Levels of Substack: Part 2 — A Guide to the Elements of the Platform
This second in our Substack + Family History series is dives into the details of features and terminology to demystify the elements of the platform and ensure that you can get the most out of it.
Part 1 should have given you some context for what the platform is, how it’s different from alternatives on the market. Now let’s turn to how key elements of the platform work. Then follow with Part 3 which explains the design choices for our Projectkin publication. To be sure you hear about upcoming events and get all of our posts, recordings, and resources free via email, take a moment to subscribe and become a member. It’s free!
A Guide to the Elements of the Platform
Finding your way around a new software platform can be a little like learning a language. I’ve learned to start with a lexicon. Once you know what things are called, it’s a lot easier to look things up, test hypotheses, and understand the consequences of different actions. It’s like learning nouns first, then layering in verbs. Let’s start with you and me and consider roles on Substack.
Roles: Who’s who
Substack started as a Newsletter platform so everything flows from that core model. Newsletters are issued as updates are made to a Publication. When you sign up for a publication, you’re a Subscriber. Projectkin.Substack.com, or theProjectkin Community Forum, is a publication.
If you don’t have a substack account, you can subscribe as a Reader by simply adding your email. If you additionally sign-in on the app or web, you’re a Writer and get access to additional features — all free.
Readers have subscribed to a newsletter using their email address. They can read newsletters when they receive them in their email, and they can also view free content on the web.1
Note that a Reader cannot add comments, share notes, or other features that require attribution until they become a Writer.
Writers are just like readers except they have signed which creates a Substack account. They may sign in on the web or in the Substack app.2 '
An account ensures that a writer’s content is attributable so that they can also add Comments to posts; share posts in Notes; write Posts3; add Chats to threads on publications they’re subscribed to.
Writers can also write posts that can be submitted to other publications or they can create a Publications of their own.
Since the key difference between a Reader and a Writer relates to the sign-in procedure, let’s start there.
If you only ever view the newsletter in email and then tap a link to view it on the web, Substack checks your email address against all other newsletters to see if you have already created an account as a writer. If you have not, it quickly gets you set up with:
The objective is to make the signup experience as frictionless as possible. Many people object to creating an account and password just to read an article. That’s perfectly reasonable. This approach lets you get comfortable with a publication before deciding whether you want to subscribe.
Accounts where Passwords are optional
When a Writer creates an account, passwords are optional. With a “Sign in with email,” default, you just drop your email and Substack emails you a link. Your email validates that you are who you say you are and you’re redirected to the site you want to view.
This feels right to a “reader,” yet they magically turn into a Substack writer. That email attribution step feels frictionless (or should6.) You’ll find Substack’s more detailed instructions here. If you’re reading this, you’ve probably seen this sign-in prompt.
Subscribers are members
One last point about roles. You may have noticed that with our Projectkin publication, I interchangeably refer to Subscribers as Members. In part, that’s because I see what we’re building here as something that extends beyond Substack to include our other tools like Google Meet and Eventbrite. Mostly, I refer to “Members” because I think the metaphor of membership better fits our mission as a community.
Any questions so far? Drop them in the “Ask a Question” thread in the Projectkin. I’ll reply there so others to benefit from the dialogue that follows.
What: Publications, handles & posts
Now that you’re clear about roles, let’s review the idea of a Publication. Not only can you subscribe to a publication, but you can also follow a writer. If you read other newsletters such as Aimee Liu's Legacy & Lore,
, , or (all early supporters 🙇♀️) you may be a subscriber to their publications as well.Notice the “handle” strategy at work for writers like
who uses her name as distinct from her publication, . For writers, a handle lets others attribute comments to you, so other readers get to know you — all without exposing your email address.Note: Handles don’t have to be unique, however, email addresses do. I’d highly recommend adding a profile picture to your account so that it appears with your handle on a search. This will distinguish you from someone else who inconveniently has same name. Our own contributing writer, is a good example, (thank you Kathy).
Every publication is independent. Accounts are consistent across Substack, however.7 The checkbox agreement to the Substack Terms of Service ensures that writers retain ownership of their work and that publications can take their subscriber list with them if they leave.
Chat, Comments & Notes in Publications
Substack started with familiar Sharing, Comments, and likes (♡s) on Posts and enriched them with nested threads. More recently they added Notes and Chat. Notes and chat create ways to bring others into a conversation who might not yet have read a post.
The Note feature was announced with fanfare, so you can read the post about it here “On Substack.” (I recommend that anyone considering a publication of their own subscribe. Even if you’re just curious, you’ll find their About page full of useful resources.)
You can share any post to Notes by “restacking” it (optionally with a comment). When you do, you are bringing it to the inboxes of everyone who follows you or reads your publication. Further, when you add any comment to any publication, you also get the option to share your comment in a Note.
Chat is available to all Substack writers (viewed from either the web or the Substack app.) It creates a group chat with threaded topics for each publication you’ve subscribed to. Publications may limit chat access to paid subscribers. Here’s Substack’s Chat Launch post with details.
Key things that might not be obvious about Chat (I suspect the feature will improve in these areas in future releases.)
New chat topics (called Threads) usually trigger notifications.8
In each chat thread, replies can be threaded (a nest-of-nests essentially) and people can be at-mentioned, though oddly, publications cannot.9
You can delete a comment in chat, but you cannot edit it.10
Chats for any publication can be shared in other posts and notes, but people who follow links to the shared chats must have access as subscribers to the publication to view them.
Inbox, Activity & Notifications
When you comment on a post, note, or chat thread, you are likely to engage other writers in a conversation. Notification delivery includes an activity stream that works as you might expect from any other platform like Facebook or YouTube → Watch that bell.
What’s not as obvious is anticipating when notifications will go out.11 Here are some of the high-level rules:
Newsletter delivery notifications can be modified by you as a subscriber in the Settings area of your profile.
Publishers have the option to publish posts and threads without notifying everyone, but the default is for in-app plus email notifications.12
Another subtle point: Once a chat thread is initiated…
Each comment does not trigger notifications to everyone.
If you want someone to pay attention, a good practice is to @-mention them by typing “@” and their name. This ensures that they will be notified in their activity stream.13
Once you’ve wrapped your head around the power of “@” mentions here are another detail:
Typing the character “@” triggers the platform to start looking. That’s why if you type the character, you get this little popup. That’s relevant because even after it has selected the person or publication, at the moment there’s a bug that can keep it searching. It’s annoying but the workaround is to type your sentence, then go back to insert the
mention. (Like that ☝️).
“@” Mentions work differently on different elements of the system:
They don’t work at all in comments (you can type them, nothing happens.)
In Notes, mentions work for People but not Publications. 🤔 Whether a bug or an unimplemented feature, know that it doesn’t work. (As of this writing.)
In Chat, (just like in Notes,) mentions for People work, not Publications, but the added special trick is that tapping the Return button works like Enter, so you can’t do that to select the Person found. It takes a little extra care to stop typing and tap the selected person with your mouse.
Finally, for completeness, “@” mentions work in posts for both People and Publications. I believe (but haven’t tested) that it works the same way with all kinds of publications (articles, video, etc.)
Perhaps more than you need to know, but you’ll thank me later when you can’t make something work right. It’s not you, it’s the software. 😉
For fun, try leaving me a comment now:
There are many third-party substacks written about Substack. I found this Primer on the topic of Chat, Notes, and Comments useful for example, and perhaps you will as well.
Your Inbox gives you a single place to view all of the latest updates from all of the publications you follow. Notice the email and profile picture. This helps you keep track of yourself if (like me) you have multiple accounts. I also use the account
, for example.Notice your activity bell is visible from any of the interfaces so it’s easy to see updates. Your app notification configurations allow you to adjust when you’re distracted as well.
Learn more: Substack + Family History
I hope Part 1 and this Part 2 have given you a better understanding of what the platform is, and how key elements work. In Part 3 we explore the design choices made in our Projectkin Forum. These are now collected in a new section of the Projectkin Forum, Substack + Family History.
Explore the posts then join me in the Chat Room for questions and a discussion.
Further Reading
As I shared in Part 1 the platform is inherently very self-referential — like the internet itself, actually. I’d captured a few of the Substacks about Substack, but you’ll find many more by searching or using the Explore button in the drop-down menu under your profile.
One I’d like to call out is this piece by
who shared many of the UI/UX elements that can confuse new users. The key takeaway is to take heart. If you’re frustrated, it’s probably the software. I recommend Jayshree’s stack , here’s a sample:
Note that Substack uses “reader” as a special case of a writer. A reader gets newsletters but hasn’t created an account. I’ve discovered it to be important in debugging problems when a reader can’t for some reason create an account.
Using the Substack mobile app creates a connection between your email address and a handle on Substack because you can’t use the app without an email address. To comment from the web, you will be asked to create a web-based account that will be linked to your same email address.
A writer’s posts may be shared on their own, or they may be included as a Contributor in the publications as others. Note the bylines often added referencing writers. These are optional and determined by the publication owner.
When a post is so long that it can’t be read in its entirety in email, Substack’s system automatically detects that and creates a link for readers back on the web page. If you haven’t yet created a web login when you tap that link, you’ll be asked to. Creating an account and having a handle lets other Projectkin members recognize you from your comments without exposing personal email addresses. You can also “@-name” other members to call their attention to comments, much like Facebook, for example.
You can skip this step entirely. These topics give Substack guidance on what new writers are interested in.
I have seen this “passwordless sign-in” sleight of hand create confusion. Generally the problem relates to not receiving the “link to sign in.” If you’re caught in this loop, let me know. I’m happy to help you debug it. Grab some time on my calendar here.
Those of you with me on our old platform will notice that this is different from Podia.com, for example, where you had to create a separate username/password for each Podia.com community you were part of.
Whether they trigger notifications is a setting managed at the time a chat thread is started. How notifications are delivered is a setting individual writers manage in their account settings. You can receive them in-app only, in email only, or both.
Note the interface can be a little tricky for at-naming in Chats. Hitting a return in a chat thread is the same as submitting. It can also be a little buggy. Expect further development here.
Since hitting the return key submits a chat but doesn’t submit a note or comment, you may find yourself creating several accidental posts. Don’t worry about it. Just delete the error and try again. Been there, done that.
This is a subtle, but important point. I find that if I don’t know who will be notified (or bothered) by a comment, I hesitate to make it. Please don’t. I want to hear from you.
A tip for new publishers that was shared with me: To set up your publication before launching it do two things: 1) Set your publication to “private” (see your dashboard); 2) As you start queuing up your first posts, do not tick “Send via email and the Substack app” for Delivery in the Post interface. If you are working on your publication in Family History or Genealogy, I’d love to support you in any way I can. Just reach out.
As a practical matter, this feels like a very sustainable approach. It ensures that people you’re “talking to” stay up to date with the conversation, but it doesn’t wreak havoc with their notifications.
A very informative post. Substack is very easy, but it helps to have such a detailed overview. Though don't be daunted - just get the app or go online, and start reading. The rest will follow, and we are a very friendly bunch and happy to help.