Good morning, Vietnam!

I’ve been deeply sceptical of this website, but had to change my mind. Here’s why.

I already have a blog. It’s on nicholatian.com, and it’s better than anything a blogging platform could ever sell to me. After all, I built it from scratch.

I don’t easily see the sense in charging for writing. I think it should be free, and I am very far from any lifestyle that would have me destitute or desperate, ever reconsidering that belief. But I had to change my mind, because the idea of paywalling writing revealed a second side to me. It can solve the problem of hater-fans.

The Internet has accelerated the pace of everything, and most of the Web has defaulted to being free. The problem with this is that it’s as free to people who value content as it is to people who deride it and don’t. Ultimately this is too destructive to bear. Altruism of “haters are also fans” isn’t sustainable.

So, today I created this with the hopes of applying it as a recourse for publishing things which are too consequential in the wrong direction for me to put out publicly, for free. I am not trying to market this or monetise it. I am not trying to create some secret community. I am not cultivating exclusivity just yet. But I am wise enough to know that I cannot always politically punt the things I feel need to be said so it will be tolerable if announced on CNN. Many people cannot handle the truth, so this will help me manoeuvre around that.

If you like what I write, you should subscribe. I will attempt to charge a fee that is completely nominal, as I did with my podcast uploads on Bandcamp. I am sure that the act of putting real money up front is enough to ensure the right audience here, so I trust you. Thank you.