The little ways companies try to get you to waste their product — so you buy more — always gets to me.

This laundry detergent’s cap has four measuring lines, so you’d assume #4 is for maximum loads, right? No — #2 is for large loads. There’s no mention of ever needing to fill it to #4. 😵‍💫

Indie creators ditching one VC-funded company for another thinking it'll be different this time. It won't. The incentives remain the same

LiveJournal was a trap
Medium was a trap
Patreon is a trap
Substack is a trap
Etsy became a trap
Beehiiv...

The difference this time is there are real indie alternatives

Ghost
WordPress
Transistor.fm
Fediverse
Outpost.pub (self plug)
Buttondown
Liberapay
OpenCollective
And more

The hacienda must be built

#SubstackMigration #Substack

Today the Company will depart. Bilbo gives Frodo his sword Sting and—secretly—his magnificent Dwarvish mail-coat of pure mithril. The old hobbit sings softly.

‘I sit beside the fire and think
of how the world will be
when winter comes without a spring
that I shall ever see…’