This needs to be opt-in rather than opt out.

Wow yet another feature Reddit adds that's opt-out instead of opt-in. If I had the choice to join or leave this whenever I wanted I'd probably join. The fact it's either receive it without consent or block the user entirely is such a dumb decision.

Nothing against you guys for wanting to try this out, but damn admins are out of touch in so many ways.

While I appreciate the effort that moderators put into this subreddit, (seriously, y’all make this sub extremely reliable and quality,) I don’t use reddit enough to be comfortable with getting messages. It feels much too personal. If I want to read an update on the subreddit, I’d check the stickies. Getting inboxed messages feels like I’m being targeted specifically, and I don’t like that.

fucking don't

I'm horrified that Reddit is, in general, implementing this sort of thing. If this eventually moves out to more subreddits the entire mail system will be useless and full of spam.

You're cool, r/AskHistorians . I just worry about everyone else.

No. Just no. If it's not opt-in, it's spam.

If you want people to see a weekly round-up, post it here and sticky it.

I absolutely do not want this shit in my inbox. Don't be spam in my reddit inbox you're equating the sub to dick pills in my mind.

While I trust you guys not to abuse this feature, I absolutely don't want any subreddit to have the power of spamming me with PMs. So it's a no from me.

I'm just here for the licking

Really? This again?

Opt-In ONLY.

Just got a notification about this and dropping by to say this is a horrible feature that I hate and is actually so stupid I can't believe anybody implemented this.

One subreddit doing this would be okay, if slightly annoying. Every subreddit doing it would make reddit unusable (unless I could opt out once simultaneously for every subreddit).

As is, when I have a message, that's someone responding to me. That's a conversation I'm a part of. This feature is polluting that by giving me impersonal status updates.

1. Seems a little redundant unless you put more content in the actual mail, ie the questions.

2. Blocking /u/ModMail seems like it would block across all subs, no?

April Fool’s? I don’t go to this subreddit enough to warrant a message to my inbox. I would prefer if subreddits stay out of my inbox unless there was some urgent message that needed to be sent. Don’t turn Reddit messaging into a haven for spam like this.

This isn't a good idea

Frankly, I found the message in my mailbox to be particularly upsetting.

All mailing lists (or digests, whatever) should be strictly opt-in. I personally consider spammy and invasive every website that automatically subscribes me to a mailing list upon registration -- no matter how easy it is to unsubscribe. Why should this be different for subreddits?

I have enjoyed reading r/AskHistorians for years, and I am glad it is usually held to a higher standard compared to the rest of Reddit. I am a lurker who rarely comments, but I really cannot stomach this. Is possible to provide feedback directly to the admins about this?

Should have been opt in. Nobody in the history of ever has liked opt out.

I'm a casual subscriber to this sub. I read it occasionally. This is probably my first post in the sub.

The message I received today was annoying and spammy. I don't want these kind of messages.

I know you say I can opt out, and of course I will. But I'm posting here to let you know I shouldn't have gotten this message in the first place.

Many of us only read the sub occasionally, and we want to be left alone. You just spammed us.

Im sorry but this is awful

This is a sure-fire way to get me to unsub.

If you washer a weekly hosts, make it a sticky. Don't message me.

Yeah, I don’t want this, ever.

Why is it opt out and not opt in? Feels like a good time to opt out of any sub running this thing. Sorry.

No. Stop. Do not send me messages.

If ModMessages is a generic user, simply blocking it is much too coarse-grained. I am subscribed to too many subreddits to deal with this kind of weekly digest, but at the same time there are certain subs where I would like infrequent mod messages when special events happen. There needs to be a way to separate the two.

So you're spamming everyone in the entire subreddit with weekly messages? Cool. Cool. Totally not a horrible idea

This might be an ok idea for people that are REALLY into the subreddit, but frankly, I'm gonna be pissed if I get one of these from every single subreddit I'm joined to. I already see a ton of reposts and cross posts, which is fine cause I can hide or scroll by. I don't need or want them also popping up in my inbox or as a push notification. That will make me want to just unsubscribe to the whole subreddit or move away from Reddit altogether. Let me navigate my social media how I want, don't turn into Facebook.

You mentioned you could block modmessages user, however would that stop other subreddit messages? I'm not 100% clued up on Reddit, but would it be like blocking Automod and impact across multiple subreddits?

I'm not completely happy about being auto enrolled, but will hold fire opting out to see what this looks like. I generally binge a subreddit so I'd imagine this will prompt me more often to go down a rabbit hole on this sub.

I respectfully ask that your moderation team, and Reddit by extension, never do anything like this, or remotely like this, ever again.

​

This was poorly considered, and I'm frankly shocked that after roughly 25 years of internet etiquette being part of popular culture that we still have to tell people that unsolicited messages are bad. While I appreciate that this is a "beta," the lack of critical thought on how this would effect the broader user base is deeply concerning and forces me to question the motivations beyond what was stated.

Wow, is the orangered not sacred anymore?

Reddit, please scrap this idea

I don't want messages and I can't find the block button. So I'm just gonna unsubscribe to this sub. Goodbye!

UNSUBSCRIBE

Feedback: Please don’t message me. I’d rather have a weekly stickied post that I can just read if/when I want. Also this message came in at 1am my time. I’m a night owl, but not everyone is. If this had woken me up, I’d be pissed.

If I unsubscribe to this sub will I not get newsletter link? I'm going to do that.

I dislike this idea with passion. I want the "new mail" notification remain reserved for conversations I'm actually part of.

Filtering spammy newsletters from my regular email is already annoying, if this is rolled out to more subs I will have to do the same for reddit inbox...

This is a great sub and posting weekly summary is super helpful - as a sticky post.

Is there a way to unsubscribe?

nope

I enjoy this sub, but do not send mass messages. If every sub were to do this it would be inevitably abused.

There needs to be a way to opt-out of the mailer without unsubscribing from the subreddit or blocking all messages from all subs (not an issue at the moment I suppose, but it will be in the future).

Oh ffs. Now I have newsletter spam in my reddit inbox too?

What a horrible feature. Please never ever use this.

Instead of blocking /u/ModMessages I'm going unsubscribe from /r/AskHistorians.

So it's either block /u/ModMessages or unsubscribe from a subreddit that abuses this feature? What a well developed feature.

Anyway I don't want your spam.

I just got a message in my inbox. I don't want it but the only way is to block user? That seems like using an Uzi to zap a fly. How about just unsubscribe me from newsletter?

Stop

No thanks. The world doesn't need more spam. I come here to read when i like, I don't wish to be prompted.

Very simple feedback. Make it opt in or I unsub.

I left my feedback in the survey and I will also leave it here:

I do not like any type of mailing list, whether it’s from this sub or not.

Mailing lists are very old school and I consider that type of content to be basically junk mail and I instantly unsubscribe and delete it. Though I don’t like that Reddit’s “unsubscribe” method is to block some random user. That feels like a strange and hacky method of unsubscribing and I don’t like like using the block functionality if I don’t have to.

I agree with others: This should just be a weekly sticky post.

I thank you for your efforts to improve the experience of the subreddit, but please do not implement mailing lists on Reddit.

An opt-out forced spam mailing is a horrible idea on behalf of Reddit. If I follow 50 subreddits that's 50 spam messages of bullshit. It'll run people off the site, and isolate them as no one will want to follow anything due to spam.

Also Reddit making it mass opt out instead of I can allow one cool sub is a shitty idea again.

On your side. I believe if this becomes a thing it should be every 2 weeks or monthly. I have no real compalints about context and if it was a sticky I'd love weekly (ignoring we basiclly have that) but for messages? Every 2-4 weeks.

I think this is a pretty slick idea. I haven't read responses yet so lets see how it all goes.

Saw this message in my inbox and my heart skipped a beat. Thought I was baned or something.

This is the only sub I would be ok with doing this. I think this is a great idea.

I'm a little late, but I personally like this feature from this specific sub. I'm subbed to a lot of meme subreddits, and I like getting a message from a very high effort high quality sub like this, but I absofuckinglutely do NOT want /r/classic4chan or /r/ShitPostCrusaders to be able to mass send messages to my inbox. So you've heard it a dozen times in this thread already, but opt-in for specific subs would be damn nice.

My personal thoughts, this feature is amazing for subs like this or /r/askscience or /r/AskHistorians AKA very high effort, highly moderated subs. It's funny the admins asked this moderation team in particular for feedback as I think this may be the highest effort sub on the site and your feedback will not be indicative of other sub mods efforts.

Spell check. I don't think I will be licking anything on Reddit ;)

Of all the subs that I thought would have the poor judgement to implement something like this, this sub would have genuinely been the last. Disappointing.

Why did you message me I don’t even sub here

The only reason that this message in my inbox didn't make me immediately unsubscribe from this subreddit is that I understand the desire to be helpful in beta testing a feature.

Even given the benefit of the doubt, you voluntarily became spammers to everyone who subscribes to your subreddit. This sort of unsolicited communication is pretty universally disliked, and not anticipating a negative response is pretty tone-deaf. It's undoubtedly lowered my overall respect for this subreddit.

The message sent out was poorly worded. in other comments you've said:

to my knowledge the account was purpose made for this test and not connected to anything else. I'm hoping that if this ever rolled out of beta it will use Subreddit specific ones.

Nothing in the message makes that clear. The bot is called /u/ModMessages, not /u/AskHistoriansBot, or something distinct. There's nothing to indicate that blocking it wouldn't be as disruptive as blocking /u/AutoModerator. And I know I'm being pedantic and petty, but the ", please consider licking through to leave feedback in the thread or survey!" shows that a message that mods knew was going out to many thousands of users didn't go through the basic proofreading step of having a bit second person look it over.

I'm not saying this is a bad idea in general, but I echo the idea that it would need to be opt-in in some capacity. The concern that people wouldn't know about it is understandable a bit ultimately shouldn't overrule people's ability not to be spammed. There are many ways this could be overcome, for example, having a second button beside or after the subscribe button. An admin announcement or a one time message to all users could raise awareness. But as a large and generally respected subreddit, voluntarily opting in your subscribers is a bad look.

Personally, I absolutely love this and it will let me see some really great content that would otherwise have missed, as a pretty casual and time-poor user who dips in and out of many subs.

Judging by the comments in the thread, there’s a really clear message that the community wants this to be opt-in, which is totally reasonable and I agree. However, I’d strongly suggest including the opt-in message in a ‘welcome to the sub’ message so people don’t miss it, or a dedicated sticky with a clear title, rather than in the sidebar (less immediately visible for mobile users.

Also, I note that there are a lot of positive responses in this thread that have been heavily downvoted. To be honest, it’s a bit disappointing to see the downvote button to be used to make other people’s feedback less visible, and I would have expected better in this unusually classy sub.

On the question of ‘What day is best to receive it?’ - Friday for me - it will give me some weekend reading! (I’m on GMT +8 so Friday will get it to me before Saturday morning, at least) Could you give some though to time zones when making the final decision?

I know a lot of people are saying they don’t like this idea, but honestly, I really like this. I frequent a lot of different subs and I often don’t see content from certain subs that I’d like to see. This is nice for me because it gives me a chance to see what kind of content I’ve missed out on that I’d be interested in reading. I’m sorry you guys are getting so much flack for this.

Is this a bad joke that I’m not in on? If not, no don’t send me anything, ever.

This is great!

Love seeing the active roll out of the beta. May I suggest only mailing users active in the last 6 months or a reply to opt out?

Thank you for the good work.

Just NO.

This is not how Reddit works. You're forcing your content on everyone. Continue and you're going to get mass unsubs.

Sorry, there's like... a metric ton of words in this post.

Is the TL;DR "please take this survey"?

That's great that you are going to highlight answers from non-flaired users in the weekly newsletter. I can't wait to see more diverse answers in the future.

Please don't. I am perfectly capable of digesting this subreddit on my own. I've opted out but most probably won't and will just get annoyed. This should be opt in.

Great idea, I love it

I like it, with a lot of subreddits popping up right now and becoming popular, a weekly round up is a good idea, i can basically check and click on topics im interested in.

No. Stop. I don't need more spam.

I’m not super interested in this.

Hi, I know you've gotten survey results to back this up but - I like this feature. I don't care about the opt out (I agree with people's concerns if every sub started doing this, but that's not what's happening). Receiving stupid marketing emails every time I buy something from a website is way different than receiving a curated newsletter of stuff I am actually interested in. I am excited to engage with this sub more. Thumbs up.

I love it. But I would personally like to have the option to “subscribe” to the weekly digest even more, because I rarely remember to seek it out.

This sucks, I don’t want to have to put up with spam on Reddit

I'm unsubbing as well. I only check these posts when they arrive on my homepage, and I do enjoy them when they do, but if you want me to be an active user I'm going to have to decline. I could block the bot, but it seems to not be a bot specific to this subreddit but rather to the whole of reddit, and I can't risk that.

I don't want spam, and I'm not nearly engaged enough here to warrant bothering to deal with this. On the plus side, people leaving are a reason for you to have fewer, but more engaged users.

I have two points of concern that I'd like to highlight.

1: When I see a message, I consider it a necessary and time sensitive issue. I do not see it as a message about what happened last week\month\etc. I don't consider an mail blast an effective way to communicate.

Considering the amount of subs I subscribe to, I don't want to get 12 email blasts a day or 147 email blasts every Monday. It's not time sensitive, it's not subject sensitive, and it's not necessary to hammer me as soon as I open my app to be told that someone asked a very interesting question or (in the case of a different sub) there's a great new recipe for venison steak. There's not the need to be updated like that across every sub.

2: Moderators are just as fallible as users.

As I expect a very concise and well written update from these moderators (if I wanted one), I don't believe I'll receive the same level of quality posting from a subreddit devoted to "birds having arms". Furthermore, moderators can drive a subreddit in directions that don't necessarily abide by the idea that better content deserving more eyes.

A subreddit that is run by terrible moderation could also intrude on my browsing experience by blasting out "/u/Abzug (not really me, but I don't want to tag someone else) has tiny man bits and we're happy to ban him". It could drive a message away from the content and more to the moderator's content. That's an abrupt move away from moderation and a direct move in to content created by moderation directly as a higher end user.

They (or we as moderators) wouldn't be moderators anymore, but owners of the sub that create the content being delivered directly to an inbox, which is content devoid of merit and a general breach of the idea of "karma".

To bastardize Orwell for a moment, I'd say "All messages are equal, but some messages are more equal than others". There's a view on Reddit that moderators are terrible people who look to quash fun and rule with an iron fist. We generally are terrible people, that is true, but this direct messaging product separates standard users from moderators even more and could deteriorate this relationship even further.

I would be a hard no on this feature. I am a moderator, and I have been a moderator for a number of years. This is not a good resource to have.

It's pretty ironic that a subreddit with really tight controls on posting in order to prevent spam would try to spam half their userbase.

Sorry but this is a horrific idea

Well done, fellow historians.

This MUST be opt in not opt out. You just spammed your own users, dont do that. What dumbass came up with this idea? For a sub that is already heavy handed with stringent rules and mod curated posts and comments, you really think this is an appropriate move?

Its fucking embarrassing that you would think this is ok, even if it's a useful feature. My reddit inbox is not an email inbox and not for you to spam just because you can without my opt in. I'm subbed so I get posts in my feed and so I can browse the latest posts on my schedule, not yours.

On a meta note, the comment section has been enlightening on how people personally categorize certain reddit features like “subscribing to a sub” and “receiving an inbox notification” in their mind that I otherwise wouldn’t have even realized existed. I already see subscribing to the subreddit as opting in, if you will, to wanting to see the content. It doesn’t feel unsolicited because, by subscribing to the sub, I am soliciting it!

Evidently that isn’t widely shared. Perhaps the solution would be as simple as having a bell like YouTube that denotes you a “super subscriber” who wants to be notified of stuff. That’s a big change for the admins, but it would be more integrated and attention grabbing that a sticky meta post, and is scaleable for all subs having access to the system.

So, if I block this, will it only block it for this subreddit or also for all others that might do something like that?

Can't I be just taken out of the beta group until you have figured this mess out?

Cool

I'm licking through to beg you to please correct that typo.

I like this feature!

I love this idea, and I love that I was opted in, because I can't remember what I'm subscribed to most of the time! I love this sub so I'm happy!

One of my problems with r/askhistorians is that I'm never sure to what extent I should trust answers from users who don't have flairs detailing their area of expertise. I believe the flairs are awarded/approved by mods(?)

I've seen answers on my area of expertise that are simply incorrect or are grossly misleading (based on very selective/narrow reading). These answers have not been deleted. I've seen the same commentators submit answers to a vast range of questions covering completely disparate fields (and I ask myself how one person can have that vast level of knowledge). These answers have not been deleted.

If this newsletter only featured answers from flaired users (or answers/users verified by mods) I would be wholly supportive. I would have confidence that what I was reading was objective and accurate.

As an aside, if there was a feature on the subreddit to filter answers so that only answers from flaired users were visible, that would make for a much better experience

I don't know if this is a bug error but everytime I load it says you sent me a message. And also I'll be honest why the hell would this sub benefit from this feature? Thanks no thanks.

Since you stated you were getting a small percentage of responses, please count me as another voice for a firm NO to this.

No. Stupid idea. Nobody wants to be spammed, exactly the opposite of what people want lol.

I do not want to be advertised to in my DMs. I enjoy your content and will seek it out, do not remind me you exist.

Please don't spam me.

I'd prefer not to have to block all messages from mods.

When I want to see a collection of recent posts I have the option to load this sub's page.

That's a no from me, Jim.

People are too bothered by this issue. Give me a one-time message with an Opt-in button and I'm happy. Relax, people.

Phew, when I got the message I thought I had been banned from another place

Pretty nice, I don't always have time or remember to trawl through the sub to see the interesting stuff.

Please don't do rhis

This seems unnecessary, especially for a weekly thing. This should be an opt-in not opt-out thing. I don't think this is a very good idea.

Fantastic feature, very much looking forward to getting these regularly. Works well with this sub too as a lot of the answers don't come about until later and I don't see them. Awesome stuff, have filled out survey

I just received your newsletter

so please consider licking through to leave feedback

I'm not sure licking things is a good idea during a pandemic. But I appreciate this feature so far I think its great.

Yeah that's gonna be a big no from me. When I get a message in my inbox, I expect it to be something of interest to me like a comment reply or maybe a user PMing me. Something personal. This is the farthest from personal it can get. I am 'subscribed' to ModNewsletter because that can keep me up to date on the useless features Reddit is continuing to add so I can properly unimplement them but even that is mildly annoying to me. I don't need a sub telling me about their posts, or whatever else the mods may put in a message, when I am perfectly capable of browsing the sub myself. I'm a lurker here so it's even less relevant to me but even in subs I frequent I would not want this. Actually especially in subs I frequent as there's a chance I already saw any highlighted posts or saved them for later.

I like this feature, a lot of time I see an interesting question before it’s answered and forget to go back to it later. Great idea for a weekly roundup.

This is the best thing the mod team has ever done (although it being in dm's means it really should be opt-in, or moved to a sticky thread)

I often see posts before any answers have been given and then never see the post again. That's just the nature of the beast we're riding on.

But with this weekly update that problem will be eliminated. Better yet, I will see a good post without answers and then make a mental note that I want to look for it in the newsletter.

Excellent idea folks. I'm on board.

I'll admit that I'm not on every day, but I studied history 3 years in college and would be willing to give it a try. I may not know everything, but I try!

If I'm not a good fit in here, then that's fair and no hard feelings.

Frequency for newsletter : 3-4 days a week.

Either bi-weekly or once weekly.

Wednesday and Friday.

15-20 answers.

Be fair and respectable to members. Don't insult or disrespect community members.

Moderators should take care of members of the community and makes sure to be sure that they are in a safe environment.

I believe that other moderators should be involved, as community policing is significantly more safer than individual.

I believe that other moderators could be beneficial due to the extra watch over the sub.

Interesting but unanswered... I'd like to see more moderation of mods looking out for questions that are irrelevant to the subreddit.

I would like to see content beyond answers. Often answers lack complete answers and leaving me wanting more information.

I would love both yearly and monthly roundups. I love to learn new information that I was not familiar with.

I love this idea so much, especially for this subreddit! I don’t personally have any historical knowledge so me clicking on empty threads is kind of worthless. I think as long as you provide a clear way for others to opt out with each email I see no problem.

I think for the admins, they should probably have a separate color for the notification, like orange for DMs and Blue for subreddit mass emails, have them stack behind each other. Might help with Reddit the community’s general resistance to any sort of change.

Hello everyone! Possibly again... We do apologize for the few of you who noticed this last time we posted it, but as this is being Beta tested, there are kinks to work out. It is supposed to send to to 1/2 the subreddit, but tests have variously stalled out after only a few thousand, and a few times not sent... We really appreciate the feedback we got from those of you who did get it, but fingers crossed it works correctly this time!

Anyways...

As roughly half of you are hopefully now aware, /r/AskHistorians is enrolled in the testing of a Beta feature which allows us to send a periodic message to the subreddit subscribers. The test links to the above post, which is the initial format we are testing out to use this for. Assuming the test is successful, this will be the last time you see this long appendix to the post.

Currently as it is being tested out, it is in an A/B phase, so not everyone will be getting it just yet. As this is still a new feature, and we are trying to get a sense of how to best use it, this META thread, and the survey linked above, is intended to be a space for discussion with the readership to solicit feedback on how we can get the best use out of this feature and use it to provide maximum value to subscribers.

###Current Design

At this time, our intention is to use the mass mailer and the associated post to highlight three things each week:

• A selection of responses from the most popular threads of the past week: This is intended to highlight the answers to questions which the readership was particularly interested in. There will be some curation (more on this below), but for the most part it will simply reflect what was popular and highly upvoted over that time span. At this time, we are intending to include 5 selections each week.
• A selection of responses which didn't get much attention: This is intended to highlight either answers to questions which didn't get many upvotes, but nevertheless were interesting. Popular threads hog a lot of the attention, but dozens of incredible answers are written every day on the subreddit. While we can't highlight them all, we do want to show off a selection of responses which most users likely missed. At this time, we are intending to include 5 selections each week.
• Notice of Events and Other Important Things: This would include links to any AMAs, Floating Features, Podcast releases, or similar events that were held in the past week. We also would include reminders of anything that is slated to be happening within the next week.

###Subject to Change

We are very conscious that there is a balance to be struck both as regards size and frequency, and that without ways to tailor this to specific users, we need to find what is closest to a one-size fits all as possible. So as much as /u/gankom would love to send everything he saved for the Digest on a daily basis, we are currently being guided by two things.

The first is that once a week is almost certainly the closest we'll get for balance. Some people probably want more, some may want less, but our expectation is that if you are subscribed here, you are interested, broadly at least, in the kind of content produced, and a once-a-week update shouldn't be too intrusive for most users, and for those who really hate it, opting out is very easy.

Second is that there is definitely such a thing as too long. No one wants a 40,000 word opus. Well, a few of you do, but for the most part, that would be a turn off for users we suspect. The Sunday Digest routinely includes several hundred answers being linked, and the people who want that probably already know to jump over that way. For the more general reader, an easy to scan selection of a few highlights is more their speed. We're starting things out with 10 highlights, split between what was popular and what we wish had gotten popular, but this is definitely something that can be subject to some change. It is unlikely to get much smaller, but we would definitely consider some expansion if we find feedback is overwhelmingly in support of that. It is doubtful it would grow too much larger, beyond 20 is not only unwieldy as a Weekly Summary for the reader, but also for those preparing it, but in any case, we really want to know how much content you think is the right amount to include.

One additional note. We have had two smaller tests, and while feedback so far has been overwhelmingly positive, the one consistent thing we have heard from a minority of users is the question of opt-in versus opt-out. The design of this function currently opts in all users who are subscribed, and we have no control over that. I would again stress that opting out is just a matter of clicking the 'Block User' button on the /u/ModMessages account however. And who knows, this might end up not working as we'd hoped and we'll stop in a week or two anyways!

###Internal Guidelines

Getting things right is really important here. We believe that this feature is one that brings immense value to the readership of the subreddit, as we are quite conscious of how the structure of the site can be at odds with how content is created and presented here, so ensuring its success, and that this becomes a permanent fixture is something we care a lot about. Ensuring that we present the Summary in a way that users enjoy and value is a big part of that, but so too is ensuring that the Newsletter itself is constructed and run in a way that is fair and equitable. To that end, we have some internal guidelines on how the Newsletter itself is built. Just as with the format, these are still a work in progress, but we want to hear your thoughts on this too.

The biggest issue we expect to face with the Newsletter is that, even if unintentional, it has the prospect of appearing to play favorites and cause hurt feelings. Someone can spend a lot of time on a great answer, but if it doesn't get featured and someone else's does, resentment can be an understandable reaction. It is something that plays into a number of potential changes and projects we consider from time to time, and in this case, we believe that it is one we can accept, but need to work hard to minimize best that we can. To that effect, there are several internal rules about what goes into the Newsletter:

• No one is featured twice in the same Newsletter. Ever. You could have answered literally the 15 most popular questions that week, but we're only highlighting one. We want to ensure maximum representation of a diversity of contributors.
• Likewise, no one is featured in back-to-back Newsletters. Same reason as before. Doesn't matter if you thought the second one was more awesome than the first. We want to ensure a maximum diversity possible. This is something we will be paying attention closely to. Depending on voluminous frequent faces start seeming, we may increase that to once a month.
• At least one non-flair in both categories. Flaired contributors write a lot of the content here. That is how they got flair after all, but users who don't have flair (yet!) are a vital part of the subreddit too, and we want to make sure that we are highlighting the work they do as well. It would be a rare week there isn't an overabundance of non-flaired answers to highlight anyways, but we want to be clear that it is something we are conscious of, and not looking to simply make this a flairs only deal.
• Maximum of one moderator in either category. Moderators exist as users too, and the reason they are elected as mods usually comes down to the fact that they are frequent and high-quality contributors to the sub. In the end, the fact content was written by a mod doesn't make it any less interesting for the users, especially if it was a popular question, but we do want to balance this fact with the obvious necessity for oversight to ensure mods aren't hogging the limelight, so at maximum, only one answer written by a moderator would get featured in a category each newsletter, and there may very well be none, anyways.

###Food for Thought

So that is the sum of it all. Again though, this is a work in progress, and it is a project that we want to hear community feedback on. What we hear from you may very well shape future changes! If you skipped to the bottom for the TL;DR, then here are a few questions for you to ponder, and offer your thoughts on either here or in the survey:

• What is a good frequency for this Newsletter?
• Is it better as a notification, or a newsletter directly to the inbox?
• What day is best to receive it?
• What is a good number of answers to be included?
• What internal guidelines should mods be following to ensure fair and equitable representation?
• Would you want to see other selection categories included?
• Would you want to see a 'interesting but unanswered' selection?
• Would you want to see content beyond answers and questions? If so, what?
• Would there be other forms of newsletter you would be interested in, such as monthly or yearly roundups?

"You might have clicked too early"

What does that mean?

I'm sorry my response is so late. I haven't read through all the topics. But they look EXTRAORDINARY, genuinely compelling. 👍☺️ The titles and brief summaries communicate their value well and are intriguing.

There are at LEAST 3 questions I've had (even if I couldn't articulate them): How do historians go about verifying facts? Were banks segregated in the 19th and early 20th centuries? What was the impact of the Black Death on Asia?

Is your intended medium email? Or are u considering other communication methods? I ask because my email account horrifies me. It's built of sliding sheafs of spam, bells and demands. I'm afraid of it and go in there as little as possible (only slightly more than my ghosttowny FB).

Could a text version work? I have most notifications turned off. I should know... but don't know if there's a way to turn on notifications on specific subreddits and/or specific types of notifications from chosen subreddits.

If so, I'd be curious how much content and design can be done in notifications. It'd be kinda cool if your notifications could be expandable, scrollable and articles clickable. Starting height: 33%; ending height: 66%

I'll unsub if I receive another mass-message.

This should not be opt out but opt in

I strongly support this remaining opt-out. I suspect the the majority of members on our sub are casual visitors who only interact with posts that make it to their Home feed. I was absolutely thrilled to get this newsletter. It’s guaranteed to increase my interest/interaction.

An “interesting-but-unanswered” section sounds great. Some of the best questions I’ve seen were flaired as such.

The post that brought me here has, "licking," which I think should be. "looking." Anyway, the snozzberries taste like snozzberries!

First of all, I like this option a lot. So often I'll see a good question, find it empty, forgot to use the remindme bot, and never return.

To answer your questions:

• What is a good frequency for this Newsletter? Weekly.

• Is it better as a notification, or a newsletter directly to the inbox? Newsletter.

• What day is best to receive it? Sunday.

• What is a good number of answers to be included? Depends on how the week went. 5-10 ideally?

• What internal guidelines should mods be following to ensure fair and equitable representation? First criteria is that they have to be answered, obviously. Beyond that I think there should be categories of popularity (less than 100 upvotes, 101-1000, 1001-5000, etc.) And aim to select a fair distribution of answered questions from each category. I struggled with coming up with this and it's admittedly shoddy, so if there are better ideas please disregard mine. :)

• Would you want to see other selection categories included? Not sure I follow.

• Would you want to see a 'interesting but unanswered' selection? Yes.

• Would you want to see content beyond answers and questions? If so, what? Not necessarily.

• Would there be other forms of newsletter you would be interested in, such as monthly or yearly roundups? I like the idea of an annual thing.

I really like this because I often forget to go back and look at questions I was interested in.

:why_ping:

I think this is great. I'd love getting messages from this subreddit

Great idea

This was a nice surprise, glad I "lick"ed in! But I did a little edit because it was too blinding:

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/fuamtr/beta_weekly_roundup_and_newsletter_20200403/.compact

Thanks for trying this, keep me in.

I like this idea, I always click too early and then forget to come back.

lick

I've been on this account for over 7 years. I have over 13 pages of subreddits, according to old reddit. If even a tenth of those start posting weekly newsletters my inbox is screwed. =/

I will be opting out when the feature becomes available.

All in favour.Please continue.

I love this!

Biggest concern, if many subs start using this, and want to see reports from some subs (like this one) but not from some "less disciplined" subs, if the only way of opting out of one is blocking the user, sounds like can only turn on for all or tuen off for all.

I do like the idea, but they need to give end users a little control over what items they'd see updates on

yes do this

I love this feature!!

Hmmm, for clarity, this is a separate initiative from the subredditsummarybot and the Weekly Roundup Post?

I don’t have access to the numbers but I wouldn’t be surprised if most people are okay with this and there’s just a really vocal minority who aren’t. I’m okay with it myself. However it would be much better if it was opt-in.

Personal I think this is an excellent idea.

History is my field of interest, and occasionally I look across the sub if there's any questions I feel I could answer, or just for questions that interest me. So if this does become a thing, I'd happily get involved.

Send me messages i love night reading.

I sadly forget to manually check for the weekly roundups the majority of the time, so in my case, I welcome a reminder for it.

I'm not too picky on most of the points, but I would rather have a notification than a direct message. As far as I understand, that opens up the comments section for additional content that didn't make it to the roundup itself.

Cool idea. I love the subreddit so ty for creating this

I like this idea. One of the only good subs left on Reddit in my opinion. Mods, y'all have done an amazing job over the years. Thought you should know that.

That being said, I do wish this was opt in. However, trial run... I'll keep an open mind. Let's give it a whirl. Fuck it, keep it opt out... Cuz I'd rather people be more involved. Newsletter can start off with a "please click here if you don't like what you see and want to be removed."

Current top comment is complaining about “another opt out” feature. I couldn’t disagree more. This is a terrific idea.

I like this.

I like it.

Fucking great...I block the user because I don’t want spam and now I can’t get messages from other sub Reddit’s.

Horrible fucking idea. Now I’ve got to log in the full desktop version to unblock because you can’t unblock in the app.

Jesus what a clusterfuck

I'm straight up having a good time

Wonderful addition! From admin comments, I’m the sort of subscriber this is intended to help and you’re absolutely right, it will! I do come across questions too soon when there aren’t answers. I haven’t made stopping by a part of my routine, but I always enjoy the interesting answers I do read. A curated list will be welcomed by me!

Edit- on survey I put seven as a nice number of posts, but now, having seen the example, seven is too low. I like your judgement. It is good to have a bigger selection to offer something of different time periods interests.

I have nothing to add but wanted to say that this sounds like a great idea!

Last time I said a thing, Y'all fucked me over. Do your thing. I'll stick to my actual archeology shit. Rude.

I like this. It is great. I love going through this sub for interesting things to read about. Unfortunately you have to hit it every day or you might miss something.

With this, I can just wait for the weekly email and go through that.

Thanks for implementing this!

Cool feature!

Nice

This is the perfect place and time for people to share thoughts about the newsletter as a whole. Even if you like it, let us know what parts could use work or what you liked. Is it a good selection of answers? More focus on the stuff coming up? Let us know!

If you don't like it, we really appreciate hearing as much as you'd like to tell about why! This whole thing is a very interesting experiment, and the more we hear and know the more we can alter or change things to make it better.

Finally, seeing as everyone getting this are subscribers, I'm very curious to know if/how many people know about features like the Sunday Digest which compiles a good number of answers every week. Or the summary of top posts/answers that can be found in every Friday free for all thread.

We're all ears folks! Let us know.

This was great to get in my inbox, it's the same feeling as getting a surprise package from a friend :)