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Substack does have all these sketchy patterns but there is a 'Let me read it first' text link on the popup that lets you continue, seemingly without tracking how many times you've done that.

BUT I made the mistake of actually signing up for one blog I liked and got smacked by a barrage of more 'sign up for this!!!' immediately after. So I agree that it's user-hostile but... it seems like most of the web is moving that way, outside of our digital gardens.

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> ...'Let me read it first' text link

Yep, I didn't notice that until someone commented that. Seems purposely hidden.

> it seems like most of the web is moving that way,

Yeah, I really don't care at this point. I'm not going to jump through hoops anymore. If someone wants to block me from reading something using trickery, than clearly it's worthless and neither the site nor the author respect me. Why should I respect them?

What’s really weird about Substack is that you seemingly can’t subscribe to a newsletter and read it in the app without getting every post emailed too. I just want to read in the app.

fwiw, part of their schtick was newsletters and that you, effectively, never had to open their app. Seems like they designed for one and not the other. That said, during launch day they took a lot of feedback from here so they might hear you if you reach out.

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