Meryl Nass and I were both in the Top 12 Science Substacks up until recently, according to the Substack Leaderboard.
We have both recently been removed. Neither of us even appear in the Top 100 now.
There’s proof of Meryl’s presence in the Top 10 here. I learned of this Leaderboard thing from the aforementioned article and at that point, Unacceptable Jessica hadn’t been classified as a ‘Science’ newsletter and so did not appear in the Top 100. Sasha helped me figure it out. Tx! And thanks to LW: I love you too!
I made this comment on 2023-09-16 at 7.54.24.
So when I changed it to a ‘Science’ newsletter, I went to position 12 in the Leaderboard. I took one screenshot.
So? Where did we go?
Et tu Leaderboard?
Yeah, there's some funny business going on with substack. I've actually had stuff censored and deleted, and I'd like to know what's going on. I hope you get to the bottom of things. (not the ratings, but ... well, you know)
As a side note (and personal disclaimer - my tin foil hat may be on too tight), I've wondered if substack was set up as a "place of refuge" from all the other censored platforms so that all the content can be easily herded/tracked in one place, rather than scattered about in different areas. It would be so easy for everyone to establish a presence there, and then nuke it all in one fell swoop by blocking DNS requests to the domain. (ie, "substack was never there")
Fortunately you don't need a leader board for the world to know you shine. Like a rock star, folks know you by your first name. You are handling all the celebrity beautifully and modestly.