3 ms·

it seems that you yourself read articles that are in the email. so i think writing just a few lines that describes every link is a good idea. Dave Pell is doing

by sazary 14y ago

it seems that you yourself read articles that are in the email. so i think writing just a few lines that describes every link is a good idea. Dave Pell is doing a good job about this in NextDraft. also points and number of comments are important things to be included in email, but they may clutter it. personally i prefer them to be there. and the classics part is really good ;)

duck 14y ago
Thanks, and yes, I've gotten several requests for summaries. I tried doing that before, but I didn't like the results... but I might give that another try. You can hover over the title to get the points & # of comments. If you like the classics, you'll probably enjoy my other newsletter as well - http://waybackletter.com http://waybackletter.com.
- ColinDabritz 14y ago
  I'm giving the newsletter a shot. As far as summaries, I can see how it could clutter the flow, maybe there is a way to put them out of the way of the main flow? Optional hover? It's a great place to expose a bit more 'curation' value if it can be done without causing problems. I would also mention, one huge reason I use hacker news is for the comments. If the summary could just mention a couple major topics of discussion, e.g. the 'good stuff' it would make a summary useful to me there as well. More broadly, I noticed that all your links are the articles, with companion comments. You do have a few 'ask HN' and similar thread posts, but perhaps consider highlighting those occasional remarkable discussion threads on their own, or quoting excellent posts. I've saved more than a few HN comments myself, and a couple great quotes at the end could be a nice 'wrap-up' and bring some of the community discussion feel to the format.
  - DanLivesHere 14y ago
    Is there a way to do an optional hover in email? You can't pass js
  - duck 14y ago
    Actually, there usually is a "Ask HN" section... but if there isn't any good ones or if they end up in other sections then it doesn't show. It is funny, at the beginning there use to be tons of them and then over the last year those started to thin out, but that seems to be reversing again here of late (which is good!).

by sazary 14y ago

duck 14y ago

Thanks, and yes, I've gotten several requests for summaries. I tried doing that before, but I didn't like the results... but I might give that another try. You can hover over the title to get the points & # of comments. If you like the classics, you'll probably enjoy my other newsletter as well - http://waybackletter.com http://waybackletter.com.

ColinDabritz 14y ago
I'm giving the newsletter a shot. As far as summaries, I can see how it could clutter the flow, maybe there is a way to put them out of the way of the main flow? Optional hover? It's a great place to expose a bit more 'curation' value if it can be done without causing problems. I would also mention, one huge reason I use hacker news is for the comments. If the summary could just mention a couple major topics of discussion, e.g. the 'good stuff' it would make a summary useful to me there as well. More broadly, I noticed that all your links are the articles, with companion comments. You do have a few 'ask HN' and similar thread posts, but perhaps consider highlighting those occasional remarkable discussion threads on their own, or quoting excellent posts. I've saved more than a few HN comments myself, and a couple great quotes at the end could be a nice 'wrap-up' and bring some of the community discussion feel to the format.
- DanLivesHere 14y ago
  Is there a way to do an optional hover in email? You can't pass js
- duck 14y ago
  Actually, there usually is a "Ask HN" section... but if there isn't any good ones or if they end up in other sections then it doesn't show. It is funny, at the beginning there use to be tons of them and then over the last year those started to thin out, but that seems to be reversing again here of late (which is good!).