The 🤫 Secret, Members-Only Post
Welcome to Projectkin's secret, members-only post. I put this together just for members because sometimes it can be hard to find event recordings and other pieces set aside just for you. 🕵️♀️
In my posts about Substack and Family History (which you’ll find at my short link, Projectkin.org/substack), I wrote about why I thought Substack was a good home for us and how I organized our Substack publications.
The idea was to organize posts in a way that would make sense to members — while encouraging others to join. Unfortunately, the result can be confusing.
To help out, I thought you might appreciate this handy index. To make it easier for insiders to find, I use the shortened link: Projectkin.org/secret
You might even think of it as secret door🚪 to our private clubhouse.
Before we begin our tour of the clubhouse, was this article forwarded to you? You may not have your own subscription.
Event Recordings
Let’s start with those event recordings. I’ve consistently reserved recordings for members, much the way genealogy and family history societies theirs as members-only perks. At Projectkin, each recording is added to its own Section based on predefined categories. Notice that each section has a short link1 to take you directly to the full set:
🔐2 Kathy’s Corner
This popular monthly session focuses on a challenge for every family historian: Sorting and digitizing collections of inherited family photos and artifacts. Our speaker, Projectkin member Kathy Stone, has decades of experience as a professional photo organizer and is now working on her family history projects.
The secret link to the archive is here: Projectkin.org/kathys-corner
This is a recurring event scheduled on Zoom here.
🔐 Project Clinics
These very special brainstorming sessions will allow anyone with a story to bring their tale to this open lab to sort through the best way to tell it as a family history project. As a community, we'll brainstorm and share ideas for tips, techniques, and tools that might make your storytelling effort easier.
The secret link to the archive is here: Projectkin.org/clinics
This is a recurring event scheduled on Zoom here.
🔐 Project Recipes
With a little Julia Child-like magic, you'll see how a digital project can come together to share a family story. Each event is curated with special guests. Recordings, recipes, and resources are emailed to all members following the conclusion of each event. Explore our calendar for coming events.
The secret link to the archive is here: Projectkin.org/recipes
🔐 Special Events
Special events pick up on special topics of interest to Projectkin members. They may include interviews, workshops, and well-known speakers. Explore our calendar for coming events.
The secret link to the archive is here: Projectkin.org/specials
Home Page Navigation
Though these sections are all accessible from the home page, for consistency, I thought I would tuck them in here, too:
🔐 Members’ Chat — Projectkin.org/chat (requires member login or app)
Nifty Navigation Tips for All Substacks
Once you start paying attention to URL formations on Substack, you’ll notice that there are nifty ways to learn more about other Substacks. (I’m happy to reveal such things.) For example:
Recommendations
Recommendations — *4.substack.com/recommendations
This is fun: To see a full list of all stacks any given substack recommends, type its substack name plus /recommendations.
TIP: You’re welcome to explore my recommendations as
. I try to keep up with all of you as members and make an effort to write recommendation blurbs for everyone with an active Substack.5 Did I miss you? Are you just getting started? Reach out, I’m happy to help.
Newsletter Selections
All newsletters — *.substack.com/newsletters
Not obvious: On Substack, each “section” is its own mailing list so you can be a member but select to receive emails only for some sections and not others. You can select which ones you receive on my (and any Substack’s) newsletter page. By default, all members receive all “newsletters.”
TIP: See what newsletters you are subscribed to on any substack by logging into your own account, then going to the target Substack and entering *.substack.com/account. (Where * indicates the name of the Substack.)
Posts
Posts — *.substack.com/p/post-title-shortened
Simple enough: I think every new post has its own page as a /p/ with the first title given separated by “-” hyphens. Sometimes titles are corrected or optimized, but the URL remains the same. This way, links aren’t broken.
TIP: When you share a link to your own article and you want to encourage others to sign up, go to the “…” (three-dot) menu on the article and select “View shareable images” from there, copy link, but make sure the checkbox for “Show welcome page to new readers” is selected.
You’ll find more Substack-specific tips and shortcuts in my Substack + Family History series, where I discuss tricks I’ve learned in Part 2.
I hope this is helpful. Did I miss something? Have questions for me? Just drop me a note:
Publish Your Stories without a Publication
Earlier this year, I heard some of our members express frustration with the effort to create their own Substack publications (“substacks”). In response, I created our Projectkin Members’ Corner. So far, it seems to be a success.
I’ll publish your family history story for you in our Members’ Corner. You’ll get access to our growing community of family history enthusiasts without having to worry about creating your own Substack publication. If you want to pull your article for posting on your own site, that’s fine too (cross-posting is a Substack feature designed just for that.)
It’s all free, and we all get exposure to more people interested in family history. To learn more, see this article Projectkin.org/join-mc (I use these shortcodes to remember links myself 😉)
The Best Way to Support Projectkin?
The generosity of our members has touched me. When I moved our infrastructure from the awkward “tin cup” on Eventbrite to our more subtle BuyMeACoffee platform, I was amazed to see your generosity continue.
I assure you that all contributions to Projectkin go to a separate account I use exclusively to support operational costs here at Projectkin. There is more about that on my About page. 🙇♀️
I know funds are tight for everyone. You may not have realized it, but some of the best things you can do for Projectkin are free! For example,
Participate in events,
Share your own project recipe,
Contribute to discussions in posts,
Share posts (Projectkin’s and our members’) with your personal network,
Add to the Members’ Chat, or
Pen your own Members’ Corner post.
Each of these gives us a way to get to know each other and gives us all visibility from people outside our networks. Your kind words of support for others’ family history work make a difference.
If you’re already active on Substack, you can also share a link to this publication with the button below:
I’ve created the independent home page at Projectkin.org to ensure we can remain independent of any platform. Sharing the link to Projectkin.org can be one of the easiest ways to introduce our work to your friends and colleagues without confusing them with the overhead of the Substack platform.
Again, Thank you for your support. We wouldn’t have a community without you.
By the way, what do you think of the voiceover feature? Good, bad? Would you like more articles with a personal voiceover?
These “short links” are technically redirects from the Projectkin.org domain. The full link typically goes to *.substack.com/s/… URLs. I’m lazy and find these easier, I thought you might as well.
Notice that according to protocol, domain names, like email addresses, are insensitive to capitalization. However, the characters after the “/” are sensitive. To keep it simple, I always use lower case as in /recipes or /events.
Sections with the 🔐 lock emoji are hidden from the top of the stack and the archive. Though they do not require a paid subscription, they are intended for members only. Sections without the lock are visible from the home page. They’re collected here for your convenience.
Includes information on how to submit articles and an FAQ.
For example, I’m using this “*” as a stand-in for the publication name, projectkin.
Let me explain a subtle point about how I use Substack has confused people. You may notice that I’ve written this article as . I also have a separate account,
as the owner of the publication.Yes, both accounts are the same person. At some point, I may have a team to help me here and defer to them to manage the ringleader account. For now, I do that so that I can follow and engage in topics on Substack that I’m personally interested in (like gardening or US politics) without distracting from our shared interests as Projectkin. Though I work hard to keep my identities separate, sometimes I get confused. 🫨 Let me know if I slip.)
You re providing such an important service!
I like the voiceover! I tend to read things so quickly and that slowed me down and I think I retained more about what you had to say. I am enjoying ProjectKin and check in when I can!