Even skillful and “serious” essayists can’t resist the seduction of popular Substack tropes (list of content I’m consuming, list of things that make me happy, list of my favorite restaurants) — it’s easy and performs well. And even more often, an up-and-coming writer, who might have started their Substack with more serious ambitions, follows the path of least resistance and writes traffic-bait. In part because it’s what the readers ask for! Revealed preferences!