The Long Story of the Attempted Conversion of Publishing Platforms (and Domains) for Zero Retries

Updated 2026-04-03

This will be the page for the long story of my attempt to move publication of Zero Retries from:

Substack publishing platform, using the zeroretries.org domain,

Ghost publishing platform, using the zeroretries.radio domain.

It didn’t go well.

As of 2026-04-03 and Zero Retries 0245, Zero Retries is being published (again) on Substack and www.zeroretries.org.

Yes, I did say that reverting Zero Retries to publishing on Substack wasn’t an option.
I was wrong - at this point, doing so is the most reasonable option to continue publishing Zero Retries as an email / web newsletter.

Details to follow, but a few points for the curious:

I received a lot of griping for publishing these sorts of details in Zero Retries, so I’m now keeping all of this out of Zero Retries (newsletter).
I’m documenting all this detail here (eventually) as a cautionary tale for those that might benefit from it. It would be a waste if someone else had to go through all of this not knowing that it also happened to me.
One primary takeaway from this experience is that if you attempt to use a top level domain like .radio that has a sole domain registrar (you can’t register it via multiple, “mainstream” registrars… if you’re a non expert on domain issues (as I am), I suggest you reconsider using such a domain.
Ghost’s hosting service (ghost.org / ghost.io) is fine.
Ghost’s technical support is… adequate, but often leisurely (such as no coverage on weekends).
Having a .radio domain for an Amateur Radio website is cool, and lots of folks have been able to make it work with no issues.
Cloudflare, Microsoft, and Comcast “blacklisted” zeroretries.radio as a potential phishing site… for no cause… just in case it might have been true.
No joke - there was absolutely no cause for those orgs to do so - they just did.
That issue caused many Zero Retries fans to not be able to read Zero Retries.
The technical support from .radio (dot radio domains) is… adequate.
I was just notified that dot radio domains has now sold the .radio top level domain to another domain registrar and the effects of that transition are to be determined.
I apologize to those who don’t like Substack on principle.
I offer no defense of Substack’s business or editorial practices.
My continuing to use Substack is not an endorsement of anything other than I’m able to publish Zero Retries using Substack, at minimal hassle.
All information published on Ghost / www.zeroretries.radio will be relocated and updated to Substack / www.zeroretries.org.

At this point, I just want to get on with publishing Zero Retries instead of fighting with the behemoths of the Internet Industrial Complex to publish my little newsletter.

There are those with more skills than I that could probably make this work - figuring out what buttons to push at Cloudflare (which ultimately did “un-list” zeroretries.radio as being a suspected of being a phishing site, Microsoft (jury is still out), and Comcast / Xfinity (won’t budge).

As of 2026-05-10 (just prior to Hamvention 2026), I will discontinue zeroretries.radio as a website and use zeroretries.radio as a simple redirect to Zero Retries on Substack / www.zeroretries.org.

More detail to follow.

Steve Stroh N8GNJ
Editor, Zero Retries