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A defense against Stripe's attack on Malone is to open and use a throw away bank account, similar to throw away email accounts and burner phones. If the bank account that Stripe deposits into isn't used for anything else, the most they can learn is what you use your debit card to buy.

It's fairly obvious that the reason Stripe is demanding Malone's account transaction history is they want to hand the information to a group that wants to deplatform Malone by publicly shaming his supporters until they withdraw their support of him.

If it was the government go8ng after him, they already have all his bank details in real time. So this implies that it is an activist group collaborating with Stripe.

What ever happened to banks being apolitical?

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Morg, did you know that payments through BMAC are handled by Stripe?

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Yes, I did know that and I noted it in a comment in the other post. However, it is beside the point as the main issue is Substack only using Stripe. In regions where other payment processors are available, Substack should offer them.

Also, BMAC is not owned or controlled by Substack itself. So it suffices for now as an alternative to paid subscriptions. As long as paid subs are off, Substack does not get any money from paying subscribers.

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That’s okay, just wasn’t sure if you knew 👍

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One good thing about this: It got me thinking about adding more payment options. I had gotten rather complacent about it, but I realize now that paid subs should just be one way for people to support.

I also feel like I need to mirror my content someplace else too. Putting all my eggs in substack's basket is dangerous. What happens if somebody buy substack? Like google or facebook, etc? I'd be banned as soon as they saw my content. LOL

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I might consider doing the mirroring here:

https://www.subscribestar.com/features

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Will check it out, thanks Morg

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I set up my account. It's weird compared to Substack, rather garish design and what not, but I'll probably give it a shot. I'm in the approval process right now. So I'll wait until I get approved before I start loading it with content.

https://www.subscribestar.com/morgthorak

I think I've published around 140 articles on Substack, so I have a lot of content to put over there. 😂

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Perhaps just to try it first, why not transfer just 2-4 posts and see how that works out.

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No problem, looks like a potentially good backup at least. I don't want to sound paranoid as I still love substack, but who knows where it will go in the future. If it gets bought out, I expect trouble.

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Well, these days nothing is certain. And do you know about Substack’s new ‘boost’.

With several writers who have content behind a paywall, there is a button to unlock one post ‘by courtesy of the writer’ (the 2 I asked didn’t know). But to unlock it, you need to verify your phone number.

I never gave it so how can you verify?

And the chat bot gave 2 conflicting answers

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Mar 24
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I don't think that *any* commercial social media site is on the up and up anymore. Social media is captured, either by government, or some other group wishing to control the flow of information for their own reasons.

Substack isn't going to do anything about Stripe, because they don't care. If I had to guess Substack has already sold out somewhere along the line. There might be a contract agreement, where the original players walk away at some later predetermined date. I estimate that it’s just a matter of time before Substack puts their own algorithms into FULL effect.

My guess is that the Substack “subscriber-only format” model has already failed on paper, and that's what's driving all of this. The platform likely has more value as a way of keeping those on the right preaching to each other.

Substack definitely has some of the most gifted writers on the Internet – hands down. But their reach is limited. Internet search engines like Google, are going to push “certain” Substack writers down. Of course they could do that with any platform. But Substack is a goldmine of intellectual writing power – just waiting to be shadow banned.

Think about it. Where have all the trolls gone? And why? They were on and off, now they're pretty much gone.

I don't think the trolls are gone because Substack has found an ingenious way to remove them. I think it's because they are realizing exactly what I'm talking about. An Echo Chamber is a very effective gate. Invisible gates are even more effective – and very effective invisible gates are worth a lot of money!

That's why I duplicate everything I do on my own blog.

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Also, electrical power grids in America have not been upgraded to provide power to millions of electric vehicles, so where is the power going to come from? 🤔

They shut down coal production.

They shut down oil exploration.

They're trying to shut down natural gas production.

They hate Nuclear power

We don't build out own power transformers anymore

I wonder if we remember how to string copper wiring.

The sun doesn't always shine

And the big windmills can be stopped by a freeze.

Yes, indeed, where are they going to get the power required for a country that only wants to use EV's?

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Likely we'll soon be plunged back into the early 1800s, which is frustrating.

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At least in the early 1800's, you could own a printing press and you could print your own books. Of course, it was up to you to get them where they were going.

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Very true

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The founders of Substack have an exit plan, which either to IPO or to be acquired by Google or Facebook. Either way the result will be the same, just like Signal, What's app, and Instagram. Once they acquire the app, they add backdoors to the encryption, and filtering algorithms to block sharing of messages they wish to suppress (links). Google killed Youtube by acquiring it. YouTube in 2012 had far better content and rewarded small content creators. Substack will be the next Youtube.

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I hope you are wrong, but you are probably right.

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Social media was funded by DARPA from the beginning for the purpose of capturing the users and shaping public opinion through control of information. Nothing is free in real life. Free social media, free email (gmail), means that the user is the product. Free startup accelerators (Y-Combinator) means the startup is the product sold to the Venture Capitalists who are Y-Combinators real customers. Who pays the most for those users? Yes, advertisers. But political campaigns and big government are the deepest pockets. It is about power and control.

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Good grief, Morg, you are a gem and a warrior. A great goody-bag as always. As soon as I am capable, I will donate via the coffee site. All this stuff with Stripe...worrisome and sad. I am total small potatoes and hopefully invisibile. I will keep monitoring all this. I also love Substack and hope they will survive the barbarian hordes. I always save all my humble Substack writing, as a back-up. The two photos of "what women think men want" and "what men want from women", were absolutely fascinating! I would be curious as to your mindset with this, as I write about my own disastrous experience in youth, in the sexual revolution. I remember a male youtuber making a short vid about "too much booty." I laughed when I read the title but once I saw the vid, I was stunned to see the truth of it. He said girls were offering too much visual statement of their "value" to men. I profoundly agree. Nothing more complex than the male-female dynamic...but too much is definitely too much, with a differing opinion than Mae West ("too much is never enough"). I tried "too much" for over a decade and it was...not good. I hope women can re-discover the realm of mystery, not being coy or teasing but for the love of God, stop revealing so much to the barbarian hordes of the world! I never did that, even in youth but I was never built like the brick outhouse either. Just simmer down a bit, please, dear ladies and ask for respect and honor rather than showing it all off. Ok, rant over. Keep on, Morgthorak, you are on a roll.

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Way to stand up!

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