65 Comments
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Kaeleen Stone's avatar

“Anti-intellectualisation is the main reason Trump won, so think again.” THAT PART

brianna's avatar

loved this! i’m new to substack and still getting a feel for everything, but even I compared this app to twitter with the major usage of notes. but it’s so important to distinguish the difference. plus that app is garbage. lol. enamored by your words, truly! subscribed!

Luciana Cole they/them's avatar

hey Brianna thank you so much for reading! i’m so glad you decided to join substack and can’t wait to check out your work <3

Brielle Blue's avatar

Loved this post. Definitely awakening. I am with you on posting less notes and focusing more on restacking and highlighting articles I see!!!

Luciana Cole they/them's avatar

EXACTLYYYY THANK U ANNA <3

Rebecca's avatar

I'm annoyed because it definitely feels like there's no going back to the focus on long form content. Good post!

Hannah Cao's avatar

I'm obsessed with this piece, and it's so true! we can change how substack will develop by using it mindfully & not actively turning it into another brain rot platform. I love substack for its long-form content and I love notes for nudging me to discover new articles through the people I follow and adore.

Luciana Cole they/them's avatar

thank you so much Hanna, substack is so good for the brain and i’m scared of the way we’re using notes these days

micayla jean's avatar

read more and comment more ♥️ this kept me engaged, thank you for sharing with us all

The Word Wanderer's avatar

Amen to this 🙌🏻

lauryn bedford's avatar

Notes is truly the bane of my existence on here. All I want is to see quotes and be inspired to read those articles. But it’s just ppl reposting articles they hate (mostly about pedophilia). Like…what’s the point of giving them more traction? I’ve been on here for about a year and honestly notes has never worked in my favor so I say get rid of it all together lol

Luciana Cole they/them's avatar

let’s not even talk about that pedophilie article that’s been making rounds. instead of resharing it and giving it a platform we should’ve just reported the article and been quiet

lauryn bedford's avatar

it’s all about engagement and virtue signaling. yuck!

Aimee's avatar

Love this post. I am new to Substack but I didn’t know about the Notes feature until I downloaded the app. I do find myself somewhat mindlessly scrolling Notes, but I’ve been catching myself doing it and redirecting to the long form content that I’m here for. We can’t control the direction it takes but we can control the way we use it.

Luciana Cole they/them's avatar

welcome to substack Aimée and thank you so much for reading! i hope you find here a community of likeminded individuals passionate about the same things as you, outside of notes <3

micayla jean's avatar

I don't understand how sometimes

you can see peoples

notes and sometimes you can only see their posts? (still new here too! ah! 🫣)

Luciana Cole they/them's avatar

heyyy micayla! if you're on your phone you can see notes as your general feed but if you want to see posts you have to go to the second icon in the bottom left (the inbox) idk if this is what you're referring to, but i hope this helps

micayla jean's avatar

you rock, thank you! :)

micayla jean's avatar

ohhhh so all posts are technically found in your "inbox"? but you can share posts in notes with a quote etc? thank you!!!

Luciana Cole they/them's avatar

exactly! you can find the posts of someone you subscribe to in your inbox or straight on their profile. you can also find posts in your notes feed because people are sharing it

Emily Wheeler's avatar

100%. thank you for this <3

cheryl's avatar

truly truly, you never miss

camilla's avatar

i’ve only been on substack for a couple of days and i can still relate!! is any app safe at this point? it feels like every single app has gone through some sort of modification to fit the attention spams of today—instagram w/ reels + threads, youtube w/ youtube shorts, snapchat w/ spotlight. it’s everywhere! so thats why i agree + believe that yes its up to how we choose to use that app! less notes, more long form content!!

Thea Bergh's avatar

I’ve just joined the app and trying to figure out the landscape, this was super helpful in highlighting a few patterns i’ve been seeing!!

Antonio deGou's avatar

I feel like you reasoning is sound. Got nothing to say about that. But as for the solution it feels like putting the genie back into the bottle. App tend to evolve and grow and become something else. Trying to go back might be futile. But I do appreciate the sentiment.

As for your cat! You should post it, but then whos to say where the limit is.

As for "is not that deep" lord I could not agree more.

Luciana Cole they/them's avatar

hey antonio thank you so much for your comment! i agree that we apps are forever changing things that will evolve as humans do. i’m not saying that things should necessarily go back, i’m saying that the way it is evolving (like twitter) isn’t satisfying for those who are using substack to read and the app should focus more on reading and writing. i think adding the podcasts was a good idea, same with the spotify update. i also think dms can be expended upon and groups should be created between friends here too

Antonio deGou's avatar

Yeah you are not wrong I ve seen the same bros from twitter here lerking.... I'm already seeing a few thing more on the salesy side.

This might be fatalist of me... But I feel like we have the app that we deserve... As a collective... Grifters keep coming cause we keep falling for it (not necessarily you or me, but the universal us)

Luciana Cole they/them's avatar

maybe you’re right but i made this article to warn people about the dangers of such a derivation and so far everyone has been receptive. since then i haven’t seen much “follow me and i’ll follow you back” on my notes so i’d like to think that people are getting it

Antonio deGou's avatar

Ok that reminds me! We all gotta do what we can. To whatever small or big impact it might have. Thanks for the reminder Luciana.

I got a confession... I kinda love the sex and the city memes "me writting..."

Luciana Cole they/them's avatar

i dress as a nun at raves, your confession is safe with me Antonio

Antonio deGou's avatar

🙏😂

lauren henry's avatar

this all really changed my perspective! you’re so right - the most likes i’ve ever gotten on substack was from a note i barely thought about when writing. you’ve inspired to also change the way i interact with this app, so thank you.

Luciana Cole they/them's avatar

thank you so much for your comment Lauren <3

brenna stone's avatar

it's like you rummaged around in my brain and put my tangled thoughts into cohesive sentences! all of this exactly.

I purposely haven't used Notes much. I came to Substack to write and by golly I will write 👏🏻

Luciana Cole they/them's avatar

thank you so much for your kind comment Brenda <3