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Ask HN: Is it just me, or is the inbox is the worst place for newsletters?

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Re: Ask HN: Is it just me, or is the inbox is the worst place for newsletters?

#101

Post by syntheticnature »

mrlatinos wrote: post #44
deregulateMed wrote: post #33

I'm on the other side of the issue. I have 10000 subscribers with a 0.6% Spam rate. That's technically high, despite me getting all emails voluntarily and not even offering a freebie for signing up. Anyway, can't use Facebook/IG/Reddit/Twitter because of the algorithm. Can't email more than 4 times a year due to spam filters. I still pay hundreds of dollars a year to reach people via email octopus and Amazon.... And…

Regardless of whether I "consented" or not, I'll mark recurring marketing/news/feedback emails as spam in Gmail. This also gives me the option to unsubscribe if Gmail finds a link. Much easier than seeking out the unsub link myself, so I use this even if it's not technically spam. I do wish Google provided a standalone unsubscribe link. Or maybe companies shouldn't hide it in the fine print and make me fill out a for…

In my Gmail, most such email has a Google-provided unsubscribe link right next to the source address at the top, e.g.

Spamming Stores Unsubscribe

Re: Ask HN: Is it just me, or is the inbox is the worst place for newsletters?

#103

Post by MrStonedOne »

rhn_mk1 wrote: post #80
Sharlin wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The absolutely most important reason: everyone has an email address. It’s not just the least common denominator, it’s pretty much the only common denominator. RSS practically does not exist outside the tech scene.

Everyone having an email address is a false assumption, or a bad generalization. There are people among us without one, and owning a phone number instead. I'm not sure along which lines the divide falls though. Younger? Less western? Less businessy? It's still possible that the people who would be interested in a newsletter are the same people who have email addresses.

mathematically its true though.

if 0.999... = 1, then 99.999...% also equals 100%

Re: Ask HN: Is it just me, or is the inbox is the worst place for newsletters?

#106

Post by genzer »

soheilpro wrote: post #45
ajot wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use Kill the newsletter for that purpose, as my RSS reader is client-side https://kill-the-newsletter.com/ https://github.com/leafac/kill-the-newsletter

Same here.

I just tried using Kill the Newsletter! on Farnam Street [1] and the experience was awesome. Simple, fast, free and no ads.

Thanks for introducing a very good tool!

[1]: https://fs.blog/

Re: Ask HN: Is it just me, or is the inbox is the worst place for newsletters?

#107

Post by Eugeleo »

I found that the problem with newsletters is that there are too many too often. I discovered Mailbrew (https://mailbrew.com/) a while back and it solved this problem for me — together with “newsletterifying” a few of other content channels, like Twitter and HN.

Re: Ask HN: Is it just me, or is the inbox is the worst place for newsletters?

#108

Post by deergomoo »

andybak wrote: post #78
deergomoo wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So - you don't use email for communication with actual people? Nope! I may be cheating somewhat as I'm not counting work communication here, which does involve a decent amount of email, but I only access that inbox through a web browser so I can easily close the tab and be done for the day. I'm also not getting any newsletters to my work inbox. > Do you mind me asking roughly how old you are? I would like to test m…

Follow up question. I find the problem with messaging services is that there's no central inbox and no decent handling of "unread". If I get an instant message from someone that I can't (or choose not to) respond to immediately, then the chances are very high that I'll forget to respond. But with email it stays in my inbox and I can easily set it back to "unread" for extra emphasis. I find I'm terrible at keeping up…

So I think for me things typically fall into two buckets. Almost all my one-to-one communication is with family members that will just call me if I miss a message they need an answer to.

The rest (and indeed the vast majority) of my communication is via group chats, which I personally find messaging apps to handle much better than email clients. It also doesn’t really matter if you miss something, as there’s generally enough messages going back and forth that you will see something else and then remember to go back and check the thing you missed (if you even need to).

I will concede though, finding a particular instant message is a damned nightmare compared to finding an email.

Re: Ask HN: Is it just me, or is the inbox is the worst place for newsletters?

#109

Post by ksec »

troydavis wrote: post #8

My RSS reader service also provides an email address for email-only subscriptions: https://feedbin.com/blog/2016/02/03/subscribe-to-email-newsl... . I read email newsletters in the same place as RSS. I'm subscribed to a few low-volume Twitter searches too ( https://feedbin.com/blog/2018/01/11/feedbin-is-the-best-way-... ).

HOLY CRAP I have been wanting this exact feature for years. I always thought why aren't Newsletter and RSS reside in the same space. I rarely use email anymore given all the spam and advert.

Re: Ask HN: Is it just me, or is the inbox is the worst place for newsletters?

#110

Post by daxaxelrod »

CarelessExpert wrote: post #66
daxaxelrod wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I dont know why but this reminds me of the classic HN counter argument to Dropbox. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9224 Maybe there's a webapp here...

Oh 100%. What I'm doing is not for the feint of heart. For me it's as much for the joy of the project, though I do really like the power and customizability of the stack I've put together. I'm also a privacy wonk and I like having full control over my data, not to mention the content I'm consuming. But yeah, I won't claim this is for everyone. But for those interested in a DIY project it's working great for me!

Love it, more power to ya :)
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