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Kill the newsletter: Convert newsletters into RSS feeds

kill-the-newsletter.com

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Re: Kill the newsletter: Convert newsletters into RSS feeds

#31

Post by criddell »

shortformblog wrote: post #17

As a guy who runs a newsletter with a few thousand subscribers, I'm supportive of this idea. In fact, I put a lot of work into my RSS feeds knowing that people like this would exist. http://feed.tedium.co/ (Using FeedPress, if you're curious.) I see it less as killing the newsletter, and more as giving people options.

I just checked out your site and uBlock blocked 27 requests and noted that loading the page involves 11 domains. Do you have any insight into what's being blocked and why so many domains are being accessed?

Re: Kill the newsletter: Convert newsletters into RSS feeds

#32

Post by tedmiston »

jypepin wrote: post #8

It's funny, last week I actually looked for the opposite! I don't use RSS and don't have a reader (since google dropped theirs) and so when I find blogs that interest me, I want to be able to subscribe via emails. Then I just add the updates I receive in the correct folder/tag and go back to read whatever I want, whenevr.

I tried this approach but found that I'd get an email newsletter with 5–10 stories but I might only want to read 1 or 2. I'd like to only keep the ones of interest. Opening them and adding to Instapaper or Safari Reading List seems to work okay.

Re: Kill the newsletter: Convert newsletters into RSS feeds

#33

Post by tedmiston »

criddell wrote: post #31
shortformblog wrote: post #17

As a guy who runs a newsletter with a few thousand subscribers, I'm supportive of this idea. In fact, I put a lot of work into my RSS feeds knowing that people like this would exist. http://feed.tedium.co/ (Using FeedPress, if you're curious.) I see it less as killing the newsletter, and more as giving people options.

I just checked out your site and uBlock blocked 27 requests and noted that loading the page involves 11 domains. Do you have any insight into what's being blocked and why so many domains are being accessed?

Why don't you take a look at the uBlock log?

Re: Kill the newsletter: Convert newsletters into RSS feeds

#34

Post by finchisko »

I personally prefer RSS over mailed newsletters. And was expecting that newsletters will eventually die. I was wrong. Not sure why they didn't died and actually grow more popular, but IMHO RSS is probably too complicated for regular Joe, so they probably not even know RSS exists. I'm only subscribed to newsletter when RSS is not an option, like js weekly, android weekly... But wish I can read those in digg/reader too.

Re: Kill the newsletter: Convert newsletters into RSS feeds

#35

Post by bogomipz »

Tangential question here - can anyone comment on the recent-ish proliferation(explosion) of sites thats float an HTML 5 light box a few seconds after the page loads asking people to "Sign up now for our newsletter!" It's a pretty obnoxious practice.

Newsletters aren't new of course but there seems to be a very enthusiastic renewed interest in them. Does anyone know why?

Re: Kill the newsletter: Convert newsletters into RSS feeds

#36

Post by bikamonki »

chriswarbo wrote: post #16
bikamonki wrote: post #9

I think we are moving towards a descentralized Internet. The RSS feed needs a central server, the newsletter can be broadcasted and then forwarded peer to peer. I'd argue the opposite then: save the newsletter, just maybe evolve it into something better (maybe with schema email??)

Sounds like Usenet :) RSS is probably easier to layer on top of those new fangled HTTP-over-P2P networks like IPFS. Heck, I remember proposals for combining RSS and BitTorrent, so an RSS feed could be spread via BitTorrent, with incremental updates being applied, and with each entry containing BitTorrent magnet links. This was proposed as a distributed way to provide podcasts ("podcatching"). Not sure if it got imple…

Yes of course, RSS over a distributed channel works as well!

Re: Kill the newsletter: Convert newsletters into RSS feeds

#37

Post by revicon »

bogomipz wrote: post #35

Tangential question here - can anyone comment on the recent-ish proliferation(explosion) of sites thats float an HTML 5 light box a few seconds after the page loads asking people to "Sign up now for our newsletter!" It's a pretty obnoxious practice. Newsletters aren't new of course but there seems to be a very enthusiastic renewed interest in them. Does anyone know why?

Two reasons I've heard, but haven't tested out personally yet:

1) The pop up results in higher conversions (people actually filling out the email address field and hitting "subscribe")

2) The action of "closing" the modal popup confirms that the viewer of the page is probably a real human and that they genuinely made some kind of movement on the page (scrolling slightly, moving the mouse off the window, etc). This is supposedly taken into account by google, etc when judging page rank for pages.

Re: Kill the newsletter: Convert newsletters into RSS feeds

#38

Post by criddell »

tedmiston wrote: post #33
criddell wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just checked out your site and uBlock blocked 27 requests and noted that loading the page involves 11 domains. Do you have any insight into what's being blocked and why so many domains are being accessed?

Why don't you take a look at the uBlock log?

I never knew there was a log.

So now that I look at it, it still doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Judging by what's red, I think uBlock is mostly stopping the blog from tracking me.

Also, the number of blocked requests is now 36. Not sure why it would keep climbing after the page is loaded.

Re: Kill the newsletter: Convert newsletters into RSS feeds

#39

Post by vollmond »

finchisko wrote: post #34

I personally prefer RSS over mailed newsletters. And was expecting that newsletters will eventually die. I was wrong. Not sure why they didn't died and actually grow more popular, but IMHO RSS is probably too complicated for regular Joe, so they probably not even know RSS exists. I'm only subscribed to newsletter when RSS is not an option, like js weekly, android weekly... But wish I can read those in digg/reader too…

Yeah, I would assume newsletters have a lot higher chance to be read... everyone I know has an email account, but only a subset bother with RSS.

And even if you have RSS, chances are you have a lot of feeds you never read that just end up part of the furniture of your life.

Re: Kill the newsletter: Convert newsletters into RSS feeds

#40

Post by jimktrains2 »

criddell wrote: post #31
shortformblog wrote: post #17

As a guy who runs a newsletter with a few thousand subscribers, I'm supportive of this idea. In fact, I put a lot of work into my RSS feeds knowing that people like this would exist. http://feed.tedium.co/ (Using FeedPress, if you're curious.) I see it less as killing the newsletter, and more as giving people options.

I just checked out your site and uBlock blocked 27 requests and noted that loading the page involves 11 domains. Do you have any insight into what's being blocked and why so many domains are being accessed?

Do you do this to every site? Everything I see is stuff like Google Analytics and Share this. Check your logs before asking a question you can answer yourself. If you have a specific complaint, then contact the admin or owner.
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