GOODNIGHT, BUT NOT GOODBYE
We said "No Nazis"; Substack said "Best we can do is *several* Nazis."
Friends, a few years back it came to light that Substack was harboring and promoting (and profiting from) Nazi creators, so much so that a number of creators shared and re-shared an open letter to the site’s founders imploring them to cut that shit out.
Consequently, there are way too many fish in the sea for me to keep generating content, clicks and revenue for this platform. I certainly can’t ask my paid subscribers to pitch their generous donations down this wishing well, nor would I ask my unpaid readers to drive traffic and that most precious x-factor of our time, attention, to a platform aiding and abetted the scum of humanity.
Now, for THE GOOD NEWS!
I still have a lot more to say, and had been contemplating a migration to a physical quarterly zine instead of an online presence.
Now for THE BAD NEWS:
I’m nowhere near ready, infrastructurally, to execute something like that, and I still have things to say now.
So now, THE GOOD NEWS:
I’ll be migrating the entire Five Great Minutes archive to another online venue - specifically, my website GRADET.COM. Up until now, I’ve used that as the homebase for my creative work, but what are these posts if not creative? So now, that site will be the one-stop-shop for all things Alex Gradet (not counting my insta, tiktok and blue sky, so let’s say its a one-stop-shop, on the way to the other stops)
Now THE BAD NEWS:
I’m still learning the intricacies of my site host’s monetization, and I haven’t yet found a way to introduce a tiered system of free-vs-paid, so for the moment, all access to the blog is via paid subscription.
Now for THE GOOD NEWS:
For the next month, I’m offering subscriptions at the introductory rate of $1 a month for any early-adopters out there. This gets you access to the entire back-catalog, and any new content. This earlybird offer expires on March 9, 2026, at which point, I’ll be raising the subscription rate to $5/mo., which will start to include subscriber benefits.
Now for more GOOD NEWS:
I’m still working toward the transition to physical distribution, but the way things are going, that may be more of a 2027 idea, all of which to say your subscription to the new online venue won’t become obsolete until next year, earliest.
So, TL;DR (and a little more info):
By the end of this week, the entire 5GM archive will be at its new home at GRADET.COM/5gm, behind a paywall I’m still figuring out. You have four weeks from today to lock in the $1/mo. earlybird subscription rate, before it jumps to $5/mo. in March.
Also by the end of this week, all 5GM content will be removed from Substack. I’m parking the URL so that nobody can pick it up, but it will be empty except for a reroute to the new home.
What else is there to say except thank you all so much for reading these last few years. I know times are tough, but I hope you’ll consider continuing as a subscriber for what I think is a fairly competitive rate for this sort of thing.
There’s nothing left to add except for the immortal lyrics as sung by Beatrice Arthur in 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special:
You're such a dear, friend
You know I'm here, friend
Is that a tear, friend
In your eye?
Now, it's goodnight, friend
Goodnight friend …
Goodnight but not...
Oh wait, there is more to add:
Fuck Nazis, fuck Substack, arrest everybody in the Epstein files, FDT, abolish ICE and chinga la migra para siempre.
xo,
AG.