The Alchemist Papers is leaving Substack

There’s a version of this post I’ve been waiting to write until I had all my ducks in a row. A new place to land with a rebuilt membership structure, and a clear answer to “where should I send you after this?” I don’t have those yet.

I’m posting this anyway because sitting with a values problem while trying to build out an exit has started to feel like exactly the kind of normalization I don’t want to model. So this is the last post I’ll be sending from Substack. Here’s why.

The Exchange is what makes this harder than a typical platform complaint.

From the beginning, every dollar earned through this Substack went back to the community through The Exchange—monthly donations connected to reader contributions, shared transparently, with the receipts posted. That structure was never just a nice add-on. It was the argument that paid spiritual content could be handled with accountability rather than accumulation.

This also meant that the platform was never a neutral container. When readers financially supported this work, they were supporting The Exchange too. The platform is very much a part of the transaction, because it profits too. And that raises the stakes for what platform this work lives inside.

What I found.

In February 2026, The Guardian reported that Substack was generating revenue from newsletters promoting Nazi ideology, white supremacy, antisemitism, and Holocaust denial, and that the platform’s own recommendation system was directing users toward similar content. Substack’s content guidelines, as of this writing, focus on incitement: credible threats to specific people. They don’t categorically prohibit Nazi praise, Holocaust denial, or white supremacist ideology as such.

In my further research on this, I found that this is a pattern rather than a single failure. In 2024, after public pressure, Substack removed some Nazi-supporting publications but said explicitly that it was not changing its content policy and would not proactively remove neo-Nazi and far-right extremist content. The policy defines what the platform is willing to host, monetize, and recommend until something crosses a narrower line. That line has not moved.

I also want to note separately that Substack confirmed a data breach in early 2026 involving email addresses, phone numbers, and internal metadata for roughly 663,000 account holders. Passwords and financial data were reported as unaffected. It’s not the primary reason for this decision, but it’s relevant to the broader picture of platform stewardship.

Why is this specific to TAP and not a general internet criticism?

TAP is built around context, source-grounded practice, and the idea that what we normalize has consequences, including the platforms we choose and the money we move through them. There is a meaningful difference between using a flawed platform for reach and asking people to financially support work inside one.

Instagram (where you likely found me) has its own problems. Payment processors, email tools, and every layer of infrastructure I use have issues I don’t fully control. I’m not claiming to be sustained by some perfect space. The distinction I’m drawing is narrower and more honest: Substack was the paid home of this work. That’s different from a discovery tool. The paid home matters more to me. Where your money sits matters more to me.

What this means for you.

If you’re an annual paid subscriber, you’ll receive a pro-rated refund for unused time, processed through Stripe. I’ve submitted these refunds tonight and disconnected Stripe from my Substack, so you should see them in your account within the next 5 to 10 days. Please reach out directly to me if you haven’t. If you subscribed through the iOS app, Apple controls the refund process for those transactions. From what I’ve read, you can submit a refund claim for this through the app.

If you’re a monthly subscriber, you will no longer be charged, as I have turned off all recurring subscriptions.

If you’re a free subscriber, nothing changes for you yet, except the eventual location of the writing.

The Exchange is paused while subscriber refunds are processed and the funds are returning to you. It’ll be back when I get my new home built.

Where this goes.

I’m making a website! The Alchemist Papers website will become the canonical home: the archives, essays, seasonal resources, and paid content, built around ownership rather than platform dependence. The Exchange will return with cleaner accounting and a structure I control. The goal isn’t total detachment from platforms overnight; it’s making sure the center of this work isn’t dependent on policies and business incentives I can’t influence.

The new structure isn’t fully built yet, but the website is already underway, and it’s going to be really good, y’all. The kind of thing I’ve wanted to build for a while and think readers who’ve been here for the long run are going to love. More as it comes together.

Thank you for reading here. The work continues. Our new home address is coming very soon.

— Chad