"The internet of today is a battleground. The idealism of the ‘90s web is gone. The Web 2.0 utopia — where we all lived in rounded filter bubbles of happiness —ended with the 2016 Presidential election when we learned that the tools we thought were only life-giving could be weaponized as well. The public and semi-public spaces we created to develop our identities, cultivate communities, and gain in knowledge were overtaken by forces using them to gain power of various kinds (market, political, social, and so on).
This is the atmosphere of the mainstream web today: a relentless competition for power. As this competition has grown in size and ferocity, an increasing number of the population has scurried into their dark forests to avoid the fray."
I was an absolute forum junkie back in the day and I think Discord is the closest thing we have to that kind of energy. There are even instances where someone in a sever for some niche interest gets pissed at someone else, goes and makes their own new server, factions develop, etc, just like back in the forum days. Reddit has a bit of that too but I think Discord exemplifies it even if there are things about it I don't think are as good as forums.
The thing forums had over most social media (maybe except reddit and discord) is that everyone was drawn to a forum by a common interest and no matter how angry you got at other members, you knew you all had that one interest the site was predicated on in common. Sometimes, especially in the case of fighting game forums, the interest in question helped squash beefs. Instagram, Bluesky, and X are simply too general for the good of most of the people who use them and there's little emphasis on any kind of commonality in those places which only makes division easier. So I for one hope that things go back to smaller more specialized communities.
Interesting read, I can definitely see this taking place. I've noticed a trend towards people attempting to show up more authentically on LinkedIn (myself included), but it is a weird path to travel trying to be both authentic and grow my business on there. I started a BlueSky account after leaving Twitter, but found that mentally I had more energy just not being active on those short-length platforms, so I haven't done anything with it.
Speaking of smaller, tight knight internet tribalisms, have you done any research or have any thoughts on decentralized platforms such as Mastodon? I have heard of them but not used them nor do I know too many people that are active on them. From what I do know it seems as a further evolution of the concepts you discuss. I also wonder about the future of more social aspects of streaming but in communities on Discord or Revolt rather than Twitch.
I haven't. I don't personally see a need to replace Twitter, although Substack has done that for some. If I quit Twitter, which I don't plan to, I would simply publish long form ideas again and not do short form at all
Still personally never seen these supposed "nazis" here - Jesse has a good post about what really happened ICYMI (https://jessesingal.substack.com/p/platformers-reporting-on-substacks). Anyway, I'm sure you can find some bad people on every social media product (plenty of leftists who I'm sure would fit this definition to some on BSKY). There is def no product with millions of users that will pass a purity test. This is a good idea for a post tbh maybe in the future
No, they definitely have a Nazi problem. Case in point: Substack sent a push alert promoting a Nazi blog | Patreon https://share.google/BfMy1EwmyH0bucxUU
(Note that your article was from 2024 and this happened in 2025)
You don't have to scroll far in Notes to find them. Most aren't that blatant, but read their posts and you'll see.
It's not about every space, it's about the end of moderation and the platforms unwillingness to do anything about it.
Never saw it but it looks like they apologized which is good and all you can do. Given they are much more biased to free speech here they're def more hands-off than perhaps some other companies. I would rather it be this way than treated as a safe space.
Also The Free Press is in talks for $200M acquisition by Paramount who I'm sure has done more due diligence on this platform in totality than we have and deemed it fine. I think Substack owners try to do the right things every day and that's what counts.
"All you can do"? No, that's definitely not true. You can tell because other platforms don't have the same Nazi problem. They could have a bare minimum of moderation.
The Free Press isn't a Substack publication although they publish on Substack. They publish everywhere. I would also be wary of "in talks" until the deal is closed, usually people leak news like that to try and get a deal done.
There's def far more Nazis on Instagram, BlueSky, Twitter Facebook etc calling for end of Jews seen countless ex. Sometimes they indeed ban them sometimes they don't (no one is ever consistent about violations). Substack gets called out for this and it's a laughably small # of people % wise. If anything due to pure numbers there's the least of them here. But the internet moderation thing is never going to be a solved issue. I think this place is one of the better ones! There's so little spam comparatively, too.
No, those platforms (except Twitter) have policies that limit them. Substack doesn't, which is why they thrive on here. Twitter used to and now doesn't really which is why it's so bad there now too. In fact, Twitter is a great before/after example.
This isn't a personal experience, vibes situation. There is a real difference in the approach to moderation that has real impacts on what people see.
Well said. This reminds me of Yancey Strickler's dark forest theory of the internet: https://www.ystrickler.com/the-dark-forest-theory-of-the-internet/
"The internet of today is a battleground. The idealism of the ‘90s web is gone. The Web 2.0 utopia — where we all lived in rounded filter bubbles of happiness —ended with the 2016 Presidential election when we learned that the tools we thought were only life-giving could be weaponized as well. The public and semi-public spaces we created to develop our identities, cultivate communities, and gain in knowledge were overtaken by forces using them to gain power of various kinds (market, political, social, and so on).
This is the atmosphere of the mainstream web today: a relentless competition for power. As this competition has grown in size and ferocity, an increasing number of the population has scurried into their dark forests to avoid the fray."
Great thesis here
I was an absolute forum junkie back in the day and I think Discord is the closest thing we have to that kind of energy. There are even instances where someone in a sever for some niche interest gets pissed at someone else, goes and makes their own new server, factions develop, etc, just like back in the forum days. Reddit has a bit of that too but I think Discord exemplifies it even if there are things about it I don't think are as good as forums.
The thing forums had over most social media (maybe except reddit and discord) is that everyone was drawn to a forum by a common interest and no matter how angry you got at other members, you knew you all had that one interest the site was predicated on in common. Sometimes, especially in the case of fighting game forums, the interest in question helped squash beefs. Instagram, Bluesky, and X are simply too general for the good of most of the people who use them and there's little emphasis on any kind of commonality in those places which only makes division easier. So I for one hope that things go back to smaller more specialized communities.
I have no idea how LinkedIn survives. It’s so boomer to me- do people still do that type of networking?!
I just want to chat with my friends. I have been enjoying Bluesky, its a nice alternative.
Twitter is still the best to catch market moving news and sports.
If it brings joy then that's what counts, internet forums should do that
I just want to chop it up with the fellas/ladies and could care less about the drama these days.
Not being blasted with spam accounts is pretty nice and the Mute/Block on Bluesky is pretty darn good.
Interesting read, I can definitely see this taking place. I've noticed a trend towards people attempting to show up more authentically on LinkedIn (myself included), but it is a weird path to travel trying to be both authentic and grow my business on there. I started a BlueSky account after leaving Twitter, but found that mentally I had more energy just not being active on those short-length platforms, so I haven't done anything with it.
Speaking of smaller, tight knight internet tribalisms, have you done any research or have any thoughts on decentralized platforms such as Mastodon? I have heard of them but not used them nor do I know too many people that are active on them. From what I do know it seems as a further evolution of the concepts you discuss. I also wonder about the future of more social aspects of streaming but in communities on Discord or Revolt rather than Twitch.
I haven't. I don't personally see a need to replace Twitter, although Substack has done that for some. If I quit Twitter, which I don't plan to, I would simply publish long form ideas again and not do short form at all
Here is a good post that breaks down "Blueskyism" and shows that it's not really a platform specific issue as Silver describes. Rather, what he describes is true of Twitter, et al. It's really just a political approach that is everywhere. https://open.substack.com/pub/danieldrezner/p/is-blueskyism-really-a-thing?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=97in
FWIW all of the artists I follow left Twitter and moved to Bluesky, making it my preferred place to go. I do see any of the drama they describe.
Plus, there aren't the armies of bots like on Twitter, nor the Nazis of Substack.
Still personally never seen these supposed "nazis" here - Jesse has a good post about what really happened ICYMI (https://jessesingal.substack.com/p/platformers-reporting-on-substacks). Anyway, I'm sure you can find some bad people on every social media product (plenty of leftists who I'm sure would fit this definition to some on BSKY). There is def no product with millions of users that will pass a purity test. This is a good idea for a post tbh maybe in the future
No, they definitely have a Nazi problem. Case in point: Substack sent a push alert promoting a Nazi blog | Patreon https://share.google/BfMy1EwmyH0bucxUU
(Note that your article was from 2024 and this happened in 2025)
You don't have to scroll far in Notes to find them. Most aren't that blatant, but read their posts and you'll see.
It's not about every space, it's about the end of moderation and the platforms unwillingness to do anything about it.
Never saw it but it looks like they apologized which is good and all you can do. Given they are much more biased to free speech here they're def more hands-off than perhaps some other companies. I would rather it be this way than treated as a safe space.
Also The Free Press is in talks for $200M acquisition by Paramount who I'm sure has done more due diligence on this platform in totality than we have and deemed it fine. I think Substack owners try to do the right things every day and that's what counts.
"All you can do"? No, that's definitely not true. You can tell because other platforms don't have the same Nazi problem. They could have a bare minimum of moderation.
The Free Press isn't a Substack publication although they publish on Substack. They publish everywhere. I would also be wary of "in talks" until the deal is closed, usually people leak news like that to try and get a deal done.
There's def far more Nazis on Instagram, BlueSky, Twitter Facebook etc calling for end of Jews seen countless ex. Sometimes they indeed ban them sometimes they don't (no one is ever consistent about violations). Substack gets called out for this and it's a laughably small # of people % wise. If anything due to pure numbers there's the least of them here. But the internet moderation thing is never going to be a solved issue. I think this place is one of the better ones! There's so little spam comparatively, too.
No, those platforms (except Twitter) have policies that limit them. Substack doesn't, which is why they thrive on here. Twitter used to and now doesn't really which is why it's so bad there now too. In fact, Twitter is a great before/after example.
This isn't a personal experience, vibes situation. There is a real difference in the approach to moderation that has real impacts on what people see.