Cover of [ugh] - like Twitter, but way worse

[ugh] - like Twitter,
but way worse

Introducing Chill Subs’s Elon free space for writers who like a different kind of drama.

[ugh]

Like Twitter, but way worse.

Wait, why [ugh]?

It’s the sound we made after we decided to make twitter for writers.

How is it like twitter?

Barely.

Did we plan to make a twitter for writers?

Hell no. This happened because a week ago people started messaging and tweeting asking us to create some solution to Twitter getting taken over my the human embodiment of a meme. Here is some insight into the Chill Subs HQ brainstorming process. Last Friday:

[ugh] creation story in screenshots: Karina sends Ben another tweet by someone asking us to create a social media
[ugh] creation story in screenshots: Ben sends Karina a proposed logo (a smoking pigeon wearing a hat) and a slogan.
[ugh] creation story in screenshots: Karina gets super excited and suggests making this social media platform in two days. Ha. Ha.

Clearly, we think we’re hilarious. Two days became one week as we got more excited with the potential of [ugh]. Also, I totally spelled ugh wrong for like…an embarrassing number of days. Our pigeon logo was randomly pulled from my files that our designer friend made years ago for a project that never went anywhere. So yeah, this silly little idea became a week long power-binge of work to make it happen. And, you know, we think it’s pretty freaking awesome. And by “we built it in a week” we mean Karina built it in a week while Ben wrote the copy and said “holy shit!” a lot. So if you like ugh, buy her a coffee here: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/karinakupp

Some exclusive non-features of [ugh] –

No reposts, no algorithm, no real-time notifications, no “followers” (your feed will show mags and writers you’ve bookmarked.), no chat, no fancy attachments or polls or whatever else twitter has.

What does it have?

  • A feed where you can view and comment on any posts made by anyone you’ve bookmarked. Your ‘followers’ will be labelled as ‘bookmarkers’ and those you’re following will be ‘bookmarking’. When you hit bookmark / unbookmark people are automatically added to / removed from an ‘ugh’ list. Eventually we will have a feature where you can select a list you’ve created and only see that feed.
  • Editors will be able to post as themselves or as their journal (if they’ve claimed their admin panel)
  • You can search by tags. For example, submission calls, contest announcements, acceptances, rejections, books, and more.
  • If you bookmark the Chill Subs feed, we will have an ongoing feed that will post submission windows opening and closing, stats, contest deadlines, new listings, and more.
  • Feeds will be linked to your Chill Subs profile.

What will it have soon?

  • Image attachments
  • Ability to view your likes and who liked your posts (you can see it in notifications, but not on the post itself yet)
  • Link to your [ugh] profile from your main Chill Subs profile
  • We don't have nested comments right now, so you can reply to the comment by mentioning the user in the comment section (we'll have a Reply button next to each comment that would populate the input with the user mention)

To join:

Just create your normal Chill Subs profile, add a photo, add a bio, go to [ugh]

Some rules & guidelines we’ve instituted to cut down on spam and other nonsense:

  • 281 characters per post. (1 character more than on Twitter. this is how we win)
  • Posts can only have one tag
  • Don’t be an asshole.

Adult voice time:

This will be a writer-first community. We always planned to create a feed for journals to post submission calls and contest info. The “social” aspect we’ve added is in response to the mass exodus from Twitter and requests for an alternative. Our goal is to always foster an encouraging, inclusive, and respectful atmosphere for creatives. We ask that everyone who chooses to use [ugh] keeps that in mind. We will have a one-strike policy for any hate speech. This is also not a place for blacklists, bickering, or airing grievances. If things get out of hand, we will pare it down to only allow for submission calls & contest announcements. Just remember: Everyone is an adult, and we’ve got shit to do.