Perhaps the content of this substack is too politically incorrect such that over the last several days subscribers have been unable to pay for this substack’s content. Is Substack going the way of PayPal now? I will be following up with both Substack and Stripe this coming week.
Oct 16, 2022Liked by 2nd Smartest Guy in the World
😵 This has been my greatest concern about Substack relying on a single payment processor. Fingers crossed it's an innocent technical glitch. Please keep us posted.
Oct 17, 2022Liked by 2nd Smartest Guy in the World
1) I have noticed a slight lag or dip on views. Since I get VERY LITTLE traffic from Google-Facebook-Twitter (1-2%+), I suspect its to GMAIL and people are just going to my Substack direct on their own over the following days...
2) I recently got some $5 a month subscribers but I have no indication IF they renewed or cancelled. Maybe this is a new thing for activists to do - subscribe for $5 and then complain to Stripe-CC processors to cause chargebacks????
3) Another website I know said their traffic is down by 25% over the past month - basically, all new traffic from Google BUT regulars visitors who know about the site are still going to them direct.... And people have told them that Twitter-FB is now cancelling or restricting accounts over posts from years ago... Obviously this is due to the coming elections and they are cracking down hard....
I had new subscribers signing up daily (email alerts) yet my Substack subscriber graph was totally flat over this time -- this is impossible. So I suspected something fishy was going on....
My recipients per post stat on the post dashboard and total subscriber stats have a discrepancy - it's not a small discrepancy based on Substackers talking about 1-2+ paid subscribers per 100 subscribers (albeit that figure might have alot of variance depending on the topic). Both figures are still growing though - it's just the total subscriber figure is bigger...
If the total # of people on your mailing list differs from the # of recipients, it's likely due to there being invalid email addresses on your list. Some people make errors when entering their address, unfortunately (e.g., I noticed a misspelling in protonmail in one of my earliest subscribers and alerted him so he could correct it, but I'm sure there are numerous others I've missed). Other times, trolls enter bogus email addresses with foul language or vile insults (I have at least two like that) just to rile you.
I do wish Substack had a cleanup feature like MailChimp so invalid addresses were automatically removed or at least flagged.
Ahhh I had not thought of looking closely at email addresses to check... I do know with some email providers, if you delete emails from certain addresses w/o reading them etc, the software will take it upon itself to route future emails to spam or promotions - nothing nefarious there...
Don Surber has been having trouble with google owned blogspot censoring his posts (he now has a Substack set up); plus Bill Mitchell has just posted on Gettr that in addition to banks cancelling him, Google Drive is now doing the same; plus Catturd posted yesterday on Gettr:
"Just so you know - in the past week …
- Bank of America shut my cohost Jewels and I podcast’s bank account down, was snotty and rude to Jewels.
- Twitter locked my account and removed 11,000 followers, then 15,000 more."
I had no idea about her. And I could very well be wrong about my situation, but like i commented several times now the trends have been very strange of late.
Oct 16, 2022Liked by 2nd Smartest Guy in the World
She had to use Kofi and wrote some Subs about it. I have no idea why they picked on her.
The problem with all this stuff is that it doesn't matter if it's Stripe or PayPal or anyone else doing the censoring, ultimately the banks that provide the merchant accounts and MasterCard in particular can shut it all down without warning.
I saw an email from Gab saying they just launched a new payment system. Did they do the impossible and build their own bank, financial system, Internet and planet to do so? 😂
Thank you my friend, hope all is well with you too. I'm currently working my ass off so I don't freeze/starve to death this winter. We scored some firewood so I think freezing is now off the table at least. Fun times ahead.
We are pretty good for potable water, milk, eggs, etc due to being in the countryside. This village is also armed to the teeth if the worse comes to the worst (the notion that people in France don't have firearms is hilarious). I pity people in cities at this point though.
I recently had my first cancellation from someone claiming to have "accidentally" paid, and Substack wrote an email stating that they would contest the dispute with Stripe. So perhaps that may have been the glitch, and perhaps Substack cleared it up?
Well, IF someone is tapping away on their phone - its possible... But that does not explain other numbers which I suspect is due to 3rd party email providers maybe running software detecting naughty words and then trashing or sending the email to spam....
Do you, Sage Hana etc want to bring this and your Substack #s etc to the attention of [lawyer...] Jeff Childers https://www.coffeeandcovid.com/??? Since he is a lawyer and also has paid Substack subscribers, maybe he could analyze his numbers and see if something weird is happening... I suspected its an email provider (as I think Alex Berenson has complained a long time ago that an email provider was trashing or moving to spam his emails) and people are just returning organically. Another non-Substack site I know is down 25% - all new traffic from Google is gone...
Oct 16, 2022·edited Oct 16, 2022Liked by 2nd Smartest Guy in the World
The sad likelihood is that The Parasite can be expected to use its money power to do this sooner or later. I often wonder if they've only "allow a thousand flowers to bloom" here on Substack as some kind of honey pot / intelligence gathering operation.
2nd Smartest Guy in the World want to bring this and your Substack #s etc to the attention of [lawyer...] Jeff Childers https://www.coffeeandcovid.com/??? Since he is a lawyer and also has paid Substack subscribers, maybe he could analyze his numbers and see if something weird is happening... I suspected its an email provider (as I think Alex Berenson has complained a long time ago that an email provider was trashing or moving to spam his emails) and people are just returning organically. Another non-Substack site I know is down 25% - all new traffic from Google is gone...
That is thoughtful of you, CS, but I don't want to impose on Jeff's time, and I believe the particular instances I'm aware of are all glitches due to other causes like the chargebacks mentioned in this thread.
I have been here - I've been liking your posts and comments, and have had a few massive rants from time to time on various Stacks (I unsubscribed from Berenson the other day and let him know why 😶).
I'm also still a subscriber to your Sub. 😎
We got fibre optic - after years of waiting (rural location, it sucked). But yes, this year has been challenging on the Internet front for sure. Probably good training for the future I suppose.
My pleasure, thanks for the great work. I didn't know you read 2ndSM, this is awesome. All we need is Riley and Sage on this thread and it's a full baboon subscription party!
The last straw for me with Berenson was the other day when he said "I'm not calling for Fauci to be charged with crimes against humanity". I'm sorry, WHAT? This guy funded a virus that killed millions of people. It's debatable if the research was 100% illegal in the US, but it was still in breach of multiple international treaties. He then gave it to China, which last time I looked would be classed as treason.
Then he made hospitals give patients (whether they actually had "Covid-19" or not) a dangerous and in many cases deadly drug that killed hundreds of thousands of people all over the West - at least. And pushed deadly injections that have probably killed or maimed more people than the disease.
Nazi doctors were executed for far less than what Fauci has done, and this isn't even his first rodeo for God's sake!
So according to Berenson logic, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein should be stripped of their Pulitzer, a full apology should be made to Nixon, posthumously, because when journalists investigate crimes, it might cause people to get angry about the scumbag criminals, which in some unbelievable butchering of logic, might be construed as a call to violence on the part of the journalist.
Holy guacamole ay carumba! Just when I think AB can’t get any more outrageous than shilling for Paxlovid while parroting MSM propaganda about ivermectin, he comes out with *that* preposterous statement? WITAF is right!!
Oct 16, 2022·edited Nov 9, 2022Liked by 2nd Smartest Guy in the World
6 to 8 months ago I dropped paypal. Why? The disallowed my donation to a site I found very helpful understanding the world. Previously I had no trouble donating via paypal. I dropped paypal. I no longer use them. In general I ask people like yourself to provide a mailing address so I can send a check.
I know that is a bit of trouble for you. But at least for a time my support will not be censored. However the day will come sadly.
Oct 16, 2022Liked by 2nd Smartest Guy in the World
Didn't Sage Hanna express her concerns about SS and Stripe a while ago? Fortunately you should all have our emails in case something goes sideways with SS....
Oct 16, 2022Liked by 2nd Smartest Guy in the World
I've been in the digital marketing industry for years, and one thing I've heard is that you should own as many of your assets as possible: your own domain, your own content, your own email list, etc.
The risk of writing on a third-party platform is that they can shut you down at any time.
That's been a concern of mine about Substack. Yes, I'm a Substack writer myself, but I'm cautious that if Substack gets sold to some Big Tech company, then that company might try to silence any writer it wants to.
Granted, I guess this specific issue has to do with a payment processor, but then again, that just proves the risk of relying on third parties.
Hopefully, we'll find a way to resolve this issue. We (us writers overall) may need to use a payment processor that's free of wokeness and censorship.
Oct 16, 2022Liked by 2nd Smartest Guy in the World
In his last video, James Corbett reported that hundreds of his supporters cancelled their PayPal accounts--and he applauded their efforts--but noted that they failed to resub with another form of payment. He told his viewers that he'd be unable to continue his work unless the viewers he lost returned . The monolithic PTB always end up screwing the proles.
Oct 16, 2022Liked by 2nd Smartest Guy in the World
This is becoming more and more like a communist country. Tell us where we can send donations. We must defund companies who york there woke ideaologies on their consumers it appears power and greed is alive and well, the antidote DEFUND any company that discriminated. How is this not ‘racist’ These people don’t really believe or know what it means to be inclusive equatable and diverse. They are all talk as long as you align with their narrative all is good dare to deviate and you are canceled. Time to fight fire with fire CANCEL them!
😵 This has been my greatest concern about Substack relying on a single payment processor. Fingers crossed it's an innocent technical glitch. Please keep us posted.
I think it may be accepting now, since I just received one, but the trends and metrics over last few days have been unusual to say the least.
Stripe can easily go PayPal on Substack.
Perhaps there is some kind of shadowbanning-type algo on Substack?
IDK.
1) I have noticed a slight lag or dip on views. Since I get VERY LITTLE traffic from Google-Facebook-Twitter (1-2%+), I suspect its to GMAIL and people are just going to my Substack direct on their own over the following days...
2) I recently got some $5 a month subscribers but I have no indication IF they renewed or cancelled. Maybe this is a new thing for activists to do - subscribe for $5 and then complain to Stripe-CC processors to cause chargebacks????
3) Another website I know said their traffic is down by 25% over the past month - basically, all new traffic from Google BUT regulars visitors who know about the site are still going to them direct.... And people have told them that Twitter-FB is now cancelling or restricting accounts over posts from years ago... Obviously this is due to the coming elections and they are cracking down hard....
I had new subscribers signing up daily (email alerts) yet my Substack subscriber graph was totally flat over this time -- this is impossible. So I suspected something fishy was going on....
My recipients per post stat on the post dashboard and total subscriber stats have a discrepancy - it's not a small discrepancy based on Substackers talking about 1-2+ paid subscribers per 100 subscribers (albeit that figure might have alot of variance depending on the topic). Both figures are still growing though - it's just the total subscriber figure is bigger...
If the total # of people on your mailing list differs from the # of recipients, it's likely due to there being invalid email addresses on your list. Some people make errors when entering their address, unfortunately (e.g., I noticed a misspelling in protonmail in one of my earliest subscribers and alerted him so he could correct it, but I'm sure there are numerous others I've missed). Other times, trolls enter bogus email addresses with foul language or vile insults (I have at least two like that) just to rile you.
I do wish Substack had a cleanup feature like MailChimp so invalid addresses were automatically removed or at least flagged.
Ahhh I had not thought of looking closely at email addresses to check... I do know with some email providers, if you delete emails from certain addresses w/o reading them etc, the software will take it upon itself to route future emails to spam or promotions - nothing nefarious there...
Don Surber has been having trouble with google owned blogspot censoring his posts (he now has a Substack set up); plus Bill Mitchell has just posted on Gettr that in addition to banks cancelling him, Google Drive is now doing the same; plus Catturd posted yesterday on Gettr:
"Just so you know - in the past week …
- Bank of America shut my cohost Jewels and I podcast’s bank account down, was snotty and rude to Jewels.
- Twitter locked my account and removed 11,000 followers, then 15,000 more."
This happened to Sage Hana some time, although I think she got it fixed in the end.
I had no idea about her. And I could very well be wrong about my situation, but like i commented several times now the trends have been very strange of late.
Hope you're doing well.
She had to use Kofi and wrote some Subs about it. I have no idea why they picked on her.
The problem with all this stuff is that it doesn't matter if it's Stripe or PayPal or anyone else doing the censoring, ultimately the banks that provide the merchant accounts and MasterCard in particular can shut it all down without warning.
I saw an email from Gab saying they just launched a new payment system. Did they do the impossible and build their own bank, financial system, Internet and planet to do so? 😂
https://help.gab.com/article/gab-pay-overview
Thank you my friend, hope all is well with you too. I'm currently working my ass off so I don't freeze/starve to death this winter. We scored some firewood so I think freezing is now off the table at least. Fun times ahead.
I’m relieved to hear you’re planning ahead. I am terribly concerned for all of our European friends and loved ones 😥
Thank you. Yes, I've been watching way too many prepper videos over the last few months. 😲
I have to say I think Brad at Full Spectrum Survival is amazing, he gives you the news and also survival tips. https://www.youtube.com/user/FullSpectrumSurvival/videos
We are pretty good for potable water, milk, eggs, etc due to being in the countryside. This village is also armed to the teeth if the worse comes to the worst (the notion that people in France don't have firearms is hilarious). I pity people in cities at this point though.
Sage believes hers was caused by a few people canceling their subs in a short timeframe, and Stripe deemed her account high risk as a result (https://sagehana.substack.com/p/the-stripe-payment-processor-mafia and https://sagehana.substack.com/p/i-can-be-nice). She was able to get it resolved, fortunately, so it didn't appear related to a censorship/silencing attempt.
This may explain it.
I recently had my first cancellation from someone claiming to have "accidentally" paid, and Substack wrote an email stating that they would contest the dispute with Stripe. So perhaps that may have been the glitch, and perhaps Substack cleared it up?
Ahh, I bet that's it!
Well, IF someone is tapping away on their phone - its possible... But that does not explain other numbers which I suspect is due to 3rd party email providers maybe running software detecting naughty words and then trashing or sending the email to spam....
Do you, Sage Hana etc want to bring this and your Substack #s etc to the attention of [lawyer...] Jeff Childers https://www.coffeeandcovid.com/??? Since he is a lawyer and also has paid Substack subscribers, maybe he could analyze his numbers and see if something weird is happening... I suspected its an email provider (as I think Alex Berenson has complained a long time ago that an email provider was trashing or moving to spam his emails) and people are just returning organically. Another non-Substack site I know is down 25% - all new traffic from Google is gone...
🤔🤞
I said as much in this comment thread:
• https://boriquagato.substack.com/p/the-binary-arms-race-between-citizen/comment/9612200
Shadow-banning - here it would mean not sending to subscribers. What do you think might have gone over an invisible line.
Stripe is waaaay overpriced anyway.
Tell that to Substack. It's our only option, which is what worries me.
The sad likelihood is that The Parasite can be expected to use its money power to do this sooner or later. I often wonder if they've only "allow a thousand flowers to bloom" here on Substack as some kind of honey pot / intelligence gathering operation.
I always considered social media as a kind of updated Hundred Flowers Campaign.
Do you and
2nd Smartest Guy in the World want to bring this and your Substack #s etc to the attention of [lawyer...] Jeff Childers https://www.coffeeandcovid.com/??? Since he is a lawyer and also has paid Substack subscribers, maybe he could analyze his numbers and see if something weird is happening... I suspected its an email provider (as I think Alex Berenson has complained a long time ago that an email provider was trashing or moving to spam his emails) and people are just returning organically. Another non-Substack site I know is down 25% - all new traffic from Google is gone...
That is thoughtful of you, CS, but I don't want to impose on Jeff's time, and I believe the particular instances I'm aware of are all glitches due to other causes like the chargebacks mentioned in this thread.
Perhaps there was a mental glitch in their matrix....
😆 You mean déjà vu?
It is déjà vu all over again!
😹🐈
Hi Margaret, how are you? Sorry for not saying hi for so long. Yes, I'm useless.
I hope everything is going well with you, I miss our chats. 😎
Stop monkeying about and get chatting.... :)
baboon!!! I’ve missed you! I worried you’d lost Internet access again and had been waiting months for it to be repaired 😂 Hugs and welcome back! 🤗
Thank you.
I have been here - I've been liking your posts and comments, and have had a few massive rants from time to time on various Stacks (I unsubscribed from Berenson the other day and let him know why 😶).
I'm also still a subscriber to your Sub. 😎
We got fibre optic - after years of waiting (rural location, it sucked). But yes, this year has been challenging on the Internet front for sure. Probably good training for the future I suppose.
Aww, thank you, baboon.
Good on you for giving Alex an earful. I’m still waiting for him to respond to my letter to him (https://margaretannaalice.substack.com/p/letter-to-alex-berenson-on-world) 😆
Here’s hoping fibre optic will be far more reliable for you!
My pleasure, thanks for the great work. I didn't know you read 2ndSM, this is awesome. All we need is Riley and Sage on this thread and it's a full baboon subscription party!
The last straw for me with Berenson was the other day when he said "I'm not calling for Fauci to be charged with crimes against humanity". I'm sorry, WHAT? This guy funded a virus that killed millions of people. It's debatable if the research was 100% illegal in the US, but it was still in breach of multiple international treaties. He then gave it to China, which last time I looked would be classed as treason.
Then he made hospitals give patients (whether they actually had "Covid-19" or not) a dangerous and in many cases deadly drug that killed hundreds of thousands of people all over the West - at least. And pushed deadly injections that have probably killed or maimed more people than the disease.
Nazi doctors were executed for far less than what Fauci has done, and this isn't even his first rodeo for God's sake!
So according to Berenson logic, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein should be stripped of their Pulitzer, a full apology should be made to Nixon, posthumously, because when journalists investigate crimes, it might cause people to get angry about the scumbag criminals, which in some unbelievable butchering of logic, might be construed as a call to violence on the part of the journalist.
What in the actual f***?
I must say you have fabulous taste in friends 😁
Holy guacamole ay carumba! Just when I think AB can’t get any more outrageous than shilling for Paxlovid while parroting MSM propaganda about ivermectin, he comes out with *that* preposterous statement? WITAF is right!!
Updated.
Fingers crossed
I have been thinking to subscribe since I love your work... and I just did without troubles. SO! Hoping that Substack remains FREE.
Thank you very much for confirming, and for the subscription.
I have been tracking very unusual subscriber trends over last several days that simply do not match the previous months whatsoever.
6 to 8 months ago I dropped paypal. Why? The disallowed my donation to a site I found very helpful understanding the world. Previously I had no trouble donating via paypal. I dropped paypal. I no longer use them. In general I ask people like yourself to provide a mailing address so I can send a check.
I know that is a bit of trouble for you. But at least for a time my support will not be censored. However the day will come sadly.
Stripe requires that you twirl around the pole a particular way and show some gratuitous flesh also.
-- Signed, The Management
Didn't Sage Hanna express her concerns about SS and Stripe a while ago? Fortunately you should all have our emails in case something goes sideways with SS....
I've been in the digital marketing industry for years, and one thing I've heard is that you should own as many of your assets as possible: your own domain, your own content, your own email list, etc.
The risk of writing on a third-party platform is that they can shut you down at any time.
That's been a concern of mine about Substack. Yes, I'm a Substack writer myself, but I'm cautious that if Substack gets sold to some Big Tech company, then that company might try to silence any writer it wants to.
Granted, I guess this specific issue has to do with a payment processor, but then again, that just proves the risk of relying on third parties.
Hopefully, we'll find a way to resolve this issue. We (us writers overall) may need to use a payment processor that's free of wokeness and censorship.
Odds of finding a non-woke payment processor are about as good as isolating SARS-CoV-2 virus.
I'm shocked! Shocked! I say!
In his last video, James Corbett reported that hundreds of his supporters cancelled their PayPal accounts--and he applauded their efforts--but noted that they failed to resub with another form of payment. He told his viewers that he'd be unable to continue his work unless the viewers he lost returned . The monolithic PTB always end up screwing the proles.
You would think that Corbett Report subscribers would be smarter. D'oh!
So free speech is being squelched everywhere. Maybe it’s a glitch? I prefer this Substack to all the others so this is particularly disturbing to me.
Could be a glitch. I am unsure, but will be reaching out to both parties next week just to confirm.
For me works. I have just subscribed, hope it is false alarm, but it is also a reminder and a warning.
Thank you, and it could be false alarm, but the trends over last few days are very different from past several months.
Not good....
I am trying to confirm the unusual trends over last few days -- they are very unusual.
Perhaps there is some kind of shadowbanning-type algos on substack.
Unsure.
I've gotten that "accidentally subscribed" bullshit three times. FWIW.
This is becoming more and more like a communist country. Tell us where we can send donations. We must defund companies who york there woke ideaologies on their consumers it appears power and greed is alive and well, the antidote DEFUND any company that discriminated. How is this not ‘racist’ These people don’t really believe or know what it means to be inclusive equatable and diverse. They are all talk as long as you align with their narrative all is good dare to deviate and you are canceled. Time to fight fire with fire CANCEL them!
Yeah. Even though this cancer substack is totally free I suspect it will eventually censored because it does offer a safe, effective, inexpensive and readily available OTC medicine that seems to eradicate cancer https://fenbendazole.substack.com/?r=oh1g6&utm_campaign=pub&utm_medium=web
Fenbendazole does work.
Well, where you go I go
What are your options if substack is going the way of PayPal? What happens to those of us that have subscribed if you leave substack?
I won't leave even if they shut down payments. I will only be kicked off.