71–80 of 111 posts
I'm a selfhosting nerd so I use Huginn to scrape the newsletters from my email and turn them into RSS feeds that I consume by converting them into an e-newspaper with Calibre. I also use ttrss's feature to republish articles via an RSS feed, plus Wallabag and it's RSS, to get bundles of long form content onto my Kindle. My Saturday morning ritual is then to open Calibre and download the last week's worth of Matt Levi…
I don't mind, although I don't get a lot of email. Maybe like 10 a day, and most of that is just receipts/invoices/confirmations which can be immediately archived. So in fact my inbox is usually about 90% newsletters that I haven't read yet.
So - you don't use email for communication with actual people? Do you mind me asking roughly how old you are? I would like to test my theory that email is generational and it's only the over-(insert number here) that still use it as it was originally intended.
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 my theory that email is generational and it's only the over-(insert number here) that still use it as it was originally intended
I'm 28. All my communication is via messaging apps (iMessage for family as we all have iPhones; WhatsApp for almost everyone else), so I suspect your theory is probably right!
Probably multiple forces affect sending newsletters to email inbox: - Client-side motivation : some users want to use their email as the "universal inbox". E.g. They may also send TODOs/reminders by sending emails to themselves instead of a separate app for alarms. Newsletters are just another stream of info that should conveniently go into their universal inbox. - Publisher-side motivation: email addresses are valua…
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.
Every feed reading mechanism I've ever tried that was usable looked like a mail client. Feeds look like mail folders, and arriving items look like mail delivery, with UI notifications like "Foo (15)" indicating that feed Foo has 15 unread items.
The advantage over e-mail is that it is pull; you don't have an RSS identity that can be spammed. Kill a feed and it is gone.
I'm a selfhosting nerd so I use Huginn to scrape the newsletters from my email and turn them into RSS feeds that I consume by converting them into an e-newspaper with Calibre. I also use ttrss's feature to republish articles via an RSS feed, plus Wallabag and it's RSS, to get bundles of long form content onto my Kindle. My Saturday morning ritual is then to open Calibre and download the last week's worth of Matt Levi…
OK, but suppose someone were to scrape newsletters from their e-mail and turn them into RSS feeds, just like you do. But then, suppose they just behave like a typical RSS user and read these with a feed reader. A stereotypical RSS feed reader which implements an inbox-like paradigm, where you see feeds as folders, which show a count like (3) of new unread items. What would be the point? (What you're doing makes sense…
First, at least IMO, RSS readers tend to have far better reading UX since their primary function is consumption.
Second, related to the previous, I prefer the "infinite scroll of content" UX of an RSS reader versus the typical email paradigm.
Third, it segregates the content so that my email contains those things that actually require effort to respond to, and not just content I'm consuming.
Fourth, you can blend your newsletters with other content published via RSS, creating a unified content feed of things you want to read (in my case it's a combination of newsletters, long form news articles, blog posts, etc).
Finally, again, RSS is far more convenient for converting to other formats like ePub.
Can you get some of these benefits with the right kind of email client, filters and config, etc? Probably. But, the original post was from someone saying they didn't want to use email. So this is an alternative. If you're happy using email, keep on keeping on!
I don't mind, although I don't get a lot of email. Maybe like 10 a day, and most of that is just receipts/invoices/confirmations which can be immediately archived. So in fact my inbox is usually about 90% newsletters that I haven't read yet.
So - you don't use email for communication with actual people? Do you mind me asking roughly how old you are? I would like to test my theory that email is generational and it's only the over-(insert number here) that still use it as it was originally intended.
I get a lot more email though. I think it's more correlated with complexity of your life. Meaning, I started getting more email when I owned a home vs renting, then more again when I got married, then more again when I had a dog, then more again when I had a kid, I'm sure as my kid ages into more activities the email volume will increase further. Also, my "personal business" generates a fair amount of comms. Like hiring contractors, getting bids on things, basically anything I pay for that is not a retail purchase requires some email traffic. But people like my housekeeper, pool guy, and lawn guy I can text them for anything I need to have them look at. It's better that way since they don't work at a desk.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
So - you don't use email for communication with actual people? Do you mind me asking roughly how old you are? I would like to test my theory that email is generational and it's only the over-(insert number here) that still use it as it was originally intended.
> 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…
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 with messaging unless it's synchronous chatting. Anything asynchronous goes out the window.
I suppose I just find everything else lacking in features that I've come to depend on in email. I just don't understand how everyone else manages.
Probably multiple forces affect sending newsletters to email inbox: - Client-side motivation : some users want to use their email as the "universal inbox". E.g. They may also send TODOs/reminders by sending emails to themselves instead of a separate app for alarms. Newsletters are just another stream of info that should conveniently go into their universal inbox. - Publisher-side motivation: email addresses are valua…
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.
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.