Reader capture

I really enjoy Bari Weiss’s Substack, Common Sense. It is one of Substack’s biggest success stories.

But I find myself a bit worried on Friday’s “TGIF” editions, when Nellie Bowles takes over. It’s almost too enjoyable.

But these women were of the center-left, and I of the center-right.

Either (1) Bari and Nellie have moved markedly to the Right, or (2) I’ve moved markedly to the Left, or (3) common sense is spreading leftward, or (4) Common Sense is one of Substack’s biggest “reader capture”* stories, too. I’m voting for #3.

(* I believe I’ve heard the term “reader capture” used to describe Substackers (and Patreoners, I suppose) pandering to whatever narratives add lots of paying readers. But searching the term produces a bunch of noise, no obvious signal.)