Calling For A Vote On Future Of Comments Section: Value Your Feedback

Also: TTB First Hire-- "Help Desk," Explained In This Post

I invite you to vote on a contentious, long lingering editorial question that Tom (Kudla) and I yet again brawled about again last night. It’s an argument we have been having for over 3 years:

I have never wanted to close off comments to unpaid subscribers—wanted everybody to be able to comment.

I have argued: “Our comments section is the life-blood of the magazine.” (I call it a magazine.)

Tom says: “Every serious Substack publication has this setting enabled.”

Tom argues this setting is crucial. Why?

He says it inspires people to be on their best behavior.

The Malaga Bull close to airport.

Sometimes I find time to like comments and reply and sometimes I don’t. It takes hours each day, if done correctly.

But let me tell you why I (only recently) have changed my mind possibly, a little, on this:

“People” enter our space and start attacking us—me, and/or you. Some may be “professional” trolls, some not. Some are acceptably disgruntled while others are seriously and pathologically vicious. It is my duty, as your editor, to zap the vicious, and ban them permanently. I have one done this when time has permitted.

Without exception, the vicious ones are unpaid subscribers. Often they have only recently visited TTB for the first time.

I owe many people sincere apologies for having been injured in a space I am responsible for. I’m hundreds of emails behind on this, and we may need to re-start the clock in a new amnesty deal.

But the point is, this is a matter of grave importance to me—not to be an abuse enabler.

I believe, for example, that if a friend gets verbally attacked at your dinner party (dating myself) by somebody else, that is on you, the host. It was your responsibility to make sure no dark frequency entered, and if you failed to condemn and/or kick out the attacker, you tacitly endorsed the attack and deserve to lose the attacked friend.

These things are symbiotic and communal.

An aside: I have a long history with professional haters, including one that was traced to a US military-in-cahoots-with-Israel funding source, (years before I ever objected to Israel.) Targeted attacks, escalating into dark occultism, were so severe, especially between 2006 and 2010, that I was finally hospitalized due to a breakdown, and it took more than 14 years to regain my health.

(Facebook and Flickr were, back then, the tech platforms that hosted these attacks, which included not only death threats but detailed dismemberment and snuff film fantasies, issued by a famous goth singer who loved “AIDS.”)

(This history got scrubbed from the Internet but I have it all.)

That all is behind me now, and I am more resilient.

Friends Like These

The original Truth Barrier, the website, was brought down after a long fight in the comments (about David Bowie, occultism, Pizzagate and more) caused readers to flee.

The real end came after I published a 2 part series by Mark Crispin Miller, on the violence of masks, in 2020, and next thing I knew, two evil twin brothers from Mass. locked me out of my own site, and tried to extort money from me, even though I had paid them in advance.

GoDaddy refused to help, and I was persuaded to spend all the money I had on a company that claimed to rescue and restore targeted websites, but after taking my money, told me it was not possible.

10 years of work, gone. (Tom, luckily, found the raw archive, so I can weave some evergreens back in.)

But here’s what gave me paws.

(Intentional mis-spelling.)

In an email exchange I had recently with Anna Runkle, of Crappy Childhood Fairy, she told me that, though she likes our Substack, she could not remain due to the intensity of hostility from some in our comments section.

She was apologizing to me for having to remove herself and I felt, simply, a sadness that a “party” I hosted had become too rough for somebody I a) cherish, and b) specializes in C-PTSD recovery.

(!)

Anna has staff who monitor her comments at all times; One day I hope to be able to hire one person just to do this.

Ralph has been watching over it very generously and attentively.

Sometimes he alerts me to nasty comments by way of warning me not to read them. But mostly he draws my attention to various remarkable comments—which brings us back to why I always wanted to keep all comments flowing, from all who visit. I don’t mean to fawn but I feel so proud of our comments section. One day (one day) I want to spend a few weeks reading all of them, and select hundreds for re-publication. They’re all “eternal,” none will be lost, even if at the time, I didn't offer the feedback they deserved.

Ok, Here’s the vote:

Option A:

We leave things as they are.

Option B:

Comments are limited to paid subscribers.

[I think it would be amusing to see if there are people who hate me, or any of you, enough to pay to attack us. I like the idea of this—attackers having to pay.]

Option C:

We try it, (new comments setting) for one week.

Then re-visit, together.

For the record, I like some “attackers—” if they are disgruntled but not out for blood.

I certainly do not want to foster a climate of excessive and unified support. I think it’s healthy to take some punches.

I just don’t want a climate that feels dark or intimidating.

I think everybody understands they will be banned for life if they insult my cats.

:)

Limiting Beliefs? Mindset? Gender?

Tom has, for years now, been pulling his hair out to get me to take his counsel and run TTB a proper publishing small business. Last, at a small kebab joint at 2:30 am, after Semana Santa’s conclusion, he really let me have it, telling me, though I have built a marvelous magazine, that I score very low on revenue, compared to others Substack writers he works with. (Notably, Jon Rappoport.)

Separation?

I feel deep gratitude to paid and unpaid subscribers who engage with this periodical.

We still have a perfect record of not one paid subscriber complaining that they get no perks.

The immediate plan is to expand into audio, (broadcasting narrative, and interviewing) and this will be exclusive to paid subscribers.

“Travel” content will continue to be available to all, for now, as a respite from our Anaconda War content.

Truth Barrier HELP DESK—New Feature

NOTE: As of today, if you have any issues, need a refund, are trying to cancel, or anything else you may have tried to bring to my attention, you can contact Tom at TomKudla29@gmail.com. He will bring it to my attention.

In April/May I also intend to contact everybody who bought my (AIDS) book before Christmas, as we may have to re-do some of the orders. Some people will be getting an extra book, free, signed, now that I have editorial help. (There were not enough signed books back then, but we are generating more from the London warehouse.)

Edit/correction: You can buy my book on Chelsea Green’s website, which helps me.

Good news: Amazon had previously reduced the cost of my book to $3, for no good reason, but it’s now back up to a normal (discounted) price, of $16.59.

You can buy it here.

Remember to be gentle in comments section, and remember that we are a community.

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And huge thanks to all who are already paid subscribers.