Why We Chose Ghost

Starting a new business involves a series of choices, including how your company will host its content. At Ravenwood, we place a strong emphasis on our commitment to serving the public, and we wanted a platform that reflected that same ethos, which is why we chose Ghost. Ghost is a non-profit, open-source publishing platform dedicated to reinvesting 100% of its revenue back into the product and the community. It’s what you’re reading this on right now.

In addition to its compelling mission, Ghost offers a robust set of features. As an open-source platform, users have the option of self-hosting for free, while their paid options are extremely competitive when weighed against the cost of hosting and maintaining an equally scalable site. They offer integrated newsletters, native cookie-free analytics, and a Stripe integration with 0% fees—all of which make it an attractive option over other content management systems. Ultimately, what sold us was as much about what Ghost wasn’t. It wasn’t Substack.

Substack offers an attractive value proposition to independent creators writing on controversial topics, but any benefit is quickly negated by their continued willingness to platform and profit from Nazis. This isn't a new problem. In fact, others have been covering it for years now. Most recently, The Guardian ran a story detailing how prominent Nazi influencers with thousands of subscribers generate hundreds of thousands in profit annually, while also driving users to additional Nazi content through Substack’s recommendation engine.

As a team of national security experts, choosing a platform that openly profits off of violent extremist ideology felt like an easy no—especially when weighed against Ghost’s Code of Conduct. We don’t expect the Substack leadership team to come around anytime soon. This isn’t their first time founding a service known for its problematic stance platforming violent offenders after all. They previously co-founded Kik Messenger, which was branded a "predator's paradise" while stonewalling law enforcement investigations into child sexual exploitation. 

Sometimes it’s easier to show than tell; so, we’ll leave you with this short video of Substack’s CEO visually struggling with the challenge of condemning racism and ultimately failing to do so.

Before you go, Ghost doesn’t have a built-in recommendation engine like Substack, precisely to avoid the challenges of unintentionally promoting objectionable content. If you like what we’re doing and want to help, please consider subscribing and sharing our work on your favorite social platform. It will help us get the word out and reach more people.

🫶 The Ravenwood Team