldom read notes, most time just what comes in my in-box, not even opening Substack home page, which I find annoying. From the people I like and have subscribed to for years I got the email addresses and from some even the home address, so if the sub decides to block them I got their info. I have done this ever since the chatrooms! I think this is the only way to check if someone is indeed a real person.
Thanks for the shout-out! Not-so-much for the kick in the gut. Ugh. This is frustrating and heartbreaking and terrifying all at the same time. (I *do* appreciate your research and insights... I just wish this was a bad dream.) :(
Absolutely cringed to write it - honestly. Hopefully Childers is correct in today's assessment of current events. His ability to put a positive spin on virtually anything is uncanny! That big pile of steaming brown in your front yard from the neighbor's Bull Mastiff / Great Dane cross? Fertilizer!
I looked all over the page but there is no Export button. I am not a writer, just a commenter, may be that is the difference? A few of us have already moved to pickax but I am still not used to it.
I moved away from Medium with a few writers who were already on Substack. I also kept your own home page, just in case!
My first experience of this type of behaviour back in the day was with Photobucket. I was on lots of car enthusiast forums. Lots of us doing work or modifications on our vehicles would make posts detailing what we had done and 'how to's' so that others could do the same if they were interested.
All of a sudden Photobucket decided that we had to pay £400 to them to allow our pictures to be displayed! - it trashed so many of the great threads that people had spent a lot of time creating!
I have been very jaded about the whole system since then...
The printing press was invented quite a few years ago. Now, the cost and speed of printing is a fraction of what it was in past times. I have a feeling this will become more relevant soon. Remember, the internet was not made for us, it was made for them.
Yes! Hardcopy letters,tracts, brochures that you actually possess, cannot be deleted or manipulated. You OWN them. They are your PROPERTY. Online PLATFORMS are the PROPERTY of others, whose primary motivation is PROFIT. Free speech principles become secondary to profitability.
Yes! Hardcopy letters,tracts, brochures that you actually possess, cannot be deleted or manipulated. You OWN them. They are your PROPERTY. Online PLATFORMS are the PROPERTY of others, whose primary motivation is PROFIT. Free speech principles become secondary to profitability.
Yes! Hardcopy letters,tracts, brochures that you actually possess, cannot be deleted or manipulated. You OWN them. They are your PROPERTY. Online PLATFORMS are the PROPERTY of others, whose primary motivation is PROFIT. Free speech principles become secondary to profitability.
Yes! Hardcopy letters,tracts, brochures that you actually possess, cannot be deleted or manipulated. You OWN them. They are your PROPERTY. Online PLATFORMS are the PROPERTY of others, whose primary motivation is PROFIT. Free speech principles become secondary to profitability.
Yes! Hardcopy letters,tracts, brochures that you actually possess, cannot be deleted or manipulated. You OWN them. They are your PROPERTY. Online PLATFORMS are the PROPERTY of others, whose primary motivation is PROFIT. Free speech principles become secondary to profitability.
Yes! Hardcopy letters,tracts, brochures that you actually possess, cannot be deleted or manipulated. You OWN them. They are your PROPERTY. Online PLATFORMS are the PROPERTY of others, whose primary motivation is PROFIT. Free speech principles become secondary to profitability.
I wrote about 5 to 7 articles in total, proving how Substack's algorithm fucks with me. However, there is always some guesswork. But since I use Alter AI as an analytic tool, it is beyond any doubt. And just recently, Substack delivered the proof itself by extending their "new growth chart" to all my articles. In short: In July 2025, when I started to heavily criticise Trump and Zionism, they closed the internal visibility tap by 3/4. Before, I got over 80% of my traffic from Substack. And just like that it dropped to 16% almost overnight and stayed there since. (Details see at the bottom of this article:
I have one advantage, though, over others. I don't earn much at all with my Substack so don't have to fear being ruined. And I said everything I needed to say, pretty much and saved those articles. And I believe that the truth will rise to the top eventually, no matter what. So after years of being infuriated, I am slowly finding inner peace with a situation I don't have much power over.
But if you are still hot for this topic and need more material on this, I am happy to send you all my links. Saves you from going through 300+ articles. All the best. Keep it up. Don't get discouraged.
Thank you for this very insightful read on Substack. I am a very small fry on this site, but very opinionated about many things; covid, Israel, transracial, transgender, Islam, nutrition and I never seem to share, maybe not the majority (I hope they're not the majority) opinion, but my own dissident interpretation of beliefs and events. I don't seek paid subscriptions because I don't want to feel obligated to write anything if I choose not to. I am one of those aged tech-illiterate people. I would prefer to ask for donations if only I knew how. However, I've been wondering lately about Substack, over the past few times I've written something, I hear from friend-subscribers that they have not received what I published. Additionally, one article I published a few months back which was pro-Israel, seems to have disappeared from my files on Substack. Not just that, but I can't even find it on my email. Yet I know I wrote it and know I sent it out. Even had I not, I would think it would show up as a draft, but not there either. I also received an email from Substack several months ago concerning someone seeking to get personal information about me. Basically, I ignored it. So you are correct and if I want to save what I've written, I need to print them out.
'I think when they became popular, they got audience captured.' Yes.
Substack does play around in many ways. Like all social media platforms, they mess with ranking which essentially shadow bans people that they don't want to get traction.
They also changed the default sorting on the website subscriptions feed to "relevant" instead of latest. It hides some posts.
https://robc137.substack.com/p/substack-what-is-this-priority-ranking
BTW, Brownstone plays games too.
A couple of people who questioned the pandemic (that there was no new pandemic until the shots came out) have been ignored or removed by them.
Hmmm....
It seems that finding a platform that doesn't play games is a mighty big challenge.
You would think that if it was all about business and money, they would do this.
Rumble was supposed to be that alternative to YouTube but I've found that it also plays games.
I think when they became popular, they got audience captured. In that case, it pays for them to cater to a certain audience that tends to pay over the majority that aren't obsessed over a certain topic.
The Jimmy Dore show which I've liked for a decade also fell into this trap. These days he spends half his show on the stupid TPUSA (tpCIA 😂) Charlie Kirk, Candace Owens drama. Why? Because it gets him those obsessed pay pigs.
I do not like brownstone. I still get their posts but it has been ages since I read one. I got a rumble account but do not use it. Strange enough I have no problems with Google (I am on Google chrome and like it a lot) and few with YouTube. I get the tube without adds thanks to a chrome extension. I think all internet has been infected by some sort of censorship.
I'd be curious as to why you don't like Brownstone?
at first it seemed okay. but a few of their writers appeared on a page with wellness co. I am not sure how involved they are, but someone who defends the kind of stuff they sell, I rather find someone else.
I completely understand. I see that across platforms. Someone gets some traffic and boom; they start selling some really sketchy stuff. The podcast world is worse.
Great eye opening piece! Sad commentary for the well being of mankind: money, power & control. Makes me sick to my stomach!
It has taken me almost 2 years since I started my stack to get to 4,500 subs (8,300 followers). I started posting notes each week about 6 weeks ago which include photos of clots texted to me by embalmer Richard Hirschman that week. Virtually no views/comments on these notes. As Bill Rice says, the subject of the embalmer clots is a thermonuclear truth bomb, so there’s my answer for my shadow banning.
As far as X is concerned, they are still up to their shenanigans. Over two years ago, Richard posted a video showing him removing a clot from a jugular vein. He and I watched that post in real time go viral. It got 20M views in less than 48 hours before it was shadow banned. Anyone without an X account (which includes me) could no longer view it. Ever since then, Richard is seriously shadow banned and is even on a “list”. Strangely, the other day he posted pics of clots which he hasn’t done in 3-4 months and got over 350k views before it was shadow banned (I could no longer view it - it was marked as age restricted content). Richard says those of us talking about these clots are in a “gulag”.
I'm so new to SS I still don't quite understand restacking and some of these other features that have to do with Notes. I guess I'll have to look and see how that works. And yes, I know what you are talking about Laura. I had a post go viral back in the day, several hundred thousand likes/shares on FB. All that "social proof" is gone today. I write because I enjoy it. Putting up with the BS is, well, BS, and it looks like it's not going away.
My note:
https://substack.com/@laurakasner/note/c-249050918?r=ul1zh&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action
My post about the “list”:
https://laurakasner.substack.com/p/the-esteemed-shadow-banned-list
Richard’s video:
https://x.com/r_hirschman/status/1759337235042758748
I seldom read notes, most time just what comes in my in-box, not even opening Substack home page, which I find annoying. From the people I like and have subscribed to for years I got the email addresses and from some even the home address, so if the sub decides to block them I got their info. I have done this ever since the chatrooms! I think this is the only way to check if someone is indeed a real person.
Thank you for writing this. I knew some of this, suspected some of this,…. and just learned a few new things.
We live and learn (hopefully)
See something,.. say something
Thanks for the shout-out! Not-so-much for the kick in the gut. Ugh. This is frustrating and heartbreaking and terrifying all at the same time. (I *do* appreciate your research and insights... I just wish this was a bad dream.) :(
Absolutely cringed to write it - honestly. Hopefully Childers is correct in today's assessment of current events. His ability to put a positive spin on virtually anything is uncanny! That big pile of steaming brown in your front yard from the neighbor's Bull Mastiff / Great Dane cross? Fertilizer!
😂😂😂literally!!!
I looked all over the page but there is no Export button. I am not a writer, just a commenter, may be that is the difference? A few of us have already moved to pickax but I am still not used to it.
I moved away from Medium with a few writers who were already on Substack. I also kept your own home page, just in case!
Thank you. Answered some of my questions.
My first experience of this type of behaviour back in the day was with Photobucket. I was on lots of car enthusiast forums. Lots of us doing work or modifications on our vehicles would make posts detailing what we had done and 'how to's' so that others could do the same if they were interested.
All of a sudden Photobucket decided that we had to pay £400 to them to allow our pictures to be displayed! - it trashed so many of the great threads that people had spent a lot of time creating!
I have been very jaded about the whole system since then...
Thanks for all you do doc - God bless you.
The printing press was invented quite a few years ago. Now, the cost and speed of printing is a fraction of what it was in past times. I have a feeling this will become more relevant soon. Remember, the internet was not made for us, it was made for them.
Brilliant comment and oh so true!
Yes! Hardcopy letters,tracts, brochures that you actually possess, cannot be deleted or manipulated. You OWN them. They are your PROPERTY. Online PLATFORMS are the PROPERTY of others, whose primary motivation is PROFIT. Free speech principles become secondary to profitability.
Yes! Hardcopy letters,tracts, brochures that you actually possess, cannot be deleted or manipulated. You OWN them. They are your PROPERTY. Online PLATFORMS are the PROPERTY of others, whose primary motivation is PROFIT. Free speech principles become secondary to profitability.
Yes! Hardcopy letters,tracts, brochures that you actually possess, cannot be deleted or manipulated. You OWN them. They are your PROPERTY. Online PLATFORMS are the PROPERTY of others, whose primary motivation is PROFIT. Free speech principles become secondary to profitability.
Yes! Hardcopy letters,tracts, brochures that you actually possess, cannot be deleted or manipulated. You OWN them. They are your PROPERTY. Online PLATFORMS are the PROPERTY of others, whose primary motivation is PROFIT. Free speech principles become secondary to profitability.
Yes! Hardcopy letters,tracts, brochures that you actually possess, cannot be deleted or manipulated. You OWN them. They are your PROPERTY. Online PLATFORMS are the PROPERTY of others, whose primary motivation is PROFIT. Free speech principles become secondary to profitability.
Yes! Hardcopy letters,tracts, brochures that you actually possess, cannot be deleted or manipulated. You OWN them. They are your PROPERTY. Online PLATFORMS are the PROPERTY of others, whose primary motivation is PROFIT. Free speech principles become secondary to profitability.
I wrote about 5 to 7 articles in total, proving how Substack's algorithm fucks with me. However, there is always some guesswork. But since I use Alter AI as an analytic tool, it is beyond any doubt. And just recently, Substack delivered the proof itself by extending their "new growth chart" to all my articles. In short: In July 2025, when I started to heavily criticise Trump and Zionism, they closed the internal visibility tap by 3/4. Before, I got over 80% of my traffic from Substack. And just like that it dropped to 16% almost overnight and stayed there since. (Details see at the bottom of this article:
https://www.beyourowndoctor.org/p/is-the-whole-world-epsteined-by-now .)
I have one advantage, though, over others. I don't earn much at all with my Substack so don't have to fear being ruined. And I said everything I needed to say, pretty much and saved those articles. And I believe that the truth will rise to the top eventually, no matter what. So after years of being infuriated, I am slowly finding inner peace with a situation I don't have much power over.
But if you are still hot for this topic and need more material on this, I am happy to send you all my links. Saves you from going through 300+ articles. All the best. Keep it up. Don't get discouraged.
Thank you for this very insightful read on Substack. I am a very small fry on this site, but very opinionated about many things; covid, Israel, transracial, transgender, Islam, nutrition and I never seem to share, maybe not the majority (I hope they're not the majority) opinion, but my own dissident interpretation of beliefs and events. I don't seek paid subscriptions because I don't want to feel obligated to write anything if I choose not to. I am one of those aged tech-illiterate people. I would prefer to ask for donations if only I knew how. However, I've been wondering lately about Substack, over the past few times I've written something, I hear from friend-subscribers that they have not received what I published. Additionally, one article I published a few months back which was pro-Israel, seems to have disappeared from my files on Substack. Not just that, but I can't even find it on my email. Yet I know I wrote it and know I sent it out. Even had I not, I would think it would show up as a draft, but not there either. I also received an email from Substack several months ago concerning someone seeking to get personal information about me. Basically, I ignored it. So you are correct and if I want to save what I've written, I need to print them out.