
Oh God, It's Raining Newsletters - cmod
http://craigmod.com/essays/newsletters/
======
mevile
There's a whole slew of content being created in all forms, from newsletters,
blog posts, books, podcasts, music, video games, video on demand and live
video. A lot of it is actually really high-quality content. We're being
inundated with too much good stuff. I see all these newsletters in my inbox I
don't have time to read that I want to. Tv shows, youtube videos I want to
watch but don't have time for. I'm listening to a podcast when I cook while I
have a game on and a book in my bag.

It's like a really good problem to have tbh, but there's a problem with
managing this. This week there was a post about how to pick a good non-fiction
book. Figuring out what the best content for me for the time I have is the
problem. It's a problem we all have right now.

Also that was a really well written post, a love letter to newsletters. I
really enjoyed it.

~~~
B-Con
I have so many queues of stuff I want to get to. I feel guilty how little of
it I consume. Sometimes just looking at my backlog is somewhat anxiety
inducing.

I have 245 videos in my YouTube "Watch Later" queue. (Turns out some parts of
the Android YT UI has a max of 199 videos.) And a lot of those are 30min+
lectures. I probably have at least 50hrs of content queued on YT alone. And
that's what I haven't watched.

Sometimes I can't choose when I do have the time. I'll have the time to
consume 1-3 hours of content and I'll freeze, unable to choose. And half the
time I choose something new that's not on my list yet.

~~~
IkmoIkmo
I'd very much consider speeding up your videos.

I watch things like educational videos, interviews, news videos etc mostly on
2x.

Movies I often watch on 1.5x, not always but typically at least 1.3x.

Sometimes I go up to 2.5x or 3x when needed, e.g. speeding through a Let's
Play video during a part which isn't particularly interesting any slower.

~~~
wuschel
> Movies I often watch on 1.5x, not always but typically at least 1.3x.

For me, I would ask myself if these movie is worth watching, and if the
teaching materials are worth ingesting.

~~~
IkmoIkmo
Of course, I always do, too.

Funny thing is that some of this stuff wouldn't be worth watching at 1x, but
are worth watching on 2.5x. For example I really enjoy watching replays of
strategical games, but much of it is frankly quite boring in real time. Take a
typical 2+1 hour game of chess, with minutes between moves, condensed into a
45 minute match with commentary, that's an excellent way for me to enjoy
relaxing after a day of work while the washing machine is churning and I'm
eating dinner. But I'd absolutely have no time (much less interest) to sit
there for 3 hours watching people think.

You have to wonder, what are the odds that all of human content is paced at a
perfect speed for all of human consumers?

What are the odds that every lecturer for example, speaks at the same pace,
all with the same information density of the concepts they are talking about?

The answer obviously is virtually zero. And so if you have different paces of
information density, then the norm should be for every individual that for
some content, you adjust the speed of the video!

Some videos pack a ton of information in five sentences, others take ten
sentences to convey the same idea. (a density of concepts per sentence) And
some lecturers pack those say five sentences in one minute, while others do it
in two. (speed of speech) If everyone enjoyed the same pace, and all content
was at the same pace, then you'd never have to adjust content-speed. But both
of those two statements aren't true. So again, the norm should be that any
individual may want to speed up at least some of his content.

In the end it really depends on the content. I don't speed up movies as much
for example as news though because in the former, moments of quietness and
facial expression are much more meaningful than in the latter and it loses its
impact when sped up too much.

~~~
inimino
What are the odds that all information worth consuming is best consumed at the
same speed?

What are the odds that every human cultural experience can be reduced to
"consumption" of N bits of information per minute?

I say you will benefit more from eating your dinner and relaxing into the
churning sounds of the washing machine than you will from another day of your
hyperoptimized speed run through life, measured in bits of information per
minute absorbed (like a sponge) from 'content' (a term invented by industries
that profit by the mindless consumption of your time by their 'content').

------
robin_reala
I don’t mind newsletters, but I still prefer the anonymity of RSS. For every
dedicated author as per the linked article there are ten company backed
newsletters that will take your email address and use it as an advertising
target on a specific subject. Illegal, but of course it happens.

~~~
cmod
I've tried to split the difference. All my newslettering is also published on
my site, with attendant RSS feeds. The thing about the newsletter I love, as I
explained in the essay, is the quality of conversation is so much higher than
anything I've found outside of the inbox. (Hacker News excepted; this place
deserves its own love letter.)

~~~
robin_reala
Obviously having both is the best of both worlds! (by the way, thanks for the
content, I’ve subscribed. Walking the mountain paths of Japan is an underrated
pastime for sure, had an amazing time at Yoshino and Hakuba last time I was
there)

~~~
cmod
Yoshino is a gem. I'm running a retreat there later this year with Jan
Chipchase.

------
revx
I started a meme newsletter for my friends. I publish it occasionally - not on
any schedule, and with whatever content and style I feel like. It's like
publishing a small, private website from time to time. And it's completely
decentralized, and responses come back straight to me, so there's no fighting
in the comments. I almost never post on social media anymore.

~~~
vermaden
It was similar for me, as I want to follow what is 'happening' in the
UNIX/BSD/Linux/Hardware world I often sent links to my friends with
'interesting stuff' ... so I created _Valuable News_ to make it available for
everyone.

The latest one is available here:

[https://vermaden.wordpress.com/2019/02/08/valuable-
news-2019...](https://vermaden.wordpress.com/2019/02/08/valuable-
news-2019-02-08/)

~~~
slavik81
> "The tailflix is replacement for tail -F that asks you if you are still
> watching."

This made me laugh out loud.

~~~
vermaden
Me too :)

------
ilikehurdles
Newsletters feel like a step (or more like a plunge) back from subscribing to
websites via RSS feeds. And yet this seems to be the direction that technology
is moving in.

I’ve chosen not to subscribe to certain blogs simply because I don’t want to
place my email address in more hands who have no incentive to care about my
privacy.

~~~
monksy
I don't subscribe to newsletters because I have no trust in how much it's
going to send to me, weither or not they'll be worth having, and I value my
privacy.

Instead, I use RSS daily. Whether it's for the blogs or it's with podcasts.

------
codydh
Some feed readers offer a private email address that you can subscribe to
newsletters with, and see them alongside your other RSS feeds. My reader of
choice (Feedbin) does this. It's one way to at least centralize them all in a
place outside your email inbox.

------
mxstbr
I am so glad Craig mentions
[https://buttondown.email](https://buttondown.email). It is such a great
service, and Justin (the creator of Buttondown) is engaged and friendly with
his users.

I use Buttondown for my newsletter and would highly recommend it!

~~~
revx
Oh, that's super cool. I write my newsletter emails in markdown, change them
to HTML, and then publish them on mailchimp (which is a bit overkill for my 45
subscribers). Definitely going to check this out!

------
shortformblog
As a newsletter guy myself (see [https://tedium.co/](https://tedium.co/)), one
that focuses less on link lists and more on longer-form storytelling, I look
at email as a vessel that helps lessen the effect of the platform on the
creative outlet. It's one of many, but still a vessel. If you read my content
in your inbox, great! If you want it on the web, it's there, too. In your feed
([https://feed.tedium.co/](https://feed.tedium.co/))? You can have it there,
too. I'll even syndicate it. My only limitation is that it's something that I
can control the distribution of, not Facebook or Twitter or Medium. Maybe I'll
share the content on those platforms, but I won't let it be my primary vessel.

I think, ultimately, this is the benefit I see of the newsletter
mechanism—it's the ability to control your destiny as a writer and
distributor. We simply do not allow for enough of that in this platform-driven
era. So let's minimize the platforms.

After an era in which platforms have had so much control, it's great to see
writers figure out that there are ways around all that. Kudos to Craig, Tim
Carmody, and other writers that have been willing to put this kind of work
into their business models.

------
georgebarnett
Somewhat related:

Create an email filter that moves any email with the word “unsubscribe” into
its own folder out of the inbox.

It’s an amazing signal for separating direct and bulk mail.

~~~
andrewstuart2
Careful, though. I added this rule to my inbox (automatically marking them
read, though) years ago and just a month or two ago figured out why I was
_never_ aware I had pull requests or issues on GitHub, among quite a few other
things I was constantly missing.

~~~
georgebarnett
Yes, good catch!

I haven’t really noticed this since I have a habit of clicking unsubscribe on
anything that does actually show up and so my bulk folder is usually empty.

------
rgoulter
Why the obnoxious "sign up for my newsletter" popup?

The best reason I can think of is it gets more people to sign up to the
newsletter. (Who are these people, that would sign up for a newsletter b/c
something interrupted them reading the blogpost, but wouldn't sign up on their
own?).

A popup is nice for the people who would sign up for a newsletter anyway, but
a PITA for anyone else who cares to read the blogpost's content, right?

~~~
cmod
I've struggled with this popup (keeping it or nixing it; I'm the owner of the
site). Sadly, it's insanely effective at converting folks (thousand of
subscriptions over the last few months; high retention as I track those subs
separately). It shouldn't trigger while reading unless you leave the window.
And also won't trigger until you're at the bottom of the screen. And if you
dismiss it once, you should never see it again with that browser on the site.

That said, it is annoying, especially on a page about newsletters. So I just
modified my templates to take a variable to turn it off on a page-by-page
basis (using Hugo to generate the site). Won't appear for this post anymore.

~~~
cuspycode
I regularly delete all cookies for sites that don't require login (i.e. most
content sites I visit), so for me such popup annoyances keep recurring. And I
often leave the window before I come back later to finish the article, which
is even more annoying and makes the popup look like a desperate scream for
attention. Sometimes I actually do sign up for newsletters, but in those rare
situations I first look for the contact details on the page, and then I create
a specific new email address for that subscription, so it's nothing I do on a
whim. I am amazed that people submit their email address to a random popup.

But thanks for removing it for this page, it's a step in the right direction!

Note: I have no problems with non-popup info about newsletters or other
engagement offerings (e.g. end-of-page banners), those are much less intrusive
than popups.

------
temp1928384
The rise of Slack has made me love and appreciate email even more. I love that
one of the oldest internet technologies is actually decentralized and
thriving...makes me bullish that something out of the crypto space will one
day work.

~~~
anonu
That's a bit of a leap... Email and crypto are decentralized... Sure.... But
in very different ways with very different goals.

------
kumarvvr
I love the python and postgresql weekly newsletters. Concise, very targeted
info, no anxiety of privacy issues, etc. I dont directly click on links
though, just DDG search of the library or article.

And, I usually can access the email from my office inbox, so there's that.

------
telesilla
This is handy right now: I've been looking for a good newsletter service for a
non-profit I volunteer for. Any recommendations?

~~~
scraplab
I’ve not tried it, but this looks good:
[https://buttondown.email/](https://buttondown.email/)

------
AJRF
Anyone know of a service that will summarize a batch of different news letters
for you? Say you subscribe to 30 newsletters, but a lot of them contain fluff,
legal & disclaimer, ads, etc - but you only want a summary of the good content
sent to you on say a Sunday.

I would imagine the interface being a list of newsletters, with a drop down to
say how much of the content you would like, an option for what time and what
day you wish to recieve the summary and then the actual email to just be the
summary with a single link to the full newsletter underneath.

Does something like this exist? My google-fu is returning nothing.

------
guybedo
I see newsletters as a first level of curation/aggregation that helps managing
the daily deluge of content/information.

I've built a database of newsletters, there's 500+ indexed and categorised so
far. I'm adding news ones daily, and would love some suggestions so i can grow
this database.

I haven't build a standalone website to browse the db yet, but you can check
out the newsletters and subscribe as RSS feeds with the rss reader i built
([https://aktu.io/about](https://aktu.io/about))

------
pwthornton
You know what we could use -- bare with me here -- a newsletter that is a
collection of the best content from newsletters you might like.

A lot of these newsletters are very good (many are not as well). But the
volume is just so high.

Same thing with news outlets. There is a huge supply of good content. But
there isn't enough intelligent bundling to make it all work anymore. I
recently paid for a Medium account, and the reason I did was that Medium is
really good at giving you targeted content from a wide variety of sources.

------
the_librarian
This may sound strange, but I am subscribed to no newsletters. In fact, I had
no idea such specific, elegant newsletters even existed. I may add to the
rainstorm, whether that's bad or good...I don't actually know.

In any case, I'm working on site that is to hopefully serve as a hub for 2d
game developers to share their scripts and thoughts freely, gaining access to
"the restricted sections" of the site as they contribute (and yes, this is
inspired by Pagemaster.) and as such, the site will become a library over
time.

People can take a penny, leave nothing, or give a roll of pennies and never
take any pennies. People should have as much or as little access as they wish.
The best thing about this idea I think is when users sign up for their
"library cards" they will actually receive something that functions like one
in digital form. (I may try to look into making physical cards which I have
designed already! but I still have to work out the logistics of that...,
haha.)

When they have cards, they will instead of "chcking out books", be able to
create the books that they want, similar to wikipedia's pdf/book system.
(Everything hosted on site will be open source too, to be used for whatever
purposes including commercial.)

And here's where the ourobouros comes back to bite, I swear this isn't a
tangent.

I think a newsletter would be a better place to start for me to prototype this
idea. WEven though the site is under construction already. It will be in that
state for a long time too, as this is my first time developing web content,
instead of games! But I could do this.

Thanks for sharing! (I don't self promote in posts, but if you are interested,
just see my profile.)

Really enjoying the content of this website and am glad to have found it.

~~~
groestl
You might want to edit your post and remove all the newlines, it's got a very
weird formatting (at first I thought it was a poem).

~~~
the_librarian
I'm sorry, again. (I'm doing better than yesterday, yikes, look at that one!)
I though doing a line break in between every line would make it better, and it
did, but man it definitely looks like a poem.

I will do my best to get this right! Apologies, seriously. So few rules on the
formatting is throwing me off.

------
arbuge
One thing to keep in mind when starting a newsletter: publish it somewhere so
that content is also visible to other people who aren't subscribed to your
newsletter. Unless of course you explicitly only want it to be visible to
subscribers.

One easy way to do is by subscribing publish@publicemails.com to your
newsletter. (Disclosure: I created
[https://publicemails.com](https://publicemails.com), where this service is
provided).

------
eswat
> Email is definitely not ideal, but it is: decentralized, reliable, and not
> going anywhere – and more and more, those feel like quasi-magical
> properties.

But wouldn’t a website hosted on a platform you control also serve this
purpose? Even with the services mentioned in the essay you have a third-party
looking over where you data is and have to rely on them if you ever want to
retrieve your data back.

I guess you’d also have to add a method for facilitating contact though (uh…
email?)

~~~
theNJR
It’s mostly a distribution problem. Depending on what you write about, your
audience may not use rss. How do you get them to come back to something they
enjoy reading, amongst a sea of clutter? They no longer get notified through
social. As Craig says, email let’s you own your audience. The use of the word
“own” is slightly problematic but accurate enough.

------
llbowers
Any recommendations for newsletters pertaining to typical Hacker News
interests, e.g. programming, start-up business, cybersecurity, technology,
gaming, etc.?

~~~
andyjohnson0
It's a bit more general-readership, but I find Kevin Kelley's Recomendo [1]
newsletter useful. It's lightweight and doesn't require much time to read.

Maria Popova’s Brain Pickings [2] newsletter is arts/literature oriented, well
produced, and full of insights - but often quite long.

[1] [http://recomendo.com/](http://recomendo.com/)

[2] [https://www.brainpickings.org/](https://www.brainpickings.org/)

~~~
peatfreak
> Maria Popova’s Brain Pickings [2] newsletter is arts/literature oriented,
> well produced, and full of insights - but often quite long.

I love Brain Picking, although unfortunately I feel that her articles have a
certain sort of "sameness" to them.

I love long-form reading. Personally I feel that encouraging long-form reading
is important. I disagree that reducing the attention of time required to read
is the answer.

------
anonu
I'm some sense, Email is the first social network. And decentralized as the
author points out...

It would follow that if you want to leverage this platform you need to make
better tools to enhance email writing and reading experience.

That interface hasn't changed much over the decades.

------
perseusprime11
Along with raining podcasts. How do we fix this? Go back to Web?

------
JohnJamesRambo
“In truth, it’s a newsletter about the design of walking.“

Oh my God, we don’t need this.

