#vss365 today - The return of email subscriptions

The world has really changed, hasn't it? We are currently living in a global pandemic and are practicing safe social distancing measures. We've seen universities move to Internet-based classes, K-12 schools transition online or shut down for the rest of the school year, and a continuing decline of the world economy. Interpersonal communication and interaction with non-family members or roommates is performed though digital means. Health care workers should receive our highest respect right now and we wish they could receive a very long break when this all subsides. Breweries are making hand sanitizer.

In the midst of the change, #vss365 today has quietly been changing too. Back in October 2019, I laid out a plan to handle the increasing amount of email subscriptions by January 1, 2020. Unfortunately, due to various technical issues (primarily the same ones discussed in that post), that entire plan was scrapped. I am now using Mailgun to maintain the mailing list and send out the email notifications. Additionally, I fractured my foot around 11 PM on New Year's Eve and am still dealing with that. That's not related to to topic at hand but I mention it because the theme of this post is change. 😁

After performing lots of technical changes to better the site as a whole (that's an entirely different post), I turned my attention back to fixing the email subscriptions. As of today, I am happy to announce that email notifications for #vss365 today have returned! Email notifications were a part of the original vision for the site, all the way back in January 2019, and I'm excited that this part has finally reached a level of maturity that people can use it. 😊

For best delivery and avoid having the email land in your spam box, consider adding noreply [at] mail [dot] codetri [dot] net to your spam whitelist or contact list.

And since I'm constantly changing things, I've also been revising the site design, colors, and content to be better™. I've tried to improve the process of subscribing and unsubscribing and I've added more links to the emails with information about the site.

Because I am a strong proponent of transparency, I am going to take a moment to reiterate my stance on collecting your email address and maintaining the mailing list. I do not sell or distribute your email address nor use it for any additional purpose. I receive enough junk mail as-is. I'm sure you do too. That's why I do not use your address for any reason except for sending out the notifications, and that is an automatic process that runs on a timer. The most time I spend near the mailing list is to diagnose sending issues and remove non-working addresses. You are free to unsubscribe at any time from the notifications at any time through any email or the website itself.

You should know that, by my use of Mailgun for sending the emails, they receive a copy of your address, and as such, their privacy policy and data retention policy are applicable. If this is an issue for you, you are free to unsubscribe at any time. Using their services was the easiest route for me to get the notifications working again, and that unfortunately came with this trade-off.

Finally, I will mention that run #vss365 today at my expense. This is a hobby project that I maintain in my limited free time. I also absorb all costs for running the site. I gladly continue to pay for the services to keep the site online and in working order for you. I intend to continue paying for all required services to keep the site fully free to use and accessible for all. The last thing I want to do is to be forced to require funds or add obnoxious advertisements to keep it online.

You can help financially support #vss365 today. It currently costs $70.00 USD a year to keep the site online. $60.00 USD of that is for server hosting. If you were to donate $7.00 USD, which is a little more than the price of two Starbucks venti iced coffees, you can keep the site online for a full month. You can find donation options at https://vss365today.com/donate.

Whether you donate or not, I thank you for your continued support of #vss365 today. May you have much success in your writings and find lots of inspiration in all that you do. Enjoy the email notifications! 😊