Dark Patterns in Substack
hermitian.substack.com
hermitian.substack.com
Huh? This is not even wrong. First of all, Substack is primarily (and has been touted as such) a newsletter (email based) platform, not a web blogging platform. The web version of a newsletter is supposed to be secondary.
Second, it makes sense to give all users as a default, and "restricted" reach to paid subscribers as an option.
Third, if I follow someone, it's precisely because as a reader I want to get notifications when they post something. Couldn't be more explicit.
Forth, a dark pattern (and still arguable at that) would have been prioritizing paid-only posts, since those are which give Substack money. So the total opposite.
It should be up to the subscribers how they want their notifications. I want to see what’s new when I visit.
And, as you correctly pointed out, if you follow someone on substack is because you want to get their content and their content is delivered, primarily, by email.
And I also agree with your take on this not beign a dark pattern. It's set to that default because by default that's how Substack is designed to work. You write and you send via email to all the people that follow you.
What's more, the article talks about patterns in plural, yet I can see only a single one being pointed out?
But also, it's not really a dark pattern. How does Substack benefit from this? The only people getting the email are the ones who signed up. And it costs them money.
And also, it seems like the author has raised a "dark pattern" (singular). They're unhappy that a single checkbox defaults to checked. Which is...pretty benign.
I think Substack certainly thinks that. And because I believe they think that, I don't think this qualifies as a dark pattern.
But as a user, I don't get that model at all. Why send me an email when I already have the article in the Substack app? The app can already show me the latest posts from the authors I follow. It will notify me if someone responds to my comments. For me, the emails are just extra work that produces no value.
This is incentive-compatible if you’re a professional writer who is trying to make money through paid subscriptions. It’s a bit annoying if you just want to have a blog because you have to turn that stuff off. It’s not hard to configure, though.
Also, if they're regular readers then they're more likely to share links elsewhere on the Internet.
But a lot of Substack's features are targeted towards professional writers who make money from paid subscriptions, giving Substack a cut. We're just along for the ride, so we get those features too.
> A Substack combines a blog, newsletter, payment system, and customer support team — all integrated seamlessly with a simple interface. We handle the admin, billing, and tech so you can focus on your best work.
> Substack’s simple system lets you publish to the web, email, and our app simultaneously so you can find new readers and always reach your existing audience.
> Substack helps anyone set up a blog and email newsletter. No tech knowledge is required. Without ads and algorithms to get in the way, you can sustain a direct relationship with your readers and retain full control over your creative work.
Interesting to have it called out here that it's default behavior that's inconvenient for the author to change.
It's a newsletter platform, not a "I'll check it whenever I want on the web" plarform.
Iirc one publication email would have an unsubscribe, but it only unsubscribes from that publication. There weren’t options to unsubscribe all from that button. For that I had to sign in and it wasn’t too easy to find the unsubscribe all option.
When you sign up to get emails form a specific author or publication you’re signing up to that specific newsletter, delivered to you by Substack.
Anyway there's other stuff. Via CAN SPAM laws, companies cannot pre-check subscription boxes (Substack does this in onboarding as well as when you subscribe via browsing their site). [0][1]
Also their consent gathering is not up to par. The regulations "require that a request for consent must contain a statement indicating that the person whose consent is sought can withdraw their consent."
Last, there may be something about how Substack bundles subscribing to publication on their dashboard into emails. To me this isn't unlike how following on twitter can't automatically subscribe to newsletter emails. There's specific callouts in CAN SPAM about such bundling. Ie you can't bundle accepting terms of service with receiving emails.
[0]: https://crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2012/2012-549.htm
You’re not receiving a notifications for content to be consumed on Twitter or on Amazon.
As for the other things you mentioned, those are more legal things I know absolutely nothing about and so I won’t comment on them because I honestly don’t have anything to contribute.
I've done it a few times, its suprisingly quite nice. They generate a unique email you can forward the offending message to
RSS is better ..for example, aggregating many substack blogs into a single site, like https://pubstack.site This way I can avoid getting tons of email notifications.
As soon as I read this, I was expecting the checkbox to be always checked and grayed out without the possibility of being checked out. It doesn't seem to be the case at the moment, according to the screenshot. As others have pointed out, I don't think this is a dark pattern.
Also Post Author: complain that they are getting emails from the newsletter they subscribed to
But no. A trivial complaint that's easily handled in any of a dozen ways. This isn't the late 90's anymore.
Let's assume this was the case. How's that a dark pattern?
> What is a Substack? Substack helps anyone set up a blog and email newsletter.
Or create a separate email account where all your Substack mail goes.