Bamboo Weekly has moved to Ghost

Hi! This is a quick note to tell you that after 18 months on Substack, Bamboo Weekly has moved to its new home, hosted by http://ghost.io/.

In theory, you won't feel a thing: Paid subscribers, including members of my Python+Data subscription program, should see the entirety of every issue, and should have access to all back issues. Free subscribers will still receive the first two questions and answers in each issue. I plan to continue publishing questions on Wednesdays, and answers on Thursdays.

But as we know, these sorts of transitions can have their bumps and problems. So if (when) you find problems, please let me know at reuven@lerner.co.il. I'm going to be looking through things, improving the debugging them, in the coming days, and any help you can give me in finding issues and errors will be greatly appreciated.

Why did I decide to move? For a number of reasons:

1. Substack is a self-contained system. Yes, you can export a list of your subscribers, but there are no provisions for connecting a newsletter to any other system via Zapier or other API-bridging systems. Moreover, the Substack people have made it clear that they like it this way, and have no intention of improving interactions with the outside world. With the growing number of people joining my Python+Data membership program, I needed a way to automate giving people complimentary subscriptions (monthly or yearly) without manually giving them such subscriptions. I haven't yet set up such automations, but they should be ready soon, and it'll make the experience better for everyone.
2. Code snippets on Substack are pretty terrible. From what I can tell, code snippets on Ghost are good, and are getting better. I'm still exploring things, but I'm optimistic that I'll be able to include colorized Python code in Bamboo Weekly in the near future.
3. Ghost is run by a non-profit that aims to improve their open-source offering. They're not a venture-backed company that needs to squeeze profits out of their users. The open-source advocate in me likes the idea of paying to improve an open-source project. The businessman in me likes the idea of paying a flat rate for hosting, rather than 10% of my income (which is Substack's model).
4. Finally, I was greatly disturbed several months back when Substack made it clear that they are totally OK with white supremacists, racists, and anti-Semites publishing on their platform. A number of reports in The Atlantic and Casey Newton's excellent Platformer newsletter (especially in this article) made it clear that Substack is pretty much OK with such content. Maybe Substack has a right to host such content, but I don't have to support it with a portion of my revenues. And so, I've been looking at moving to Ghost for about six months, and finally had a day on which I could make the final adjustments.

Bottom line, Ghost's technology, openness, and values all align with mine — and they also allow me to earn more from Bamboo Weekly subscriptions, which in turn lets me improve the content even further.

Let me take this opportunity to thank you for subscribing to Bamboo Weekly. I have a great time putting it together each week, and I learn a lot in writing things up, as well. Your subscription means a lot to me – and if you're paying for a subscription, then I appreciate your support even more, allowing me to turn down other work in order to write this newsletter.

As always, I welcome your comments, suggestions, and constructive criticism.

I hope and expect to be back tomorrow, with a new set of problems and puzzles based on current events.

Reuven