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Not totally sure why, but I've been enjoying newsletters (though none of the paid via Substack) a lot more lately. The constant flow of news via HN, Twitter, et

Not totally sure why, but I've been enjoying newsletters (though none of the paid via Substack) a lot more lately. The constant flow of news via HN, Twitter, etc. results in a kind of information overload and it's quite easy to just scroll on to the next item. While newsletters are essentially just 'more information', perhaps there's something about a curated set of information that (presumably) has some more thought put into it than the click of a retweet button that makes it more appealing to more completely ingest and engage with.

rydre 6y ago
Until they regress because of SEO people trying to game the system.
- jjohansson 6y ago
  I’m an SEO person, and true SEO is about providing value and helping the searcher. Not about gaming it. Google does a great job at removing the black hats, and a pretty good job at removing the grey hats, but it’s not perfect.
  - rydre 6y ago
    If google was really good at removing then Pinterest and Quora would have been downranked/removed from the index. And then there is this spam site called AnalyticsVidhya whenever I search for stuff related to machine learning. Gaming SEO still works, so I have to maintain my own blocklist of websites that automatically hides the biggest offenders from my results.
    - jjohansson 6y ago
      Undoubtedly true. Doesn’t change the fact that true SEO is about helping the searcher resolve their query. Google is evil, but they have the best search algorithm in town.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
- SpicyLemonZest 6y ago
  There are already plenty of newsletters that consist of basically SEO spam. I don't think that's a problem, as long as I can identify and sign up for the good ones.
- dgellow 6y ago
  Wouldn’t people just unsubscribe?
Wowfunhappy 6y ago
I guess my problem with email newsletters is that they show up in my email client, alongside other emails from real people. I really don’t want them there. I think I would like newsletters if I had a separate system just for them. Not just a different inbox within my email client, but a different program altogether, so they occupy a different headspace. I’ve used https://www.kill-the-newsletter.com/ https://www.kill-the-newsletter.com/ a bit and I think it’s a great service, but the resulting feeds feel distinctly “non-native,” like the feeling of running a Windows program in Mac or Linux with Wine.
- sawaruna 6y ago
  I’ve not tried it, but check out https://stoopinbox.com https://stoopinbox.com
  - michaelmarion 6y ago
    Stoop is awesome! Would definitely recommend.
    - enumjorge 6y ago
      Am I understanding it right that there’s only mobile clients for stoop? No web client? I don’t want to read newsletters on my phone :/.
      - etblg 6y ago
        There seems to be a web client in beta. Top right of their homepage, the "login" link. You might have to create an account on another device but you certainly seem to be able to use it from the web.
- morley 6y ago
  Stratechery offers an RSS feed for subscribers; I subscribe to both because I normally feel the way you do, but I find I read the email more.
- 6y ago
treebornfrog 6y ago
I agree, over the last week I've left my phone in my bedroom most of the day, removed my apps like brave, telegram and WhatsApp from the home screen. Just the phone, calculator and signal. So much better, now the added step of opening an app drawer and looking for an app or searching allows me to disengage with all the constant reading. I've subscribed to a few newsletters and leave to until the end of the day before bed or schedule some time and leave them unread. Internet is a great tool, as long as it doesn't takeover.
- dhruvkar 6y ago
  Why remove telegram but keep signal? Just curious.
  - treebornfrog 6y ago
    Telegram is where I speak to a few close friends (groups - plenty of gifs) and my developers and VAs are on it who I talk to daily. Not many people use SMS these days (not within my circle anyway) and anything that comes through SMS is crucial I.e my CRM goes down or there's a bug I get an SMS, which is fine. Also, I turn all notifications off on my mobile. This puts the powers back in my hands. Edit, notifications for SMS and phone are on, everything else, off.
sjg007 6y ago
The curated model works well if you trust the editor. Eventually it turns into a newspaper

rydre 6y ago

Until they regress because of SEO people trying to game the system.

jjohansson 6y ago
I’m an SEO person, and true SEO is about providing value and helping the searcher. Not about gaming it. Google does a great job at removing the black hats, and a pretty good job at removing the grey hats, but it’s not perfect.
- rydre 6y ago
  If google was really good at removing then Pinterest and Quora would have been downranked/removed from the index. And then there is this spam site called AnalyticsVidhya whenever I search for stuff related to machine learning. Gaming SEO still works, so I have to maintain my own blocklist of websites that automatically hides the biggest offenders from my results.
  - jjohansson 6y ago
    Undoubtedly true. Doesn’t change the fact that true SEO is about helping the searcher resolve their query. Google is evil, but they have the best search algorithm in town.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
SpicyLemonZest 6y ago
There are already plenty of newsletters that consist of basically SEO spam. I don't think that's a problem, as long as I can identify and sign up for the good ones.
dgellow 6y ago
Wouldn’t people just unsubscribe?

Wowfunhappy 6y ago

I guess my problem with email newsletters is that they show up in my email client, alongside other emails from real people. I really don’t want them there. I think I would like newsletters if I had a separate system just for them. Not just a different inbox within my email client, but a different program altogether, so they occupy a different headspace. I’ve used https://www.kill-the-newsletter.com/ https://www.kill-the-newsletter.com/ a bit and I think it’s a great service, but the resulting feeds feel distinctly “non-native,” like the feeling of running a Windows program in Mac or Linux with Wine.

sawaruna 6y ago
I’ve not tried it, but check out https://stoopinbox.com https://stoopinbox.com
- michaelmarion 6y ago
  Stoop is awesome! Would definitely recommend.
  - enumjorge 6y ago
    Am I understanding it right that there’s only mobile clients for stoop? No web client? I don’t want to read newsletters on my phone :/.
    - etblg 6y ago
      There seems to be a web client in beta. Top right of their homepage, the "login" link. You might have to create an account on another device but you certainly seem to be able to use it from the web.
morley 6y ago
Stratechery offers an RSS feed for subscribers; I subscribe to both because I normally feel the way you do, but I find I read the email more.
6y ago

treebornfrog 6y ago

I agree, over the last week I've left my phone in my bedroom most of the day, removed my apps like brave, telegram and WhatsApp from the home screen. Just the phone, calculator and signal. So much better, now the added step of opening an app drawer and looking for an app or searching allows me to disengage with all the constant reading. I've subscribed to a few newsletters and leave to until the end of the day before bed or schedule some time and leave them unread. Internet is a great tool, as long as it doesn't takeover.

dhruvkar 6y ago
Why remove telegram but keep signal? Just curious.
- treebornfrog 6y ago
  Telegram is where I speak to a few close friends (groups - plenty of gifs) and my developers and VAs are on it who I talk to daily. Not many people use SMS these days (not within my circle anyway) and anything that comes through SMS is crucial I.e my CRM goes down or there's a bug I get an SMS, which is fine. Also, I turn all notifications off on my mobile. This puts the powers back in my hands. Edit, notifications for SMS and phone are on, everything else, off.

sjg007 6y ago

The curated model works well if you trust the editor. Eventually it turns into a newspaper