This is a genuinely brilliant analysis of The Site So Far, and completely proves your point, because I had ZERO idea that the Dune conversation was so detailed and went that far off of my original Note. 😂
to call this a career milestone is an understatement; i’ll probably print this out lmfao!!! Also: all the substantive points here are excellent and correct; I was just chatting with Nick about this the other day. Thanks for caring enough to make the dilemmas crisp, and for the great ideas and the incredible comic; hopefully we can sort this out for y’all soon!!!
and as predicted: Abby loved it lol. First drawing of Kizzy i think?!
I missed all the comments on the Dune thing too and I know i even participated in it at one point. Can you link to the Note? Because that would be helpful, especially since you tell people about it and I want to go look at it!
Ahhh!!! I had the original post up and was setup to paste the link into the post, but then I got caught up being snarky and asking people to tag me because otherwise I wouldn't see their comment and I forgot to share the link. I've updated the post to include the link now, but I'll share it here directly too: https://substack.com/profile/80396624-se-reid/note/c-15998827
Oh, it's not?! I know Doomberg was a person and you slightly modified him, but Mills is real (i think) so it lent credibility to your other caricatures.
I was gonna say I couldn't find the conversation with the people you were referencing. Since I mentioned the plight of the farmer maybe you're right and I am the troll dude!
Tagging seems to be a good workaround. Although I tried that once, but the linking didn't work. Does anyone know if that only works on desktop? I tried it in the app.
Yes, rolled up comments can be clunky, but there's a real estate issue on the Notes pages, and all comments do appear in a full list if you open the Note itself, on it's own.
The blank screen comment box is a problem, even if only because you can't toggle back to be reminded of what you were reacting or responding to, that's what I sometimes find annoying.
If people comment directly to your Note, you'll see that under your bell icon, which is also a workaround for navigating back to the original Note. However, interactions under the Note between other commenters will only be notified under the bell to those people. Functionally, I don't think there's any elegant way around this, because it would effectively need the equivalent of a group chat for every Note, without having a clue who's going to be in the group.
That's why I recommended the creation of an optional notification for people who do want to know about every new comment regardless of whether that comment was directed to them or not. It should be optional though because it would annoy some people.
Excellent observations re: Substack Notes! Have you pinged the Substack staff about this? Is there any place online where you/we can post suggestions like this, or point them to excellent suggestion posts like this?
Several staff members have liked this post. So, they are aware of it. I think the best way to get visibility to these types of issues might be simply writing a post or posting about it in Notes.
@John Ward, thank you for the well thought out feedback on the topic of commenting. I’m in agreement with you that this process is not as smooth as it should be yet. Also, I’m still not sure if you’ll see this reply, because when I entered your name, there was no confirmation that I was selecting the correct person. I feel like I’ve seen such a thing elsewhere on Substack, but not here. So do names only pop up when you @ mention someone in an original post?
Hey David, tagging (typing in a name and choosing the right one) isn’t available in newsletters yet. However, the author of that post will receive an email when someone comments unless they’ve disabled the notification for that feature.
Well, I am new to SubStack...and like everyone else here, trying to get my things read. I make the 3 to 4 time daily rounds on all of social media...including Twitter.
But...I am pretty sure because of my topic, (Faith, Christian beliefs) I get block on most platforms like Facebook, Instagram & Twitter.)
Then along comes Notes. So I began reading, commenting, liking other peoples stuff. And also posting my own podcasts, blogs and threads.
But then I noticed everyone else getting replies, likes, and a following...except for me. Your reply caught me off guard...I was beginning to feel invisible.
Your post gave me hope...thank you.
Your reply gave me even more hope...again...thank you.
Matthew, I’m going to tag you into a post that I made a while back on Notes. The post was made by a guy who writes fiction and is Catholic. He was very much in the same boat as what you’re currently describing. When you get the notification, go look at that post, but do more than just read it. Comment and reply to the people who have commented on it. There are actually quite a few Catholics on Substack and probably 10 or so commented on that post. Either subscribe to their newsletters or follow their profiles on notes. Doing either one of those will cause you to start seeing the notes that they post. When that happens, look at the people who are replying to those notes and repeat the same steps I outlined above about following them. If you do this enough you’ll find like-minded individuals who will read your posts and comment on the things you’re sharing. It really does work.
There are reasons you feel alone right now and none of it has to do with the quality of the work you’re sharing. I’ll go into more detail tomorrow, but right now i’m getting ready to go to sleep.
Before I go though, I also want to share this with you. It’s a post that I made on Notes weeks ago. It contains the things I’ve learned about using Notes. There are some non-obvious tips that can really improve how much you enjoy the platform. I hope you find the tips helpful and if you ever have questions or need something, please feel free to ask me directly. I’ll be happy to help or try to connect you with someone who can. Here’s the link to the tips:
This is a genuinely brilliant analysis of The Site So Far, and completely proves your point, because I had ZERO idea that the Dune conversation was so detailed and went that far off of my original Note. 😂
to call this a career milestone is an understatement; i’ll probably print this out lmfao!!! Also: all the substantive points here are excellent and correct; I was just chatting with Nick about this the other day. Thanks for caring enough to make the dilemmas crisp, and for the great ideas and the incredible comic; hopefully we can sort this out for y’all soon!!!
and as predicted: Abby loved it lol. First drawing of Kizzy i think?!
I'll send you the original horizontal version. I cut it up because I was worried that it wouldn't be legible if presented in a single image.
Totally agree on these points!
I missed all the comments on the Dune thing too and I know i even participated in it at one point. Can you link to the Note? Because that would be helpful, especially since you tell people about it and I want to go look at it!
Ahhh!!! I had the original post up and was setup to paste the link into the post, but then I got caught up being snarky and asking people to tag me because otherwise I wouldn't see their comment and I forgot to share the link. I've updated the post to include the link now, but I'll share it here directly too: https://substack.com/profile/80396624-se-reid/note/c-15998827
Feel like you missed an opportunity to draw Scoot and get all that publicity and exposure because of how famous I am.
I modeled that Tabletops and Trolls guys after you. I'm joking.
Not gonna lie before I realized that was an actual user I thought that's what you had done 🤣🤣🤣
Is there really a Substack called that? I made up the title on the fly. I should have checked.
Oh, it's not?! I know Doomberg was a person and you slightly modified him, but Mills is real (i think) so it lent credibility to your other caricatures.
I was gonna say I couldn't find the conversation with the people you were referencing. Since I mentioned the plight of the farmer maybe you're right and I am the troll dude!
Tagging seems to be a good workaround. Although I tried that once, but the linking didn't work. Does anyone know if that only works on desktop? I tried it in the app.
Yes. Only on the desktop. It hasn't been rolled out to the app yet.
Well that solves my user issue!
Yes, rolled up comments can be clunky, but there's a real estate issue on the Notes pages, and all comments do appear in a full list if you open the Note itself, on it's own.
The blank screen comment box is a problem, even if only because you can't toggle back to be reminded of what you were reacting or responding to, that's what I sometimes find annoying.
If people comment directly to your Note, you'll see that under your bell icon, which is also a workaround for navigating back to the original Note. However, interactions under the Note between other commenters will only be notified under the bell to those people. Functionally, I don't think there's any elegant way around this, because it would effectively need the equivalent of a group chat for every Note, without having a clue who's going to be in the group.
That's why I recommended the creation of an optional notification for people who do want to know about every new comment regardless of whether that comment was directed to them or not. It should be optional though because it would annoy some people.
Excellent observations re: Substack Notes! Have you pinged the Substack staff about this? Is there any place online where you/we can post suggestions like this, or point them to excellent suggestion posts like this?
Several staff members have liked this post. So, they are aware of it. I think the best way to get visibility to these types of issues might be simply writing a post or posting about it in Notes.
Hahah. Nice satire on Notes. It's not very user-friendly!
@John Ward, thank you for the well thought out feedback on the topic of commenting. I’m in agreement with you that this process is not as smooth as it should be yet. Also, I’m still not sure if you’ll see this reply, because when I entered your name, there was no confirmation that I was selecting the correct person. I feel like I’ve seen such a thing elsewhere on Substack, but not here. So do names only pop up when you @ mention someone in an original post?
Hey David, tagging (typing in a name and choosing the right one) isn’t available in newsletters yet. However, the author of that post will receive an email when someone comments unless they’ve disabled the notification for that feature.
At present, tagging is only in Notes.
That’s good to know. I’m a big fan of consistency, so hopefully they’ll decide on a process and implement it throughout the site.
Tagging is brand new. I’m sure they’ll roll it out to other products eventually.
Not sure if this is seen...but the article was VERY helpful. Thank you!!
Hi Matthew! I'm glad you enjoyed the article. Do you mind if I ask how it was helpful to you?
Well, I am new to SubStack...and like everyone else here, trying to get my things read. I make the 3 to 4 time daily rounds on all of social media...including Twitter.
But...I am pretty sure because of my topic, (Faith, Christian beliefs) I get block on most platforms like Facebook, Instagram & Twitter.)
Then along comes Notes. So I began reading, commenting, liking other peoples stuff. And also posting my own podcasts, blogs and threads.
But then I noticed everyone else getting replies, likes, and a following...except for me. Your reply caught me off guard...I was beginning to feel invisible.
Your post gave me hope...thank you.
Your reply gave me even more hope...again...thank you.
Hope this helped.
Take care, God Bless...make it a great day!!
Matthew Adams
Matthew, I’m going to tag you into a post that I made a while back on Notes. The post was made by a guy who writes fiction and is Catholic. He was very much in the same boat as what you’re currently describing. When you get the notification, go look at that post, but do more than just read it. Comment and reply to the people who have commented on it. There are actually quite a few Catholics on Substack and probably 10 or so commented on that post. Either subscribe to their newsletters or follow their profiles on notes. Doing either one of those will cause you to start seeing the notes that they post. When that happens, look at the people who are replying to those notes and repeat the same steps I outlined above about following them. If you do this enough you’ll find like-minded individuals who will read your posts and comment on the things you’re sharing. It really does work.
There are reasons you feel alone right now and none of it has to do with the quality of the work you’re sharing. I’ll go into more detail tomorrow, but right now i’m getting ready to go to sleep.
Before I go though, I also want to share this with you. It’s a post that I made on Notes weeks ago. It contains the things I’ve learned about using Notes. There are some non-obvious tips that can really improve how much you enjoy the platform. I hope you find the tips helpful and if you ever have questions or need something, please feel free to ask me directly. I’ll be happy to help or try to connect you with someone who can. Here’s the link to the tips:
https://substack.com/profile/3648250-john-ward/note/c-14851012?utm_source=notes-share-action
Thank you...I 100% appreciate you.