Thus asks The Point—another magazine that I think you should subscribe to—based on a recent exchange between Becca Rothfeld, herself a writer for the Point, and Sam Kahn, who is as far as I can see a prolific Substacker. You can find the initial flurry, on Substack, via by following the link above from The Point. The subsequent exchange between Becca and Sam, hosted by The Point, comes in three chapters. So, we have a debate on the merits of Substack as a platform, which began on the platform itself, and is since hosted by the magazine employing one of the belligerents itself. Very meta!
In preview, Rothfeld is arguing the counter position to Substack, while Kahn is arguing the position in favour of the platform. It is a good discussion, and one that gets to the core of what Substack does well, what it doesn’t do well. It’s interesting, however, that the exchange neglects to mention one of the most glaring deficiencies of the platform, namely the economics of the consumers, the readers, a topic I discuss here.
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