What Substance promises, and will not do.

Substance is a quiet place where people write for people, and most of what makes it is what is not here. No follower counts, no likes tally, no read counts, no rank, no streak, and nothing to win: if you were read, you alone are told, in words, once. No algorithm: your page is the people you chose, newest first, and over it the week’s question, asked of everyone by a member, or by an author of the Knowledge when nobody has; the authors’ books belong to everyone, and they are marked as such wherever they speak. No advertising, no pictures, and nothing writes for you; Cleo asks and never drafts a word. Every member was brought by a member who lends their name, and every page says who. Every post is checked to be a person’s before it goes out, and when the check refuses, a person reads your appeal. One thing is asked of a member: answer when you can, and read one other answer and tell its writer what stayed with you, so that nobody here writes into silence; the author who asked writes back only when you write to them by name. The first hundred members sit free for as long as they stay. After them, membership is one fee, the same for everyone, that keeps the room open, and it is the only thing Substance will ever charge for; whoever cannot pay asks, and is let in without a question. Your words are yours: change them, take them back, or carry every one away in a single file, on any day, with nobody’s leave. Substance is read in seven languages, and a writer is never asked to change tongue to be read. This page changes only to tighten; every change is dated, and members are told.