Small Stands Tall
an open letter to the community
Fellow SmallStackers, this is Robin Taylor from the SmallStack Team.
SmallStack has been around for eight months now. We’ve grown by leaps and bounds, and we’ve watched an entire community grow up around us. When I launched this dream, it was all about lifting up small voices, helping us find our communities, and doing something cool that “big” just can’t reach in the ways “small” can.
But this world we are part of has also changed a lot in the last eight months. It’s difficult to call most of that change “good” when it has hurt so many people. I believed—at first—that being a “library” meant not getting overly involved in taking specific political stances or inserting my personal thoughts or emotions into this publication.
I cannot do that anymore.
Many of these political battles are about me—about transgender people, queer people, disabled people, immigrants. They are also about maintaining social services, tending to the needs of communities, fighting for human rights and bodily autonomy. They are battles of survival and social justice. They have divided families and tainted social media. They have polarized and politicized all of us, and it no longer feels like an option to sit this out.
Political parties are abandoning their constituents, news companies and billionaires are bowing down to an oligarchy. The owner of Meta is removing more and more rules from his applications, many of which will now allow women to be called “property or objects in general,” Black people to be called “farm equipment,” and transgender people like myself to be called “it”1. This is not just a problem relegated to social media, to apps that we can opt in or out of. It is a bigger shift in America, in the world, in all of our local and global communities.
You may have even seen it on this platform, in the recent post by On Substack2, hinting at new features to come by platforming a very big voice, Bari Weiss. Weiss’ publication is full of misinformation, disinformation, and blatant transmisia. Her publication isn’t new to Substack, but this kind of promotion by Substack leadership is unacceptable.
I was part of the Substackers Against Nazis open letter in December 2023, and I take great pride in the collective action I joined in that effort. We were heard, and the difference we made in the larger community is still felt today. Did it de-platform Nazis? No. But it did something better—our open letter helped members of a community find one another and come together in solidarity and support, and that’s something we need right now.
So today and every day I am taking a stand against hatred, intolerance, and bullying. While this post is tailored to this particular platform, my message speaks widely to the cultural change we are all facing and how I intend to show up today, tomorrow, next week, and beyond.
I hope you will stand with me.
How do you stand up to a bully?
Substack hosts plenty of voices with different perspectives. They often fall back on “free speech” to defend their right to platform Nazis, racists, and those who would spread disinformation to harm others. I knew about this when I came here, and I still decided to stake out a small space for my creative endeavors. That, however, was long before I earned any money on this platform.
I am not okay with financing this behavior.
When you turn on paid subscriptions for your publication, 10% of everything that you earn goes straight to Substack.
When you choose a paid subscription to SmallStack, 10% of that money is heading into the pockets of people spreading hatred and disinformation.
Do we leave this place to build a new home elsewhere? And where would we go? Can we acknowledge that no place is perfect?
I have spent my entire life running from bullies, and I’m tired of ceding ground to someone who is bigger, meaner, and more powerful. I may not always be able to stay, but I can right now, and I think I can make a difference by being here.
Our declaration of values
SmallStack is, and has always been, a place where anyone is welcome to join our community that uplifts smaller voices. We believe in the power of coming together in creativity, support, and kindness. We are a sanctuary and refuge, and our shelter is open to all.
Our stories deserve to be told.
SmallStack has the power to leverage many small voices into a larger collective, and we endeavor to use this strength to promote the best facets of our community. We reject hate-speech, racism, misogyny, intolerance, bigotry, xenomisia, homomisia3, transmisia, and ableism. We decry genocide and violence. We oppose the patriarchy when and where possible, and we feel strongly that extreme capitalism4 harms us all.
Even (especially) when it is hard and uncomfortable, we will stand up in support of ourselves and others, whether they are subscribers, community members, or people we have not yet met. It is so hard to speak out against hatred, intolerance, and violence, which means we will help one another make it happen. We will not stand by silently and allow anyone to be abused.
No matter where our future takes us, SmallStack will always hold these values close to our hearts.
Here’s what we are doing now
To help embody our values, SmallStack is preparing to change for the better. It might take us a little time to figure out all of the details, but here are some things we know right now.
Paid subscriptions are complicated.
When you provide funding to SmallStack, we (a small business run entirely with volunteer labor) watch 10% of those funds syphon off to Substack to promote people whose work is in direct opposition to our mission and values and even to our very existence as human beings. That is a painful thing to acknowledge. There are a few steps you can take to help us stand with pride in the work we do:
You’re never required to be a paying subscriber. SmallStack will always keep everything 100% open and available to everyone.
If you, as a paying subscriber, feel that any amount of money going toward things that make you feel unhappy/gross/disgusted/offended is unsustainable, we encourage you to end your paid subscription. It feels silly to say, “No really, DON’T pay us,” but that’s the message here. Removing your funds really is a good solution, and we stand united with any of you who make this decision. It’s not personal to us if you do, and we appreciate you for upholding your own values.
IMPORTANT: SmallStack recognizes that we are in a uniquely privileged position to say this! Not all creators can tell their subscribers to stop paying, so please don’t take this as a movement to end payments to other publications you may be supporting. Many of those creators rely on your support.
If being a paid subscriber feels gross but supporting SmallStack still feels good, please consider giving us a one-time or recurring donation through Ko-fi. Your financial support really does help do some great things here, and we appreciate every gift we receive.
SmallStack may find other options for paid subscriptions in the future, especially if we can find a mode that removes paid support going to voices that platform hatred, intolerance, and bigotry.
Giving back matters.
Beginning immediately, 10% of proceeds from SmallStack will be donated to charitable organizations that uphold values that align with our own. If you continue as a paid subscriber, that means your funds will directly help improve the lives of others. We will be completely transparent about who we donate to, why we have chosen them, and how much SmallStack donates.
We are choosing to stay. For now.
Choosing to stay is an act of defiance, and in this moment it feels right to us. We also choose to stay for those who cannot leave and because our community is here. This is home. We recognize that the world is a complex place, and nowhere is ever going to be perfect. Sometimes you just need to build where you’re at.
SmallStack started on Substack, but we are working on our own website (it’s a work in progress, thanks for your patience 😅), the Library is live, and there are other tools that can help sustain and grow the work we do. We have no intention to leave Substack today, and we reserve the right to revisit this decision at any point in the future.
SmallStack will continue to publish our weekly Featured Post Fridays, showcasing the outstanding creations from those of you in our Library with 500 or fewer subscribers. SmallTalk Tuesdays (every other week) will also stay on the calendar, and we’re already cultivating our next Seed Pod for you to join. 2025 is an exciting time for us—you’ll hear more about some new projects we’re creating soon!
This is only the beginning.
Over the coming weeks and months we will be working on ways to improve how we work together to build a safer, more inclusive space for all. By subscribing or following us you can help contribute to the body of knowledge we create, and you can spread the information to those you know. We hope you will stay tuned as we work toward better things!
A Call to Action
SmallStack is posting an open letter to the collective community of Substack. This is NOT an open letter to Substack leadership—they’ve given us no reason to believe they will listen to our voices, so we won’t waste our time or energy on them. Instead, this letter is for you, for your friends, for the people you are connected to, and for those we have not yet met. You can join us in this effort by also posting this letter on your publication, by sharing this movement on social media, and by restacking Notes of this project. Our voices are stronger together, and we need your help to make a difference.
THE TEXT OF THE OPEN LETTER IS BELOW.
Here is some intro text you can use if you would like to post this letter on your own publication.
“I (insert name) hereby sign this open letter in solidarity with other small publications seeking to build community and embody our shared values. We are all publishing this letter on our individual Substacks for visibility. Thank you for reading.”
Small Stands Tall
Dear Substack Community -
When you came to Substack to write or create or read, you probably thought this would be a cool place to grow and explore. And it is. But Substack leadership has put a lot of mechanisms in place to promote and platform voices that are large, hateful, and intent on harming others through disinformation.
We—the collective, small voices of creators and community members on Substack—believe that this is wrong, it is hurtful, and it has the potential to stifle growth for many of us. Worse, it further marginalizes many of us who are actively targeted by the increasing wave of local and global laws, policies, and social stigmas being promoted around us.
Small voices have big power when we stand together in solidarity, and most of the publications on Substack are small, just like us. This means we get to decide how and where we spend our time, money, and attention.
Signers of this letter believe in the following:
We help our neighbors by calling out hate-speech, racism, misogyny, intolerance, bigotry, xenomisia, homomisia, transmisia, ableism, genocide, and violence when and where we see it by reporting and blocking such content and sharing the collective knowledge about harmful accounts.
We endeavor to build community by caring for one another. Caring means showing up for one another even (especially) when it is hard or scary to do.
We reject the intentional platforming of voices that spread hatred and disinformation.
We stand proudly for kindness and inclusivity, and we invite you to stand with us. Small voices can achieve huge change when we unite.
Signed,
Small Voices against Big Hatred
Please share this letter widely. To publicly co-sign this letter, please share your publication in a note about this project and tag
. Your publication link will be added to the end of this letter. You can also include the phrase Small Stands Tall to make it easier for everyone to find you.Many thanks to all of you here on SmallStack for your support and confidence in what we do. ❤️
Robin Taylor
You may notice that I am not linking to the article mentioned. This is intentional. I’m not interested in driving more traffic toward hate-filled content.
“Extreme capitalism is a condition in which large companies and rich people raise too much money and leave too little for the rest of society. As a result, the public has not enough money to increase consumption.” https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3901652#:~:text=Abstract,org/10.2139/ssrn.3901652
You may have noticed we received a comment from a bully on this post. It might not be the last one we see. We do not engage with bullies on SmallStack, but we do stand up to them. Nonviolent resistance isn't about fighting back or even silencing bullies. It's about saying no, this is not okay. We ask you to refrain from engaging with these types of comments in this space.
It’s also important to clarify that disagreeing is not the same as bullying, trolling, or intimidating others. Our statement to the community is one of values, and we will hold firm to those values.
Hi Robin! Yay, you. And thank you for bringing certain things to my attention. I don't if I still qualify for membership in SmallStack for The Next Write Thing, as I'm nearing 1200 subscribers as of today. StyleYourStack is still under 500. I wasn't aware that The Free Press was problematic. I actually subscribed to them as a paid subscriber because I was looking for alternatives to The New York Times and The Washington Post. But now, knowing this, I guess I'll have to leave them. Dang. Marketing is powerful. I was attracted to the names of the writers not knowing what you've shared, and the very alluring "Free Press" come on. Although I object to Substack keeping it's doors open to Nazis and other haters, I don't think there's a whole lot anyone can do about this. We do believe in freedom of speech, even if it's abhorrent, don't we? It's such a hard call. I don't begrudge Substack my 10% for a second. It's deserved. There's so much generosity in this model, and we're so good to one another. It's never easy, is it? I gave you a nod in my post tomorrow, as I'm celebrating one year on Substack, and becoming a bestseller. Please look for the mention. And if it's no longer appropriate for SmallStack to feature TNWT, then I guess you should remove me? That's sad! So much love to you and SO much appreciation for your generosity and the beautiful moral compass you model. xoxo