The Substack Bot feels my frustration
a little vent and a little link
You are probably aware that I post book reviews here. I like doing it, as it forces me to summarize what I read and consolidate what I think I have learned. And I enjoy sharing the result with people with similar interests and promote books that I think are worthwhile. The doubt that has been building up, however, is that while I am struggling to find the time to curate this blog without any payout to show for it, I am selling books for people I don’t know, while generating traffic for old Substack. The simplest way - I thought - to rebalance this equation (even in a merely symbolical manner) would be to conclude my reviews with an affiliate link. This would be a service of efficiency to the reader and award me my two cents for my effort in the chain.
Having tried to figure out how to do this for a few months, while Substack was offering anything but assistance, I finally was able to connect with their help center. But let’s not get carried away, because what happened was that, at long last, the Substack bot was functional and offered me to ‘chat’. Their bot proceeded to regurgitate from its silicon memory that affiliate links are not allowed on the platform. Most absurd - and degrading - about the experience was that the bot even offered ‘sympathy’ for my situation, telling me it could ‘understand my frustration’. Great, Substack! Maybe I should have a bot fill up these pages, too. If this indeed is the direction this platform has chosen, that is, to be another algorithm-run trap favoring the select few according to some mysterious logic, then perhaps what you are offering us is not a real alternative, but just a different flavor, a new color, and insidious design. F off, Substack. You can find my answer in the link.
