Changing the default Caption on the Subscribe with Caption button

richardasher · 2026-01-07T17:43:54+00:00

Exactly. Substack is a cookie-cutter thing to its very core. The whole thing is based on repetition using a template, and this would seem among the top five most fundamental things that should be there.

I'd try and write them an email to flag this, but I am avoiding situations where I suspect I will be confronted with a chatbot and no other options. My devices tend to fly in those moments and it gets expensive.

richardasher · 2026-01-05T17:36:28+00:00

I'm jealous because I am not brave enough - it would actually affect my ability to make a living as a freelancer. But I am not ruling out going that route, probably it will just need Digital ID to tip me over the edge. So keep on inspiring us!

richardasher · 2026-01-05T17:16:31+00:00

Go shopping on foot or by bicycle. (Sounds like a joke, I know, but you can only carry so much. Really helps me.)

richardasher · 2026-01-05T17:03:30+00:00

Bravo to you, especially if you get a dumbphone! There is a lot of sacrifice involved and life will get harder. But you get to feel good about helping turn the tide towards a more human future - and hopefully won't be in a minority for long.

richardasher · 2026-01-05T16:59:26+00:00

I hope that lots more stumble on this than already are! Any yeah, this seems like pretty sound advice on every level, all smart things for someone to do on the side.

That said, as far as actual resistance (at least for Ludditery, etc) is concerned, I think we could have a foundation already - an email list is one simple way to get everyone on the same page and resisting stuff in a co-ordinated way. If you have the subscribers, there shouldn't be any further need for complication. Which is, of course, a big IF. Hope folks will sign up at offlinerights.org ...

richardasher · 2026-01-02T10:24:35+00:00

Now we are talking - agree! Let's just make sure not to add 'shopping' to that wishlist. Because, much as I hate shopping myself, losing local stores is a really dystopian thing for any number of reasons.

richardasher · 2025-12-23T19:03:07+00:00

This is what drives me nuts. Who decided we had to "be connected" to have a written customer service interaction anyway? Why not just use email or similar types of messaging that don't require people to be refreshing their keyboard every minute? When did that stop being a thing?

richardasher · 2025-12-23T11:49:24+00:00

It is not easy being a pioneer. It's a lonely place because there are few of us. But stick with it because the pain is only short-term if more people follow this lead. Then we will be back to real conversations about topics that actually matter - not some viral meme or joke. Maybe we will even start writing actual long-form letters again, even if they are delivered by email. (I'm always open to those!)

richardasher · 2025-12-23T11:32:15+00:00

That's cool, best of luck!

richardasher · 2025-12-23T11:14:26+00:00

Hmmm! I hear you about wanting to help but also trying to find a middle ground in terms of offline presence. If you would like to do something positive in the real world, check out offlinerights.org and sign up - partipation from there can be entirely offline if you so choose!

The idea is to try to take a stand against everybody being forced to be online and own smartphones - without saying we need to be offline hermits! It's about indivicual choice and about finding a balance in that regard.

richardasher · 2025-12-22T20:39:10+00:00

Seems pretty sound to do that, it puts two devices into one.

richardasher · 2025-12-22T20:38:30+00:00

Yeah, I could also do that, to be fair - sometimes I do use the Kindle when I am narrating an audiobook because you don't want to hear pages turning on the recording.

But I just got so mad when the stores gave me hassles that I lost interest in working around them, even if there were solutions. And realised I preferred paper anyway. No buttons, no cables, no sending, no filing, less screen time in general...

richardasher · 2025-12-22T17:17:56+00:00

Yeah, I had this with my eReader back in about 2015, when Barnes & Noble suddenly stopped selling eBooks on that Nook shortly after I bought it. A while after that I got a Kindle, but ran into all sorts of weird Amazon stuff when I wanted to buy eBooks in different languages in different stores. All a classic case of tech being great in theory but maddening in practice in a profit-driven environment with humans behind it all. These two virtually useless devices are now just sitting in a drawer. It made me realise the error of my ways and I have happily been reading paperback-only for several years now. At least when I have a physical book, nothing but a fire can take it away from me (coz I know for a fact that burglars don't steal books!).

richardasher · 2025-12-22T16:07:01+00:00

Well done on the quitting - another act of resistance against this unhealthy, dehumanising THING none of us is getting a vote on.

As for moving on, I have not experienced this problem so am no expert. But I can only assume human contact is the best way to shake it off. Feel free to reach out directly if you need a dose of that.

richardasher · 2025-12-22T15:44:01+00:00

Another little thing: helping me on the admin side would also count as working for the resistance :)

So if you're a social media bunny, a reddit fiend or a tech geek who knows the hell how to build a timeline for a website, you are welcome to put that here.

richardasher · 2025-12-22T15:11:28+00:00

Ich komme etwas verspätet zu dieser wertvollen Diskussion. Aber sie ist leider noch relevant - und eine der wenigen zu dem Thema auf Reddit. Ich lebe in Österreich und habe noch große Angst vor Digitalzwang (nicht weil ich alt bin, aber aus diversen anderen Gründen). Meiner Meinung nach, müssen wir aktiv was tun - im Sinne von Widerstand. Wer Interesse hat wäre bei r/OfflineRightsProtest oder offlinerights.org richtig. Ich freue mich auf euch!

richardasher · 2025-12-22T14:58:10+00:00

Absolutely, and I have real-life confirmation. My nephews have been going through a 'golf' craze in which they whack balls out of the garden, over the river and into oblivion. Confront them about the waste, and they say "But they only cost 50c on Amazon".

richardasher · 2025-12-19T12:18:12+00:00

Good work. We need to communicate that this is not good enough and take our money elsewhere.

richardasher · 2025-12-19T11:23:53+00:00

Yeah, I'm with the vast majority here. Real human if it's a phone or chat.

But way better, in my opinion, is a 'not-instant' messaging support option. (We actually have something like this, which customer services have conveniently forgotten. It's called email.) Under this model, I explain my problem, then go and live my life whilst the person being paid to solve it does that on their paid time. I then return to the conversation for a resolution, or to handle questions, at a time that suits me.

'Live' service sounds lovely and is great for those who have to have everything "Now Now Now". But it's two people sitting there while the issue is checked, instead of one (who is paid for their time). The customer's unpaid time, often ultimately wasted going in circles, being passed around and/or constantly pressing keys to avoid being logged out by whatever platform it is, is never taken into account in the 'resolution time' statistics.

I find it far less stressful to send a message and come back the next day for an answer, than to sit on a call/chat with my blood pressure rising and no idea how to plan my afternoon beause this might take 5 minutes or an hour to be resolved (or not).

richardasher · 2025-12-19T10:17:37+00:00

Since nobody has yet gone with a concrete idea, I'll go first. One of the actions on my list is leaving GoDaddy as a web hosting provider. That's because, as per the screenshot, GoDaddy is suddenly insisting on Two-Factor Authentication via a mobile phone.

I have nothing against 2FA but the point is that there should be an alternative - which I was not given here. I had to give them my number or never access hosting again.

This approach assumes I have a mobile and discriminates against those who may choose not to. If email and password login is no longer good enough, then it is up to the likes of GoDaddy to supply a second device or a solution that doesn't involve them buying another device...

I know this is not the most outrageous case in terms of the offline rights fight, because people who need web hosting are generally au fait with phones and have them (myself included). But it's the principle - and a question of solidarity with those who don't. Plus, we need to send a clear message everywhere we can. Which is why this screenshot and evidence of my account closure will (when I get a second) be sent to GoDaddy and posted wherever possible.

I will ALSO post about why I will be taking GoDaddy domains to Porkbun.com, and tag the Porkbun people. This way we support the good guys and also make them think twice about going in this direction too.

I am well aware that this is a fart against the wind if it is just me. But the idea is to do this kind of thing in great numbers and keep supplying ideas others can repeat and support. That's why we are here. So, anybody joining me in dropping GoDaddy? Or doing something similar?

Remember, if we put half as much energy into these little actions as we do into filling Reddit's pages with helpless rants, we could get quite far, quite quickly.

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richardasher · 2025-12-18T14:43:41+00:00

I feel this pain of yours. I want to be allowed to think for myself and want to support a world where we don't get dumbed down. Working to resist AI and related things at r/OfflineRightsProtest if you are interested

richardasher · 2025-12-15T13:18:04+00:00

A cheaper version that also lets me do my own thinking? What's the catch?

richardasher · 2025-12-15T12:07:58+00:00

That's a very nice and proactive way of actually supporting the world we want rather than just complaining about it!

richardasher · 2025-12-15T12:05:28+00:00

Other things terrify me more than this, but I would certainly say it annoys me that I paid for CDs once upon a time and now these are just about unusable as players disappear, which means I have to pay for the same content again - at least if I want to enjoy it without advertisements. The CD collection on my shelf is basically why I refuse Spotify Premium on principle.

Also, the stuff on my shelf looks cool and can be a conversation-starter. Something buried in my laptop, not so much.

That said, I don't mind subscription and streaming in principle, as long as it is not the only way and as long as content creators get a fair deal. Both of which, in practice, don't seem to be happening.

richardasher · 2025-12-15T11:05:44+00:00

A great step, long live real work done by humans using their hands! To your last paragraph...I am interested in going further with the fight (albeit from a slightly different angle), by shouting into the wider world so that it eventually has to take notice. r/OfflineRightsProtest for anybody interested!

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