Tell HN: Substack Is Spamming
I subscribed to a (reputable) Substack and immediately found myself receiving unsolicited emails and other substacks I didn't subscribe for. I also found a shadow profile was created for me.
This must stop.
I subscribed to a (reputable) Substack and immediately found myself receiving unsolicited emails and other substacks I didn't subscribe for. I also found a shadow profile was created for me.
This must stop.
I've never subscribed to a Substack and I get these too. I imagine its just bots putting my many-times-over pwned email address in to boost stats or something, or whatever it is Substack needs my fucking email address for.
Can't replicate, for what it's worth. I subscribe to multiple Substacks and don't get any emails from them other than posts from those subscriptions.
Try subscribing to any of them but from a new address, without signing up for Substack.
Then, to replicate the evidence for the shadow profile, try unsubscribe from any of them from a signed-out session. The unsubscribe page may show a shadow profile with the new address then.
I will gladly uBlacklist (browser extension) medium, substack cancer off my searches
Less of a product probably doesn't exist on the internet. Its one step from a link shortener.
I got lots of substack spam, but I assume it is the individual substack authors signing me up manually from a list. But something in substack's design definitely doesn't seem to prevent or discourage this too much, so I'm not giving them a total pass.
Stick to the rss feeds
When I provide an email address, I am pleasantly surprised if it doesn’t result in emails I don’t want.
But when it does result in emails I don’t want, I accept that that’s my personal preference, other people probably find the emails useful, and that the person I gave my email to has normal interests in sending me emails I don’t want. So I unsubscribe, mark as spam, block sender, etc… normal e-mail management.
For what it’s worth, required access to my inbox is why substack has been a non-starter for me. The price is too high. Good luck.