What does Mike do for a living? He’s a digital fundraising consultant. He also ran White Dudes for Harris last year. He has 114K followers on Twitter and 47K on TikTok. Solid — but a long way from 1.3M Substack subscribers.

Just for perspective, Mike has more Substack subscribers than Aaron Parnas, a content creator with 8 million followers across social media platforms. He also has more than MeidasTouch, one of the biggest progressive independent media outlets in America.

How did a fundraising consultant become one of the most subscribed-to Substacks? I’m going to guess that Mike Nellis is mass-uploading his clients’ email lists to pump up his Substack numbers. I emailed both Mike and Substack several days ago for comment. I haven’t heard back.

If one of the biggest accounts on Substack is inflating his readership by spamming people who never subscribed, it hurts and delegitimizes other liberal-leaning creators. Plus, it’s illegal! https://ecreatortips.substack....

Unfortunately, while spam is illegal, anyone whose inbox is full of political emails they never signed up for knows that this is basically never enforced. And that’s the problem. Opportunities for political grift are out of control right now.

The DNC has started taking on scam PACs, but it’s just the tip of the iceberg. We can and should be willing to steal some tactics from MAGA — just look at Newsom’s trolling. But we can’t become grifters. And we have to call it out when we see it.

@keithedwards @MikeNellis His emails started showing up in my inbox

@HaylBecks @MikeNellis Insane

@keithedwards @MikeNellis Just looked at my spam and saw dozens of emails from him. I never subscribed to him either

@AHenderson29500 @MikeNellis Wow. I'm getting messages all day about this.

@keithedwards @MikeNellis I’m getting @MikeNellis emails also - definitely didn’t subscribe I don’t even know who he is

@keithedwards @MikeNellis chatGPT posting

@keithedwards @MikeNellis WTF…

@keithedwards @MikeNellis I have never heard of this man.

@keithedwards @MikeNellis Ah, same experience here. I wondered why those Nellis Substack emails suddenly started coming. I had subscribed to a different Substack, and thought there had been some add-on. The Nellis email list upload seems to be more likely.

@keithedwards @MikeNellis I am appreciating your post because I never subscribed to his emails either and unsubscribed.

@keithedwards @MikeNellis Add me to the list apparently.

@keithedwards @MikeNellis If you click on the "little bell with a plus sign" on someone's profile to view their posts more often, you subscribe to anything they email.

@keithedwards @kenklippenstein @MikeNellis That happened to me as well. Subscribed to a couple paid substacks and he finds you. I would blame substack.

@keithedwards @MikeNellis This is absolutely true. I was subscribed under a burner email that I use for donations and not for substack.

@keithedwards @PeterHamby @MikeNellis Me too!!!! And I keep unsubscribing!!!!

@keithedwards @MikeNellis Yeah I get a shit ton of emails. It is so annoying and I never signed up for it either. I don’t do that.

@keithedwards @MikeNellis Thanks for the heads up. I just followed him.!

@keithedwards @MikeNellis I was wondering why I started getting his emails when I never asked for them.

@keithedwards @MikeNellis I have wondered how I ended up subscribed to this! Thank you for answering the mystery!

@keithedwards @MikeNellis Too real. Try and unsubscribe and 3 new substack subscriptions show up.

@keithedwards @MikeNellis It’s true. His emails started showing up in my inbox on September. I wondered who’s this guy and when I’ve subscribed to his newsletter? I thought I’ve lost my fucking mind finally 🤦🏻‍♀️

@keithedwards @MikeNellis I didn’t remember subscribing to it either!!

@keithedwards @MikeNellis Wild I’ve been getting these emails too but I never subscribed

@keithedwards @MikeNellis I never open them but I get them constantly out of nowhere.

@keithedwards @kenklippenstein @MikeNellis Thanks! I was wondering who this guy was and why I was getting so many emails. Unsubscribed!

@keithedwards @MikeNellis Funny, same with me.

@keithedwards @MikeNellis This happened to me too. No clue how I was Added. Immediately unsubscribed.