A newsletter can be great and alot of fun until someone decides to "spam" it.... Here is what happened....
When I started The World of Soose in January, 1997, a newsletter was started at about the same time. It started with just a few friends but quickly grew to many readers. From January to May, things went great with it. But in June, the roof fell in.
In June (1997), many of my readers stood by me when my "Soose" newsletter was spammed. It seems that whenever you have something that kinda works, SOMEONE just has to ruin it. And ruin it, they did.
At that time, I had approximately 70 to 80 people on my mailing list for the monthly newsletter. After sending out the June edition, some "genius" thought it would be "fun" to reply to it in the "reply all" mode. Soon, everyone was replying in the "reply all" mode. Some people thought it was funny, and alot of fun. Some didn't. I sat looking at the e-mail in horror.
Kim (please see the "Photo Album" to read about her) tried to stop the fiasco, but the ones that were having "fun", called her a "wet blanket". I stepped in and out of desperation, announced that the newsletter would be no more.
By this time, I was getting the dreaded hate mail from the ones who didn't think it was "fun". They blamed ME. For four days after that, I was writing apology notes for something that someone else thought was "fun". I paid for their "fun". I think Kim also paid some, as I believe that she also received a few unpleasant messages for having the courage of stepping in and trying to stop it.
Needless to say, the newsletter ceased to exist. I DID have many people tell me not to discontinue it, and offer suggestions on how to do it so that the problem wouldn't happen again. But, after having had to write SO many apologetic letters, I declined. "Soose" is retired from the newsletter business now.
One rather interesting side note: The World of Soose received more visitors during the month of June, 1997, than in any other month. Little did the "genius" know, that eventually I WOULD benefit from the spamming....