TEXT-TO-SPEECH IS A NECESSARY BASIC ACCESSIBILITY FUNCTION FOR DISABLED PEOPLE AND NEEDS TO BE AVAILABLE TO ALL PUBLICATIONS.
I am all for these wonderful features Substack has developed, AND it’s not helpful for some accounts to access multiple reader voices while disabled creators (like myself) with disabled audiences don’t have basic accessibility. I don’t have the capacity to voice over every post for my subscribers to have access, and I shouldn’t have to when this function exists. Do better.
agreed. I have MS and want to have this feature for myself and for my readers (many who follow me because they also have MS), but it's not in my options.
It’s so disappointing and honestly quite sad. How do you keep adding fancy features when basic accessibility isn’t available?
I understand that creates more profits for them, and so does access for the disabled community. I’d argue we a large part of Substack because we require so much more down time than the average person. Why not help us help their bottom line? I hope profit is not the only thing that matters to them and there is still a valid argument if it is.
What an ableist and gross thing to say. Perhaps you didn’t see my argument above regarding how it could actually be more profitable for them AND accessibility is not charity. Myself and other disabled people are human beings who are contributing to this platform’s existence. We are not a “small group” and providing accessibility is a basic human right, PERIOD.
I finally found the start button finally, but I have no idea how to select voices. Believe it or not it was kind of unntuitive define the text to speech button even though it's clearly visible at the top. I don't know how to make it more obvious. Maybe a face with a cloud that looks like it's speaking. Again how do you select personalized voices? It's completely unintuitive.
Why is there no ability to edit my comment. I use voice to text to put it in but there are mistakes that I cannot correct. I don't like that. AI is particularly poor when it comes to speech input. For example two two and two. Notice how it doesn't know which one you're saying and didn't get it right in this post. Without the ability to edit it's almost worthless. It makes you look stupid.
I can play articles of others who have the feature, and that feature for others to play my articles is not available. Substack mentions on their help page that it is a feature only available to some publications.
The ability to select the voice is in the settings of the publisher–you as a reader/listener do not have the ability to pick the voice. This also should be the standard, as some voices are harder to process than others.
Substack should provide these basic accessibility features for ALL publishers and readers.
I meant, once created, the ability to edit them. Use case: dusting off an older article for reposting and needing to update an outdated custom button with a better link.
Wondering what your plan is to deal with hate speech on this platform. I'm tired of being inundated with posts nazis, sexist, racists, transphobes - the list goes on. This week I unfortunately stumbled across a post by someone promoting pedophilia. There needs to be some kind of moderation because this platform isn't safe anymore.
What on earth must you be reading? I have never encountered any of these things... Literally none. And when you say it's not a safe platform, do you just mean you find something jarring or offensive because that's not what safety is about.
substack algorithm is random and will push whatever garbage onto my feed, unfortunately including stuff with racial slurs and transphobic remarks. i just read an essay yesterday by ismatu gwendolyn, an african writer, who is leaving substack because she's constantly being harassed by racists and substack refuses to do anything about it. you should read it.
The new quote format is mostly good although I don’t like that it now hides the publication and post names. Sometimes I use this information to decide if I want to click through or not.
My thoughts exactly. And without these, how many won’t realise the intent of sharing is to direct them to an interesting post/publication? The quotes may be seen as standalone. The benefit shifts away from the creator.
As someone reliant on being able to listen rather than read, I'm grateful to Substack for making audio an option. Some of your writers appear to be ignorant of the option, however, and I've had to explain to them how it works. If I can't listen, I won't subscribe. I was happy to read that you offer voice options to writers, but it would be great if you provided that option for the listener. When I'm reading a post from an African American female writer, for example, it's disconcerting to have to listen to a 'white sounding' male voice. Thanks.
My complaint as a disabled writer is that I am not given the ability to have the text-to-speech voice reader for my subscribers. I have limited capacity and have to post less often so I can always include my own voice over. My compliant in these comments is that they are focused on more fancy features when not all publications have basic accessibility. I also think, as you mentioned, reader should be able to choose voice and speed as some of us also struggle process certain voice at certain speeds. Ugh! We will not stop fighting! 💖
Unfortunately, we don’t all have the option. Maybe some writers have it and are not aware. I simply don’t have it at all. Substack says on their help page that only some of us have the option. Very disappointing.
It very much is, which is why I’ve put in a request for the feature and posted in these comments repeatedly. They say they want feedback in the comments and it doesn’t seem like they are paying attention.
TEXT-TO-SPEECH IS A NECESSARY BASIC ACCESSIBILITY FUNCTION FOR DISABLED PEOPLE AND NEEDS TO BE AVAILABLE TO ALL PUBLICATIONS.
I am all for these wonderful features Substack has developed, AND it’s not helpful for some accounts to access multiple reader voices while disabled creators (like myself) with disabled audiences don’t have basic accessibility. I don’t have the capacity to voice over every post for my subscribers to have access, and I shouldn’t have to when this function exists. Do better.
agreed. I have MS and want to have this feature for myself and for my readers (many who follow me because they also have MS), but it's not in my options.
It’s so disappointing and honestly quite sad. How do you keep adding fancy features when basic accessibility isn’t available?
I understand that creates more profits for them, and so does access for the disabled community. I’d argue we a large part of Substack because we require so much more down time than the average person. Why not help us help their bottom line? I hope profit is not the only thing that matters to them and there is still a valid argument if it is.
perhaps they have to play to the biggest audiences first. Then deal with value added options and services for smaller groups.
It is after all a business, not a charity.
What an ableist and gross thing to say. Perhaps you didn’t see my argument above regarding how it could actually be more profitable for them AND accessibility is not charity. Myself and other disabled people are human beings who are contributing to this platform’s existence. We are not a “small group” and providing accessibility is a basic human right, PERIOD.
Hoping you get this feature soon 💖
I agree Lora… Substack must do better
I finally found the start button finally, but I have no idea how to select voices. Believe it or not it was kind of unntuitive define the text to speech button even though it's clearly visible at the top. I don't know how to make it more obvious. Maybe a face with a cloud that looks like it's speaking. Again how do you select personalized voices? It's completely unintuitive.
Why is there no ability to edit my comment. I use voice to text to put it in but there are mistakes that I cannot correct. I don't like that. AI is particularly poor when it comes to speech input. For example two two and two. Notice how it doesn't know which one you're saying and didn't get it right in this post. Without the ability to edit it's almost worthless. It makes you look stupid.
I can play articles of others who have the feature, and that feature for others to play my articles is not available. Substack mentions on their help page that it is a feature only available to some publications.
The ability to select the voice is in the settings of the publisher–you as a reader/listener do not have the ability to pick the voice. This also should be the standard, as some voices are harder to process than others.
Substack should provide these basic accessibility features for ALL publishers and readers.
I am always impressed with how y'all keep evolving this platform. Thanks so much for moving things forward. Happy holidays, Substack team!
Analytics for Notes is much welcome. I’ve never been sure how much mine get noticed, or if they get noticed at all.
Absolutely! It's going to be very interesting to know for sure how well things are doing... 😎
However it doesn’t seem as if this is available to all publications 🤷🏽♀️
Exited about these continued updates!
And, I hit a milestone this week:
I made my first $1000 on Substack!
That's a great achievement! Well done... 😎
congrats!
I love the consistent background upgrades! I'd love to see the ability to *edit* custom buttons! Thanks for all you do!
🐑
That function exists, or am I missing something here?
I meant, once created, the ability to edit them. Use case: dusting off an older article for reposting and needing to update an outdated custom button with a better link.
You should be able to just delete the old one and add a new one when you edit the Draft, and update it that way... 😎
Wondering what your plan is to deal with hate speech on this platform. I'm tired of being inundated with posts nazis, sexist, racists, transphobes - the list goes on. This week I unfortunately stumbled across a post by someone promoting pedophilia. There needs to be some kind of moderation because this platform isn't safe anymore.
What on earth must you be reading? I have never encountered any of these things... Literally none. And when you say it's not a safe platform, do you just mean you find something jarring or offensive because that's not what safety is about.
substack algorithm is random and will push whatever garbage onto my feed, unfortunately including stuff with racial slurs and transphobic remarks. i just read an essay yesterday by ismatu gwendolyn, an african writer, who is leaving substack because she's constantly being harassed by racists and substack refuses to do anything about it. you should read it.
https://ismatu.substack.com/p/substack-has-a-ngger-problem
I only read people I follow and never use the discovery tab. Perhaps that's why I never see this stuff.
Thank you for adding Notes stats. Looking forward to diving into them.
The new quote format is mostly good although I don’t like that it now hides the publication and post names. Sometimes I use this information to decide if I want to click through or not.
My thoughts exactly. And without these, how many won’t realise the intent of sharing is to direct them to an interesting post/publication? The quotes may be seen as standalone. The benefit shifts away from the creator.
Tutorial for how to operate on Substack?
Excited to see the Notes stats!
Thanks for updating the quote share for Notes! That has been weird for a really long time.
As someone reliant on being able to listen rather than read, I'm grateful to Substack for making audio an option. Some of your writers appear to be ignorant of the option, however, and I've had to explain to them how it works. If I can't listen, I won't subscribe. I was happy to read that you offer voice options to writers, but it would be great if you provided that option for the listener. When I'm reading a post from an African American female writer, for example, it's disconcerting to have to listen to a 'white sounding' male voice. Thanks.
My complaint as a disabled writer is that I am not given the ability to have the text-to-speech voice reader for my subscribers. I have limited capacity and have to post less often so I can always include my own voice over. My compliant in these comments is that they are focused on more fancy features when not all publications have basic accessibility. I also think, as you mentioned, reader should be able to choose voice and speed as some of us also struggle process certain voice at certain speeds. Ugh! We will not stop fighting! 💖
I only subscribe to writers with the audio option. Several writers I have written didn’t seem to know that option exists
Unfortunately, we don’t all have the option. Maybe some writers have it and are not aware. I simply don’t have it at all. Substack says on their help page that only some of us have the option. Very disappointing.
That’s horrible. Is there someone to write in protest? That’s totally a disability rights issue
It very much is, which is why I’ve put in a request for the feature and posted in these comments repeatedly. They say they want feedback in the comments and it doesn’t seem like they are paying attention.
I agree. I will continue to reach out.
As an author account, I've looked around Settings and can't find how to enable Text To Speech. We would enable this option if we knew how
Can someone on SUBSTACK please listen to me.
IF you do NOT have subtitles on these 'speech only' substacks you are depriving millions of deaf people!
Get a grip substack......even young people are deaf!
thanksss
I love the new quote restacks - they're so aesthetically pleasing!
keep up with the great work!