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Tell HN: Hacker Newsletter
Timing is everything and two days ago there was a great post by Jason about Email Newsletters Are Still A Serious Business:
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1488170
Jason's first article about newsletters almost a year ago is what first got me thinking about this idea. The front page of HN always has great reads that provide value to me. However, there are times when I can't get on for a week or when I know if I open HN I will end up on there for an hour or more. I have heard others share the same situation, and at the time thought some sort of newsletter would be a great fit with the content on HN. I didn't have time to pursue that idea at the time, but recently I found some notes that stirred my memory and along with the new Hacker Monthly (which I didn't think would work when Lim first talked about it, but after seeing the first edition and how he pulled it off - I stand corrected), I am moving forward with it.
The Hacker Newsletter will be a weekly collection of the top items on Hacker News. I will link to articles (and comments) based on votes/comments, and there will be an editorial side to it where I might add/remove things based on what I think is most useful for a weekly digest. I will also feature the best "Ask HN" posts, job threads, and a look back at some past articles that would still be useful today. Lastly, I want to do some original content as well and have some different ideas that I am working on, but one will be highlighting projects that HN members have release (both small and large).
Depending on how large the list gets and my time spent on it, I probably will include an ad (hopefully from HN startups) and/or job postings to help pay for it later on.
I want to build something that will serve the HN crowd well, so any feedback is very welcome. The first email will go out this Saturday and you can opt-in at:
http://www.hackernewsletter.com/
Thanks,
Kale
- duck 16y agoLink: http://www.hackernewsletter.com/ http://www.hackernewsletter.com/
- bluephenom 16y agoAwesome idea. I signed up.
- metachris 16y agoSounds interesting and I've signed up too. After I entered my mail and hit enter, it reloaded the exact same frontpage without any notification. Therefore I didn't immediately know whether it worked or not.
- duck 16y agoThanks. I didn't spend much time on the design of the site yet (which was really hard for me) because I wanted to get it launched quickly, but there is some text that shows up under the submit button after you click on it - Almost finished. We need to confirm your email address. To complete the subscription process, please click the link in the email we just sent you.. I will work on making that easier to see by maybe jumping to another page or something. It is a double opt-in list meaning you will get an email that you will have to click on to confirm. Let me know if you don't and I can look into it more.
- vyrotek 16y agoHow will this compare to http://hackermonthly.com http://hackermonthly.com ?
- duck 16y agoI think both ideas help us consume the best items on HN and complement each other. My newsletter won't contain the actual article, but it will be more timely in some cases and cover more items (both since it is weekly).
- subbu 16y agoI think both can coexist. HackerNewsletter can be more fresh while hackermonthly can become slightly longer for a regular HNer. Some articles attract too many upvotes in a really short period. I am usually not away for more than a week. But that said I still like hackermonthly.
- Concours 16y agonot directly related to the newsletter but what do you use for to collect te emails and send the newsletter?
- duck 16y agoMail Chimp - http://www.mailchimp.com http://www.mailchimp.com I've used them before when clients had needed a newsletter and it seemed to be a good fit. I haven't spent much time on customizing everything this time around though, but I will work on that.
- Concours 16y agoOk thanks, will tke a closer look.
- jhammer 16y agoDirect Mail (http://directmailapp.com http://directmailapp.com) is a newsletter/mailing-list app for the Mac that lets you set up web-based subscribe and unsubscribe forms.
- ecaradec 16y agoAre we at the beginning of a marketplace over hackernews ? (not that this is a bad thing )
- rada 16y agohttp://www.instapaper.com/ http://www.instapaper.com/
- xaverius 16y agoAwesome, have signed up. Wait to get the first issue.
- metachris 16y agoPlease let us know about how many signups you got (in a couple of days)! Thanks :)
- duck 16y agoIt hit 200 today, which is a little lower than I had hoped... but I think once the first couple newsletters go out people will have a better idea if it fits their needs or not.