I may not fully understand the problem, so please bear with me.
Don't you just send the same post to both paid and non-paid? That's what I do. Seems less laborious than doing two separate posts, but I might not be understanding the issue correctly.
I also block trolls, but I keep my comments open to non-paid subscribers (I'm not claiming this is the best way). I block by deleting comments from trolls. I don't engage or argue. I delete, then block the account.Again, no engagement. They lost their rights to civil discussion by doubling down on hate after the election. Again, though, pick your "laborious" poison. It can be time consuming at first to delete troll comments, but, on the other hand, it's a handy way to block trolls.
One thing you can do to update a post that I think is worth a try: Go to Dashboard --> Posts, find the post you want to update, then click the ellipsis. You'll see a context menu item named "Duplicate" or "Copy" — Substack changes this arbitrarily for some reason. This will copy your entire post with the title like this: [Copy] Decolonized Awesome Post.
Then you can then change the title to "[Update] Decolonized Awesome Post." or whatever. Be sure to include the words, "ICE sucks." And of course, you can edit the post with your update.
FWIW, it does not look like I, as a free subscriber, received the post.
The way it's set up is so that paid subs get the post immediately. Free subs get the post at the scheduled time (7 AM).
To update the post, I had to unschedule the 7 AM delivery for it to save. After saving it, the system wouldn't allow me to reschedule what it recognized as an already-published post.
I didn't realize I screwed myself until I saw my analytics this morning and it showed only paid subs opening the email.
Does this make sense? I'm having a hard time trying to explain it.
I think you might have been able to do this in the reverse. I think the delivery sends whatever version is current at the time. Up until it's sent, you can make and save changes, leaving it to deliver at the already scheduled time.
You probably could have made the update to your post, sent it again to paid subscribers only and left the updated version to send normally to the unpaid recipients scheduled for later delivery.
I am old enough to remember morning and afternoon editions of print newspapers, and into the 24-hour news cycle. With so much disinformation being spewed, the focus needs to be on accuracy, even if it means waiting a beat or two. Then again, I am a poet and retired professor who left behind journalism. How would that mechanically work in Substacklandia?
With foot dragging on FOIA requests and asks for clarification, there is always the potential of a "got cha" moment, pointing at an earlier piece. Your ongoing readers know your work and attention to accuracy. There is a difference between breaking news journalism and magazine journalism, in terms of ability to verify and fact-check as a story unfolds.
I would send out an update email to the free subs
This is the way. I was clearly overthinking this. 😂
I may not fully understand the problem, so please bear with me.
Don't you just send the same post to both paid and non-paid? That's what I do. Seems less laborious than doing two separate posts, but I might not be understanding the issue correctly.
I also block trolls, but I keep my comments open to non-paid subscribers (I'm not claiming this is the best way). I block by deleting comments from trolls. I don't engage or argue. I delete, then block the account.Again, no engagement. They lost their rights to civil discussion by doubling down on hate after the election. Again, though, pick your "laborious" poison. It can be time consuming at first to delete troll comments, but, on the other hand, it's a handy way to block trolls.
One thing you can do to update a post that I think is worth a try: Go to Dashboard --> Posts, find the post you want to update, then click the ellipsis. You'll see a context menu item named "Duplicate" or "Copy" — Substack changes this arbitrarily for some reason. This will copy your entire post with the title like this: [Copy] Decolonized Awesome Post.
Then you can then change the title to "[Update] Decolonized Awesome Post." or whatever. Be sure to include the words, "ICE sucks." And of course, you can edit the post with your update.
FWIW, it does not look like I, as a free subscriber, received the post.
The way it's set up is so that paid subs get the post immediately. Free subs get the post at the scheduled time (7 AM).
To update the post, I had to unschedule the 7 AM delivery for it to save. After saving it, the system wouldn't allow me to reschedule what it recognized as an already-published post.
I didn't realize I screwed myself until I saw my analytics this morning and it showed only paid subs opening the email.
Does this make sense? I'm having a hard time trying to explain it.
I like your ideas though. Something to look into.
I think you might have been able to do this in the reverse. I think the delivery sends whatever version is current at the time. Up until it's sent, you can make and save changes, leaving it to deliver at the already scheduled time.
You probably could have made the update to your post, sent it again to paid subscribers only and left the updated version to send normally to the unpaid recipients scheduled for later delivery.
You are on to something here. I think a separate updated post is the way forward.
The update post landed at 11:03 AM (CST). I read it on the app, and did not open the email. Don't know if that skews analytics as per "opened emails."
Interesting. Thanks!
I am old enough to remember morning and afternoon editions of print newspapers, and into the 24-hour news cycle. With so much disinformation being spewed, the focus needs to be on accuracy, even if it means waiting a beat or two. Then again, I am a poet and retired professor who left behind journalism. How would that mechanically work in Substacklandia?
That's what I'm figuring out. Thanks to reader suggestions, I have a decent grasp of what to do morning forward with a simple updated post.
With foot dragging on FOIA requests and asks for clarification, there is always the potential of a "got cha" moment, pointing at an earlier piece. Your ongoing readers know your work and attention to accuracy. There is a difference between breaking news journalism and magazine journalism, in terms of ability to verify and fact-check as a story unfolds.