Beth Adams, who I have a lot of time for, and have read on and off since 2010, explores the question of subscriptions on the latest edition of her Substack newsletter.
Within the essay she harks back to a time – before social media ruined everything – when blogging was fun and like minded communities sprang up. It feels very much like what JUnited is trying to bring back, albeit at a smaller scale. She then goes on to make the point that subscribing (paid or free) is a form of appreciation for the work/ effort put in by the creator.
Writing (creating) online is not at zero cost – that much is a given. Even for situations where there is no physical cost to hosting, there is at the very least the opportunity cost of time spent creating. Without feedback, it can feel like one is shouting into the void.
I, for one, primarily subscribe to Substack newsletter by RSS feed, mainly due to the short thrift I give to my inbox being cluttered by emails. The Cassandra Pages newsletter is one of the few for which I have made an exception, subscribing both by email and by RSS. I leave comments from time to time, especially when a particularly poignant piece strikes close to home for me. My feedback is thus intermittent at best which can be improved.
Food for thought for me then, as I balance the need to provide feedback with that of maintaining a less cluttered space. Perhaps, the solution is to maintain a very high bar for subscribing by email, RSS only otherwise!
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