I’ve been toying around with the idea of turning on paid subscriptions, although keeping all content free.

The pluses are (1) expanded reach from the stupid check-mark thing (yes, we all write for ourselves primarily, but it’s nice to be heard), and (2) some pocket change for buying more books.

The downsides are (1) one has to reveal one’s identity to Stripe, which is a shitlib censorious company, and who knows if you’ll get life-cancelled if you write the wrong thing? (Why doesn’t Substack allow cryptocurrency as payment??? Chris Best) and (2) concerns about the impact it will have on the content of my posts, even subconsciously (i.e. would I start writing less for myself and care more about what subscribers think? That would be awful).

Anyone else go through this struggle? Where did you end up?