Excellent post. Regarding "zog destroyer," and that sort of ilk, I had to block one from my comments that was posting "HH1488" crap. Obviously a fed as the posts were awkward and completely out of place. I believe the government has not given up on smearing Substack as a nahtzee site and is thus using their usual tactics to try to plant nahtzee crap here.
Also, the engagement stuff is quite suspicious indeed! I have around 720 subscribers right now and I get way more engagement than some of the accounts with "thousands of paid subscribers." Who is paying for those subscriptions and why don't they post comments or likes or whatever? Again, if I had to guess, I'd say the government is paying for it to amplify regime propaganda accounts here.
That other stuff aside, congrats your success, Librarian. You do a great job and it is well-earned. 👍🏻
It only started right after the Substack Against Nazis people began pointing out the “problem.” Both materialized at the same time, and I would guess for the same reason.
Congratulations on reaching these milestones, my friend. It's been really great seeing you take off the way you have.
On the bot engagement question, indeed there seems to be something very strange happening with certain high-subscriber political accounts. This is something we're looking into, with the intention of determining if we're imagining things, or if there is indeed something suspicious in the data.
I have had emails from people wanting to explore that topic of questionable engagement/subscriber ratios, but I don’t know enough about the way the system works to write about it with authority. I suspect you’d be better at it. I only intuit the problem, but I have no doubt it’s real.
There is something going on as I have around 700 subscribers but get more engagement than some of these "thousands of paid subscribers" accounts. Where are their subscribers? Why do they not post comments, likes, etc? It's all very suspicious.
And, of course, they just happen to pump out tons of regime propaganda.
Today all the usual suspects are going on about Navalny and his love of freedom (but not his not-so-much love for minorities in Russia and his funding from MI-6). If you are willing to function as a repeater, you certainly won’t starve.
Too often the loudest and sometimes the only voices are those that are complaining. It was great, therefore, to read such a well considered essay of mostly praise with a few constructive suggestions thrown in.
I like to think that, modest though my contribution is, I’ve invested my time and energy into this site because I really want it to thrive. Such criticism as I offer comes from a place of that desire. This includes my more pointed attacks on those wanting to destroy it or turn it into the comments section of the Washington Post.
That’s the Braserotron-3000. It might look creepy, but it comes free of cartel debt. The only downside is that it blasts accordion music out of its speakers all day at full volume and it can’t be turned off, but if you like spicy Latin rhythms it’s not so bad.
I am glad you are here. I love reading well written, well reasoned thoughts. I also love fun, silly things, and the occasional over the top rant. Substack is a wonderful smorgasbord. To borrow from Mr. Franklin - I hope we can keep it.
It’s the fake internet theory. The internet is just full of bots. That’s why a site like the NYT will have a few million subs on Twitter but will only get a few thousand likes and replies etc.
The entire internet is a curated space. I can’t quantify it and I’m not a computer scientist, but everything about it those major sites feels structured in an inorganic way.
Congrats on your 50th! I for one am grateful for your writing, engagement and nudging. You are a good teacher and I miss all you wonderful brilliant people when I go awol. Thank you for saying that about Zog and his ilk. I met one named Larry today towing the company line and have been considering blocking him but why not just see how crazy he gets at this point. It's kind of funny when we now know what we're dealing with. 🤣 I'm grateful for your work and will be congratulating you when you post your 100th. Please keep up the thought provoking writing on a great number of topics.
Thank you so much. Perhaps the ADL can create a cancel-bot in their secret Illuminati Soros-labs and it can battle the Groypernator in a battle to the death of literally no significance.
You've made it possible and not only that, but speaking personally as someone who started recently and was constantly encouraged by you Librarian, you've not only excelled as a fascinating writer but in easing the loneliness and doubts of much smaller writers such as myself.
Honestly you're one of the most talented here, and one of the kindliest here so praise cannot be heaped enough on you, and I can't wait for your next fifty posts and for you to double your current number of supporters as few men write like you do or with such sincere feeling mon ami.
I think you just gave me higher praise mon ami, honestly the thought of surpassing you hadn't occurred to me, pour moi, toi, Morgoth & pleins d'autres sont quelques-uns des meilleurs auteurs et essayistes que j'ai jamais vue.
As I read your nice post it occurred to me that anyone who wants thousands of subscribers simply has to import a spreadsheet with thousands of email addresses. The difficulty of getting subscribers is simply the difficulty of writing a .csv with thousands of email addresses.
That’s what I wish Substack would make clear, and I wish they would differentiate those sorts of subs from the ones acquired organically on the site itself.
More evidence, as if we needed it, that no good thing goes unmolested. I hope the Operators are able to minimize the venality without falling into the other ditch.
On the inflated numbers, just had a thought, perhaps the more leftward one is the less likely one is to be "involved". As in more observer than acter, viewer rather than commenter. I know even in the cauldron of imageboard sites the numbers are consistently 10 to 1 on viewing to activity. It would be interesting to see if this "Deep Right" and their "Progressive Left" have similar or different participation ratios to one another.
Excellent post. Regarding "zog destroyer," and that sort of ilk, I had to block one from my comments that was posting "HH1488" crap. Obviously a fed as the posts were awkward and completely out of place. I believe the government has not given up on smearing Substack as a nahtzee site and is thus using their usual tactics to try to plant nahtzee crap here.
Also, the engagement stuff is quite suspicious indeed! I have around 720 subscribers right now and I get way more engagement than some of the accounts with "thousands of paid subscribers." Who is paying for those subscriptions and why don't they post comments or likes or whatever? Again, if I had to guess, I'd say the government is paying for it to amplify regime propaganda accounts here.
That other stuff aside, congrats your success, Librarian. You do a great job and it is well-earned. 👍🏻
It only started right after the Substack Against Nazis people began pointing out the “problem.” Both materialized at the same time, and I would guess for the same reason.
Congratulations on reaching these milestones, my friend. It's been really great seeing you take off the way you have.
On the bot engagement question, indeed there seems to be something very strange happening with certain high-subscriber political accounts. This is something we're looking into, with the intention of determining if we're imagining things, or if there is indeed something suspicious in the data.
I have had emails from people wanting to explore that topic of questionable engagement/subscriber ratios, but I don’t know enough about the way the system works to write about it with authority. I suspect you’d be better at it. I only intuit the problem, but I have no doubt it’s real.
My gut also tells me there's something there, but that could of course be confirmation bias.
We've got a team looking into this. Results when they're ready....
I’ll be interested to find out your results.
You and me both.
There is something going on as I have around 700 subscribers but get more engagement than some of these "thousands of paid subscribers" accounts. Where are their subscribers? Why do they not post comments, likes, etc? It's all very suspicious.
And, of course, they just happen to pump out tons of regime propaganda.
Today all the usual suspects are going on about Navalny and his love of freedom (but not his not-so-much love for minorities in Russia and his funding from MI-6). If you are willing to function as a repeater, you certainly won’t starve.
Too often the loudest and sometimes the only voices are those that are complaining. It was great, therefore, to read such a well considered essay of mostly praise with a few constructive suggestions thrown in.
I like to think that, modest though my contribution is, I’ve invested my time and energy into this site because I really want it to thrive. Such criticism as I offer comes from a place of that desire. This includes my more pointed attacks on those wanting to destroy it or turn it into the comments section of the Washington Post.
I’ve blocked myself, just in case…
That’s tough but fair.
Those farm robots are the creepiest things I have seen in a long time. Very unsettling.
That’s the Braserotron-3000. It might look creepy, but it comes free of cartel debt. The only downside is that it blasts accordion music out of its speakers all day at full volume and it can’t be turned off, but if you like spicy Latin rhythms it’s not so bad.
Programmed to vote Democrat too?
After the harvest it works as a Dominion voting machine.
The GOP version will prepare the pool for winter. I'm coming around to the idea.
Of course the whole transformer ideology will have to be confronted. No drag-race story hour!!
The GOP version identifies as a toaster, and makes The Conservative Case for doing so…
The GOP normally makes the conservative case for doing what the Democrats want.
When there's a PJ O'Rourke robot I'm voting for they/them.
I am glad you are here. I love reading well written, well reasoned thoughts. I also love fun, silly things, and the occasional over the top rant. Substack is a wonderful smorgasbord. To borrow from Mr. Franklin - I hope we can keep it.
As do I, on both counts.
It’s the fake internet theory. The internet is just full of bots. That’s why a site like the NYT will have a few million subs on Twitter but will only get a few thousand likes and replies etc.
The entire internet is a curated space. I can’t quantify it and I’m not a computer scientist, but everything about it those major sites feels structured in an inorganic way.
Excellent write-up
Thoughtful. Congrats! The vibrancy of this site is indeed rare. It may be fleeting, but i will enjoy it while i may...
Congrats on your 50th! I for one am grateful for your writing, engagement and nudging. You are a good teacher and I miss all you wonderful brilliant people when I go awol. Thank you for saying that about Zog and his ilk. I met one named Larry today towing the company line and have been considering blocking him but why not just see how crazy he gets at this point. It's kind of funny when we now know what we're dealing with. 🤣 I'm grateful for your work and will be congratulating you when you post your 100th. Please keep up the thought provoking writing on a great number of topics.
Thank you so much. Perhaps the ADL can create a cancel-bot in their secret Illuminati Soros-labs and it can battle the Groypernator in a battle to the death of literally no significance.
Unleash the cancel bot says CTIL league. 🤣
NOW yer gonna be accused of pornography for sure 😉🤣😂
You've made it possible and not only that, but speaking personally as someone who started recently and was constantly encouraged by you Librarian, you've not only excelled as a fascinating writer but in easing the loneliness and doubts of much smaller writers such as myself.
Honestly you're one of the most talented here, and one of the kindliest here so praise cannot be heaped enough on you, and I can't wait for your next fifty posts and for you to double your current number of supporters as few men write like you do or with such sincere feeling mon ami.
That’s very high praise. With your high volume of top-quality output, I’d be shocked if you didn’t shortly surpass me.
I think you just gave me higher praise mon ami, honestly the thought of surpassing you hadn't occurred to me, pour moi, toi, Morgoth & pleins d'autres sont quelques-uns des meilleurs auteurs et essayistes que j'ai jamais vue.
Your essays are always amazing to read.
As I read your nice post it occurred to me that anyone who wants thousands of subscribers simply has to import a spreadsheet with thousands of email addresses. The difficulty of getting subscribers is simply the difficulty of writing a .csv with thousands of email addresses.
That’s what I wish Substack would make clear, and I wish they would differentiate those sorts of subs from the ones acquired organically on the site itself.
Congratulations on your success here.
More evidence, as if we needed it, that no good thing goes unmolested. I hope the Operators are able to minimize the venality without falling into the other ditch.
So much molesting. It’s like a Roblox Discord in here sometimes.
I wish there was a golf clap emoji.
On the inflated numbers, just had a thought, perhaps the more leftward one is the less likely one is to be "involved". As in more observer than acter, viewer rather than commenter. I know even in the cauldron of imageboard sites the numbers are consistently 10 to 1 on viewing to activity. It would be interesting to see if this "Deep Right" and their "Progressive Left" have similar or different participation ratios to one another.
Would that I had the math and computer skills to fully parse the topic.
Congrats!!
You are worth reading. Simple as that.
Farm bots are not good, what happened to the farmer?
The robots are actually Transformers that turn into El Caminos and fight the evil Las Imigracons.