Updating TNSR

Update

​Hello everyone! As some of you might have noticed today, we’ve implemented several changes to our Substack page. As many of you know, we are currently in the process of setting up our own dedicated website independent of Substack.

​This new site will allow us greater freedom to do what we want with the platform, as well as give me some peace of mind that I won't be hitching my livelihood to a third-party service like Substack—who, while great, have very much reached the limits of what we can get out of them.

​This latest update is our largest ever. Taking from our End Of The Year Survey, to which many of you had some very detailed requests for our future layout, we’ve implemented several major changes to both the look and layout of TNSR. These changes are meant to act as a bridge, allowing us to test formats and layouts ahead of a proper website launch.

​Consider this an experimental phase, where we try to get 80% of the way and see how everyone feels about it. Obviously, Substack has limits; we can only do so much with their engine. However, we can do our best to make a platform that retains our simplicity and silliness while also presenting a more professional appearance.

​Of course, the first major change is an actual logo! That’s right. We actually have something that isn’t Greg or my cat-ear profile pic. This logo should be considered a rough draft. I like it—I think it’s nice—however, I am not emotionally attached to it as a whole. I think it’s nicer than most other logos in this space.

​Second to that, we’ve reverted our colors back to a more neutral grey. Many of you—like, a lot—complained about our previous blue color being harsh on the eyes and difficult to navigate. While I don’t care for grey myself, this at least provides a base to work off of in the future. Hopefully, it will be a bit easier and nicer for those of you who didn't like the blue. We have retained the red, though, for buttons.

​We’ve also added a new Sponsor Section to the main page. This allows our sponsors more visibility on our page while minimizing its overall intrusion on the website. Sponsors like to be seen, and Substack’s limits have always been a major detriment to that. As such, along with some minor reorganization and font changes along the front page, we decided that adding this section was a necessity to maintaining a fair, valuable relationship with our advertisers.

​We’ve modernized our main page grid, redid the footer section with a two-column format, and cleaned up some of the links and minor sections for a cleaner, hopefully easier-to-navigate page. Sadly, I can’t do much with the search option—that is a Substack issue out of my hands.

Respective examples of the new page on desktop

​Lastly, we are officially transferring to a custom domain. This will sever the last major Substack holdover we have. Some of you who use our truenorthstrategicreview.ca link might notice it down for a bit as we transition. Rest assured, it’s intended! After everything is set, we will finally be retired of the noahscornerofrandomstuff.substack.com link that so many of you have told me you hate! I hate it too, honestly. I am overjoyed to transition to my own domain. It’s been far too long coming.

​Several other minor changes are also coming, mostly regarding layout and formatting. They are relatively minor, but these cover the major additions. The goal, at the end of the day, is to make a page that is cleaner, more accessible, and more professional to a wider audience. Our content won't change—nothing like that. I’m still Noah. However, as we grow and reach nearly 200,000 monthly viewers, I do feel it’s time to clean up the page and make it a bit nicer.

​I’m interested to hear thoughts! I think it is very nice right now. I like it. However, I do want people to have some say and input on what I’m doing to the page, especially as this will serve as a wider testbed for the final site we’ll inevitably have.