100% behind you on this decision, David. I think it's the right one, and I will gladly follow and continue to pay for the wonderful content and insight you provide. I've just deleted substack from my phone and will be sure to check out other creators I follow on here elsewhere instead.
Thanks, Kate. Appreciate you sticking with me as I figured this stuff out. It is like this giant relief seeing the comments under this piece... it really, really is. Like a weight has been lifted.
To reiterate for anyone looking at this "top" comment - if all goes to plan, you should experience absolutely no change next week, except future Webworms not turning up in the Substack App.
Rather, as of next week new Webworms will be found:
1) As per usual in your inbox (check your spam folders at the end of next week if no new Webworms have arrived!)
2) On the website (https://www.webworm.co) accessible and fairly slick through both the browser on your phone, and/or your laptop/desktop.
And you can comment as per usual - you may just have to re-login one time (one of those deals where you click "login", and it emails you a login to your inbox). Smooth.
Stupid question but is Ghost an app where we can set up push notifications for?
I actually don't get the newsletters in my inbox (I just realized this reading your piece) - just payment confirmations - so I'm going to have to investigate to see what's happening my end 🤦
Another (little) Ghost blogger here. As far as I'm aware there is no app as such I'm afraid, Ghost is less like a social media platform / ecosystem and more like a set of software to help people 'self publish' — so it's more just like a website + newsletter you have a lot of control over than a very tightly controlled platform with apps etc.
As for how you could get push notes, well it's quite old school but you could use an RSS reader (with push notification support) as Ghost is RSS compatible out of the box as one of it's distribution channels. Bit more work to go find one you like and set it up etc, but on the flip side it'd also let you subscribe to the article feeds of other similarly self-published writers — so it could be a win-win!
The other thing, Ghost just launched a brand new feature in v6.0 that helps adds a new social distribution channel for articles so people can comment and subscribe etc directly to the publication (and then get notified of new posts for instance) via new open social protocol called ActivityPub (made by the community rather than a company). So something they don't control. Only works for you though if you already have something like Bluesky, Mastodon, even Threads and others etc (ew) — but it lets anyone from any one of those places contribute regardless of what platform they're using. It's algorithm-less and open so looks like it could be really nice more 'app like' way to get notified about stuff in the future (if it pans out). But also would need to be enabled on Webworm to work anyways 🙂.
tysm for taking the time to write out all this info. This is actually hella fun & going back to an rss reader has me weirdly stoked. I also don’t get webworm in my inbox, just the app, so ima use the regular webworm site and set up this reader. What fun 🤓(zero /s, nerd ecstatic)
Very helpful, thanks! Did you find that your subscribers weren't getting emails from substack, and did ghost send emails regardless? I'm worried (a) why I'm not receiving emails about new substack posts, and (b) therefore what happens after migration for that....
That's ok haha. Honestly I would stress 'little' in my previous comment — I really just have a small handful of subscribers at this stage as my topic is quite a niche design tool related thing.
So everyone as far as I know receives the emails nicely, but I can't speak to the same about Substack because I've never used it to publish with before sorry! As a user of Substack I have found some of the settings around notifications quite confusing and horrible though — more reasons I'm glad to see the the back of it personally.
I found by default I was just getting notification after notification and when I tried to dial it down I got ... nothing at all so I feel like it just hasn't really been built with the user in mind very much.
David thank you SO much for writing this all out! I have been at a loss as to where to go next . . . but ghost keeps coming up. I am just really tired of investing in spaces then having to leave because of fascist shit heads! So this helps.
This is fantastic news! Change is scary, but it's also GREAT that your paying members won't be giving 10% to Substack. I've stayed a subscriber because I like your work, but in general my policy is not to pay for Substacks for all these reasons. Good luck with the transition, we'll see you on the other side.
It feels a bit ridiculous to comment on the Last Post like this, but I’m fully in support of this change! I only use Substack for free subscriptions, aside from being a paid up Worm. Being able to leave the platform fully will be very nice, so fingers crossed and looking forward to the next mail!
I don't think I have ever thought about a "work" thing (maybe Tickled when I was getting sued?) so deeply - and definitely for not this long.
Appreciate you sticking with me. As I said, for you - nothing will change. The next newsletter will arrive in your inbox and on webworm.co as per. Your payment doesn't change, it's all just identical.
Yep, I got clobbered in a recent reddit sub because I was trying to justify David staying on Substack to someone who (rightly, not that I'll admit to them) was vehemently anti-substack and that there were no good excuses to stay. Now I don't have to. WOOHOOOOO!
The clobbering by people.... does not help. I really hate it when people get stuck into Substack writers, many who are trying to make a living and barely holding it together.
I think if you go onto the web on your phone, hamburger lines in the top right, settings, scroll down to notifications and under newsletter delivery change from prefer app to prefer email. The note does suggest that if the app fails that it will send an email so perhaps this change is not needed.
Good luck David and thanks for the detailed explanations. I think sub stack has reached the enshitification stage, which is what private equity / VC money always does.
Working in health tech in the public sector I realise what is involved in the behind the scenes change management so that the end user - us - experience as little disruption as possible. Thanks for this, as I know it will have been extremely disruptive for you to make the change.
I'm glad we live in a world where values still mean something - thanks for this as well as the amazing content you provide. I'm more than happy to continue my sub.
P.S. that natsoc/nazi thing - I'm just appalled that Hamish can't see the evil that he is facilitating.
Thanks, David. And part of taking so long on this was making sure any change would be smooth on the reader. And apart from having to re-login next week if you wanna comment under the latest (Ghost) powered Webworm, nothing should really change too much.
This is a positive and brave decision and your timing makes sense. Would take a lot more than a change in platform to leave the best community and stories ever!
Thank god for people like you David. You give me hope that it will 'all' be okay one day. I don't know why so many things in the world are so horrific (including what our govt is doing to AoNZ) right now but reading your pieces are like a warm comforting light in a sea of darkness. Kia kaha. (sorry I didn't mean for this to be so effusive but there are moments like these that really show that the contrast out there is so huge. Thanks for being the light - it's so dark out there)
Thanks, SP. It's really sad seeing what Luxon, Peters and Seymour have been doing. Horrible to watch. Seems like Luxon is getting less and less popular, so hopefully Kiwis are seeing who they voted for. Onwards.
Total support for your decision David - it can’t have been easy but I appreciate the thought you’ve put into it! One thing though - I do worry about the reach for smaller writers you’ve promoted in the past. I’ll still be using Substack for Emily Writes, Alice Soper etc, but they get a lot of hate on the socials where you might direct people to. I dunno, I guess the internet is a shit place wherever you go!
I've said this a few times in the comments, but I admire a bunch of writers on Substack and would never, ever try and guilt them out for staying. There are SO many decisions involved in a move, and unlike what your typical person may think, shifting off Substack (especially if it's our livelihood) is a MUCH bigger decision than leaving, say, X for Bluesky. Plus you need the time and resources to do it.
Some don't have that.
Just the *writing* and *doing the work* is hard.
I will still happily tell people about writers I like, wherever they host their work. But me personally - I had to move. And I could afford the luxury of taking the time (no kids, no pet dog! sad!) to work on this move.
Wherever you go, I'm following. I've ever only used Substack for Webworm, so I'm fine with it. I respect your decision a lot as I am very much anti-Nazis.❣️
I admire your principles, as usual, David. Conflating free speech with the right to loudly be a dickhead seems to be an increasingly common problem.
And those loud dickheads are just so, so loud.
100% behind you on this decision, David. I think it's the right one, and I will gladly follow and continue to pay for the wonderful content and insight you provide. I've just deleted substack from my phone and will be sure to check out other creators I follow on here elsewhere instead.
Thanks, Kate. Appreciate you sticking with me as I figured this stuff out. It is like this giant relief seeing the comments under this piece... it really, really is. Like a weight has been lifted.
I'm so glad to hear it. Change can be incredibly scary. And so is the world right now. But we will all stick together and somehow get through it.
PS:
To reiterate for anyone looking at this "top" comment - if all goes to plan, you should experience absolutely no change next week, except future Webworms not turning up in the Substack App.
Rather, as of next week new Webworms will be found:
1) As per usual in your inbox (check your spam folders at the end of next week if no new Webworms have arrived!)
2) On the website (https://www.webworm.co) accessible and fairly slick through both the browser on your phone, and/or your laptop/desktop.
And you can comment as per usual - you may just have to re-login one time (one of those deals where you click "login", and it emails you a login to your inbox). Smooth.
Me too!! 😺
Thanks for trying to live _as ethically as possible_ in the world we’re in right now. It’s all any of us can do.
Like many of the commenters I see here, I’m only really on Substack to access webworm, so no great shakes for me if it goes, I’ll barely notice.
See you on the ghosty side! A much more pleasing aesthetic, if in name only.
Fantastic news.
So yeah, you should experience absolutely no change, except future Webworms *not* turning up in the Substack App.
Rather, *as of next week* new Webworms will be found:
1) As per usual in your inbox (CHECK YOUR SPAM FOLDERS end of next week if no new Webworms have arrived!)
2) On the website (https://www.webworm.co) accessible and fairly slick through both the browser on your phone, and/or your laptop/desktop.
You can hit up the comments section from either of those place.
Stupid question but is Ghost an app where we can set up push notifications for?
I actually don't get the newsletters in my inbox (I just realized this reading your piece) - just payment confirmations - so I'm going to have to investigate to see what's happening my end 🤦
Another (little) Ghost blogger here. As far as I'm aware there is no app as such I'm afraid, Ghost is less like a social media platform / ecosystem and more like a set of software to help people 'self publish' — so it's more just like a website + newsletter you have a lot of control over than a very tightly controlled platform with apps etc.
As for how you could get push notes, well it's quite old school but you could use an RSS reader (with push notification support) as Ghost is RSS compatible out of the box as one of it's distribution channels. Bit more work to go find one you like and set it up etc, but on the flip side it'd also let you subscribe to the article feeds of other similarly self-published writers — so it could be a win-win!
The other thing, Ghost just launched a brand new feature in v6.0 that helps adds a new social distribution channel for articles so people can comment and subscribe etc directly to the publication (and then get notified of new posts for instance) via new open social protocol called ActivityPub (made by the community rather than a company). So something they don't control. Only works for you though if you already have something like Bluesky, Mastodon, even Threads and others etc (ew) — but it lets anyone from any one of those places contribute regardless of what platform they're using. It's algorithm-less and open so looks like it could be really nice more 'app like' way to get notified about stuff in the future (if it pans out). But also would need to be enabled on Webworm to work anyways 🙂.
Edit: Someone else here actually mentioned yet another option of pinning the website to your device home screen — https://www.webworm.co/p/webwormisleavingsubstack/comment/145494784
tysm for taking the time to write out all this info. This is actually hella fun & going back to an rss reader has me weirdly stoked. I also don’t get webworm in my inbox, just the app, so ima use the regular webworm site and set up this reader. What fun 🤓(zero /s, nerd ecstatic)
Hey, my next Webworm should (as it always should) be sent to your inbox.
So - check your spam folders next week.
You should have a new fresh Webworm, powered by Ghost, by Wednesday. If it's not there - email me!
You're welcome! I think that 'ease of use' magnet of attraction thing about social media has really shot us in the foot long term in many ways.
Hopefully we start to see a period of building more thoughtful and truly user-oriented things that are easier to use than the last generation of them.
Very helpful, thanks! Did you find that your subscribers weren't getting emails from substack, and did ghost send emails regardless? I'm worried (a) why I'm not receiving emails about new substack posts, and (b) therefore what happens after migration for that....
To be clear: you should very much be getting Webworms in your email inbox. That's the whole idea of an email newsletter.
It's possible in Substack settings it was set to "emails off". But - who cares. Webworm is there no more.
So - see if you get my next Webworm next week. If not - check your spam.
If it's not there - then email me and we'll troubleshoot.
(also sorry for the tech support questions 🤦)
That's ok haha. Honestly I would stress 'little' in my previous comment — I really just have a small handful of subscribers at this stage as my topic is quite a niche design tool related thing.
So everyone as far as I know receives the emails nicely, but I can't speak to the same about Substack because I've never used it to publish with before sorry! As a user of Substack I have found some of the settings around notifications quite confusing and horrible though — more reasons I'm glad to see the the back of it personally.
I found by default I was just getting notification after notification and when I tried to dial it down I got ... nothing at all so I feel like it just hasn't really been built with the user in mind very much.
Hey, my next Webworm should (as it always should) be sent to your inbox.
So - check your spam folders next week.
You should have a new fresh Webworm, powered by Ghost, by Wednesday. If it's not there - email me!
To be clear: you should very much be getting Webworms in your email inbox. That's the whole idea of an email newsletter.
It's possible in Substack settings it was set to "emails off". But - who cares. Webworm is there no more.
So - see if you get my next Webworm next week. If not - check your spam.
If it's not there - then email me and we'll troubleshoot.
David thank you SO much for writing this all out! I have been at a loss as to where to go next . . . but ghost keeps coming up. I am just really tired of investing in spaces then having to leave because of fascist shit heads! So this helps.
Once my admin chaos has concluded next week (and some other story work) I am happy to get on the blower and chat it all through.
This is fantastic news! Change is scary, but it's also GREAT that your paying members won't be giving 10% to Substack. I've stayed a subscriber because I like your work, but in general my policy is not to pay for Substacks for all these reasons. Good luck with the transition, we'll see you on the other side.
Thanks, Kat. Really.
A great change! Like Clob, I am a paid Worm but that's it. Excited for the next newsletter and I hope the transition goes ok. Continue smashing it 🫶
Thanks, Stephanie. The plan is for you at your end to notice absolutely nothing (besides the next edition not being on the App!)
It feels a bit ridiculous to comment on the Last Post like this, but I’m fully in support of this change! I only use Substack for free subscriptions, aside from being a paid up Worm. Being able to leave the platform fully will be very nice, so fingers crossed and looking forward to the next mail!
Thanks, Clob! I really appreciate that. Really.
I don't think I have ever thought about a "work" thing (maybe Tickled when I was getting sued?) so deeply - and definitely for not this long.
Appreciate you sticking with me. As I said, for you - nothing will change. The next newsletter will arrive in your inbox and on webworm.co as per. Your payment doesn't change, it's all just identical.
Thank you.
PS: I see you read Garbage Day - a really great newsletter (that left Substack last year, as you know).
Yes, I love garbage day - there were some teething issues with the spam filter but it seems to have worked well for them overall!
Yes, maybe I should but that bit in bold above - about checking the ol' spam filter.
Yep, I got clobbered in a recent reddit sub because I was trying to justify David staying on Substack to someone who (rightly, not that I'll admit to them) was vehemently anti-substack and that there were no good excuses to stay. Now I don't have to. WOOHOOOOO!
Thanks David for saving my reddit street cred.
The clobbering by people.... does not help. I really hate it when people get stuck into Substack writers, many who are trying to make a living and barely holding it together.
The self righteousness got HIGH.
To put your mind at ease, twas not I doing the clobbering, despite the name…
Sounds like he owes you some Karma 🤣
Totally support this move David!
For those wondering (and sorry if this has already been commented) there is a way to pretty much make an app on your Home Screen.
On iPhone:
Go to the webworm website in Safari, click share and add to Home Screen. This adds a bookmark to your home screen that looks just like an app.
On Android:
1. Open Chrome.
2. Go to the website that you want to create a shortcut for.
3. To the right of the address bar, tap More Add to home screen.
4. Create shortcut.
5. From the dialogue that appears: Rename: Select the default name for the shortcut or rename the shortcut.
6. Tap Add.
Thanks for this!
This is super helpful. Thank you!
Now I just have to find a way to get notifications...
I think if you go onto the web on your phone, hamburger lines in the top right, settings, scroll down to notifications and under newsletter delivery change from prefer app to prefer email. The note does suggest that if the app fails that it will send an email so perhaps this change is not needed.
Good luck David and thanks for the detailed explanations. I think sub stack has reached the enshitification stage, which is what private equity / VC money always does.
Working in health tech in the public sector I realise what is involved in the behind the scenes change management so that the end user - us - experience as little disruption as possible. Thanks for this, as I know it will have been extremely disruptive for you to make the change.
I'm glad we live in a world where values still mean something - thanks for this as well as the amazing content you provide. I'm more than happy to continue my sub.
P.S. that natsoc/nazi thing - I'm just appalled that Hamish can't see the evil that he is facilitating.
Thanks, David. And part of taking so long on this was making sure any change would be smooth on the reader. And apart from having to re-login next week if you wanna comment under the latest (Ghost) powered Webworm, nothing should really change too much.
Again - THANKS.
This is a positive and brave decision and your timing makes sense. Would take a lot more than a change in platform to leave the best community and stories ever!
Fucking amen, thanks Beck. God the comments here have been nice.
See you in the comments section next week - it will ask you to login, but that should be coming you only have to do once.
Any issues - you know where to find me! davidfarrier@protonmail.com
Where David goes, I go. So there’s that! 👏 Oh, and I’m a paid Worm!!!
Thank god for people like you David. You give me hope that it will 'all' be okay one day. I don't know why so many things in the world are so horrific (including what our govt is doing to AoNZ) right now but reading your pieces are like a warm comforting light in a sea of darkness. Kia kaha. (sorry I didn't mean for this to be so effusive but there are moments like these that really show that the contrast out there is so huge. Thanks for being the light - it's so dark out there)
Thanks, SP. It's really sad seeing what Luxon, Peters and Seymour have been doing. Horrible to watch. Seems like Luxon is getting less and less popular, so hopefully Kiwis are seeing who they voted for. Onwards.
I'll follow you anywhere! See you on Ghost 😊
I too fear change, David. We shall all embrace this good change together head-on. Because fuck the Nazis ♥️♥️
Total support for your decision David - it can’t have been easy but I appreciate the thought you’ve put into it! One thing though - I do worry about the reach for smaller writers you’ve promoted in the past. I’ll still be using Substack for Emily Writes, Alice Soper etc, but they get a lot of hate on the socials where you might direct people to. I dunno, I guess the internet is a shit place wherever you go!
Hey Megan - yes, yes and yes.
I've said this a few times in the comments, but I admire a bunch of writers on Substack and would never, ever try and guilt them out for staying. There are SO many decisions involved in a move, and unlike what your typical person may think, shifting off Substack (especially if it's our livelihood) is a MUCH bigger decision than leaving, say, X for Bluesky. Plus you need the time and resources to do it.
Some don't have that.
Just the *writing* and *doing the work* is hard.
I will still happily tell people about writers I like, wherever they host their work. But me personally - I had to move. And I could afford the luxury of taking the time (no kids, no pet dog! sad!) to work on this move.
Wherever you go, I'm following. I've ever only used Substack for Webworm, so I'm fine with it. I respect your decision a lot as I am very much anti-Nazis.❣️