I've had several requests today from folks to add them to my newsletter. Which, at this point, I don't have.

However, I'm really interested in what you all want to hear about in a newsletter. I'd be more than happy to write one!

Leave a comment or two if you have ideas.

In the meantime, subscribe the RSS webfeed to stay current :)

I made the switch from e-mail subscriptions to RSS a few weeks ago and I will never go back. People should definitely give RSS a try -- I'm using the free RSS Bandit currently. I take in much more data than I thought was possible before, and when I'm ready, not when it pops into the top of my inbox.

Now that I've turned on the RSS feature for my personal site, I'm about to turn off the newsletter subscription option.

I'm also working with a newsletter publisher client to migrate them away from sending multiple e-mail newsletters to publishing a single personalized RSS feed. It'll take time to make the transistion, but their production time will decrease and, I believe, their revenue will go up.

Dana -- While it would be nice if everyone understood and preferred webfeeds (whether RSS or Atom), right now it's still a minority of Net users who have the slightest clue what those cryptic little XML or RSS buttons mean.

Conseuqently, unless an online venue serves a primarily technical audience, I recommend providing both webfeed and e-mail newsletter options.

The e-mail newsletter would contain basically the same content as the webfeed -- just released at different intervals (say, weekly). There are different format considerations, and some editorial ones. For instance, if you're including in an e-mail newsletter issue a synopsis from a weblog item you posted 4 days ago that begins, "Today, I..." you might want to re-edit. :-)

Offering both options is a bit of a hassle, since most blogging software doesn't automate the production of e-mail newsletters -- at least not easily. Still, it's not too onerous, which is why I do it.

Hope this helps,

- Amy Gahran
Editor, CONTENTIOUS