I was so furious when I read on Robin St. Lawrence's page that you had been suspended again. I thought after we both got our pages back up, they might stop going after us. Of course not! They have nothing better to do than harass indie creators while letting big companies do whatever they want.
I'm very glad your page is back up, and you always write so eloquently and persuasively about these matters. You're right they want to silence people like us who write and talk about erotica and sex. They get around the First Amendment by making sure we can never make money and try to silence us that way.
You're also right about Substack's hypocrisy. I was originally on Patreon and they just banned me one day and stole all the remaining money from my supporters. I came to Substack because they've always said they were about free speech. Using one payment processor, Stripe, that restricts what people can post means Substack doesn't really support free speech at all. Especially when they keep harassing and suspending erotic creators.
I actually spent the last couple of days looking over a bunch of other sites that provide similar services as Substack and not one of then was feasible. They either didn't allow adult content, didn't allow it to be monetized, or allowed it be monetized only if the creator paid them hundreds or thousands of dollars. How can small creators like us afford that? Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, and others are all trying to prevent any adult content from existing and prevent creators from making any money off it. It's a purity test to pretend they're better than us. In reality, they're probably at home jerking off while watching really gross stuff while we're writing stories where characters are having completely consensual sex.
Anyway, I'm fully with you and understand what you're going through as I've been through it multiple times now. But they won't silence us. We won't give up! Thank you for writing so eloquently on this matter and for standing up for what's right!
This couldn't be more perfectly expressed. I've been watching this happen for 15 years. It hasn't been a stealthy process but a seductive one. Yep, the old idea that the internet was a decentralized thing that "routed around around censorship" (is that what they used it say?) has proven to be sadly untrue. By literally "cracking the code" (I think I could say) of our desires and human weaknesses, a very small number of companies have taken control of the internet in ways that affect almost everything (or may be just everything?) in our lives.
And they're using that power to act as the arbiters, the judges, of everything we do and when they don't like it, they have the power to punish us, fine us, cut us off, shut us down, without any warning, without any recourse, making them a law unto themselves. And they're doing just that, more and more boldly.
This isn't about "those people" who do "those things." It's about everyone who does anything. And it's going to get worse if we can't resist the even-more seductive techniques they're coming up with.
Thank you so much for the awesome shoutout! I deeply appreciate it!
I think this is very much on-point and well said. And like I said before, I think your voice is important. Ultimately, we need legislation to reign in these companies. But for now, perhaps you could provide a way to stay in touch and follow you elsewhere if they suspend you again, such as an email list that isn’t through Substack? You could have a free tier that is only for that purpose.. Or accounts on other platforms, with duplicated content, so you have a backup? Or a second account here that we can also subscribe to but has no content to trigger suspension, just as a way to inform subscribers as to where to find you? Also, Dove’s idea is a good one. Nobody can suspend you for anything whatsoever that isn’t illegal if you set up your own site and own the domain name. Creating a polished website with a blog having similar features is trivial now with the help of Claude Code. (I could help if you don’t know how to do that.)
Wishing you good luck, further reach, and prosperity, in any case!
If Stripe freezes you, your "independent" business isn't independent.
If Shopify suspends you, your store isn't yours.
If Meta kills the ad account, the funnel you built for 3 years is gone in 4 hours.
We renamed our Gumroad store to khuncamp.gumroad.com last week so the URL points at us, not a default handle we'd lose in a suspension. Small move. Buys optionality.
Own the domain. Own the email list. Own the customer record.
Rent everything else with a kill-switch plan written before you need it.
I would add that they target anything good, moral, life giving. Thank you for expressing or I would never know about it but still don’t need convincing because it’s clearly happening. Along with Dove Harper’s comment about building a website, give me a place where I can sign up for a newsletter to my email.
And on another topic there are things happening that is resulting in “they” not getting to their goals because they are tripping over their own rules.
Exactly why I haven’t monetized my Substack and I’m building my own website myself to support selling my works. I’m also considering having other writers be able to host their works on the site but that needs to be figured out. Sorry this happened to you, ultimately.
I was so furious when I read on Robin St. Lawrence's page that you had been suspended again. I thought after we both got our pages back up, they might stop going after us. Of course not! They have nothing better to do than harass indie creators while letting big companies do whatever they want.
I'm very glad your page is back up, and you always write so eloquently and persuasively about these matters. You're right they want to silence people like us who write and talk about erotica and sex. They get around the First Amendment by making sure we can never make money and try to silence us that way.
You're also right about Substack's hypocrisy. I was originally on Patreon and they just banned me one day and stole all the remaining money from my supporters. I came to Substack because they've always said they were about free speech. Using one payment processor, Stripe, that restricts what people can post means Substack doesn't really support free speech at all. Especially when they keep harassing and suspending erotic creators.
I actually spent the last couple of days looking over a bunch of other sites that provide similar services as Substack and not one of then was feasible. They either didn't allow adult content, didn't allow it to be monetized, or allowed it be monetized only if the creator paid them hundreds or thousands of dollars. How can small creators like us afford that? Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, and others are all trying to prevent any adult content from existing and prevent creators from making any money off it. It's a purity test to pretend they're better than us. In reality, they're probably at home jerking off while watching really gross stuff while we're writing stories where characters are having completely consensual sex.
Anyway, I'm fully with you and understand what you're going through as I've been through it multiple times now. But they won't silence us. We won't give up! Thank you for writing so eloquently on this matter and for standing up for what's right!
This couldn't be more perfectly expressed. I've been watching this happen for 15 years. It hasn't been a stealthy process but a seductive one. Yep, the old idea that the internet was a decentralized thing that "routed around around censorship" (is that what they used it say?) has proven to be sadly untrue. By literally "cracking the code" (I think I could say) of our desires and human weaknesses, a very small number of companies have taken control of the internet in ways that affect almost everything (or may be just everything?) in our lives.
And they're using that power to act as the arbiters, the judges, of everything we do and when they don't like it, they have the power to punish us, fine us, cut us off, shut us down, without any warning, without any recourse, making them a law unto themselves. And they're doing just that, more and more boldly.
This isn't about "those people" who do "those things." It's about everyone who does anything. And it's going to get worse if we can't resist the even-more seductive techniques they're coming up with.
Thank you so much for the awesome shoutout! I deeply appreciate it!
I think this is very much on-point and well said. And like I said before, I think your voice is important. Ultimately, we need legislation to reign in these companies. But for now, perhaps you could provide a way to stay in touch and follow you elsewhere if they suspend you again, such as an email list that isn’t through Substack? You could have a free tier that is only for that purpose.. Or accounts on other platforms, with duplicated content, so you have a backup? Or a second account here that we can also subscribe to but has no content to trigger suspension, just as a way to inform subscribers as to where to find you? Also, Dove’s idea is a good one. Nobody can suspend you for anything whatsoever that isn’t illegal if you set up your own site and own the domain name. Creating a polished website with a blog having similar features is trivial now with the help of Claude Code. (I could help if you don’t know how to do that.)
Wishing you good luck, further reach, and prosperity, in any case!
The gate moved from speech to settlement.
If Stripe freezes you, your "independent" business isn't independent.
If Shopify suspends you, your store isn't yours.
If Meta kills the ad account, the funnel you built for 3 years is gone in 4 hours.
We renamed our Gumroad store to khuncamp.gumroad.com last week so the URL points at us, not a default handle we'd lose in a suspension. Small move. Buys optionality.
Own the domain. Own the email list. Own the customer record.
Rent everything else with a kill-switch plan written before you need it.
🙌❤️🔥
I would add that they target anything good, moral, life giving. Thank you for expressing or I would never know about it but still don’t need convincing because it’s clearly happening. Along with Dove Harper’s comment about building a website, give me a place where I can sign up for a newsletter to my email.
And on another topic there are things happening that is resulting in “they” not getting to their goals because they are tripping over their own rules.
Exactly why I haven’t monetized my Substack and I’m building my own website myself to support selling my works. I’m also considering having other writers be able to host their works on the site but that needs to be figured out. Sorry this happened to you, ultimately.
it's more worse now than ever. shameful.