I get too many emails.
So much so that I had to set up separate email addresses for things like subscriptions, etc.
I am impressed with the overall quality of Substacks I receive; I have a few favorites that I never miss. But it hass become too easy to add another, and they all it piled up in my inbox, looking a little too much like homework.
It recently got worse: I have noticed how many of my subscription emails in the inbox (see above) are now Substacks. Not content with taking over my email, Substack now wants to recommend more Substacks I should subscribe to, plus every existing Substacker gives me 3 of their other substacks to cross-promote.
Please stop.
I don’t need MORE information, analysis and newsletters rather, I want BETTER content. Succinct, to the point, useful. Semafor is a recent favorite. But I am going to implement a friend’s rule: IF he cannot remember the last time he opened and read a substack, he unsubscribed. Addition via subtraction and all that.
I scan WSJ or FT or WaPo or NYT online and see lots of things that interest me from their home page or directory. Currently, I can’t quite do that with Substack. I can peruse an online inbox, but there is little in the way of new content discovery browsing what I am already subscribed to.
The Substack publication pus newsletter format with high-quality journalists really took the world by storm. I have no idea whether its a long-term staple or a flash in the pan, but it feels to me like I am now at peak Substack…
Previously:
Things I Don’t Care About (January 15th, 2013)
What Do You Control? (May 30th, 2013)
Asking the Right Questions (July 18th, 2013)
The Price of Paying Attention (November 2012)
Who Do You Trust? (January 2008)
Lose the News (June 2005)
