I so relate to this: “Not to be a freak about it, but having 900 people pay actual money to read my bullshit is not something I take lightly, especially since I’ve spent most of my career writing to the huge audiences that can be found on Facebook, Twitter, and Google, which range in attitude from “mostly disinterested” to “actively hostile.””
I love this newsletter deeply but I miss the Geometric Solids Ranking. I must know if my personal favorite, Prism, will ever climb to the top of the table!
Congrats, Max! I was floored by your Max Read Report on web3, and spent a week of lunch breaks to read the whole thing. Also, the format was very cool. It would burn out any mere mortal to make such a thing regularly, but it was brilliant!
Also, been meaning to say this, and it cannot be understated, but you have the best Substack Theme that I have seen. I guess most people actually read these things in their email (!?) because most Substacks use the literal default Theme. Bravo for this. Yes, the words are good too, but.
I have only been subscribed for a short time after I came across one of your articles linked in a Politico Digital Future Daily email and discovered this site. However, I have read almost all of your articles by now and have gotten a fair bit of enjoyment from them. I would say what attracted me to your writing was subject matter, tone, and approach.
> all I can promise is weird mysteries, vague discomfort, internet sociology, ill-advised diagrams, action-movie recommendations, and some very strongly held pointless opinions.
I mean, this is exactly _why_ I signed up. Keep it coming!!
Congrats on the past year! FWIW, as someone who knew nothing about Dune, reading "Thufir Hawat is a mentat, a human trained for “supreme accomplishments of logic.” They are basically, like, what Scott Adams thinks he is?" is what instantly made me a paid subscriber.
I lost my Twitter account the exact same way, which gave me mild vertigo at the time because I think almost every single one of my media jobs began with someone reading my tweets. But modestly worse career prospects in exchange for a functioning brain is probably a good trade at the end of the day.
Anyway, I enjoy the newsletter, it's one of the few that I pay for, I'm glad you're writing it and am glad it is sustainable. FWIW I really liked the Read Max Report you did and sent it around to a couple of my friends. I think you should do more of em
"modestly worse career prospects in exchange for a functioning brain is probably a good trade at the end of the day" -- I think so, yeah. Sort of unspoken here is the fact that even if your Twitter itself is gone you still have some kind of 'brand equity' built up, even if it's not as instrumentally useful as an actual Twitter account is.
Glad you liked the RMR -- you are not the only one as a bunch of commenters have said! Whenever I can find a more time-efficient means of doing another one I will.
Thank you Max for all the articles over the past year! The broadness / indescribable genre of your posts is exactly what I love so much. I also need to thank (blame?) you for turning me on to the eBay market of vintage computer mousepads 😅.
Max! I love your writing style and your brand of humor and intellect. I can’t pay for a subscription yet because finances but cheers to your first year - I’ll be sticking around well into the future. :)
As someone who also quit Twitter in 2020 and wants to have a normal brain, I subscribe for exactly the 4th reason here, receiving emails in my inbox that are written by a human for a human. And it makes me not want to die. Keep up the good work!
Hi, Max - You are a beautiful writer, gifted, articulate, funny. So glad that I ran into your article today via the Substack Writers Hours feature.
I really appreciate your take-aways from the past year - but most of all - I was so happy to hear that in your opinion 'PEOPLE RESPOND TO ENTHUSIASM & JOY' . So good to have that human quality affirmed via the Substack experience
I turned one year old @ Substack in September. I have 58 subscribers. It was an 'eff-@#$ - ed up year. But I am back. Thanks again, Max. Karin
I so relate to this: “Not to be a freak about it, but having 900 people pay actual money to read my bullshit is not something I take lightly, especially since I’ve spent most of my career writing to the huge audiences that can be found on Facebook, Twitter, and Google, which range in attitude from “mostly disinterested” to “actively hostile.””
Fine, I’ll upgrade :)
I love this newsletter deeply but I miss the Geometric Solids Ranking. I must know if my personal favorite, Prism, will ever climb to the top of the table!
Prism fanboys 🙄
Congrats, Max! I was floored by your Max Read Report on web3, and spent a week of lunch breaks to read the whole thing. Also, the format was very cool. It would burn out any mere mortal to make such a thing regularly, but it was brilliant!
Also, been meaning to say this, and it cannot be understated, but you have the best Substack Theme that I have seen. I guess most people actually read these things in their email (!?) because most Substacks use the literal default Theme. Bravo for this. Yes, the words are good too, but.
Thank you! I'm glad you liked the report; I hope I'll be able to revive the format this coming year for something else interesting.
I also can’t seem to niche. Refuse to niche. “Pure vibes philosophy” love that.
I have only been subscribed for a short time after I came across one of your articles linked in a Politico Digital Future Daily email and discovered this site. However, I have read almost all of your articles by now and have gotten a fair bit of enjoyment from them. I would say what attracted me to your writing was subject matter, tone, and approach.
"a pure-vibes philosophy of media" is the value proposition, and it's why I subscribe. This is probably not helpful!
> all I can promise is weird mysteries, vague discomfort, internet sociology, ill-advised diagrams, action-movie recommendations, and some very strongly held pointless opinions.
I mean, this is exactly _why_ I signed up. Keep it coming!!
Congrats on the past year! FWIW, as someone who knew nothing about Dune, reading "Thufir Hawat is a mentat, a human trained for “supreme accomplishments of logic.” They are basically, like, what Scott Adams thinks he is?" is what instantly made me a paid subscriber.
It's good to get info like this because "Scott Adams jokes" isn't currently a category on my analytics dashboard.
I lost my Twitter account the exact same way, which gave me mild vertigo at the time because I think almost every single one of my media jobs began with someone reading my tweets. But modestly worse career prospects in exchange for a functioning brain is probably a good trade at the end of the day.
Anyway, I enjoy the newsletter, it's one of the few that I pay for, I'm glad you're writing it and am glad it is sustainable. FWIW I really liked the Read Max Report you did and sent it around to a couple of my friends. I think you should do more of em
"modestly worse career prospects in exchange for a functioning brain is probably a good trade at the end of the day" -- I think so, yeah. Sort of unspoken here is the fact that even if your Twitter itself is gone you still have some kind of 'brand equity' built up, even if it's not as instrumentally useful as an actual Twitter account is.
Glad you liked the RMR -- you are not the only one as a bunch of commenters have said! Whenever I can find a more time-efficient means of doing another one I will.
White type on a black background is very difficult to read. It tends to strobe. Yes, I'm old. And get off my lawn.
Thank you Max for all the articles over the past year! The broadness / indescribable genre of your posts is exactly what I love so much. I also need to thank (blame?) you for turning me on to the eBay market of vintage computer mousepads 😅.
Max! I love your writing style and your brand of humor and intellect. I can’t pay for a subscription yet because finances but cheers to your first year - I’ll be sticking around well into the future. :)
As someone who also quit Twitter in 2020 and wants to have a normal brain, I subscribe for exactly the 4th reason here, receiving emails in my inbox that are written by a human for a human. And it makes me not want to die. Keep up the good work!
“Write about stuff you’re obsessed with and make your readers not wish they were dead” Haha! Yes!
I am new and this post helps clarify a lot for me. Thank you for sharing the "four paths".
Hi, Max - You are a beautiful writer, gifted, articulate, funny. So glad that I ran into your article today via the Substack Writers Hours feature.
I really appreciate your take-aways from the past year - but most of all - I was so happy to hear that in your opinion 'PEOPLE RESPOND TO ENTHUSIASM & JOY' . So good to have that human quality affirmed via the Substack experience
I turned one year old @ Substack in September. I have 58 subscribers. It was an 'eff-@#$ - ed up year. But I am back. Thanks again, Max. Karin