So, I finally heard from someone at Twitter about why they have been censoring my tweets with fake “age-restricted adult content” labels and damaging my income and reputation as an author by maliciously deceiving people into thinking I’m some kind of slimy pornographer. So I’m banging out a quick newsletter to fill you in, because I know you’re just dying to hear all the details.
OK, I'm going to pin this here ... to say thank you to all the paid-subscribers who are encouraging me to drop the paywalled-post idea that I floated but can't seem to bring myself to follow through with. For the record, I think it was a dumb idea (i.e., dumb for me, not for all other writers), which is why I can't do it. Anyway, thank you for speaking up and letting me know your thoughts, and of course for your support!
I think paywalls are entirely acceptable in a Substack context; author choice. But for some reason, just now, I grabbed the credit card and am now a paid subscriber.
When people (authors) get a bit heavy handed with the paywall idea, I walk away. (Like Eugyppius, or Dr Malone. An ordinary peon cannot comment there at all. Screw that.
Does your bank charge you a fee for direct bank transfers? (I see you list that as a "support option" on your website.) I'm trying to figure out which method takes the smallest fee.
I'm not sure. I assume every outfit charges some kind of fee. I'm happy to let Substack take theirs. I'm not wild about the new Notes thing, yet, but the original publishing platform (i.e., this one) is great, and I applaud their commitment to freedom of speech and the press.
Substack it is then. Hope they continue to serve us well and don't start doing creepy things like Medium did, suppressing good stuff and suggesting bad stuff. I'm subscribed to your website RSS feed and I usually go there first.
I really can't afford paid subscriptions to the couple of dozen or so Substack writers that I depend on for my sanity. I look forward to the day when I can easily stream or otherwise send satoshis to authors with a click of a tip jar button.
Also wanted to mention as a paid subscriber, I don't need any perks from you. Happy to support your work as I am able to do so and find tremendous value in it, and that includes all the commenters' contributions as well.
I suspect most others in my position have similar sentiments, so I wouldn't spend much time struggling over the "do I hit the paywall button" option....
I agree. I pay to support your work, not for perks, and hope my subscription will help make it possible for your posts to be available to those who can't afford to subscribe.
Hi GB, Thank you for thinking about those of us who really can't pay for Substax. I like what you said about paying to support CJs important yet entertaining work.
Would it help to know that IF I ever hit Subscribe on any SStak, it would be CJs. (Oh, but then there's Tessa L. ....)
The ones that won't let unpaids (hmm, like Unvaxxed???) comment really tick me off and I go hit Unsub real quik.
It does concern me that lately I think I'm seeing more paywalls and restricted content on SStax. I understand that good work should be rewarded, yet if I don't have the Truthtellers on SStax, what have I got?
MSN? Infowars??? You Tube? {I type in name of book I'd like to read from my local library, but it's always "nothing to see here."}
Thank you for keeping essays like this in front of the paywall. There are many who would like to pay for everything but if you have a dozen subscriptions (and not limited to Substack) it becomes difficult, if you are retired or otherwise don't have a huge income (which I realise is the case for the writers too). Difficult times. But please don't think we aren't grateful even if we aren't paid subscribers - we may be buying your books (I bought four copies of 'The rise of the new normal reich'), which is a one-off rather than a commitment. Sometimes the people you pay for are just the first ones you happened across, and once you have a few paid subscriptions, it's sometimes necessary to think twice before adding to the list. Your essays are great. I have never 'dejectedly clicked away' from any of them!
I am a paid subscriber and I don’t mind that your content goes out to everybody. I personally do not trust “free to me” information anymore and I am willing to pay for people’s honest opinion. And it is refreshing, like a cold glass of tea on a hot summer’s day.
In a recent article you wrote you put a link to Jacob Siegel's (what I am sure will be seminal) expose of the disinformation industrial complex (see link below). This is a very important piece of journalism that should be getting much more readership and discussion. I hope that you promote it more directly.
Thank you for all of your writing. Censorship, whether it is "visibility filtering", algorithmic assholeism, or simply another means of data collection and identifying the dissenters, is a sure sign of the depth of trouble we, the free, are in now. Totalitarianism seems to occupy a space for only those who are staring at it directly in the face and not the rest of the "I just want to have fun" population who wouldn't recognize it if it smacked them in the face, which it is now doing. I was removed from twitter, censored numerous times by FuckBook and insta gram and I just don't go there anymore. I even tried to remove my data from FB, as it says one can, and that just isn't possible. KEEP WRITING !!! I love it when you blow up these tyrants! Yes it is entertaining but your writing is a dagger in the heart of these Nazi Compliers. Thank you!!
I love your work and agree 100% with all you write & stand for , I feel bad that I can’t afford to upgrade to paid, but these days I can barely afford a loaf of bread . Please keep making a mockery of these idiot olies and idiotic ideologies that do nothing for the sake of humanity and this planet.
Glad you're enjoying my work, and please don't feel bad on my account. If you read the replies from paid-subscribers here, you'll see that they get the fact that not everyone can afford a paid subscription. I get it too. Steal a loaf of bread. Don't get caught.
Elon Musk (Twitter) is not our Saviour. He's just another CCP globalist with his own agenda, making the world more dependent on Communist China while getting rich doing it.
May I simply state the obvious? GET OFF OF SOCIAL MEDIA. STOP GROVELING AND HUMILIATING YOURSELF FOR ACCESS from PLATFORMS THAT ARE AT WAR WITH HUMANITY. STOP FEEDING THE FASCIST BEAST. GROW UP.
While I agree that social media is accelerating our slide into totalitarianism, what is someone like CJ supposed to do to promote his content? Or any of us for that matter? Substack is great and all, but the best we can hope for is that readership will grow by word of mouth on here. Social media used to be an effective tool for increasing online visibility and building personal brands. That's no longer the case unless you're one of the "approved" voices or pushing the right narrative.
So what do creators do? Shout into the ether and hope that someone someday discovers them? I guess that's more of a rhetorical question as I think this whole thing has become hopeless. But if you have any suggestions, I'd be open to hearing them.
Thanks, Suzanne. I successfully avoided all social media until 2016, but you can't really do this gig I have taken on and not engage with it, either in terms of reaching readers or just tracking the Zeitgeist.
Would you work for a company that requires you to wear only green clothing 24/7? Or that requires you to recite a loyalty oath every hour? How about a boss who screams "SHUT UP" every other time you speak? This is a chicken-egg situation. Social media gets its power by presenting itself as indispensable. Smart people throw their hands up, "NOTHING I CAN DO but SUBMIT." They get more powerful, and it becomes more difficult to leave. JUST LEAVE for God's sake. If enough left alternative media would arise. Supply & demand. But if you keep submitting it will never improve.
I get what you're saying and I wholly agree that people need to leave. But let's be honest, it'll never happen.
Just look at the last few years and how many people submitted to the covid regime. Now look around at how many people have gone back to sleep who once railed against that system. With the vaxx mandates dropped, Fauci out of power, and Elon Musk the Conquering Hero on their "side", they feel safe enough to go back to their complacent ways.
There will never be a good alternative social media solution for free thinkers to flee to. And, even if there were, most people are too lazy to do it.
CJ is right to be shouting about this. People need to know that nothing has changed and that it's getting worse. There's nothing wrong with what he's doing, especially since he's already said he's done with Twitter and Facebook. He's just trying to keep people awake. And to let the overlords know that someone out there will never stop blowing the whistle on them.
if it will never happen then stop bitching about it. Either submit (the easy thing to do) or show some spine and self respect and refuse to be censored. If enough people left and a void existed a platform that respects its customers would eventually emerge. If not then there is no market for whatever it is CJ or anyone else has to say. Yes it's sad but that's what we have become. For every person who makes a living through their involvement in social media there are THOUSANDS of people for whom SM is a total waste of bloody time. It's time for those individuals to put their f*****g devices down and rejoin the real world. We used to call television the "idiot box." Our devices are idiot boxes squared, and social media squares the idiocy factor again. Just get off the bloody things. If Taibbi and Rogan et al like they can write for the Washington Times or Epoch Times or NY Sun, etc. Don't feel sorry for any of them, or anyone else who whines about SM cramping their style. A self-respecting individual does not allow himself to be censored.
We've already see from the Bud Light fiasco and Tucker Carlson's firing that simple economics no longer works with our mega-corporations. Budweiser's "regret" at how they destroyed their brand is as phony as a $3 bill. Next year they'll hire some other degenerate to sell their swill. FIRE THEM FIRST. QUIT.
you don't remember omidyar setting up intercept for greenwald to publish snowden? $300M It was a similar amount to what omidyar paid to color revolution ukraine. and for$300M greenwald published something like 5% of snowden and announced that he'd need more money to publish the rest? sound limited hangout enough for you? and Taibbi recognized how Musk limited his hangout and argued that what he got was worth exposing.
Good SEO can help. I found one of my posts in a search, at the top of 3,800,000 other results. One of my new subscribers info said the source was Duck Duck Go. Older school marketing tries to get a website to a reader without Twitter and Substack seems to be doing pretty good at automated SEO.
I am a paid subscriber and I think you should always keep it open to everyone. To your readers, please become a paid subscriber. Cost less than a Starbuck's frappacino!
Thanks, yeah, that was probably an idea whose time will never come, or that came and went, or something. Sometimes you get a great notion, and sometimes you get a dumb notion ...
Well, Twatter won't let me back on, so I don't have to worry about being 'visibility filtered'. Gab seems to be generally OK for free speech, but because everyone still clings to censorious Twitter, it remains very quiet. They'll be coming for all free speech platforms soon enough, including Substack.
I was a paid subscriber until inflation in the UK made me pull in my horns to stay afloat as I am a fixed income 70 year old pensioner . If / when my situation improves I will become a paid subscriber again as I really enjoy your work .
Totalitarian tiptoe. Every few days I realize again where we are and have to shake my head in disbelief. Practically unbelievable. Keep fighting the good fight, fellow untermensch...
Thank you for exposing this evil to us, your readers. I have spent hours each day since the Plandemic creators brought their evil out in the open reading everything I could find, getting up to speed. Clearly, the Monsters will do their damage because most people refuse to pay attention.
OK, I'm going to pin this here ... to say thank you to all the paid-subscribers who are encouraging me to drop the paywalled-post idea that I floated but can't seem to bring myself to follow through with. For the record, I think it was a dumb idea (i.e., dumb for me, not for all other writers), which is why I can't do it. Anyway, thank you for speaking up and letting me know your thoughts, and of course for your support!
Thanks for not paywalling. I'm not, nor ever will be in a position to pay for content online, unless I win the lottery.
Your articles are too good to miss. Lots of important info that everyone should be privy to.
Your writing is amazing. Please don't block us poor folks! ❤️
And, I'm following a lot of writers who have either gone behind a pay wall or who want to do it. It makes sense to the writer but not to readers.
I know for a fact that some of my shares via Twitter, Substack and my huge email list have garnered these authors paying readers.
Their loss if they decide to go paid. 🤷♀️
Exactly.....Bill C11 is already censoring us, Canadians......
CJ - I sincerely hope that you get filthy stinking rich from new subscribers.
It doesn't hurt my feelings one bit that I'm paying while some others may not be.
Thank you for doing what you do. You are one of a kind, man.
I would settle for slightly disheveled rich.
I think paywalls are entirely acceptable in a Substack context; author choice. But for some reason, just now, I grabbed the credit card and am now a paid subscriber.
Thank you!
When people (authors) get a bit heavy handed with the paywall idea, I walk away. (Like Eugyppius, or Dr Malone. An ordinary peon cannot comment there at all. Screw that.
I don't mind what Gato does, paywall on Sundays.
Does your bank charge you a fee for direct bank transfers? (I see you list that as a "support option" on your website.) I'm trying to figure out which method takes the smallest fee.
I'm not sure. I assume every outfit charges some kind of fee. I'm happy to let Substack take theirs. I'm not wild about the new Notes thing, yet, but the original publishing platform (i.e., this one) is great, and I applaud their commitment to freedom of speech and the press.
Substack it is then. Hope they continue to serve us well and don't start doing creepy things like Medium did, suppressing good stuff and suggesting bad stuff. I'm subscribed to your website RSS feed and I usually go there first.
I really can't afford paid subscriptions to the couple of dozen or so Substack writers that I depend on for my sanity. I look forward to the day when I can easily stream or otherwise send satoshis to authors with a click of a tip jar button.
CJ, great update on this saga...
Also wanted to mention as a paid subscriber, I don't need any perks from you. Happy to support your work as I am able to do so and find tremendous value in it, and that includes all the commenters' contributions as well.
I suspect most others in my position have similar sentiments, so I wouldn't spend much time struggling over the "do I hit the paywall button" option....
I agree. I pay to support your work, not for perks, and hope my subscription will help make it possible for your posts to be available to those who can't afford to subscribe.
Hi GB, Thank you for thinking about those of us who really can't pay for Substax. I like what you said about paying to support CJs important yet entertaining work.
Would it help to know that IF I ever hit Subscribe on any SStak, it would be CJs. (Oh, but then there's Tessa L. ....)
The ones that won't let unpaids (hmm, like Unvaxxed???) comment really tick me off and I go hit Unsub real quik.
It does concern me that lately I think I'm seeing more paywalls and restricted content on SStax. I understand that good work should be rewarded, yet if I don't have the Truthtellers on SStax, what have I got?
MSN? Infowars??? You Tube? {I type in name of book I'd like to read from my local library, but it's always "nothing to see here."}
Anyways, thanks GB and CJ for keeping it real.
Ditto to James M.
Thank you for keeping essays like this in front of the paywall. There are many who would like to pay for everything but if you have a dozen subscriptions (and not limited to Substack) it becomes difficult, if you are retired or otherwise don't have a huge income (which I realise is the case for the writers too). Difficult times. But please don't think we aren't grateful even if we aren't paid subscribers - we may be buying your books (I bought four copies of 'The rise of the new normal reich'), which is a one-off rather than a commitment. Sometimes the people you pay for are just the first ones you happened across, and once you have a few paid subscriptions, it's sometimes necessary to think twice before adding to the list. Your essays are great. I have never 'dejectedly clicked away' from any of them!
I am a paid subscriber and I don’t mind that your content goes out to everybody. I personally do not trust “free to me” information anymore and I am willing to pay for people’s honest opinion. And it is refreshing, like a cold glass of tea on a hot summer’s day.
In a recent article you wrote you put a link to Jacob Siegel's (what I am sure will be seminal) expose of the disinformation industrial complex (see link below). This is a very important piece of journalism that should be getting much more readership and discussion. I hope that you promote it more directly.
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/guide-understanding-hoax-century-thirteen-ways-looking-disinformation
Yes, great piece by Jacob Siegel ... thanks for the reminder!
Now adult content means you actually have something adult to say and that is the problem. The rest of the porn they like to put up actually.
Thank you for all of your writing. Censorship, whether it is "visibility filtering", algorithmic assholeism, or simply another means of data collection and identifying the dissenters, is a sure sign of the depth of trouble we, the free, are in now. Totalitarianism seems to occupy a space for only those who are staring at it directly in the face and not the rest of the "I just want to have fun" population who wouldn't recognize it if it smacked them in the face, which it is now doing. I was removed from twitter, censored numerous times by FuckBook and insta gram and I just don't go there anymore. I even tried to remove my data from FB, as it says one can, and that just isn't possible. KEEP WRITING !!! I love it when you blow up these tyrants! Yes it is entertaining but your writing is a dagger in the heart of these Nazi Compliers. Thank you!!
I love your work and agree 100% with all you write & stand for , I feel bad that I can’t afford to upgrade to paid, but these days I can barely afford a loaf of bread . Please keep making a mockery of these idiot olies and idiotic ideologies that do nothing for the sake of humanity and this planet.
Glad you're enjoying my work, and please don't feel bad on my account. If you read the replies from paid-subscribers here, you'll see that they get the fact that not everyone can afford a paid subscription. I get it too. Steal a loaf of bread. Don't get caught.
Elon Musk (Twitter) is not our Saviour. He's just another CCP globalist with his own agenda, making the world more dependent on Communist China while getting rich doing it.
He definitely seems to me to be "the beautiful one" they are putting before us to be "our savior."
Yes, the Hopium thing seems to have been quite effective for a lot of people.
May I simply state the obvious? GET OFF OF SOCIAL MEDIA. STOP GROVELING AND HUMILIATING YOURSELF FOR ACCESS from PLATFORMS THAT ARE AT WAR WITH HUMANITY. STOP FEEDING THE FASCIST BEAST. GROW UP.
While I agree that social media is accelerating our slide into totalitarianism, what is someone like CJ supposed to do to promote his content? Or any of us for that matter? Substack is great and all, but the best we can hope for is that readership will grow by word of mouth on here. Social media used to be an effective tool for increasing online visibility and building personal brands. That's no longer the case unless you're one of the "approved" voices or pushing the right narrative.
So what do creators do? Shout into the ether and hope that someone someday discovers them? I guess that's more of a rhetorical question as I think this whole thing has become hopeless. But if you have any suggestions, I'd be open to hearing them.
Thanks, Suzanne. I successfully avoided all social media until 2016, but you can't really do this gig I have taken on and not engage with it, either in terms of reaching readers or just tracking the Zeitgeist.
Why read the comment section on popular amateur porn videos? That's right, I said to myself, "tracking the zeitgeist".
Would you work for a company that requires you to wear only green clothing 24/7? Or that requires you to recite a loyalty oath every hour? How about a boss who screams "SHUT UP" every other time you speak? This is a chicken-egg situation. Social media gets its power by presenting itself as indispensable. Smart people throw their hands up, "NOTHING I CAN DO but SUBMIT." They get more powerful, and it becomes more difficult to leave. JUST LEAVE for God's sake. If enough left alternative media would arise. Supply & demand. But if you keep submitting it will never improve.
I get what you're saying and I wholly agree that people need to leave. But let's be honest, it'll never happen.
Just look at the last few years and how many people submitted to the covid regime. Now look around at how many people have gone back to sleep who once railed against that system. With the vaxx mandates dropped, Fauci out of power, and Elon Musk the Conquering Hero on their "side", they feel safe enough to go back to their complacent ways.
There will never be a good alternative social media solution for free thinkers to flee to. And, even if there were, most people are too lazy to do it.
CJ is right to be shouting about this. People need to know that nothing has changed and that it's getting worse. There's nothing wrong with what he's doing, especially since he's already said he's done with Twitter and Facebook. He's just trying to keep people awake. And to let the overlords know that someone out there will never stop blowing the whistle on them.
if it will never happen then stop bitching about it. Either submit (the easy thing to do) or show some spine and self respect and refuse to be censored. If enough people left and a void existed a platform that respects its customers would eventually emerge. If not then there is no market for whatever it is CJ or anyone else has to say. Yes it's sad but that's what we have become. For every person who makes a living through their involvement in social media there are THOUSANDS of people for whom SM is a total waste of bloody time. It's time for those individuals to put their f*****g devices down and rejoin the real world. We used to call television the "idiot box." Our devices are idiot boxes squared, and social media squares the idiocy factor again. Just get off the bloody things. If Taibbi and Rogan et al like they can write for the Washington Times or Epoch Times or NY Sun, etc. Don't feel sorry for any of them, or anyone else who whines about SM cramping their style. A self-respecting individual does not allow himself to be censored.
We've already see from the Bud Light fiasco and Tucker Carlson's firing that simple economics no longer works with our mega-corporations. Budweiser's "regret" at how they destroyed their brand is as phony as a $3 bill. Next year they'll hire some other degenerate to sell their swill. FIRE THEM FIRST. QUIT.
You have taken paranoia to a whole new level.
you don't remember omidyar setting up intercept for greenwald to publish snowden? $300M It was a similar amount to what omidyar paid to color revolution ukraine. and for$300M greenwald published something like 5% of snowden and announced that he'd need more money to publish the rest? sound limited hangout enough for you? and Taibbi recognized how Musk limited his hangout and argued that what he got was worth exposing.
Note that I meant that with a degree of admiration. It must be really challenging to not have anyone one trusts.
BTW, the absolute LAST place I'd go for trusted information on anything politically sensitive is Wikipedia. See: https://thegrayzone.com/2020/06/10/wikipedia-formally-censors-the-grayzone-as-regime-change-advocates-monopolize-editing/
Good SEO can help. I found one of my posts in a search, at the top of 3,800,000 other results. One of my new subscribers info said the source was Duck Duck Go. Older school marketing tries to get a website to a reader without Twitter and Substack seems to be doing pretty good at automated SEO.
Never joined them, being suspicious from the start and also fundamentally Luddite in orientation. No "smart" phone either.
Another FundieLuddite here. No "smartiepants" phone here; old flip phone cuz I'm old and live alone and all those "I fall down" gizmos freak me out.
I like books, bet you do too.
Yes to books! I wrote one: LIBERATE HAWAI'I! You can find out about it on Amazon.
CJ,
I am a paying subscriber.
I have no problems with everyone seeing all your work.
I am a paid subscriber and I think you should always keep it open to everyone. To your readers, please become a paid subscriber. Cost less than a Starbuck's frappacino!
Thanks, yeah, that was probably an idea whose time will never come, or that came and went, or something. Sometimes you get a great notion, and sometimes you get a dumb notion ...
How much, by the way?
Well, Twatter won't let me back on, so I don't have to worry about being 'visibility filtered'. Gab seems to be generally OK for free speech, but because everyone still clings to censorious Twitter, it remains very quiet. They'll be coming for all free speech platforms soon enough, including Substack.
I was a paid subscriber until inflation in the UK made me pull in my horns to stay afloat as I am a fixed income 70 year old pensioner . If / when my situation improves I will become a paid subscriber again as I really enjoy your work .
Thanks, Bill, and no worries at all ... happy to have you reading either way.
Totalitarian tiptoe. Every few days I realize again where we are and have to shake my head in disbelief. Practically unbelievable. Keep fighting the good fight, fellow untermensch...
Thank you for exposing this evil to us, your readers. I have spent hours each day since the Plandemic creators brought their evil out in the open reading everything I could find, getting up to speed. Clearly, the Monsters will do their damage because most people refuse to pay attention.