A Housekeeping Announcement

Please be patient while I move this Substack to a custom domain

As mentioned in my previous piece, Twitter has been throttling Substack links for some months (off and on since early April). Even link-shorteners like TinyURL don’t work fully; nor do repeated “bumps” or begging likes and retweets from friends.

Custom domains do work—Twitter engagement returns to normal for people using one.

Because I have a large Twitter following (if you want to contribute to it, I’m @_HelenDale on the bird site), my main recruiting sergeant for new subscribers has ceased to be functional. Only Substack featuring Not On Your Team, But Always Fair on its homepage obviated this—and that’s not something I can just expect to happen every three months.

Subscriber count as of about nine this morning BST

To that end, I’m going to set up a custom domain, a tedious and time-consuming procedure that, unfortunately, doesn’t seem to be either quick or simple. In a few days, my Substack will be available at www.notonyourteam.co.uk (please don’t click that link yet, though—there’s nothing there).

Be aware that all existing links will still work (Substack’s elves do relevant background sorcery). Substack support is also guiding me through the process because I am utterly untechnical. The arse end of the internet is not only a closed book to me but a burnt and buried one as well. Fix your carburettor as well as spell it—or unblock your loo—absolutely can do.

If, however, it doesn’t contain atoms, I’m useless.

While everything will eventually work and Substack is providing support, the ability to make the internet go faster is beyond the company’s power. This change-of-name process can take several days.

That means—by the time Lorenzo Warby’s next essay is due to be published on Thursday—the custom domain may not be ready. So if you’re expecting Lorenzo in your inbox and he doesn’t arrive, that’s why. I will publish his piece as soon as I’m able to.

See you on the other side.