Sunday, November 20, 2022

Receive EGD via email.

 

     Every morning, I do a bit of blog housework. Waiting until a decent hour, usually sunrise, when people are awake, I copy the link to that day's blog and post it on Facebook, then tweet it on Twitter. Shoving my work under reader's noses. In my dream world, that wouldn't be necessary — they'd seek out the blog on their own, no prompting necessary. No doubt some do. But I do not live in my dream world — no complaints; I imagine you don't either. Live in your own dream world that is. Or mine, for that matter.
     Sorry, start again. As you know, Elon Musk's bumbling mismanagement has decimated Twitter, and it leading many to fear the whole thing might just implode. So, before that happens, the prudent person packs a bag and tries to find new outlets. I joined Mastodon, which is kept on numerous servers. But it seems more like a tar pit, lethargic and lethal, that trapped those ancient mastodons, than the trumpeting beasts themselves Far more blunted and ineffective than Twitter, at least for me, which is really saying something. Barely worth the effort. Instagram held promise — I already had an account, and 720 followers — but you can't put live links in your posts. So people have to cut and paste that day's link, and it's hard enough to get them to click something. 
     My pal Charlie Meyerson, of Chicago Public Square, thinks I should send out a mass email. There are automatic email services, like Mailchimp, but when I look at those, I see something you need to pay money for, sooner than later, and I spend enough time putting out my hobby blog; I don't want to throw cash after it too. Paying for the privilege of doing this would be just one more reason to chuck it altogether, and I'm trying not to do that.
     So I thought I'd try sending out a daily blog link email. Charlie is the first recipient, but if you would like to be added to the list, email me your email address at dailysteinberg@gmail.com and I will put it in the database. Though if not enough people are interested after, oh, a month, I'll give it up. The email effort, that is. How many people are enough? Let's say 50. I'd drive to a library across town to speak to 50 people and consider it time well spent. So let's shoot for 50. That seems a modest goal. Which is fitting, since this is a modest enterprise.

13 comments:

  1. And now we have another reason to dump Twitter, as that stoned fool Musk has allowed that lying seditionist thief & all around bastard T****, back on Twitter, due to a poll he took on Twitter, as if that was a sane way to do anything!

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    1. Musk claims Vox Populi from the Twitter response to reviving The Cowardly Liar. Who is the Vox Dei he refers to?

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  2. Hi Neil. Another alternative, using your favorite browser, is to go to your blog on the web (everygoddamday.com) and just bookmark the tab. Once bookmarked, it can positioned anywhere in the bookmarks bar you wish.

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    1. That still puts more burden on the reader than email. How many of your bookmarked sites do YOU visit (to coin a phrase) every goddamned day? And how often do you check your email?

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    2. Well, my bookmarked sites are there because I DO visit them every goddamned day. (I think Anonymous may actually be referring to the bookmarks in the browser banner line that are visible at all times, not the many that may be buried in secondary pulldown lists.) Those in my Chrome banner line have pride of place, positioned there because I consult them so often.

      I've subscribed to Neil's new email list because that approach is much quicker to access on a smartphone: you just open the email and tap the link. That invokes the browser as needed, with no further typing or rummaging through bookmarks (which are considerably more fiddly to work with on a phone than on a desktop).

      If my understanding is correct, we're getting a link in email to where the blog resides right now, not an actual feed, so this is improving access without changing the context. In a perfect world, we could get the daily blog content itself sent directly to us in email, but I suspect the Sun-Times would view that as giving away their content much too freely (for published columns at least).

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    3. a.) Nothing against this fine blog or its proprietor, but I get more email than I'd like to, as it is.

      b.) 7:41 Anonymous for the win!

      c.) "How many of your bookmarked sites do YOU visit (to coin a phrase) every goddamned day?" None, EGD. But I'd say 4 routinely, with several others *most* days -- and this site is one of the 4. If I'm not clicking on the bookmarks, though, that means I'm otherwise occupied such that I wouldn't be clicking on an email link, either. If I miss a day or a week (rare, the last 3 years, for some reason!) it's easy enough to catch up when I have time. Frankly, I think the email would be more of a "burden" than the bookmark is.

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  3. Not that I need to be prompted to check into the blog every morning and sometimes three more times later that day to read all the comments and I do understand I could simply email you. Sometimes it seems that both of my email addresses have been blocked over the years so here you are: frankverciglio39@gmail.com . I'd be pleased to be included on your list

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  4. If I were a gambler, I’d lay odds that at least a hundred fifty people will sign up. Any takers?

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  5. Unless I’m missing something I’m not sure I would benefit from the emailed link. Access to EGD is easily gained on all my devices using Firefox.
    I’m also trying to keep my emails to a minimum.

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    1. Same here, I just use my bookmarks for almost everywhere I go online.

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  6. We get literally hundreds of e-mails a day, even when there's no election. It's a royal pain in the ass to have to keep deleting them all, day after day. They really pile up. So I'll just keep clicking on the shortcut on my desktop...a little black clockface, with white hands, that's labeled "EGD." Works for me. (Read it again...not an icon in blackface...but a clock with a black face...)

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    1. My solution to email backlog, sort them by "from" , it makes them easier to delete en masse without trashing any you want to save.

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  7. Grizz, ever thought of blocking the emails that you don't want?

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