Having now had three paying subscribers recently unsubscribe, after having originally made pledges, and also having had no new paid subscriptions since I enabled payments on my account, I have decided to give up on the idea of accepting payments.
I am one of the freeloaders. I would love to support your writing monetarily, however, I am currently in no position to do so.
In my fantasy world, every talented, wise, driven person has the support to share their uniqueness without fear of suffering for their art. We do have the platform to share, but, we have not matured enough as a society to nurture each person to be the best they can be and find fulfillment from their contributions back to society.
I truly do appreciate your writings, and, if you allow, I will continue to read and learn. If I find a way to reciprocate, I will do so.
"I don’t think it’s fair on the few who have honoured me with a paid subscription to keep charging now"
i'm paying because I want to!!! obviously i respect your decision to stop it but it's not what I wanted. If I want to continue supporting you do you have a bitcoin / lightning address etc?
or, while I'm on, I invite you to consider nostr. it's an uncensorable social media protocol, which allows direct monetization of content using bitcoin - so nobody can ever be deplatformed or demonetized. its early days yet, and currently mostly used by bitcoiners, but i think one day we'll all end up there - its the social medium of last resort, plus the open nature of it means anyone can create any crazy thing they want and its all part of the same network. check it out at https://primal.net/explore or many other sites / apps.
Thanks, P, I very much appreciate that. I'm utterly clueless when it comes to bitcoin, and online finance generally really. I must admit though, I'm rather wary of digital currencies. I will think about how to provide a facility for those who would like to donate monetarily though, having seen the comments on this thread.
IMO all roads lead to bitcoin and related "freedom tech" - and its we the dissidents who will need these tools first.
If you ever want any information about this kind of technology from someone you have at least a tiny connection to already, I'd always be ready to help. The fact this is all unregulated by design (and necessity) means that it is a scammer's paradise. I'd strongly recommend everyone to slowly familiarise themselves with these things, but don't blindly trust anyone - including me!
Thanks again for everything you do, I hope you find a way to get the value from it you deserve.
I recently “bought a coffee” for substack anti-establishment campaigner and fellow Glaswegian Dr Ahmad Malik (Doc Malik). Subscriptions like $6/m can fairly add up, especially if you are already giving long-standing support to non-substackers such as Net Zero Watch, Paul Homewood, TCW and Daily Sceptic.
Substack did a crappy thing when it stopped allowing people to gift themselves a year's subscription. This was a nice way to give a writer a lump when you felt you could afford it, without the worry that you would automatically pay again in twelve months time when you don't know how flush you'll be by then. The only option now is the yearly subscription which automatically renews. Once you rack up half a dozen of these rolling over, it can get quite expensive.
Yes, automatic rolling subscriptions which you have to cancel are annoying. It should be up to the subscriber to decide if they want to renew or not. Opt in should be the default, not opt out.
Add kofi to your payment methods. As a pensioner I cannot commit to an annual subscription, but an occasional single payment is something I am happy to make.
A wise man once told me "Hey, fifty bucks is fifty bucks...." :)
As long as you make it clear what the paid subscribers might get extra (if anything) then what's the harm? Take the money my friend. There are people who would like to support you to whom money is not a limited resource. Just be honest and keep telling your truth.
I won't be charging for mine either, but I'm not healthy enough to write consistently anyway. I may set it up where people can buy me a coffee or whatever, but at this point I will focus what little energy I have on writing and on networking and on raising awareness of pharmaceutical harm across a variety of platforms. Who knows, this may prove to be financially lucrative for many at some point, or it could be the rope they handed us to hang ourselves? I will keep doing what I can to share the truth as I see it as long as I can. Thanks for your writings, keep up the good work!
Thank you! As a person who can’t afford much these days…well, I enjoy your stack very much and I believe it’s just a matter of time before your paid subscriptions start to build up🤗
I am one of the freeloaders. I would love to support your writing monetarily, however, I am currently in no position to do so.
In my fantasy world, every talented, wise, driven person has the support to share their uniqueness without fear of suffering for their art. We do have the platform to share, but, we have not matured enough as a society to nurture each person to be the best they can be and find fulfillment from their contributions back to society.
I truly do appreciate your writings, and, if you allow, I will continue to read and learn. If I find a way to reciprocate, I will do so.
Thanks
"I don’t think it’s fair on the few who have honoured me with a paid subscription to keep charging now"
i'm paying because I want to!!! obviously i respect your decision to stop it but it's not what I wanted. If I want to continue supporting you do you have a bitcoin / lightning address etc?
or, while I'm on, I invite you to consider nostr. it's an uncensorable social media protocol, which allows direct monetization of content using bitcoin - so nobody can ever be deplatformed or demonetized. its early days yet, and currently mostly used by bitcoiners, but i think one day we'll all end up there - its the social medium of last resort, plus the open nature of it means anyone can create any crazy thing they want and its all part of the same network. check it out at https://primal.net/explore or many other sites / apps.
Thanks, P, I very much appreciate that. I'm utterly clueless when it comes to bitcoin, and online finance generally really. I must admit though, I'm rather wary of digital currencies. I will think about how to provide a facility for those who would like to donate monetarily though, having seen the comments on this thread.
IMO all roads lead to bitcoin and related "freedom tech" - and its we the dissidents who will need these tools first.
If you ever want any information about this kind of technology from someone you have at least a tiny connection to already, I'd always be ready to help. The fact this is all unregulated by design (and necessity) means that it is a scammer's paradise. I'd strongly recommend everyone to slowly familiarise themselves with these things, but don't blindly trust anyone - including me!
Thanks again for everything you do, I hope you find a way to get the value from it you deserve.
I recently “bought a coffee” for substack anti-establishment campaigner and fellow Glaswegian Dr Ahmad Malik (Doc Malik). Subscriptions like $6/m can fairly add up, especially if you are already giving long-standing support to non-substackers such as Net Zero Watch, Paul Homewood, TCW and Daily Sceptic.
My paid subscribers incentivize me to produce content for this platform, and waste less time elsewhere.
An annual subscription is easy to cancel. A monthly subscription can be paused and restarted as funds dictate.
A few people have mentioned "kofi". No idea what this is but I'll look into it. Thanks for all your kind comments.
Substack did a crappy thing when it stopped allowing people to gift themselves a year's subscription. This was a nice way to give a writer a lump when you felt you could afford it, without the worry that you would automatically pay again in twelve months time when you don't know how flush you'll be by then. The only option now is the yearly subscription which automatically renews. Once you rack up half a dozen of these rolling over, it can get quite expensive.
Yes, automatic rolling subscriptions which you have to cancel are annoying. It should be up to the subscriber to decide if they want to renew or not. Opt in should be the default, not opt out.
Add kofi to your payment methods. As a pensioner I cannot commit to an annual subscription, but an occasional single payment is something I am happy to make.
A wise man once told me "Hey, fifty bucks is fifty bucks...." :)
As long as you make it clear what the paid subscribers might get extra (if anything) then what's the harm? Take the money my friend. There are people who would like to support you to whom money is not a limited resource. Just be honest and keep telling your truth.
I won't be charging for mine either, but I'm not healthy enough to write consistently anyway. I may set it up where people can buy me a coffee or whatever, but at this point I will focus what little energy I have on writing and on networking and on raising awareness of pharmaceutical harm across a variety of platforms. Who knows, this may prove to be financially lucrative for many at some point, or it could be the rope they handed us to hang ourselves? I will keep doing what I can to share the truth as I see it as long as I can. Thanks for your writings, keep up the good work!
Can't we buy you a Kofi at least?
I’m sorry. I can’t afford to pay anyone Lol
Sorry to hear that, Jaime!
But as a pensioner with innumerable - er - exacerbations, I will continue to follow your writings with considerable pleasure!
Thank you! As a person who can’t afford much these days…well, I enjoy your stack very much and I believe it’s just a matter of time before your paid subscriptions start to build up🤗