Open Road - Info
Open Road main page
A couple of daily mailers this time. Both of which
unabashedly sport advertising in every daily
issue.
Review - Gagler's
Joke-of-the-Day Service
|
Quick
Rating: |
Overall - 5
Content - 4
Writing - 4
Regularity -
5
Extras - 5
|
E-zine Description: Gagler's is a daily (7 days per
week) joke mailing list (surprise!). The jokes are
supplied to the list by the list subscribers. As of this
review the jokelist reaches over 50,000 subscribers directly.
Frequency of
Publication: 7 days a week
Subscription
Instructions:
Visit: http://www.gagler.com/signup.html
WWW location: http://www.gagler.com/
Contact
Information:
e-mail: jokes@gagler.com
Cost: Free
(well sponsored by advertising...)
Review
Content - 5
Pretty simple here. Every issue has a joke
(sometimes 2). As mentioned above the jokes are provided by the
list subscribers and are usually worth at
least a chuckle.
Writing
Quality/Style - 4
The jokes are
presented in a joking manner, with a good dollop of humour...
Each joke is supposedly written by someone else (and looks like
it's edited for clarity before it goes out.)
Regularity -
4
Every day, sometimes a little late,
but Gagler will make it up to you with extras and bonus
jokes.
Extras - 5
Other than the jokes, the extras is where
this list really shows its stuff. Subscription Info - not only does every issue present
subscribe/unsubscribe instructions, but this one is
personal. It mentions what e-mail address you subscribed
with, allowing someone like me with 15+ e-mail addresses coming
to one mail-box, to know which address I happened to use. It
also provides the ability to forward your existing message to
the unsubscribe system. Advertising
- not obviously the best thing for readers, but the advertising
lets Gagler provide at least a modicum of pocket liner as an
incentive to get the jokes out on time. I personally wish
that more e-mail-zines would provide advertising space, making
them more viable in the long run. Web Site - packed fulla issue archives, FAQs, links
and the obligatory disclaimer and copyright info.
Overall - 5
Excellent and fun list. you can
usually read the joke in under 30 seconds, eyeball the ad (of
course) and be doing other things without breaking a
sweat. And of course the extras make (on the subscriber
side) what should be a easy list to handle, easy to handle.

Review - MailBits.com Trivia
Question
|
Quick
Rating: |
Overall - 5
Content - 5
Writing - 4
Regularity -
4
Extras - 5
|
E-zine
Description: From the site: "Do you like a good
challenge? Well have we got one for you! Our trivia-a-day
service can email challenging trivia questions directly to you.
Each question is hand-picked by our staff and is designed to
give your intelligence a real test."
Frequency of
Publication: 7 days a week
Subscription
Instructions:
Visit: http://www.mailbits.com/Trivia/S-Trivia.htm WWW location: http://www.mailbits.com/Trivia/
Contact
Information:
feedback: http://www.mailbits.com/Feedback/default.htm
Cost:
Free!
Review
Content - 5
Nice twist on the ???-a-day lists.
Trivia tends to be passed around at least as quickly a good joke
and can sometimes help you sound as bright as someone with a new
$10 word. Every issue has question, sometimes previewed in
INDEX, that is answered using the best in trivia
knowledge sources. Well presented and laid-out.
Writing
Quality/Style - 4
Pretty
straight-forward. Questions and answers; well written and
put together in a concise manner.
Regularity -
4
Daily, every day. 7 days per
week. Rarely, an issue is missed, but is usually made-up
for quickly.
Extras - 5
Every issue has proper subscribe and
unsubscribe info, along with links to the site. Like in the
Gagler list advertising figures prominently here as well, though
the ads seem to currently be mostly self-promotion.
Mailbits (http://www.mailbits.com/) puts out this daily mailer
along with another four. You can subscribe to jokes,
quotes, vocabulary and the "WebOwner" tips list, each
mailed out daily in easy to digest bites.
Overall - 5
Like I said, a nice twist on the daily
mailer concept. I quite enjoy the trivia, especially when
one is surprising. Mailbits obviously (I think) sees a
business model in e-mail that they're trying to capture a chunk
of. With a large subscription base and their five flavour
family these guys can offer an excellent advertising
venue. Good luck to them.
|