Kudo's to you for staying in the fight. Not being flippant, its good for your soul - which is what it all comes down to. There is a reason we have the expression "soul destroying."
Truth is in the minority and those who seek it even less than a minority. Recent effort to offer alternative views have been met with "please do not tag me" ... knowing this person through writing zooms a pollyanna stance is firmly entrenched.
Jotted this thought down the other day:
Powerless spineless gutless subservient group or person placing all trust in authority, requires an active belief in their own inability and non-right to be self sovereign. And requires absolute belief in an outside body/ person possessing the right to rule them and to speak and to THINK fo them.
Notice to govt. and institutions: YOU WILL NOT THINK FOR ME. STOP BEHAVING AS THOUGH YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO THINK FOR ME.
As you stated Bill,
"As I’ve written more than one time, it’s not just one specific scandal the Powers That Be want to block … it’s all the other unexposed scandals as well."
'In fact, I’ve come to believe that throttling the influence of dissident writers is the key to the operation for the Censorship Cadre."
... every word is truth. Congratulations! and thank you!
"Why is self-control, autonomy, such a threat to authority? Because the person who controls himself, who is his own master, has no need for an authority to be his master. This, then, renders authority unemployed."
I think what is not realized by these postmodernist smarty pants so wrong just like the physicist addicted to string theory pathetic is that on a local level good info is priceless so screw the "man" I reckon and let the postmodernist delusion die a grisly death of despair inevitable - cause it is in the cards and evident and we KNOW.
You can count on me - I got pissed off the other day after on a whim choosing to resubscribe and then reading something I might of misinterpreted - but I consider you a rock of good reporting and I'm willing to pay the price of subscription.
With that said, I think the Business Model of Substack is in need of adjustment and I think if one thinks they are going to make end meet publishing here that is a stretch at least for those trying to do true journalism - tis a sign of the times - but I will remain a founding member and that I think speaks to opportunity Bill - just saying - I mean what would Bear Bryant say - you win some you lose some but you got a team well coached you will win more than you lose.
~
Its fixing to be a crazy next few weeks so please keep reporting - your message is needed. That is what I think - and I put my money where my mouth is.
Ken, thank you so much. You are definitely right about the coming "crazy" few weeks. I think the election results will tell us everything about how corrupt America may have become.
It could be that the number of writers on substack have grown exponentially and that there is a limit to how many writers you can follow. I have seen the same process happening with my numbers with only around 400 subscribers. I know personally, I have reduced the number of writers I follow. There is a lot of redundancy transpiring.
That trend is no doubt real, Thomas. Still, the pool of people discovering Substack should be expanding and it seems like more-established writers would benefit from this. Whatever the reason for the change in Substack metrics, it's become increasingly clear to me that Substack might not have the influence some of us had hoped it would.
I also deleted a paragraph about the liberal Substack authors who, somehow, rapidly get thousands of paid subscribers. I've noted that many of the articles posted by these alleged Substack all-stars generate far fewer comments and likes than my articles do ... further activating my Spider Sense that something doesn't make sense here.
Faux subscribers are what AI loves - but AI is pathetic in the minds of those nefarious.
Edit: know what I'm getting at Bandit? Tis evident.
~
In the minds of others - AI is a tool to be used!
The best way to use AI is to solve problems need a solution....but to use AI as a tool of social manipulation is a fools-game and the evidence is in - and those pushing censorship are doing it cause they know we know - and they are in a trap of their own making - hand me the metaphorical knife and let me slit their throats as they try to deny our 1st Amendment rights of free expression - hand me the knife and I'll do the deed metaphorically - and in real time if need be, cause some of us have fortitude and we defend liberty to the death.
Intelligence One confirmed that Race Bannon joined Dr Quest to "like" your posts. Jonny & Hadji are impressed, but since they're 11years old for over 50years there's a Time Warp or Fold affecting the timing of their enthusiasm.
Here's an example of Substack metrics from one of the platform's newest all-star content producers. As I noted in a recent article, Bob Dunning is a liberal columnist who was employed for decades at a small community newspaper in California. After he was laid off, he started a Substack newsletter. According to profile story on Mr. Dunning produced and published by Substack, Mr. Dunning had already reached "thousands" (plural) of paid subscribers in his first three months.
If Dunning has thousands of "paid" subscribers, he must have at least 10,000 or more total subscribers. Anyway, he has at least 1,700 more paid subscribers than I do and, presumably, many more total (free) subscribers. (And I started my Substack two years ago).
I'm a free subscriber to Mr. Dunning's Substack, so I can see how many "likes," Reader Comments and cross-posts his articles generate. As his most-recent story illustrates, my Reader Comments, "likes" and cross-posts are almost always much larger than his metrics for these categories.
This comparison doesn't make sense to me, which is one of many reasons my "Spider Sense" tells me something odd's going on at Substack.
Here's a link to Mr. Dunning's latest column. You can compare the metrics from this story and my latest story, which was also published yesterday.
I do not know how someone could 'subscribe' or 'read' over 750 Substacks. When I click on someone's handle and it says this, I just go HUH? How can one keep up with that amount?
Imagine if your full time job was monitoring stacks. Maybe they pay on a production scale based on the volume of reports you produce? Makes a little more sense now doesn't it?
there are at least 6-8 maybe ten substacks besides your substack that I read and like. I barely have time to read them all. The amount of information to me, at least, is staggering. I don't have or watch TV or read MSM newspapers or magazines and haven't for twenty years. Every day I have to ruthlessly delete e mails sometimes with regret because the topic was at least a little bit interesting. We are in a fifth generation war and your thoughts about being censored or otherwise silenced are very likely true. I would add that you and all the other voices outside the overton window and the reptilian narrative are extremely valuable.
With all due respect to the hard work that you put in on your Substack, perhaps your falling numbers reflect the perspective that the early spread hypothesis (which I agree has substantial evidence to support it), in and of itself, is not really a game changer. There is a wealth of other data that also convincingly indicates the absence of a pandemic, even by the currently watered down definition. I would propose that the populace, as anticipated, is increasingly consumed by the ratcheting up election tension and the myriad other nonsensical distractions provided ad nauseum by the mainstream and so-called alternative media. Hold true to yourself and continue to write from your heart and you will find fulfillment.
I've noted that the "there was no new virus" theory is seemingly gaining currency. That theory might be true although, for now, my evidence tells me there was a novel new virus spreading months before the official virus-spread start date.
Of course, I don't just write about early spread. Rigged elections and the media's protection of liberal/Establishment politicians are favorite topics of mine as well. I think any Substack writer needs to write about a variety of subjects and we'll never run out of bogus narratives we can debunk.
Thanks for the kind words and encouragement. Despite the reversal in my growth trends, I appreciate the platform Substack has given me and I think I'm doing the work God wants me to do.
Pasteur has big money backing him and then a bad idea gets hold from the Queen - well that has a way of swaying minds into delusion - the reality is "germ theory" is already proven wrong Bill.
I phrased my comment poorly, in that I did not mean there was no new virus moving through the population. Instead, I was trying to emphasize that there was not widespread symptomatic illness and accompanying high mortality directly related to the pathogen in question to justify classifying it as a pandemic. Given the lack of biological impact, whether there was a novel infectious agent or not is, to me a least, moot.
I honestly don't think it's the subject(s) we write about... because we both know there's a HUGE appetite for "conspiracies" (AHEM). I think it's a simple matter of the substack market getting saturated. When I first discovered it (as a reader), I subscribed to two or three stacks and read them RELIGIOUSLY. Then I started my own, and met and subscribed to folks like you, and then subscribed to some of my readers' stacks, and all of a sudden I get 100+ stacks a day and just simply--sadly--don't have time to read them all. Dammit, there's a lot of good stuff out here!!! It's a blessing and a curse TBH. ;)
This is my general inclination also, and I too unsubscribed to a number of Substacks because I just couldn't keep up. That said, the censorship does work its ways (I commented on that a moment ago).
The Powers that Be must really hate your Substack and the focus of your work. Every transcript you publish is telling readers truths that "they" don't want the public to know or think about.
I don't know, I think they consider me, if they do, whoever "they" is, pretty small potatoes in the broader scheme of things. I am not being modest, by the way.
I appreciate so much, Bill, that you appreciate what I'm doing. And I know from emails and restacks that I have some readers who do also. But honestly, I'd be doing this even without the kind words-- and I'd be doing this without the Internet to post to (I mean, if I didn't have Substack and dreamwidth), such is my determination to help bring something of these voices to the future. I'll be concluding the bulk of the 2021-2023 archive this year, and adding to it still in 2025. All on paper, with backups, and safely stored. Meanwhile, certainly I am glad if some of these transcripts give those who stand for medical freedom some solace, encouragement, and/or inspiration.
Thanks, Jenna. There's no doubt the Substack market has become big-time over-saturated.
I promptly lost three more paid subscribers after this article was published. However, two people became new paid subscribers (thank you). Three steps back ... two steps up.
(I also have several very generous and consistent Ko-Fi supporters).
I have to say that Jenna and the other commenters above that are all talking about being overwhelmed with their inboxes is EXACTLY as I have personally been feeling for some months as well, and it may in fact be part of the problem.
I have myself been struggling to keep up with my inbox, and found it an impossible task, and only last week started making a short list of the absolute essential media that I want to follow - which curiously includes the CONTROLLED OPPOSITION agents that have been identified as they SIGNAL the moves of the global cabal, but that list is mainly made up of TRUTH-TELLERS that are really providing the best insights I can find on various topics, that are RELEVANT NOW.
I have also worked out that I am done with the majority of the A-Z topics about the COVID-genocides, not because I am not interested but because it has all been DONE TO DEATH - there are little NEW INSIGHTS, and little that we are not aware of.
The G20 leaders and traitors are waging war on us with the death-shots, they are continuing, and will continue, but there is more IMPORTANT ISSUES - because this is WORLD WAR 3 and right now the LUNATICS are trying to CREATE CONSENSUS for a world war where the west SUPPORTS ISRAEL and "FIGHTS ISLAMISM" - like this revolting article on UnHerd this week seeks to do. (link below).
We are on the VERGE of WW3 - and the global cabal of G20 traitors who are all on the same team are dividing the world into the BRICS versus the West.
That is the CLEAR AND PRESENT and most pressing DANGER - along with a host of others relating to the dystopian digital prison planet system they are continuing to build out right in front of us, and their GREAT RESET by CRASHING the world ECONOMY, and destroying the US DOLLAR.
The War on Humanity proceeds FULL STEAM AHEAD in multiple ways.
Look at Hurricane Helene, and Hurricane Milton - with little doubt created by the HAARP weapons - the USA has been using weather weapons since the Vietnam War (Operation Popeye)......and we can assume the hurricane that helped Lahaina burn, along with hurricane Katrina, Ike and others were all US Federal Govt attacks on American citizens. Remember the Romanian senator a couple of years ago that shouted in parliament about the use of HAARP to create the earthquakes that devastated (I think it was) Turkey? Etc.
The GREATEST FOCUS for all of us right now is - HOW DO WE SURVIVE THIS WAR, how then DO WE STRIVE, and how then do we get back to a state where we CAN THRIVE AGAIN.
Thanks, Ivan. You make great points. WWIII is what we should all be trying to stop ... as that might kill hundreds of millions of us. We've got to purge these evil "leaders" before they succeed in killing 20 percent of the world population. And they are definitely trying to enslave us ... via the digital currencies, etc.
My thought is that if someone could expose one shocking scandal, then enough people might realize the same leaders have been lying to them for years and decades ... which would produce the Great Purge that must occur.
Those who were going to wake up about the COVID-terrorism, are awake. Wide awake. Anyone that is not aware of it today is sadly never likely to wake up, and they are never going to help us. Period. I walk around the city every day looking at the brain dead morons who are still wearing masks, some double masked, in 40 degrees celcius heat, glued to their phones, ear phones in their ears, and oblivious to everything. I have a deep seated desire to smack them in the heads. To snap them awake. But I know it's a waste of time. You can't engage the useful idiots period. Engage the lions, and help them find their courage, their strength, and their roar. And the lions need to be aware of everything that is happening - because I tell you there is so much going on that none of us are on top of it. The Great Purge would be good but it's a long way off.
Bill, Tessa Lena has the same kind of problem. at her substack, when she writes about philosophy or spirituality she loses subs. i get the sense that people come to a substack for specific content and when the author deviates from their brand, that sometimes drives readers away.
i can't really address the subscription model but i can speak to the issue of clicks. in the previous decade i used to put up a year-end list at a website that was pretty popular at the time. people just love those year-end lists, they would invariably be one of the most-viewed pages in any given year,
one year i got the brilliant idea to do the year-end list as a work in progress starting on january 1. it got millions of hits, trouble is, it didn't generate many clickthroughs to other pages and it never went viral. why? i think because the title appeared to indicate that the list would be very mainstream when it was just the opposite. this led me to concentrate on creating content that generated what i called "quality hits," which would build interest in other parts of the website and would encourage return visits.
i don't think the subs you've lost are "quality subs." those people weren't here for the quality of your writing, or the fact that you inspire us the way you just keep plugging away and never lose hope. that's why i'm here.
Thank you for sharing this. The notion of "quality subs" is fascinating and germane. Everyone wants more readers - and as much revenue as possible - but if you've developed and can keep a core of very smart readers who can influence others - that's important too.
With some of these stories, you'd need just one person - the right person - to read and react to your thesis. The right person could make "early spread" an important issue. "Concealed early spread" has never been on the list of Covid scandals - although I've tried to get the subject on that list.
i think the reason why concealed early spread has faded from view is because most of us on the dissident side have moved away from the virus model in the wake of the denis rancourt study that came out early last year. when pretty much all of us assumed that there actually was such a thing as the covid virus, early spread was a crucial element in the counter-narrative. i still think that early whatever-it-was is no less important now than it was when you started working on it, and for what it's worth you still seem to have a franchise on that particular part of the puzzle
I think I do have a monopoly on this area of inquiry. The work of Professor Rancourt is impressive. I think he proves that democide explains almost all of the "Covid deaths" (not a new "deadly" spreading virus).
However, I don't know why more people think a coronavirus HAS to be or would be "deadly." There's dozens of such viruses and they've never killed large numbers of people before Covid ... so why would they now (even if this virus was manipulated in a lab)?
That is, you can have a virus that's not "deadly" ... but makes a whole lot of people sick. This, pretty much, explains every virus including flu viruses, which only kill the very old and people with multiple co-morbid conditions.
no doubt. we know from jessica hockett's research that the nasty cold that was going around nyc in late feb/early march 2020 had its usual impact on the usual victims and nothing more.
might have been more than one of those nasty colds.
i think time will validate your work as a crucial part of the early history of this fiasco
Thank you. My real goal is to get just one "important" public figure, agency or MSM news organization to also (sincerely) investigate this possibility. I've given all this info/data to numerous reporters and editors at big news organizations (including the WSJ). Crickets.
I would appreciate a little help on this project ... but, apparently, I'm not going to get it.
all those msm outlets are either funded by bill gates, part-owned by blackrock or both. jessica hockett, denis rancourt, laura kasner, everybody else on the ground doing the heavy lifting isn't getting any attention either. this one's up to us
Your comment about Tessa Lena resonated. I liked her at first, just saw her on Mercola before I even found SubStack. Maybe it was just getting sick of the "touchy-feely" stuff, but I lost interest because of it. I'm older than her and lived through enough I really am not inclined to listen to her in those areas. My wife is far wiser than Tessa, it makes more sense to talk to her. If I want to read philosophy (which I actually love), I'll read one of the many really brilliant philosophers, who don't just say we need love and that will fix everything.
Maybe so, but I've seen that theme so much I got tired of it. I'm for love and kindness, our side already has an abundance of that. Trouble is, our enemies are psychopaths and near-psychopaths. Niceness plays into their hands. The only way to prevail over that type evil is to crush it.
Being nice to my TDS sister only leads to a blow up because she cannot tolerate any length of time not bloviating about it. CNN withdrawal has bad outcomes for our being together. The badgering begins then. I’m only nice in texts now but even they are fuses to blow ups. I stay away. When trump wins, I. CANT. EVEN. IMAGINE.
Exactly. Psychopaths don't stop themselves. They must be physically stopped. I like the idea of strangulation of minions with bare hand until lifeless.
When you said 'year end lists' was this like a list of things that had happened throughout the year??? What content did it include please? It's a great idea too.
I don't think you're being paranoid, especially after reading the head of SubStack is not at all the kind of guy I thought he would be.
That said, I think there are other, less nefarious factors working against you that account for possibly all of it.
As a guy with a particular inclination toward probability and statistics, my immediate thought was - your subscriptions surely don't arrive on a smooth continuum, but in surges based on what you publish, who cross-posts, what's in the news, etc. And many are bound to be annual subscriptions, as our is. If you have a surge in subscriptions in any period, like the two weeks in question, exactly one year ago, you're bound to have bad metrics when those come due a year later. You can't grow subscribers from existing subscribers, you can only lose. I'd look at your numbers in that two-week period a year ago and if you had a very nice bounce in paid annual subscriptions, a dip a year later would be expected.
On a sadder, and more subjective note, I remember you wrote an article once wondering if Substack would continue to be a viable platform to make any money as COVID subsided as an issue. I replied that it's bound to be much more difficult. Two things, a bit of fatigue re COVID, but mostly, there just isn't enough new happening. I still read a LOT about the COVID response, but it's pretty rare to get excited about anything because it's always the same old. Nothing earth-shaking on clots, excess mortality, celebrities dropping, DNA contamination, etc. News, sure, but it's incremental stuff, not revelatory. Even a COVID junkie like me can't stay online as long. Other issues like Ukraine, immigration, inflation, etc. are important but don't resonant like the COVID insanity - it was unique.
Another possible and lesser factor - a good writer can come up with pretty great ideas for articles for a while. But it wouldn't take long to run out of new topics and "brilliant" insights to share. Your articles haven't taken a nosedive by any means, but it's gotta be hard to keep up the same level of power in your writing.
You make a good point on annual subs perhaps not being renewed. I'd only note that I've been doing this for 25 months and I've never had a dip this extreme.
I actually think great and important stories about Covid are being published every week here on Substack. These articles just don't resonate ... because they are on Substack, which apparently doesn't count. I think it's already been proven that journalism first published on Substack can't "change narratives." Alas, only "mainstream" journalism has this power.
For example, the embalmer clots ARE being proven definitively by many people .... but this simply doesn't matter.
As far as running out of story ideas, that's one thing I don't worry about. I've got 15 great stories I still haven't written and I get new story ideas every day from reading other Stacks and posts at Brownstone.
FWIW, I do think there's a better platform which could make independent journalists far more money than we are making on Substack ... and this would save readers money and hassle ... Stay tuned! Pray for me that I might help lead the effort to introduce this work-around or Substack alternative.
For the first 12 months you wouldn't have had any annuals come due, so you were safe then. And I'm sure you didn't get tons of payers right out of the gate. So the period in question is something less than 13 months, really not starting until one year after you started racking up annual subscribers in good numbers. Maybe you never had a dip this extreme because you never had such a surge of annuals come in as you did exactly a year prior.
I agree there are great and important stories being published. But they are so much like what I've read a million times, it doesn't have the same impact. I've read some stuff recently that's good on the embalmer's clots front. But incremental, a few more coming on board.. Maybe I've missed the best stuff, but as you say, if it hit the mainstream now THAT would get my attention. We know how that goes though. I already believe the embalmers, so proving it more is only interesting to me if it were to break through. Or get much worse. As widespread as they seem I would expect a lot more casualties from them. I'd like an explanation for how people are walking around, and playing sports with these in their veins, if anyone has an idea.
Substack does feel like it is almost a personal musings place... and people have limited time.. today I am just tired.. so I am on Substack.. I think because of the POTUS ELECTIONS.. ALL FORMS of communication (s) phones. email, mailboxes.. anything that will hold a message including "busses".. and signs is ON MAXIMUM OVERLOAD.. think I will post that again..
A "my two cents" comment: I'd like to see more journalistic posts about events in southern Alabama. For example: What effects did Helene have on your area?
IMHO:... I read some of the other folks and I can only speak for me.. I am on FULLY MAXIMUM OVERLOAD ON EVERYTHING. I really mean that. I saw Techno (whom I subscribe to posted, and I made a mental note) and I will read it. but the PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION 24/7 has EVERY POSSIBLE FORM OF COMMUNICATION on overload, my cell phone has 300 messages on it, my email box has 16K.. in my personal email and my other one; my house phone, and USPS. That is what is going on.. Denial of Service. I can't remember.. something like that in the old days when the INTERNET was so full that BASICALLY IT MELTED DOWN.. and that is sort of what is happening. Don't take it personally.. I just have to SELECTIVELY ANSWER MY PHONE.. family emergencies or just time to quality talk.. and check on my plants, neighbors.. and the only reason I am on here today is that I am totally EXHAUSTED. even my eyes are blurry. I will go to bed tonight. The hurricanes are extremely overwhelming ... in our response to them... so BAD WEATHER and people suffering is always hard on other people (those who still have a compassion and I do).. and then the WARS going on.. sigh.. take care BILL.. maybe go on vacation.. or do what MAKES YOU FEEL HUMAN... and keep up the good work :) Isabell (IMHO). !!! and like we used to say BE GOOD TO YOURSELF.. :)
I got a new debit card that caused my subscription payment to decline. I updated my SubStack payment method this morning and I’m back in the fold. Don’t ever count me as lost because I’m your Ride or Die Subscriber.
You should ask your retention department to drill down on those that have fallen away and find out if they were also declined during the auto renew process. But you never know, they may have gotten caught up in an excess mortality event.
Bill, I have had a HUGE increase in free subscribers and followers the past few months and my articles are getting thousands of reads and shares. To someone who is not on social media and not involved with the 'Aussie circular freedom PR machine' this is a miracle.
However, my paid subs are dropping, people are not donating to KoFi, and personal financial stress means that I can no longer write as much as I would like any more. I can only assume that readers are in a similar financial position.
I knew that I could never make a living doing this. Sometimes an article will take me 200 hours to research and write (usually about 50-100), and my Anzac article about the Ottoman Empire took over three months, equivalent to what an historian working at the Australian War Memorial would put in. If I were to charge for that article, it would be worth 75-100k easy in professional consulting fees.
Basically, we just have to wear the fact that what we are doing is a calling and few will pay for it. We just put it out into the universe and see what happens. All my articles will always be free - I will never paywall the information.
tld;dr - there is no 'plot' against you, it's just the way the cookie crumbles.
The cold hard reality Bill is I doubt you gonna make enough to pay the bills with you Substack earnings.
It ain't got anything to do with the quality and merit of your content - I consider it top notch.
It has to do with postmodernist ambitions and the state of media in general....so could be other source of income need to be identified, but call me a crazy betting man - I suspect your efforts here have been worthwhile in that regard.
I continue to wonder whether the unique (I use that word carefully--as in, there is nothing to compare) upper respiratory infection which I experienced in April '19, and following which I was left with tinnitus, actually was an attack of this "virus". as. The ENT specialist three months later had no helpful words for this condition. I have now had sound in my ears (crickets and katydids) 24/7/365 since. I was at that time teaching in a school just about a mile from a Merck vax facility. Didn't notice kids or other teachers dropping like flies--which might support a terrain idea. So I'm offering my history in support of your early spread hypothesis.
Kudo's to you for staying in the fight. Not being flippant, its good for your soul - which is what it all comes down to. There is a reason we have the expression "soul destroying."
Truth is in the minority and those who seek it even less than a minority. Recent effort to offer alternative views have been met with "please do not tag me" ... knowing this person through writing zooms a pollyanna stance is firmly entrenched.
Jotted this thought down the other day:
Powerless spineless gutless subservient group or person placing all trust in authority, requires an active belief in their own inability and non-right to be self sovereign. And requires absolute belief in an outside body/ person possessing the right to rule them and to speak and to THINK fo them.
Notice to govt. and institutions: YOU WILL NOT THINK FOR ME. STOP BEHAVING AS THOUGH YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO THINK FOR ME.
As you stated Bill,
"As I’ve written more than one time, it’s not just one specific scandal the Powers That Be want to block … it’s all the other unexposed scandals as well."
'In fact, I’ve come to believe that throttling the influence of dissident writers is the key to the operation for the Censorship Cadre."
... every word is truth. Congratulations! and thank you!
Dennis, I love those thoughts you jotted down. Thanks for sharing them with my readers!
on the theme of thoughts and self governance:
"Why is self-control, autonomy, such a threat to authority? Because the person who controls himself, who is his own master, has no need for an authority to be his master. This, then, renders authority unemployed."
—Thomas Szasz
You're welcome!
I think what is not realized by these postmodernist smarty pants so wrong just like the physicist addicted to string theory pathetic is that on a local level good info is priceless so screw the "man" I reckon and let the postmodernist delusion die a grisly death of despair inevitable - cause it is in the cards and evident and we KNOW.
Thanks for all your very generous support, BK.
You can count on me - I got pissed off the other day after on a whim choosing to resubscribe and then reading something I might of misinterpreted - but I consider you a rock of good reporting and I'm willing to pay the price of subscription.
With that said, I think the Business Model of Substack is in need of adjustment and I think if one thinks they are going to make end meet publishing here that is a stretch at least for those trying to do true journalism - tis a sign of the times - but I will remain a founding member and that I think speaks to opportunity Bill - just saying - I mean what would Bear Bryant say - you win some you lose some but you got a team well coached you will win more than you lose.
~
Its fixing to be a crazy next few weeks so please keep reporting - your message is needed. That is what I think - and I put my money where my mouth is.
Ken
Ken, thank you so much. You are definitely right about the coming "crazy" few weeks. I think the election results will tell us everything about how corrupt America may have become.
Diggin' the pollyanna stance line, gonna recycle it. 👍
It could be that the number of writers on substack have grown exponentially and that there is a limit to how many writers you can follow. I have seen the same process happening with my numbers with only around 400 subscribers. I know personally, I have reduced the number of writers I follow. There is a lot of redundancy transpiring.
That trend is no doubt real, Thomas. Still, the pool of people discovering Substack should be expanding and it seems like more-established writers would benefit from this. Whatever the reason for the change in Substack metrics, it's become increasingly clear to me that Substack might not have the influence some of us had hoped it would.
I also deleted a paragraph about the liberal Substack authors who, somehow, rapidly get thousands of paid subscribers. I've noted that many of the articles posted by these alleged Substack all-stars generate far fewer comments and likes than my articles do ... further activating my Spider Sense that something doesn't make sense here.
Faux paid subscribers? 🤔 It would make them appear way more popular than they really are.
Faux subscribers are what AI loves - but AI is pathetic in the minds of those nefarious.
Edit: know what I'm getting at Bandit? Tis evident.
~
In the minds of others - AI is a tool to be used!
The best way to use AI is to solve problems need a solution....but to use AI as a tool of social manipulation is a fools-game and the evidence is in - and those pushing censorship are doing it cause they know we know - and they are in a trap of their own making - hand me the metaphorical knife and let me slit their throats as they try to deny our 1st Amendment rights of free expression - hand me the knife and I'll do the deed metaphorically - and in real time if need be, cause some of us have fortitude and we defend liberty to the death.
Nice insight. Thanks for sharing.
Yes Bandit!
Intelligence One confirmed that Race Bannon joined Dr Quest to "like" your posts. Jonny & Hadji are impressed, but since they're 11years old for over 50years there's a Time Warp or Fold affecting the timing of their enthusiasm.
😁
Thank-you Red, for this comment! This is the funniest reply I have ever gotten and you made me truly LOL. One of my favorite cartoons EVER!!
You made my day! 🤗🥰🤗
Go with your gut instinct. The thought center of the GI tract has more cells than either of the other two thought centers, the heart and brain.
I too limited the number of writers I follow, simply because I work too much as of late.
Here's an example of Substack metrics from one of the platform's newest all-star content producers. As I noted in a recent article, Bob Dunning is a liberal columnist who was employed for decades at a small community newspaper in California. After he was laid off, he started a Substack newsletter. According to profile story on Mr. Dunning produced and published by Substack, Mr. Dunning had already reached "thousands" (plural) of paid subscribers in his first three months.
If Dunning has thousands of "paid" subscribers, he must have at least 10,000 or more total subscribers. Anyway, he has at least 1,700 more paid subscribers than I do and, presumably, many more total (free) subscribers. (And I started my Substack two years ago).
I'm a free subscriber to Mr. Dunning's Substack, so I can see how many "likes," Reader Comments and cross-posts his articles generate. As his most-recent story illustrates, my Reader Comments, "likes" and cross-posts are almost always much larger than his metrics for these categories.
This comparison doesn't make sense to me, which is one of many reasons my "Spider Sense" tells me something odd's going on at Substack.
Here's a link to Mr. Dunning's latest column. You can compare the metrics from this story and my latest story, which was also published yesterday.
https://www.thewaryone.com/p/minimum-wage-increase-on-california
Dunning files reports on UC Davis football. That he has any subscribers is a head-scratcher.
I do not know how someone could 'subscribe' or 'read' over 750 Substacks. When I click on someone's handle and it says this, I just go HUH? How can one keep up with that amount?
Imagine if your full time job was monitoring stacks. Maybe they pay on a production scale based on the volume of reports you produce? Makes a little more sense now doesn't it?
Ugh.. Yes. Unfortunately. Thanks.
there are at least 6-8 maybe ten substacks besides your substack that I read and like. I barely have time to read them all. The amount of information to me, at least, is staggering. I don't have or watch TV or read MSM newspapers or magazines and haven't for twenty years. Every day I have to ruthlessly delete e mails sometimes with regret because the topic was at least a little bit interesting. We are in a fifth generation war and your thoughts about being censored or otherwise silenced are very likely true. I would add that you and all the other voices outside the overton window and the reptilian narrative are extremely valuable.
With all due respect to the hard work that you put in on your Substack, perhaps your falling numbers reflect the perspective that the early spread hypothesis (which I agree has substantial evidence to support it), in and of itself, is not really a game changer. There is a wealth of other data that also convincingly indicates the absence of a pandemic, even by the currently watered down definition. I would propose that the populace, as anticipated, is increasingly consumed by the ratcheting up election tension and the myriad other nonsensical distractions provided ad nauseum by the mainstream and so-called alternative media. Hold true to yourself and continue to write from your heart and you will find fulfillment.
I've noted that the "there was no new virus" theory is seemingly gaining currency. That theory might be true although, for now, my evidence tells me there was a novel new virus spreading months before the official virus-spread start date.
Of course, I don't just write about early spread. Rigged elections and the media's protection of liberal/Establishment politicians are favorite topics of mine as well. I think any Substack writer needs to write about a variety of subjects and we'll never run out of bogus narratives we can debunk.
Thanks for the kind words and encouragement. Despite the reversal in my growth trends, I appreciate the platform Substack has given me and I think I'm doing the work God wants me to do.
Check out this link from Sasha speaking about "germ theory" and realize I say this as a member of camp Béchamp.
https://sashalatypova.substack.com/p/anaphylaxis-alpha-gal-pasteur-richet
Pasteur has big money backing him and then a bad idea gets hold from the Queen - well that has a way of swaying minds into delusion - the reality is "germ theory" is already proven wrong Bill.
https://www.wired.com/story/the-19th-century-crank-who-tried-to-tell-us-about-the-microbiome/
ps - the "bs" in the link I provided ought be evident now.
I phrased my comment poorly, in that I did not mean there was no new virus moving through the population. Instead, I was trying to emphasize that there was not widespread symptomatic illness and accompanying high mortality directly related to the pathogen in question to justify classifying it as a pandemic. Given the lack of biological impact, whether there was a novel infectious agent or not is, to me a least, moot.
I agree.
I honestly don't think it's the subject(s) we write about... because we both know there's a HUGE appetite for "conspiracies" (AHEM). I think it's a simple matter of the substack market getting saturated. When I first discovered it (as a reader), I subscribed to two or three stacks and read them RELIGIOUSLY. Then I started my own, and met and subscribed to folks like you, and then subscribed to some of my readers' stacks, and all of a sudden I get 100+ stacks a day and just simply--sadly--don't have time to read them all. Dammit, there's a lot of good stuff out here!!! It's a blessing and a curse TBH. ;)
This is my general inclination also, and I too unsubscribed to a number of Substacks because I just couldn't keep up. That said, the censorship does work its ways (I commented on that a moment ago).
The Powers that Be must really hate your Substack and the focus of your work. Every transcript you publish is telling readers truths that "they" don't want the public to know or think about.
I don't know, I think they consider me, if they do, whoever "they" is, pretty small potatoes in the broader scheme of things. I am not being modest, by the way.
I appreciate so much, Bill, that you appreciate what I'm doing. And I know from emails and restacks that I have some readers who do also. But honestly, I'd be doing this even without the kind words-- and I'd be doing this without the Internet to post to (I mean, if I didn't have Substack and dreamwidth), such is my determination to help bring something of these voices to the future. I'll be concluding the bulk of the 2021-2023 archive this year, and adding to it still in 2025. All on paper, with backups, and safely stored. Meanwhile, certainly I am glad if some of these transcripts give those who stand for medical freedom some solace, encouragement, and/or inspiration.
Thanks, Jenna. There's no doubt the Substack market has become big-time over-saturated.
I promptly lost three more paid subscribers after this article was published. However, two people became new paid subscribers (thank you). Three steps back ... two steps up.
(I also have several very generous and consistent Ko-Fi supporters).
Bill,
I have to say that Jenna and the other commenters above that are all talking about being overwhelmed with their inboxes is EXACTLY as I have personally been feeling for some months as well, and it may in fact be part of the problem.
I have myself been struggling to keep up with my inbox, and found it an impossible task, and only last week started making a short list of the absolute essential media that I want to follow - which curiously includes the CONTROLLED OPPOSITION agents that have been identified as they SIGNAL the moves of the global cabal, but that list is mainly made up of TRUTH-TELLERS that are really providing the best insights I can find on various topics, that are RELEVANT NOW.
I have also worked out that I am done with the majority of the A-Z topics about the COVID-genocides, not because I am not interested but because it has all been DONE TO DEATH - there are little NEW INSIGHTS, and little that we are not aware of.
The G20 leaders and traitors are waging war on us with the death-shots, they are continuing, and will continue, but there is more IMPORTANT ISSUES - because this is WORLD WAR 3 and right now the LUNATICS are trying to CREATE CONSENSUS for a world war where the west SUPPORTS ISRAEL and "FIGHTS ISLAMISM" - like this revolting article on UnHerd this week seeks to do. (link below).
We are on the VERGE of WW3 - and the global cabal of G20 traitors who are all on the same team are dividing the world into the BRICS versus the West.
That is the CLEAR AND PRESENT and most pressing DANGER - along with a host of others relating to the dystopian digital prison planet system they are continuing to build out right in front of us, and their GREAT RESET by CRASHING the world ECONOMY, and destroying the US DOLLAR.
The War on Humanity proceeds FULL STEAM AHEAD in multiple ways.
Look at Hurricane Helene, and Hurricane Milton - with little doubt created by the HAARP weapons - the USA has been using weather weapons since the Vietnam War (Operation Popeye)......and we can assume the hurricane that helped Lahaina burn, along with hurricane Katrina, Ike and others were all US Federal Govt attacks on American citizens. Remember the Romanian senator a couple of years ago that shouted in parliament about the use of HAARP to create the earthquakes that devastated (I think it was) Turkey? Etc.
The GREATEST FOCUS for all of us right now is - HOW DO WE SURVIVE THIS WAR, how then DO WE STRIVE, and how then do we get back to a state where we CAN THRIVE AGAIN.
Ivan
https://unherd.com/2024/10/why-israel-deserves-our-support/
Thanks, Ivan. You make great points. WWIII is what we should all be trying to stop ... as that might kill hundreds of millions of us. We've got to purge these evil "leaders" before they succeed in killing 20 percent of the world population. And they are definitely trying to enslave us ... via the digital currencies, etc.
My thought is that if someone could expose one shocking scandal, then enough people might realize the same leaders have been lying to them for years and decades ... which would produce the Great Purge that must occur.
Hi Bill,
Those who were going to wake up about the COVID-terrorism, are awake. Wide awake. Anyone that is not aware of it today is sadly never likely to wake up, and they are never going to help us. Period. I walk around the city every day looking at the brain dead morons who are still wearing masks, some double masked, in 40 degrees celcius heat, glued to their phones, ear phones in their ears, and oblivious to everything. I have a deep seated desire to smack them in the heads. To snap them awake. But I know it's a waste of time. You can't engage the useful idiots period. Engage the lions, and help them find their courage, their strength, and their roar. And the lions need to be aware of everything that is happening - because I tell you there is so much going on that none of us are on top of it. The Great Purge would be good but it's a long way off.
Bill, Tessa Lena has the same kind of problem. at her substack, when she writes about philosophy or spirituality she loses subs. i get the sense that people come to a substack for specific content and when the author deviates from their brand, that sometimes drives readers away.
i can't really address the subscription model but i can speak to the issue of clicks. in the previous decade i used to put up a year-end list at a website that was pretty popular at the time. people just love those year-end lists, they would invariably be one of the most-viewed pages in any given year,
one year i got the brilliant idea to do the year-end list as a work in progress starting on january 1. it got millions of hits, trouble is, it didn't generate many clickthroughs to other pages and it never went viral. why? i think because the title appeared to indicate that the list would be very mainstream when it was just the opposite. this led me to concentrate on creating content that generated what i called "quality hits," which would build interest in other parts of the website and would encourage return visits.
i don't think the subs you've lost are "quality subs." those people weren't here for the quality of your writing, or the fact that you inspire us the way you just keep plugging away and never lose hope. that's why i'm here.
btw douglas emhoff apparently has considerable investments in north carolina lithium mining. how convenient that a "hurricane" should pass through and destroy so much residential property https://thesilverindustry.substack.com/p/the-alarming-connections-north-carolinas
Thank you for sharing this. The notion of "quality subs" is fascinating and germane. Everyone wants more readers - and as much revenue as possible - but if you've developed and can keep a core of very smart readers who can influence others - that's important too.
With some of these stories, you'd need just one person - the right person - to read and react to your thesis. The right person could make "early spread" an important issue. "Concealed early spread" has never been on the list of Covid scandals - although I've tried to get the subject on that list.
i think the reason why concealed early spread has faded from view is because most of us on the dissident side have moved away from the virus model in the wake of the denis rancourt study that came out early last year. when pretty much all of us assumed that there actually was such a thing as the covid virus, early spread was a crucial element in the counter-narrative. i still think that early whatever-it-was is no less important now than it was when you started working on it, and for what it's worth you still seem to have a franchise on that particular part of the puzzle
I think I do have a monopoly on this area of inquiry. The work of Professor Rancourt is impressive. I think he proves that democide explains almost all of the "Covid deaths" (not a new "deadly" spreading virus).
However, I don't know why more people think a coronavirus HAS to be or would be "deadly." There's dozens of such viruses and they've never killed large numbers of people before Covid ... so why would they now (even if this virus was manipulated in a lab)?
That is, you can have a virus that's not "deadly" ... but makes a whole lot of people sick. This, pretty much, explains every virus including flu viruses, which only kill the very old and people with multiple co-morbid conditions.
no doubt. we know from jessica hockett's research that the nasty cold that was going around nyc in late feb/early march 2020 had its usual impact on the usual victims and nothing more.
might have been more than one of those nasty colds.
i think time will validate your work as a crucial part of the early history of this fiasco
Thank you. My real goal is to get just one "important" public figure, agency or MSM news organization to also (sincerely) investigate this possibility. I've given all this info/data to numerous reporters and editors at big news organizations (including the WSJ). Crickets.
I would appreciate a little help on this project ... but, apparently, I'm not going to get it.
all those msm outlets are either funded by bill gates, part-owned by blackrock or both. jessica hockett, denis rancourt, laura kasner, everybody else on the ground doing the heavy lifting isn't getting any attention either. this one's up to us
Your comment about Tessa Lena resonated. I liked her at first, just saw her on Mercola before I even found SubStack. Maybe it was just getting sick of the "touchy-feely" stuff, but I lost interest because of it. I'm older than her and lived through enough I really am not inclined to listen to her in those areas. My wife is far wiser than Tessa, it makes more sense to talk to her. If I want to read philosophy (which I actually love), I'll read one of the many really brilliant philosophers, who don't just say we need love and that will fix everything.
tessa's deeper than that
Maybe so, but I've seen that theme so much I got tired of it. I'm for love and kindness, our side already has an abundance of that. Trouble is, our enemies are psychopaths and near-psychopaths. Niceness plays into their hands. The only way to prevail over that type evil is to crush it.
Being nice to my TDS sister only leads to a blow up because she cannot tolerate any length of time not bloviating about it. CNN withdrawal has bad outcomes for our being together. The badgering begins then. I’m only nice in texts now but even they are fuses to blow ups. I stay away. When trump wins, I. CANT. EVEN. IMAGINE.
Exactly. Psychopaths don't stop themselves. They must be physically stopped. I like the idea of strangulation of minions with bare hand until lifeless.
🙌
Emhoff invested in NC lithium?! Shocking. Just totally shocking. 🙄😴
I'm just so sick of these scummy "people." (Really reptilians.😉)
My readership levels have been slow in climbing but for the readers I still got hanging on - I suspect they are lifetime free readers!
ha, ha.
Its been awhile since I've checked the data, but my reader total is presently:
94 subscribers - and to think - they get it for free...
Ken
I am going to subscribe to yours. I’m a gardener and ambitious.
Thank-you!
BK
When you said 'year end lists' was this like a list of things that had happened throughout the year??? What content did it include please? It's a great idea too.
Bill, You're a badass. Please keep taboo-ing.
Ha! You created a new verb. I love it.
I don't think you're being paranoid, especially after reading the head of SubStack is not at all the kind of guy I thought he would be.
That said, I think there are other, less nefarious factors working against you that account for possibly all of it.
As a guy with a particular inclination toward probability and statistics, my immediate thought was - your subscriptions surely don't arrive on a smooth continuum, but in surges based on what you publish, who cross-posts, what's in the news, etc. And many are bound to be annual subscriptions, as our is. If you have a surge in subscriptions in any period, like the two weeks in question, exactly one year ago, you're bound to have bad metrics when those come due a year later. You can't grow subscribers from existing subscribers, you can only lose. I'd look at your numbers in that two-week period a year ago and if you had a very nice bounce in paid annual subscriptions, a dip a year later would be expected.
On a sadder, and more subjective note, I remember you wrote an article once wondering if Substack would continue to be a viable platform to make any money as COVID subsided as an issue. I replied that it's bound to be much more difficult. Two things, a bit of fatigue re COVID, but mostly, there just isn't enough new happening. I still read a LOT about the COVID response, but it's pretty rare to get excited about anything because it's always the same old. Nothing earth-shaking on clots, excess mortality, celebrities dropping, DNA contamination, etc. News, sure, but it's incremental stuff, not revelatory. Even a COVID junkie like me can't stay online as long. Other issues like Ukraine, immigration, inflation, etc. are important but don't resonant like the COVID insanity - it was unique.
Another possible and lesser factor - a good writer can come up with pretty great ideas for articles for a while. But it wouldn't take long to run out of new topics and "brilliant" insights to share. Your articles haven't taken a nosedive by any means, but it's gotta be hard to keep up the same level of power in your writing.
You make a good point on annual subs perhaps not being renewed. I'd only note that I've been doing this for 25 months and I've never had a dip this extreme.
I actually think great and important stories about Covid are being published every week here on Substack. These articles just don't resonate ... because they are on Substack, which apparently doesn't count. I think it's already been proven that journalism first published on Substack can't "change narratives." Alas, only "mainstream" journalism has this power.
For example, the embalmer clots ARE being proven definitively by many people .... but this simply doesn't matter.
As far as running out of story ideas, that's one thing I don't worry about. I've got 15 great stories I still haven't written and I get new story ideas every day from reading other Stacks and posts at Brownstone.
FWIW, I do think there's a better platform which could make independent journalists far more money than we are making on Substack ... and this would save readers money and hassle ... Stay tuned! Pray for me that I might help lead the effort to introduce this work-around or Substack alternative.
For the first 12 months you wouldn't have had any annuals come due, so you were safe then. And I'm sure you didn't get tons of payers right out of the gate. So the period in question is something less than 13 months, really not starting until one year after you started racking up annual subscribers in good numbers. Maybe you never had a dip this extreme because you never had such a surge of annuals come in as you did exactly a year prior.
I agree there are great and important stories being published. But they are so much like what I've read a million times, it doesn't have the same impact. I've read some stuff recently that's good on the embalmer's clots front. But incremental, a few more coming on board.. Maybe I've missed the best stuff, but as you say, if it hit the mainstream now THAT would get my attention. We know how that goes though. I already believe the embalmers, so proving it more is only interesting to me if it were to break through. Or get much worse. As widespread as they seem I would expect a lot more casualties from them. I'd like an explanation for how people are walking around, and playing sports with these in their veins, if anyone has an idea.
Even paranoids have real enemies. Good luck with Substack.
Substack does feel like it is almost a personal musings place... and people have limited time.. today I am just tired.. so I am on Substack.. I think because of the POTUS ELECTIONS.. ALL FORMS of communication (s) phones. email, mailboxes.. anything that will hold a message including "busses".. and signs is ON MAXIMUM OVERLOAD.. think I will post that again..
A lot of the writing here feels like trivial.
Many of the articles have missing words.
A "my two cents" comment: I'd like to see more journalistic posts about events in southern Alabama. For example: What effects did Helene have on your area?
IMHO:... I read some of the other folks and I can only speak for me.. I am on FULLY MAXIMUM OVERLOAD ON EVERYTHING. I really mean that. I saw Techno (whom I subscribe to posted, and I made a mental note) and I will read it. but the PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION 24/7 has EVERY POSSIBLE FORM OF COMMUNICATION on overload, my cell phone has 300 messages on it, my email box has 16K.. in my personal email and my other one; my house phone, and USPS. That is what is going on.. Denial of Service. I can't remember.. something like that in the old days when the INTERNET was so full that BASICALLY IT MELTED DOWN.. and that is sort of what is happening. Don't take it personally.. I just have to SELECTIVELY ANSWER MY PHONE.. family emergencies or just time to quality talk.. and check on my plants, neighbors.. and the only reason I am on here today is that I am totally EXHAUSTED. even my eyes are blurry. I will go to bed tonight. The hurricanes are extremely overwhelming ... in our response to them... so BAD WEATHER and people suffering is always hard on other people (those who still have a compassion and I do).. and then the WARS going on.. sigh.. take care BILL.. maybe go on vacation.. or do what MAKES YOU FEEL HUMAN... and keep up the good work :) Isabell (IMHO). !!! and like we used to say BE GOOD TO YOURSELF.. :)
Hold the phone.
I got a new debit card that caused my subscription payment to decline. I updated my SubStack payment method this morning and I’m back in the fold. Don’t ever count me as lost because I’m your Ride or Die Subscriber.
You should ask your retention department to drill down on those that have fallen away and find out if they were also declined during the auto renew process. But you never know, they may have gotten caught up in an excess mortality event.
Bill, I have had a HUGE increase in free subscribers and followers the past few months and my articles are getting thousands of reads and shares. To someone who is not on social media and not involved with the 'Aussie circular freedom PR machine' this is a miracle.
However, my paid subs are dropping, people are not donating to KoFi, and personal financial stress means that I can no longer write as much as I would like any more. I can only assume that readers are in a similar financial position.
I knew that I could never make a living doing this. Sometimes an article will take me 200 hours to research and write (usually about 50-100), and my Anzac article about the Ottoman Empire took over three months, equivalent to what an historian working at the Australian War Memorial would put in. If I were to charge for that article, it would be worth 75-100k easy in professional consulting fees.
Basically, we just have to wear the fact that what we are doing is a calling and few will pay for it. We just put it out into the universe and see what happens. All my articles will always be free - I will never paywall the information.
tld;dr - there is no 'plot' against you, it's just the way the cookie crumbles.
The cold hard reality Bill is I doubt you gonna make enough to pay the bills with you Substack earnings.
It ain't got anything to do with the quality and merit of your content - I consider it top notch.
It has to do with postmodernist ambitions and the state of media in general....so could be other source of income need to be identified, but call me a crazy betting man - I suspect your efforts here have been worthwhile in that regard.
Warmly,
BK
I continue to wonder whether the unique (I use that word carefully--as in, there is nothing to compare) upper respiratory infection which I experienced in April '19, and following which I was left with tinnitus, actually was an attack of this "virus". as. The ENT specialist three months later had no helpful words for this condition. I have now had sound in my ears (crickets and katydids) 24/7/365 since. I was at that time teaching in a school just about a mile from a Merck vax facility. Didn't notice kids or other teachers dropping like flies--which might support a terrain idea. So I'm offering my history in support of your early spread hypothesis.
I prefer the following:
“Just because you are paranoid, it doesn’t follow that they AREN’T out to get you!”