I'm Crashing Out You Guys

help me make stuff for you!!

I’m sitting in a coffee shop right now, knowing I need to post to Substack, and racking my brain for suitable topics. So I asked myself what is the most honest thing I’m feeling right now, and how can I expound on that.

The answer is that I don’t really know or understand what the internet is doing right now. As a result, I come to my laptop stumped lately. The Carrie Bradshaw-esque flow is not flowing. So today, sipping my cappuccino, I couldn’t help but wonder — how am I supposed to be engaging with the lovely people who support me online when the Internet is such a cesspool?

Let me tell you about my own internet usage, and you let me know if that mirrors what you’re doing, ok?

For obvious reasons, I got very fed up with Instagram over recent years, and have a productivity app that blocks it basically 24/7. I can get in for 15 minutes at a time and when I do, I find that it doesn’t spark joy for me anymore. Even scrolling doesn’t feel good! It’s just empty on there!

Let’s not even talk about X, I’ve been off there basically since the name change.

TikTok has become a shell of itself and once the Fox News rumors kicked up I got off that app too and I feel so free.

My only scroll right now is Substack Notes, which shows me nice pictures of floral arrangements and book suggestions. This is the low-stim vibe I need.

I hate my phone. The bottom of the screen shattered right near the keyboard, which I’ve kept broken as a Pavlovian experiment to try and dissuade myself from using it, and I think it’s really working.

Based on the straw polls I’ve been conducting among friends, we all hate our phones. Which is great for mental health, but not so much for my work as an internet person.

Let me tell you what I love — I love doing the podcast. I’m constantly proud of the ways we show up for each other there. I love talking about themes that deeply affect people’s lives and continually finding new angles to do so.

I love getting on substack and writing weird esoteric pieces that blend pop culture and Susan Sontag’s writings on fascism, for example:

The Republican Dommy Mommy Archetype

I love our Discord community that’s part of Patreon. I especially love the Journeys series I’m producing right now, wherein I’m doing interviews with a group of kinksters over the course of six months to track their lives. These things feel so meaningful to me, and so good.

Nowhere on this list of things I love is ‘constantly posting to Instagram for marketing reasons.’ But I also like paying rent.

Even though this has been my full-time job since 2020, I’ve never wanted to run this like a business. Even after my Instagram was deleted in 2023 and my income halved almost overnight. I just want to keep showing up for all of you authentically. I want this space to be an exchange of resources, I want you to be well-serviced by what I do and I want to bring you joy. And it fills up my tank to do this when I’m compensated by the work.

And then I had a galaxy brain moment while writing this — the way people tell you to “market your online business” (barf) is to secretly intuit what your “customer” wants without ever asking them. You’re supposed to be coy, read smoke signals, guess.

AND GUESS WHAT???

THAT’S VANILLA AS FUCK!!

We’re not about that here! We’re kinksters! We talk about shit! So I’m going to ask you what you want. Strap in. I’ve been kicking some ideas around lately and would love your feedback on which of these ideas sparks joy for you. Message me or leave a comment!

Course-Related Ideas

I loved creating my courses, but I’ve seen sales go down over the last few years. Is course culture over? Are you wanting something different? If I lower the prices would you come buy one you’re eyeing?

Speaking of courses, I’ve had vague plans forever to make mini courses on various topics like collaring ceremonies, what subs want Doms to know, and more. Would you be into buying one of these for like $40?

I loved doing the live course for couples last year — does anyone want to do that again?

Physical Media

I’m toying with adding a $15/month tier to Patreon where subscribers will get a postcard 4 times a year. What do we think?

Gifts

Did you know you can gift a Substack or Patreon subscription? Click those links for support in doing so.

Substack

There’s something annoying here which is that Patreon integrates with Discord and Substack does not. I was recently at a Substack event here in LA and I pulled aside their CEO to complain about this. It doesn’t seem like something they’re currently pursuing, so it is what it is. As a result, I have to keep the price lower here to cover the ad-free podcast and premium audio, but also to reflect that Discord isn’t included. Do you want something else here that would make you upgrade to paid? If you’ve been meaning to do this but haven’t yet, use the button below…

Sending this out to your inboxes feels as vulnerable and invasive as accidentally sending butthole pix to my boss. But I very, very mercifully don’t have one of those anymore¹, thanks to all of you. So I come to you humbly to ask what matters to you, what can I give you, and, in essence, to prostrate myself before the internet and release to the vulnerability of being perceived.

Guess you have to follow your own advice at some point!!!

👹👹

xo Lina

1. From a trusted friend moments after this came out: