Yes. Near as I can tell, the verification process is basically linking (privately or publicly) an already verified Instagram account to one's Substack. But even then, that would be an option theoretically available to hundreds of celebs already on the platform. Not clear why only a handful have been verified in this manner, many of them newer accounts to boot.
My main gripe is that the founders of Substack know what we don't like about the platform and want changed and don't care. There's no accountability, although they like to pretend they're like everyone else here.
The founders of Substack feel no need to explain themselves or provide clarity. It's like "we hear you, we see you and we don't care."
It's really frustrating. I feel like all they care about is making as much money as possible and aren't actually interested in anyone's experiences here (ie some countries can't use Stripe, people have had their accounts shut down with no explanatio, etc etc).
They don't want to optimize the platform for everyone, just try to coax as many famous people as possible.
Thank you for this. I feel so gaslit by Substack! I’ve been trying to get answers from them for the last two months as to why my growth fell off a cliff mid September 2025. My notes went from hundreds of new reader discovery to 0 to 10 at the most. Basically my notes are only visible to my current subscribers And maybe followers. So there’s no more new discovery. That’s where I was getting most of my growth along with a lesser percentage from recommendations. I continue to lose subscribers, which is considered “CHURN“ but in my case, the new subscribers, the Discovery growth would always make up by the loss of subscribers and meant that my Substack continued to grow in the meantime, I do consistently all the things that Substack suggests: Post consistently biweekly, do live streams, post notes daily, feature guest posts, engage, etc., etc. Essentially Substack response to me is to say that there is no problem and if there is, they have no explanation for it. In other words they don’t care how their changes may have effected my growth. Basically they have bigger fish to fry.
Yes. Near as I can tell, the verification process is basically linking (privately or publicly) an already verified Instagram account to one's Substack. But even then, that would be an option theoretically available to hundreds of celebs already on the platform. Not clear why only a handful have been verified in this manner, many of them newer accounts to boot.
@Scoot
@Jacob Sutton
@Strange Pilgrims
@Casandra Campbell
Oh interesting!!
oohh! I saw Dolly Parton had joined substack but didn't notice the grey check mark! interesting... fascinating expose!
This is a spicy article. Thank you for taking the time to unpack all this. Very interesting.
My main gripe is that the founders of Substack know what we don't like about the platform and want changed and don't care. There's no accountability, although they like to pretend they're like everyone else here.
The founders of Substack feel no need to explain themselves or provide clarity. It's like "we hear you, we see you and we don't care."
It's really frustrating. I feel like all they care about is making as much money as possible and aren't actually interested in anyone's experiences here (ie some countries can't use Stripe, people have had their accounts shut down with no explanatio, etc etc).
They don't want to optimize the platform for everyone, just try to coax as many famous people as possible.
Thank you for this. I feel so gaslit by Substack! I’ve been trying to get answers from them for the last two months as to why my growth fell off a cliff mid September 2025. My notes went from hundreds of new reader discovery to 0 to 10 at the most. Basically my notes are only visible to my current subscribers And maybe followers. So there’s no more new discovery. That’s where I was getting most of my growth along with a lesser percentage from recommendations. I continue to lose subscribers, which is considered “CHURN“ but in my case, the new subscribers, the Discovery growth would always make up by the loss of subscribers and meant that my Substack continued to grow in the meantime, I do consistently all the things that Substack suggests: Post consistently biweekly, do live streams, post notes daily, feature guest posts, engage, etc., etc. Essentially Substack response to me is to say that there is no problem and if there is, they have no explanation for it. In other words they don’t care how their changes may have effected my growth. Basically they have bigger fish to fry.