My problem with Substack (as a reader)

April 10, 2025

People have said similar things about Medium. As a platform it is not the best. I am mostly not a fan of it. Authors who write these newsletters pick platforms based on whether or not they feel they can be successful on. They choose to use it not because it is the best, but because it is successful at converting people into paid subscribers.

Substack offers a number of advantages because you as the author show up and write your newsletter, freeing you to focus on the content rather than the nuts and bolts of delivery. Not everyone is going to have the time to build up their own website or a paywall. One must come to terms with the fact not everyone shares the same values when it comes to publishing on the web.

A common critcism of Substack is how it is a Nazi bar. I think this accusation is exaggerated. John Gruber offers a good summary on the Nazi bar subject.

I would aim my critique at how you are treated as a visitor to someone’s Substack page. The overall aesthetic is bland. Each individual Substack does not feel unique.

Footnotes are not implemented in HTML but rather in JavaScript. Meaning if you are reading the post in your email, link to the footnote will not work. The footnotes are present, but they are not linked. The other major annoyance is the nagging. The site is relentless in asking you for your email.

On mobile are the two dickbars showing you on the top the logo for the substack, a subscribe button, and a sign-in link. On the bottom are the icons for Liking, Commenting, and Restack and Share button. Whether or not these are useful is beside the point. My issue is as you are scrolling these navbars continue to float in and out of view. It also sort of creates a disconnect with the scrollbar. A scrollbar should be a static sign of how long a page is, but this behavior makes the length of the article feel uncertain. I enable Reader View almost all the time so I don’t have to deal with these annoyances.

David Yates offers more complaints and describes the relationship of a reader to Substack as one of toxic skeuomorphism

It doesn’t bother me too much to read a post from someone if it’s available on Substack. My disappointment is a matter of taste, but one that is remarkably persistent in my mind.