Feedback is Encouraged: Preferably the Constructive Kind

It appears, at least for now, that I am back blogging. Amazingly, even after an almost two-year hiatus, I still have loyal readers and subscribers to this blog. Thank you!

Not everyone will always like what I have to say, and that's okay. For example, see below, a screenshot of an email response I received to my weekly email to subscribers last week. (I have deleted all identifying information to protect the sender's privacy, as this was a private email.

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This was in response to this portion of last week's weekly letter, which I send out to subscribers of this blog. I wrote: 

"I listened to President Biden speak last night. He gave me such hope, knowing that by May 1st all adults in the US should be eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine."

My unhappy subscriber had strong views about this statement. 

Everyone is entitled to their opinion. The person who responded to my email could simply have removed himself from my email list by clicking "unsubscribe" at the bottom of the email. Clearly, though, he wanted to make sure I knew that I "must be insane." Last I checked, my mental health is in pretty decent shape, so I'm not too worried. 

I disagree with the person who sent me this email. I believe that President Biden is an intelligent, thoughtful person and I think he is doing a good job handling the COVID-19 crisis. Unfortunately, I may lose more readers for making comments like this, which I think is too bad. Unless we can agree to disagree without even listening to what others say, we will never be united. 

My goal is not to alienate anyone, but unless my writing can be authentic and uncensored, it probably is not worth writing. So, I'm sorry to have lost a subscriber, but no apologies for what I said.

What does it mean to be a subscriber, anyway?

Have you noticed the little tab that says "Enter your email address below and never miss a post" in the top right corner of my website? If you click on it and add your email address, you are signing up to receive emails from me. Bloggers LOVE subscribers because it shows that you are enjoying our contact and want to be updated when we post new content. More importantly, it is a means for us to share valuable information with you, such as if we publish a book, offer an online class, etc.

Subscribing costs nothing and the only information you are required to provide is a name (just a first name is fine) and your email address. You can subscribe at any time. I do not share, distribute or sell this email list.

I subscribe to a lot of blogs. I read almost every email I get from some, others I save to read later, and some I just delete. I've been thinking about what makes me want to read an email and what annoys me. 

What would make you want to read my emails?

Aside from making sure I only say things you agree with (as the above reader pointed out) what would motivate you to sign up for my emails, open each one, and enjoy the content you find there? I used to only use these emails to provide links to posts, and sent them every time I published a new post on my blog; now I'm trying to add more value to each email that I send. I don't like being bombarded by emails and I doubt you do either.

Instead of after every post, now I'll just send one email a week. In addition to links to my blog posts, my emails will include a little newsy letter, links to other places I published that week, and I'll share some other really cool or interesting stuff I've come across that week. 

• Does this sound interesting to you? What would you suggest I include in my e-mails to you?
• Is a weekly email too frequent? Would it be better to send an email every other week?
• If you are not already a subscriber, what would motivate you to sign up for my emails?
• What day of the week are you most likely to read an email? I've been sending them on Fridays, but this week I'm going to switch to Wednesday. Do you think that's a good idea?

I would really love to get some feedback from you on this. Please leave a comment below or send me an email using the contact form in the sidebar of this blog. 

I hope none of my other current subscribers will unsubscribe, but I respect that sometimes we all disagree.

I doubt the person who questioned my sanity is reading this, but if he is, I probably should thank him. Getting his response showed me someone is reading the letters I send out - and gave me the idea for this post. 😊

I also would tell him that I sincerely hope that he gets vaccinated, to protect himself and others he associates with from becoming ill. 

Please keep social distancing, wear a mask, wash your hands, get vaccinated, and stay healthy!