Conversation Starters (plus how to sign in with a password on Substack)

Thought-provoking cartoons, diagrams, and images

Last things first: How to sign in with a password on Substack

When you sign into Substack using a web browser, there’s an option on the sign-in page to “sign in with a password”, but it’s not obvious how to set one up.

If you want to set up a password, instructions are here.

One convenient feature of the Substack Reader app for tablets and phones is that, by default, it keeps you logged in, so that’s another way to get around the hassle of email sign-in links.

Conversation Starters

I’m trying a little experiment. Normally, I publish a newsletter every 2-3 weeks.

I often begin planning articles or videos with some sort of diagram or cartoon that helps me identify my main point(s). Once I’ve done that, it sometimes seems like the cartoon, diagram, photo or other image really says everything I wanted to share. But then, I think “Well, it makes perfect sense to me, but I’d better go ahead and write the article (or make the video), because someone else might not get it.”

But really, I think that’s just my own anxiety talking and you’re all a lot smarter than that.

And hey, we have an online chat now! So I’ve decided that instead of bloviating on, I’m going to occasionally try just sharing one of these images and opening it up to discussion.

I’m sending out a regular “newsletter” email this time to let you know I’ve started a new chat thread because I imagine not everyone has had a chance to configure notifications. After this, I’ll just start the chat thread.

If you want to be sure to find out about these “conversation starters”, you’ll can turn on chat notifications. (See instructions below.)

After that, you’ll get a notification that a new chat thread has been started. These notifications can be sent by email or in the app, depending on how you set it up.

If you don’t want to notifications when I start a new chat thread, you can turn them off. (See instructions below.)

What kind of images am I talking about? Hop on over to the chat and find out!

If you need a little help with chat notifications, read on.

In the future, you’ll get notifications for new chat threads ONLY if you have notifications turned on for chat.

If you only want to get the regular newsletter, you can turn off notifications for chat and you’ll only get notifications for the newsletter. You can still participate in the chats, even if you have chat notifications turned off. Just visit the chat area whenever you feel like participating to see the open threads.

To change your notification settings, click on your account (upper right corner of your screen), click on settings, and then select the notification settings you prefer. (See image below.)