Controlling for reach made this much more interesting. The result I take from it is not simply “ask an easy question,” but that comments and restacks measure different kinds of behavior.
A low-effort prompt can generate hundreds of replies, but reply volume is not necessarily the same as relationship or engaged readership. For those of us trying to find a smaller number of serious readers, perhaps the better question has a low barrier to entry but enough substance to reveal something real.
I would be fascinated to see one more metric: repeat commenters. How many people return to the same writer over weeks or months? That might tell us more about community than comments per like.
great analysis - curious as to how you defined consistency for the analysis - was it same daily time? same chosen days per week (e.g., M-F)? Or all 7 days? Etc? thank you
Definitely enjoyed learning about this and appreciate and value the time and effort you put into compiling this information for readers (like me). Thank you!
Most of us just grumble about this over coffee rather than pulling a dataset that size to test it properly, so hats off for doing the digging. Which of the three explanations surprised you most when the numbers came back?
What ACTUALLY works when it comes to notes. Answers like "if you want restacks like a best seller, then become a best seller" and "If you want lots of answers, then ask a question" insult intelligence.
Impressive analysis. Just out of curiosity - how did you manage to extract 2.7 Million Substack Notes? Did you use public Substack API for it? I bet you need some sort of database to load it and to scan it through. It would be great if you give some hint how to collect such data.
Maybe this comes across differently when reading versus listening, but it was difficult to get to the point. I still dont get what you are trying to convey
Thank you for the tips
Controlling for reach made this much more interesting. The result I take from it is not simply “ask an easy question,” but that comments and restacks measure different kinds of behavior.
A low-effort prompt can generate hundreds of replies, but reply volume is not necessarily the same as relationship or engaged readership. For those of us trying to find a smaller number of serious readers, perhaps the better question has a low barrier to entry but enough substance to reveal something real.
I would be fascinated to see one more metric: repeat commenters. How many people return to the same writer over weeks or months? That might tell us more about community than comments per like.
Nothing beats the good old elbow grease…
Humans are simple 😉
Very useful analysis. Thanks.
great analysis - curious as to how you defined consistency for the analysis - was it same daily time? same chosen days per week (e.g., M-F)? Or all 7 days? Etc? thank you
Definitely enjoyed learning about this and appreciate and value the time and effort you put into compiling this information for readers (like me). Thank you!
:)
Excellent information and I looked at my statistics and found a surprise as well
:)
Most of us just grumble about this over coffee rather than pulling a dataset that size to test it properly, so hats off for doing the digging. Which of the three explanations surprised you most when the numbers came back?
This didn't teach me anything besides ask a question to get replies.
Still worth it, isn't it? :)
I don’t feel like it is. I could have told you that the solution to getting more comments is to ask a question.
What should we write about next time?
What ACTUALLY works when it comes to notes. Answers like "if you want restacks like a best seller, then become a best seller" and "If you want lots of answers, then ask a question" insult intelligence.
Something like:
'I analyzed 38,881 viral notes from 2026. Here are the best templates to get subscribers'
?
Impressive analysis. Just out of curiosity - how did you manage to extract 2.7 Million Substack Notes? Did you use public Substack API for it? I bet you need some sort of database to load it and to scan it through. It would be great if you give some hint how to collect such data.
Thanks for the tips. 🙏
Maybe this comes across differently when reading versus listening, but it was difficult to get to the point. I still dont get what you are trying to convey
Tl;dr Become a bestseller for restacks like a bestseller. Until then, be consistent and use the suggested template for more comments.
Entrepreneurship is the art of turning responsibility into independence. The burden is real, but so is the greatness of owning the result.