Eight Principles
Here are the eight principles I try to abide by when preparing Triptych:
- Try to capture the spirit of the early internet, before Google, when we relied on other humans to help us discover neat stuff.
- Respect people's time and attention. There are only two or three issues per month, and each issue takes less than five minutes to read. Yes, the linked stories are often quite long, but I always explain why each link is worth sharing. There are never more than three links.
- Not just journalism. I can't always do it, but I try to make sure that one of the three links is always to something fun, creative, or artistic. A photograph, a short film, or a website that does something neat. Or sometimes I include short reviews for a book or movie I liked.
- The newsletter is totally free, and respects your privacy. I've turned off all data collection tools and you can even follow the newsletter or Bluesky or via RSS if you don't want to get it via email. Despite that, enough people pay for the newsletter that my hosting costs are covered. (Thanks!)
- No paywalls. I always endeavour to ensure that readers aren't stopped by a paywall when they visit a link. Some of the gift links expire later on, but they should still work the day the newsletter goes out.
- I emphasize stories whose relevance will last beyond the 24/7 news cycle. Stories that will withstand the test of time. Stories that help us understand the world we live in rather than just provoking a reaction.
- I try to keep self-promotion to a minimum. Occasionally I might link to something I wrote, but the newsletter isn't about me. I might someday create a second newsletter that is all original content, but that isn't what Triptych is for.
- Emphasize quality over quantity. When I started two years ago the newsletter went out three times a month, but I put a lot of work into each issue and it wasn't sustainable. Now I'll only send out two issues a month if I don't have enough good quality links to justify a third.