The Gatekeeper I Can’t Quit

I need to have a talk with you today.

It’s about how you find these posts, and how some days you don’t.

Every morning I write a post. I put it up on my site. Then I share it on Facebook so you can find it. That’s the plan, and some days it works fine.

Other days it doesn’t. I write the post, I share it, and it goes nowhere. It doesn’t get flagged or taken down. It just sits quiet. Facebook decides not to show it to you, and nobody tells me why.

I’ve tried everything I know. I’ve shared it with a picture, with a link, as plain words with nothing attached. I’ve changed the time of day and changed the way it looks. Nothing changes the result. Some days Facebook carries it, some days it doesn’t, and the choice is never mine.

That’s what a gatekeeper is. Somebody else stands at the door between me and you. They decide who gets through, and they don’t explain themselves.

I’ll be honest with you. I don’t like it. Most of you know I write about holding big systems to account. About plain rules. About a fair field where everybody plays by the same terms. And here I am, every morning, hoping a system I can’t see into decides to let my words through.

Some of you remember that I said I was going to leave Facebook. I meant it when I said it. So here’s why I’m still here, because you deserve the reason.

Facebook is where most of you are. Folks from Ireland, the Netherlands, Canada and a good many other places find these posts through Facebook. Across Europe, Facebook sends far more people to websites than every other social platform put together. If I walk away, I don’t just leave Facebook. I leave you.

So I’m staying. Not because I like the gatekeeper, but because I won’t turn my back on the people standing on the other side of that gate.

Still, staying doesn’t mean I have to keep things as they are. There’s a way around the gate, and it’s simple. It just takes one small step from you.

I also post every piece on Substack. When you sign up there, each post comes straight to your email inbox. It’s free and it costs you nothing but an address.

Here’s why that matters. Your inbox has no gatekeeper. Nobody stands between my words and your eyes. There’s no algorithm deciding today isn’t your day to read. The post just shows up, every time, the same as a letter in the mailbox.

You decide what stays and what goes. If you ever get tired of me, one click and I’m gone. That’s the way it ought to be. The reader holds the key, not some company in between.

Now, I know what some of you are thinking. Another person asking for my email. I understand. We’ve all been burned. You give out an address and the junk starts pouring in.

That’s not what this is. You’ll get the post. That’s all. No sales pitch, no flood of offers, no selling your name to anybody. One post a day, from one writer, to one reader.

Let me tell you why this matters to me beyond the numbers.

I spend most of my days writing about how people can take back control from big systems. Set your own terms. Check the work. Don’t hand your judgment over to a machine that decides for you. I believe every word of that.

This is the same idea, close to home. Right now, a machine decides whether you see my writing. When you sign up by email, you take that choice back. You decide you want to read it, and nobody gets to overrule you.

That’s a small thing, but small things add up. Every reader who comes in by email is one Facebook can never take away from either of us.

I’m not asking you to leave Facebook. Stay if you like it. I’ll still be there, posting every day. When Facebook carries the post, good. When it doesn’t, you won’t miss a thing, because it’ll already be in your inbox.

Think of it this way. Facebook is the front porch where we run into each other. Email is the mailbox at the end of the drive. The porch is nice when the weather’s good. The mailbox works every day, rain or shine.

So here’s my ask, straight out. If these posts mean something to you, go to my Substack and leave your email address. It takes about ten seconds.

The link is right here:“Intelligent People Assume Nothing” | Michael S Faust Sr. | Substack

If you’ve already done it, thank you. You’re the reason I keep writing every morning. If you haven’t, I’d be glad to have you, wherever in the world you’re reading from.

The gatekeeper will keep doing what it does. We can’t change that. But we can build a way in that doesn’t run through its door.

That’s all I’m asking. Leave me an address, and the posts will find you.

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This post was drafted with AI governed assistance and reviewed and directed by Michael S. Faust Sr. before publication.

” Attic Thoughts”-library – Intelligent People Assume Nothing