1. Notes is social media and social media isn't a place for authenticity; our Substacks are. This guy was giving advice about people's Substacks, not Notes.
2. I ask people only to boost Notes they genuinely like.
3. The Boosts are a hectic environment and not conducive to deeply felt and thought comments, etc.
4. The algorithm is always changing. The Boosts just give Notes a little momentum so that the Notes that might have gotten traction anyway can.
5. And Notes is optional.
Still, Wes, your point is excellent. I'll think on it.
Yes, but the problem is that those people don't know Notes and Substack tells us all the time that the algorithm changes literally every day. There's no way to game it.
The Boosts help by giving Notes a little boost. That's the most the algorithm can be gamed.
My grammatical errors and spelling get help from somewhere, but the content is all mine. The stories come from a place in my brain that open up every now and then and lets me remember. I write the information (or my wife calls it scratching) down and hope I can piece a story together. As fast as AI is said to be sorting out stories that are rattling around in my brain would be something I don't think it could do.
Reflecting on the « likes » I offer with sincerity to ideas that touch me, I can say I’m not so much on the lookout for the literary quality of a novelist who has reworked (alone and with his or her editor) his manuscript for months, often for a whole year before publishing, but a liveliness of mind, a concise and sufficiently engaging writing, without pretension.
The tools available these days to detect grammatical and spelling errors, and even stylistic ones, are useful and most relevant. After all, who would want to publish a text with such errors? Who can boast of publishing a text with errors that annoy the reader?
I think you said it best : « My grammatical errors and spelling get help from somewhere, but the content is all mine. The stories come from a place in my brain that open up every now and then. »
Translated from French assisted by DeepL.com (free version)
Wild! Thank you for reminding us all to grow soulfully and stay focused on what matters. I knew from the first line it was off and then read the reactions and was like WAIT people believe this? But then here we are and actually an old boss used to say to me - the cream ALWAYS rises to the top… I liked that. ✨ ☕️ one to embody with our morning cuppa. Much love. ❤️
Thanks for bringing light to this. I was fortunate enough not to see this Note, but I guess hackers gonna hack? Any time someone (Substacker or otherwise) offers a way to avoid hard work or vulnerability or risk-taking, it's a red flag moment to me that we're being sold a bill of goods. And of course now I can't help but hear Pema Chodron ringing in my ears: "If you're invested in security and certainty, you are on the wrong planet.” ;-)
Thank you, Sarah! As someone frozen in indecision, having not written a post yet, this took some pressure off and reframed things for me. What matters to me? Not, what do people want to read? Or, what do people want to pay for? Feeling excited! 😊
I hope your cats don’t get ignored too often, ie I hope you don’t get annoyed too often!
Meanwhile, re the comments on your Substack boost, like the Trevi fountain, they have become a victim of their own success. Too many people doing their own thing, an awful lot of liking and little restacking. You probably know that already. It’s not your fault and I have no idea what the solution is. Last Friday I was feeling tired and thought’I don’t have the energy for this’. Good luck. Keep up the good work.
Articles like yours today remind me of why I am on Substack and have eschewed social media, Sarah. You remind me that this is a place that values and facilitates real connections with real people.
Also: how can you tell if something is AI-generated? I was editing an article for a friend a few days ago, and it smelled like AI to me, but I can't pinpoint what it was, except the vague language, the fact that it wasn't really saying anything clear or specific, yet it sounded fancy and professional. Plus, she has admitted to me that she uses AI when she writes articles for her profession. So...?
Aside: This is why students in colleges can use it. Plagiarism detectors are obsolete. Students don't plagiarize; they use AI, but no one can prove it so they aren't penalized. Add to this the fact that we're actually allowed to use it to grade students (!) and we go down the rabbit hole of AI grading AI. It's truly absurd.
There are AI detectors, but they can only prove with 90-ish% accuracy.
You described it so well: It smells of AI. You can just tell. It sounds faintly automated.
But--ironically--I ran the Note by Claude (my AI tool of choice--he's dignified and ethical) and Claude said the first part is human but 2/3 is AI. AI caught AI.
Wow, Sarah, that’s fascinating. I have a close friend who is the chair of the psych department at a local college, and she said she uses a program to detect AI in her students’ papers. I don’t recall her mentioning a specific tool, though, but it sounds as if (from what you are writing here) those are statistically unreliable.
I don't think you were petty in responding to that note, AI-generated or not. I can imagine how aggravating it'd be to see people responding positively to it.
I've been on Substack for about four years, but haven't always had the time to focus on "optimizing" my newsletter. Recently I decided I was ready to turn my attention to it, and to that end joined Writers @ Work about a month ago. No regrets there. But I am quite dismayed by Notes. I've been making a concerted effort to engage with it, and I've been participating in the Notes boosts, but it all feels very desperate. I feel like a drowning person waving my arm in the air in a bid for attention, in a sea of others doing the same.
This feeling is my own responsibility of course. I think I need to pull back from trying so hard on Notes, and engage with it only when it feels completely natural and spontaneous. I need to rediscover having fun with my newsletter, which I lost somewhere along the way in my attempts to "succeed" with it.
Sorry, I may have gotten off-topic, haha! Down with that AI-generated Note! BOOO!
You haven't gone off-topic. I agree about Notes. (I have a special something coming this Friday. Something we all need. Stay tuned.)
Just so you know, Notes has changed dramatically. You feel like that because it's basically Facebook-meets-Twitter and it's impossible not to feel like that on those platforms.
Ultimately, social media is social media, whether on Substack or Meta.
I still think Substack is the best place on the internet, and I want all of us on Substack Writers at Work to use it very strategically to feed our work/art/souls, not deplete us. That's where we're headed--together.
Sarah, I am seeing AI generated posts and Notes here more often. There are some newsletters that are clearly completely AI generated. I also have noticed more writers openly "experimenting" with AI. It's frustrating as a writer and photographer to know that people are buying into AI generated newsletters and content.
I feel the same. It's interesting. "Experimenting" seems vague. What do they use it for? I use it to refine my sales copy, anything business-y because I don't want to use too many of my brain cells for that. I want to save them for my writing :)
Echoing others to say so glad you found and flagged this. Wish I could be live with all of you on Thursday but have committed to give a lecture at Tufts Friedman School. Hoping that a replay will be available.
That's a very good point. Here are my thoughts:
1. Notes is social media and social media isn't a place for authenticity; our Substacks are. This guy was giving advice about people's Substacks, not Notes.
2. I ask people only to boost Notes they genuinely like.
3. The Boosts are a hectic environment and not conducive to deeply felt and thought comments, etc.
4. The algorithm is always changing. The Boosts just give Notes a little momentum so that the Notes that might have gotten traction anyway can.
5. And Notes is optional.
Still, Wes, your point is excellent. I'll think on it.
Yes, but the problem is that those people don't know Notes and Substack tells us all the time that the algorithm changes literally every day. There's no way to game it.
The Boosts help by giving Notes a little boost. That's the most the algorithm can be gamed.
I will never get tired of you calling out ‘Subhackers’ on their BS! Thank you for your work a thousand times ❤️
Thank you, Jana!
We’ve got to keep talking to each other like humans here, you show a good example by writing back, even if it’s to a ‘note’. :)
Thank you for taking the time to break this down.
My grammatical errors and spelling get help from somewhere, but the content is all mine. The stories come from a place in my brain that open up every now and then and lets me remember. I write the information (or my wife calls it scratching) down and hope I can piece a story together. As fast as AI is said to be sorting out stories that are rattling around in my brain would be something I don't think it could do.
Dear Paul,
Reflecting on the « likes » I offer with sincerity to ideas that touch me, I can say I’m not so much on the lookout for the literary quality of a novelist who has reworked (alone and with his or her editor) his manuscript for months, often for a whole year before publishing, but a liveliness of mind, a concise and sufficiently engaging writing, without pretension.
The tools available these days to detect grammatical and spelling errors, and even stylistic ones, are useful and most relevant. After all, who would want to publish a text with such errors? Who can boast of publishing a text with errors that annoy the reader?
I think you said it best : « My grammatical errors and spelling get help from somewhere, but the content is all mine. The stories come from a place in my brain that open up every now and then. »
Translated from French assisted by DeepL.com (free version)
Wild! Thank you for reminding us all to grow soulfully and stay focused on what matters. I knew from the first line it was off and then read the reactions and was like WAIT people believe this? But then here we are and actually an old boss used to say to me - the cream ALWAYS rises to the top… I liked that. ✨ ☕️ one to embody with our morning cuppa. Much love. ❤️
Thanks for bringing light to this. I was fortunate enough not to see this Note, but I guess hackers gonna hack? Any time someone (Substacker or otherwise) offers a way to avoid hard work or vulnerability or risk-taking, it's a red flag moment to me that we're being sold a bill of goods. And of course now I can't help but hear Pema Chodron ringing in my ears: "If you're invested in security and certainty, you are on the wrong planet.” ;-)
This is the wisest thing I've read in a long, long time, Amanda. Truly. You're a gift.
This was sooo helpful! Thanks!
Thanks Sarah, this answered a few of my questions without needing to ask. :-)
Thank you, Sarah! As someone frozen in indecision, having not written a post yet, this took some pressure off and reframed things for me. What matters to me? Not, what do people want to read? Or, what do people want to pay for? Feeling excited! 😊
Yes! This makes me so happy!
I hope your cats don’t get ignored too often, ie I hope you don’t get annoyed too often!
Meanwhile, re the comments on your Substack boost, like the Trevi fountain, they have become a victim of their own success. Too many people doing their own thing, an awful lot of liking and little restacking. You probably know that already. It’s not your fault and I have no idea what the solution is. Last Friday I was feeling tired and thought’I don’t have the energy for this’. Good luck. Keep up the good work.
Special surprise coming this Friday...
Articles like yours today remind me of why I am on Substack and have eschewed social media, Sarah. You remind me that this is a place that values and facilitates real connections with real people.
Also: how can you tell if something is AI-generated? I was editing an article for a friend a few days ago, and it smelled like AI to me, but I can't pinpoint what it was, except the vague language, the fact that it wasn't really saying anything clear or specific, yet it sounded fancy and professional. Plus, she has admitted to me that she uses AI when she writes articles for her profession. So...?
We can't (yet) prove that a text is AI-generated.
Aside: This is why students in colleges can use it. Plagiarism detectors are obsolete. Students don't plagiarize; they use AI, but no one can prove it so they aren't penalized. Add to this the fact that we're actually allowed to use it to grade students (!) and we go down the rabbit hole of AI grading AI. It's truly absurd.
There are AI detectors, but they can only prove with 90-ish% accuracy.
You described it so well: It smells of AI. You can just tell. It sounds faintly automated.
But--ironically--I ran the Note by Claude (my AI tool of choice--he's dignified and ethical) and Claude said the first part is human but 2/3 is AI. AI caught AI.
Wow, Sarah, that’s fascinating. I have a close friend who is the chair of the psych department at a local college, and she said she uses a program to detect AI in her students’ papers. I don’t recall her mentioning a specific tool, though, but it sounds as if (from what you are writing here) those are statistically unreliable.
Yes, AI grading AI has crossed into absurdity.
I don't think you were petty in responding to that note, AI-generated or not. I can imagine how aggravating it'd be to see people responding positively to it.
I've been on Substack for about four years, but haven't always had the time to focus on "optimizing" my newsletter. Recently I decided I was ready to turn my attention to it, and to that end joined Writers @ Work about a month ago. No regrets there. But I am quite dismayed by Notes. I've been making a concerted effort to engage with it, and I've been participating in the Notes boosts, but it all feels very desperate. I feel like a drowning person waving my arm in the air in a bid for attention, in a sea of others doing the same.
This feeling is my own responsibility of course. I think I need to pull back from trying so hard on Notes, and engage with it only when it feels completely natural and spontaneous. I need to rediscover having fun with my newsletter, which I lost somewhere along the way in my attempts to "succeed" with it.
Sorry, I may have gotten off-topic, haha! Down with that AI-generated Note! BOOO!
You haven't gone off-topic. I agree about Notes. (I have a special something coming this Friday. Something we all need. Stay tuned.)
Just so you know, Notes has changed dramatically. You feel like that because it's basically Facebook-meets-Twitter and it's impossible not to feel like that on those platforms.
Ultimately, social media is social media, whether on Substack or Meta.
I still think Substack is the best place on the internet, and I want all of us on Substack Writers at Work to use it very strategically to feed our work/art/souls, not deplete us. That's where we're headed--together.
Looking forward to your "special something"! (NO PRESSURE)
Sarah, I am seeing AI generated posts and Notes here more often. There are some newsletters that are clearly completely AI generated. I also have noticed more writers openly "experimenting" with AI. It's frustrating as a writer and photographer to know that people are buying into AI generated newsletters and content.
I feel the same. It's interesting. "Experimenting" seems vague. What do they use it for? I use it to refine my sales copy, anything business-y because I don't want to use too many of my brain cells for that. I want to save them for my writing :)
Sarah:
Echoing others to say so glad you found and flagged this. Wish I could be live with all of you on Thursday but have committed to give a lecture at Tufts Friedman School. Hoping that a replay will be available.
Thanks again!
Sally
Have a great lecture!
This was very fun!
And.. wait.. you can SEE us in the live?…🤭🫣
I can't see you in the live. Just your names. I wish I could!
Sometimes it’s better not to see 🤭🫣🤪🤪