
Ask HN: Why do you subscribe to newsletters? - kirillzubovsky
The popular startup wisdom dictates that newsletters are only growing stronger, with more people opting out, and new companies built around them. As someone who unsubscribed from 90% of the newsletters, I can&#x27;t relate, but I&#x27;d love to understand what drives people to sign up, and what value you are getting.<p>If you could share your personal experience with newsletters, and what makes them good (and bad), I&#x27;d love to know your point of view. Thank you!
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paulorlando
I subscribe to Exponential View, Farnam Street, and Stratechery, and a few
others. I don't read them every time (maybe 25%) but value the content and
also finding myself searching old editions for specific companies or issues
I'm trying to learn about. The good ones are consistently good. The bad ones
are lots of noise to signal and hit or miss. The good ones inspired me to
write this one, which I do to help me learn about systems:
[https://unintendedconsequenc.es/](https://unintendedconsequenc.es/)

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kirillzubovsky
Curious, how did you get to contribute to TC? Did you reach out to them with
one of your posts, or did they find it interesting and ask to repost?

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paulorlando
They asked me to write that one on mosquito eradication after seeing some of
my tweets. I hope you liked it. I wrote a follow up to the mosquito post
recently.

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kirillzubovsky
Yes, it was good. It's rare to see articles that go even one-step in depth, so
this was a good change! Good luck with your writing.

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paulorlando
Thanks! Just found your Smashnotes project and signed up.

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rinchik
> what drives people to sign up, and what value you are getting

It might only be me, but this question is silly.

I'm getting the news, updates from a project or company I'm interested in.

Thoughtworks' tech radar is a great example of a project I love getting
regular updates from:
[https://www.thoughtworks.com/radar](https://www.thoughtworks.com/radar)

Newsletters are not spam, it's a deliberate, on-topic tune-in.

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JoshuaMulliken
I agree. In fact, I am a paying subscriber to both Stratechery and Sinocism.
There are somethings where I want to be updated regularly and I will pay
attention.

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kirillzubovsky
Those are good examples, thank you. I've seen Stratechery and Exponent
mentioned on HN quite a few times. Curious, do you care if this analysis is
"correct," or are you happy to get the newsletter even if his is just an
opinion that will potentially help you think about a topic in a new way?

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_bparks_
news sources for niche subjects don't really exist, and it helps separate the
signal from the noise.

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kirillzubovsky
Got it. Do you have an example of what is a good niche newsletter? Are we
talking about ~30k subscribers, or more like 300 subscribers?

