Dear Watch List readers –
In the next few days you may or may not notice a difference in this newsletter: I have made the decision to move from Substack to a new platform, Ghost. The switch will be happening this week, and the sweet part is that you won’t have to do anything – your subscription, email address, and payment information (if you’re a paid subscriber) will automatically roll over to the new site. Nothing will change other than a few minor design aspects. If you do experience problems, however – if you suddenly stop receiving my emails, for instance – please feel free to reach out to me at ty@tyburrswatchlist.com and let me know. It may well be that your email software diverts the new Watch List emails to your spam or Promotions folder, so check that first. Once I’ve transferred to the new platform, I’ll send out a welcome email from there.
The reasons for the switch are numerous, but the obvious one is that I feel less than comfortable sharing a publishing site with newsletters that peddle and profit from hate speech and white supremacy, no matter how few they may be. I have lost subscribers in the wake of last December’s Atlantic article and the Substack leadership’s less than satisfying response, and, even if I hadn’t, I would be contemplating a move. There are additional back-end aspects of switching to Ghost that make sense to me, and the new platform’s team seems more serious about policing content for hate speech. As I’ve written previously, I understand in theory that violent rhetoric can and should be argued out of existence in the marketplace of ideas, but I believe that the Internet – not to mention several millennia of history – have proven that this is rarely the case in fact. If I find that the new platform is also monetizing and profiting from hateful writing, I promise to address the matter immediately.
Technical notes: The web version of the newsletter – the one you see when you click on a headline in a Watch List email or go to the Archives section – will no longer be hosted at tyburrswatchlist.substack.com but initially at ty-burrs-watch-list.ghost.io and, in the very near future, at tyburrswatchlist.com. Again, you shouldn’t notice a difference. All my back postings will still be available, although your thoughtful and valuable comments under past articles will unfortunately not make the transition, which bums me out more than a little. You guys are what make writing this newsletter worthwhile for me, period, full stop.
I would note that leaving Substack also means leaving the closed community in which the platform’s newsletters are able to recommend other Substack newsletters to their readers. I’ve gained many new subscribers this way and will be sorry to leave that community, the vast majority of whom deliver worthy, un-hateful writing on a nearly infinite number of topics. I have nothing against those who choose to keep their newsletters on Substack. I’m also cognizant of the fact that word of mouth will matter more than ever to the ongoing success of Ty Burr’s Watch List (which, I hasten to add, is my primary source of income, and happily so). If you have found or continue to find value in what I’m doing, whether that’s being led to a good movie or three or being informed/entertained by the writing, by all means tell your friends.
Thanks and best wishes for the future — Ty
Please feel free to ask any questions, and I’ll try to answer to the best of my ability. Comments are open to all.
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