5 Comments

This is good news that has largely gone unnoticed! I would encourage you to set up a dedicated website rather than a substack sooner rather than later. You could even go with a free template on WordPress.org in the short term until the funding is in place for a domain etc.

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The going unnoticed is not unintentional. I wanted some pieces to fall into place before "coming out." Fr. Tom convinced me that a dedicated substack can stand in adequately for a website. The site is still under construction--I plan to add a leadership page, make the worship page public, and other pages as needed. What do you think the advantages of a website are? btw, Fr. Tom gave me anglicanjapan.com as a gift! (it still redirects to the other substack -- I've asked him to send it here)

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I'd say "adequate" is a good word to describe Substack. A website gives you full control over your content and how its used. Especially if you'll be uploading resources that are relatively static (e.g., Japanese translation of the Kagali commitment, Rule of Life etc.) then a website is the way to go. As it stands here, they become temporary pages as blog posts, which age over time (and which search engines like Google classify differently than static pages). As you build out the resources, leadership and other pages you will benefit greatly from having your own site. Also, from an evangelistic perspective, Substack constantly pushing subscriptions might not be the way to go in the long run - constantly asking for money can leave a bad taste in the mouth, especially for enquirers.

For your present needs, and as a blog resourcer, Substack is great! But its monetized publishing background shines through all too clearly, which to me is the antithesis of the Church.

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Good points. I'm with you about about the 違和感 about monetization. Not sure I will ever monetize at all, but you can also monetize only certain content (like a newsletter for people who support your mission financially). As for the static content, that can sit in the tabs at the top, a lot like a website. I agree a website is preferable, but it involves some running costs and a bit more hassle in terms of design (for me, not being adept at these things). I'll keep thinking about it.

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So you know, I got quite a few suggestions to subscribe to your feeds when I signed up and logged into Substack. I think it's a platform feature that you have no control over, but it irked me nonetheless.

I'm no website expert, but I'd be happy to help in any way I can! I do help maintain other websites and so have a bit of knowhow. My biggest concern with hosting your main site on a third party platform is you don't own your content - the third party (Substack, facebook... whoever) can unilaterally change their terms or lock you out without warning. A properly backed up website can travel to a new host with much less effort.

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