When readers unsubscribe from True they have the opportunity to send a comment. Many give the “reason” they’re unsubscribing, and some even apologize (not necessary — really!)
The two most-common reasons people give for unsubscribing is “I’ve upgraded to Premium” (woo hoo!) and “I’m just too busy to read it” (bummer! Life is too short not to have some fun!) This weekend, one woman put in a rather startling reason:
Both the Premium (paid) subscribers and the Free edition subscribers were asked:
I think a couple of stories this week will make some people’s heads explode.
A story last week brought a lot of objection from readers. Well, actually, the tagline did. Let’s start with the story, from the 25 September 2011 issue, by Alexander Cohen:
There were two main themes in reader comments this past week. The first: there are more and more thank-yous for “making me think” or “helping to provoke thought” and similar.
OK, I admit it: I knew the tagline on a story this week would make a lot of readers squirm. I have the story — and the guy’s mug shot — plus some reader comments. The story is from True’s 14 August 2011 issue:
I’ve had a couple of complaints about a story in the 7 August 2011 issue. Let’s start with the story:
Some interesting statistical analysis on True story locations from Premium subscriber Mark in (yep!) Florida:
Last week I did a harder-than-usual “push” for subscription upgrades. You might like to know the excellent result: 32 upgrades. Just 32 upgrades is “excellent”?! Yep. The week before, it was four. The week before that was better: 15.
It always fascinates me how readers perceive me and the business behind This is True. This is the story of one reader’s …well… “interesting” impression.
There were very few comments about a tag that Jennifer put on one of her stories, about two people listening to music so loud that they couldn’t hear trains coming. There’s a real and significant reason I publish such stories, but not everyone grasps that.
Here’s the story, from True’s 6 February 2011 issue:
I write True to make a living, yes, and it’s gratifying that enough people support the publication to make that happen. But there’s another reason, too: I want to change the world just a little bit, on both a micro and a macro scale.
A reader has a very interesting point of view on True’s stories — from the perspective of a (recovering) alcoholic.
It happens once in awhile that someone really wants to whine at me for something, but doesn’t have the guts to sign their name. Normally, such complaints are summarily trashed: if they can’t even sign their name to their opinion, then really, what’s that opinion worth?
There always has to be at least one idiot in the crowd. The people who fight against the fight against zero tolerance and zero thought, and create more problems for victims — like the girl I told you about last week who was raped at school.
There were two accidentally related emails in my morning download that I’d like to tell you about. To truly appreciate what happened, though, there’s a bit of backstory. In September 2007, I ran the following reader letter in True.
Last week, quite a few readers wanted to report an “error.” Here’s the story, from the 10 October (10/10/10!) issue:
A story from last week brought two very interesting reactions from Premium readers (the story wasn’t in the free edition).
So, first, here’s the story, from True’s 8 August 2010 issue:
I did get some complaints last week about the story of the guy who lost his arm when it became stuck in his furnace boiler. I have my own response to the complaints of “poor taste” and “NOT FUNNY!”
There was a phrase in the previous blog entry on the 6-year-old kid, where I imagined the school staff: “Run in circles! Pull out your hair! Scream like a little girl!”
Today Nancy in Illinois complained that was “sexist language.” She writes: