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Mark Isero's avatar

Thank you very much for this. I can see why Substack is doing Notes - they’re venture backed, and so the only success is bazillions of users and paid subscriptions.

I’ve tried Notes and think it’s better than Twitter – but that’s not saying much.

I agree with you that Notes will dilute the quality of writing on Substack. It’ll distract writers and readers. Sure, some writers will gain more followers – but as you mention, they’ll be shallow followers. Already people are asking to follow instead of subscribe.

And my readers are saying they’re getting emails with my Notes (which I’ll be stopping). They didn’t ask for these emails. I didn’t ask for these emails, either.

Notes could be good for some people. But I wish that Substack treated Notes like they have treated every other feature before – by giving us control. Not sure why they’ve shifted course here.

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Paul Maplesden's avatar

Thanks for including me in your post - much appreciated. I feel that one of the dangers here is "attention fatigue" - the need to be aware of everything that's going on and having to have an opinion or respond to all of it. It's exhausting! The one finite resource we have is time - we can never get more hours in the day. Because of that, everyone is shouting louder and louder trying to get your mindshare.

Just like I've limited my media diet, I've had to increase my filters elsewhere as well. I don't have any specific feeling about notes right now other than "It looks interesting, I'll try it out at some point." Who knows, it might be a great way to read interesting throughts from other writers, or share my own quick thoughts - but I'm happy to wait and see how it all matures.

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