When readers unsubscribe from the free newsletter, the service I use allows them to send feedback — and while not everyone provides that, I always read it when they do.
Happily, the most-common feedback is along the lines of “I’ve upgraded to Premium” so they don’t want the subset of stories in the free edition that they’ve already read.
Sadly, the second-most-common feedback is along the lines of “too busy” or “overwhelmed by email” — they don’t have time for entertaining mental stimulation. Too bad.
Those Aren’t the Fun Ones
So naturally, it’s other comments that are particularly interesting, useful, …or funny! There were two this morning that particularly caught my eye:
It’s too Americanised and too much text about weird stories in each email. –Bill in Scotland
There certainly are obliviots everywhere else in the world, including Scotland, and my preference is to have half American stories and half foreign stories, because the stories aren’t about Americans but rather about how humans think (or don’t), I just can’t get that many foreign stories — mainly because I only read English (and won’t use automated or volunteer translators, because I can’t depend on them).
So no apologies regarding the location of stories: it’s not “about” Americans.
But really, Bill thinks it has “too much text about weird stories”?! And what is it he expected from a newsletter which says right up front that it “reports on bizarre-but-true news items from legitimate news outlets from around the world”? Recipe ideas?
So much for thinking. At least he gave it a try.
And Then There’s…
Not interest in subjet matter. –Allan, Illinois
He had his own domain, so I went and took a look — and noted Allan bills himself as an adviser to CEOs and Boards of Directors. Pretty high-end stuff. No, I’m not going to rag on him about the typos.
But here’s the thing: when I get these notifications, the system tells me when they subscribed. Allan was a subscriber for six years. It took him six years to decide he’s not interested in learning about how people think (or don’t)?
Wow: no wonder American corporations are floundering with him as their adviser! CEOs need to be a lot more decisive.
No one is obligated to say why they come and go from True’s distribution. So far, it’s a free country. But a surprising number of people think they need to justify themselves — and reveal a lot about themselves in the process. The publication is “about” getting people to think more, but some just … don’t … wanna.
Related Pages
- Not Just Dumb, But Hella Dumb — “Atty at LAW!” who wants to unsubscribe hilariously argues with …an autoresponder.
- Grasp Of The Obvious — Readers object to an advertiser being “Your Christian source” of widgets.
- and Unusual Unsubscribes — including a reader who who wanted to unsubscribe because she realized that the newsletter, which has been billed as Social Commentary from its start in 1994, “is really social commentary.”
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This page is an example of my style of “Thought-Provoking Entertainment”. This is True is an email newsletter that uses “weird news” as a vehicle to explore the human condition in an entertaining way. If that sounds good, click here to open a subscribe form.
To really support This is True, you’re invited to sign up for a subscription to the much-expanded “Premium” edition:
Q: Why would I want to pay more than the minimum rate?
A: To support the publication to help it thrive and stay online: this kind of support means less future need for price increases (and smaller increases when they do happen), which enables more people to upgrade. This option was requested by existing Premium subscribers.
Some subjets are better than others. 😀