Would you like to get a regular update email from me?

[Clinton]

Travis (tvanslooten) suggested something to me by PM and I thought I'd sound the members out first.

He had asked me about a certain topic and I replied that it's been discussed a lot here and that maybe he should visit a bit more but then he came up with a suggestion that I do a regular email to update members with what's happening, maybe highlight some good threads, summarise some stuff etc., because he, for one, doesn't always get a chance to drop in and catch up.

He may have a point. You may like to get such an update and may find it useful. On the other hand you may have uninstallled all your browsers because you're sick and tired of hearing my voice

I'm not selling anything either here or in my email, but if you would rather not get it, please, please use this poll to tell me. I promise you I'll take no personal offence if you say no.

It would be great if you could state here in the thread why you think it's a good idea/bad idea.

If you think it's a good idea, what would you like to see in the email?

[hooperman]

He had asked me about a certain topic and I replied that it's been discussed a lot here and that maybe he should visit a bit more but then he came up with a suggestion that I do a regular email to update members with what's happening, maybe highlight some good threads, summarise some stuff etc., because he, for one, doesn't always get a chance to drop in and catch up.

Summarising threads sounds like a helluva lot of work. But if you're taking that route, I wouldn't mind an ebook of all the best bits of the forum with emailed weekly updates

I come here regularly, so I wouldn't need an email update and would just turn it off. If it's easy to introduce an update email and it doesn't take any extra work to run it, and if people want it, I'd say do it. If it's any extra work, I'd say if you want to read the material come to the site.

[Clinton]

I can see your point. It would be redundant for somebody who does visit several times a day and reads every single thread

The purpose and design of the email/newsletter wouldn't be to keep people away but to draw them in. Summarising would be more as a teaser than a complete summary. I've often returned to a forum to check it out and comment when I got an email from them about something.

It would be a bit of extra work.

[3Six]

It would be useful as I can't make it here now as often as I used to and I'd like to know what's going on.

How often do you intend sending it?

[Clinton]

No fixed time decided yet. I have to see how popular or unpopular the idea is first

[BritishARMY]

Hmm I suppose I would be interested if the topic interested me. I certainly wouldn't object. At worst if it didn't interest me I'd just delete... meh, go for it!

[midascode]

I think it is a good idea Clinton - one of my favorite sites (nothing to do with buying / selling websites) sends out an email UPDATE 5 times per week and it is a big help to me

That said, I do appreciate that regular visitors will not get that much value from it, but overall I'm sure it would draw back in members who might otherwise in their busy lives have not visited that day

You are doing a great job here Clinton - you have one of the most generous spirits I have every come across -- but you know my attitude, I wouldn't object if you were making money from members -- you put a heck of a lot of effort in here my friend

[DomainMagnate]

Yeah I'd love it!
A weekly email with top 3 most popular/interesting topics of the week and some industry news you feel worth mentioning. Just make it short, people are especially lazy (efficient) when it comes to emails
And of course make it optional so people can unsubscribe somewhere in the profile.

[Clinton]

Thanks for the ideas, DomainMagnate.

Good point about the unsubscribe option. I've no idea how to do that if I'm emailing from the forum software, but maybe I can set it so that anyone who has turned off "emails from admin" will be excluded from the mailing.

You didn't answer the poll though

[DomainMagnate]

You didn't answer the poll though

Just did.

I think there should be some option in vB to do that, but no idea how exactly. Another option is use some external newsletter software with opt in, like aweber.com, so that you can send the first email to all the members and whoever wants it will subscribe.

I see some members don't think it's a good idea and I can understand why, so this definitely has to be optional. But imho this is good to keep up to date for those who don't visit the forum too frequently and still want to know what's going on here.