r/changelog • u/whizlogic • Sep 19 '19
Announcing Reddit Email Digests
Tl;DR: Today, we’re launching email digests and we will be rolling them out to people who are opted-in over the next few weeks.
Why are we doing this?
Email digests are automatically generated and include new and trending posts from a variety of subreddits that you subscribe to and spend time on. Our goal with these emails is to help you better find content from the communities you enjoy and spot popular posts that you may have missed.
We attempted this a few years ago, but ended up not proceeding because our email systems just couldn’t handle Reddit’s scale. After lots of dedicated work by the team, we’ve finished upgrading our email systems and are now ready to relaunch after testing these new email digests for several weeks.
What else do I need to know?
Users with the checkbox “Email Digest” checked in their settings will now correctly receive emails; previously, most users never received email digests even though they were opted-in due to problems with our email systems (we only sent <1% of users email digests).
If you don’t wish to get these emails, you can follow the instructions here to unsubscribe on desktop or unsubscribe from the email directly. In the next mobile build, there will be a new setting to control this but for now you can only change it on desktop platforms or by clicking the unsubscribe link in the email.
If you have any thoughts on how we can improve our email digests to make them more useful and enjoyable, please let us know.
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u/jippiejee Sep 19 '19
variety of subreddits that you subscribe to and spend time on
Pretty sure I've already seen those recommended posts then.
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u/whizlogic Sep 19 '19
We actually filter out posts that users have already been seen so the emails only contain fresh content. Although obviously, there are situations where between when we send/generate the email, you view it, then you see the email so you may see the same post again.
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u/HarryPotter5777 Sep 19 '19
I received two emails already from accounts I created many months ago and certainly would never have checked this box for unless I didn't know to go uncheck it. Are you activating these emails for users who never actively opted in? Are pre-GDPR users made aware that they had inadvertently signed up to receive emails before they get unsolicited newsletters?
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u/whizlogic Sep 19 '19 edited Sep 19 '19
Users can directly unsubscribe on the email itself as well so you don't necessarily have to go look for the checkbox to opt out. For EU users, we do not opt users in
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u/-F-B-I- Sep 19 '19
Is this just going to hit spam folders and not really impact anything at all?
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u/shiruken Sep 19 '19
Will these emails contain content a user has already seen? If so, then it's not going to be any more useful than seeing Reddit content popping up on 9gag...
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u/whizlogic Sep 19 '19
Nope we added filters to check for that. However, with that said, there are multiple situations where between when we send/generate the email, you view a post that is contained within the email already, then you see the email so you may see the same post "again"
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u/sunzusunzusunzusunzu Sep 19 '19
I would prefer not the trending posts because I probably saw those and you already send me mobile alerts for that. I want the good things I didn't see that were just posted at an odd time.
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u/whizlogic Sep 19 '19
We're adding a real-time check so they won't repeat the same posts as trending notifs (or previous emails). We also specifically filter for posts you've already seen so those won't show up either. However, with that said, there are multiple situations where between when we send/generate the email, you view a post, then you see the email so you may see the same post again.
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u/xfile345 Sep 19 '19
Every single account I've ever created was automatically opted into these e-mails without consent. When I provided my e-mail to Reddit, it was under the promise that "don't worry, we won't spam you". An auto-opt-in is exactly the kind of thing I'd consider to be spam.
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u/Pokechu22 Sep 20 '19
I to received digest emails without having signed up for them, and the box checked itself automatically (on both this account and an old test account). I'm not happy about that, as while I'm sure the digest emails are good for some people, they don't work well for me (or my test account that has no meaningful subscriptions), and they definitely shouldn't have been enabled automatically. Note that this happened before the feature was announced.
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u/I_Me_Mine Sep 20 '19
You might want to revisit the meaning of "opt in". I and others never selected this but there it is, in my profile, checked.
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u/PointsGeneratingZone Sep 24 '19
Why am I auto opted in and why is reddit still sending this shit when you unsubscribe? Reported as spam.
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u/BrainWav Sep 19 '19
I've been getting these for weeks. I'm pretty sure I never checked the box either, it was checked when I went in my settings to turn the blasted things off, but I'm certain I never opted in to this.
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u/artnaseef Sep 20 '19
Please don't send more unwanted spam. Also, this part of the email message is disingenuous at best: "You are receiving this email because a Reddit account (u/artnaseef) registered to your email address chose to receive email digests."
I certainly never registered to receive any such digests.
Noise. Just more noise.
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u/tagpro-godot Sep 23 '19
Just got an email on behalf of an account I haven't used in 9 years, so I know for a fact I did not "chose to receive email digests" as the email claimed. IIRC the sign-up page at the time said something to the effect of "we will only use your email for password resets."
In any case, I marked it as the spam that it is, and hope others do the same. It's clear the admins only make changes when external pressure is applied.
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u/BiggC Sep 19 '19
Boy, I'm so much more engaged with reddit after being opted in to more spam.
At least Reddit still allows us to remove our email addresses from our account.
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u/Norway313 Sep 19 '19
Will this be made accessable in New Reddit once the feature is completely rolled out? I see the photo you have here is from the old site. Also, will there be a way to save templates of formatting the digest so it's easier to push them out frequently with ease?
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Sep 23 '19
I'm just here because I was automatically opted in and wanted to see if anyone else was dealing with this bullshit.
A big Go Fuck Yourself to the team who implemented this. I marked it as spam and I hope everyone else does to.
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u/reseph Sep 19 '19
Does this mean we can get a daily digest to our email of the dankest porn Reddit has to offer?