It appears that those of you who are getting my posts by email did not get the last one.
(That means, of course, that you might not be getting this one either — in which case, you won’t even be able to read this post to know about it. Hmm. How postmodern.)
I asked WordPress Support about this, but they have no answer. Anyway, just letting you know. Perhaps it was a one-off.
Hannibal and Me: life lessons from history 
Relying on posts through an e-mail programme is an example of over-relying on technology, which, as technology, will inevitably malfunction.
Far simpler (and more sensible) is to type “Hannibal Blog” into the Google box each time the need is felt for intellectual nourishment, and then to read the latest HB offering when it manifests on the screen.
Simplicity is the word, is it not?
Thank you for the implied compliment, Philippe. But I couldn’t possibly expect the HB’s readers to remember to type this URL into their browser. So there is a trade-off between complexity in the human brain (sooo much to do online and offline, so much to remember, so little time) and complexity in subscription options. I’d like to make the CONSUMPTION simple. 😉
Opps… I’m one of those over-reliant types. I didn’t get these last two posts; I just happened to check the site (which I suppose I could do every time… argh).
Has anybody else (WordPress users only) had this problem on his/her own site?
And this is why I love RSS readers =)
I know. So do I. But I’m told they’re “on the way out”. I’ve never understood why they didn’t catch on more.
Sorry your email feature has been malfunctioning.
What I find even more disturbing, though, about the two checkboxes automatically installed in wordpress.com (as opposed to the .org version) right below the comment input area is that the sentence Notify me of follow-up comments via email. has a period at the end, but Subscribe by email to this site does not have a period.
Moreover, there seems to be a consistency problem, as “Notify me of follow-up comments via email” is phrased as if the visitor is speaking, yet “Subscribe by email to this site” sounds like the site is speaking to the visitor. So they should either change “Notify me of follow-up comments via email” to “Get notified of follow-up comments via email” OR change “Subscribe by email to this site” to “Subscribe me by email to this site.” (And don’t forget the period!!!)
Furthermore, it shouldn’t be via email in the first line and by email in the second. (The Elements of Style, II, 19: “Express coordinate ideas in similar form”)
Yes, I am very upset about all this.
You should write our style guide at The Economist. You make the existing one sound sloppy.
Yeah, the Economist has an opening for a User Experience Architect position here in New York. In lieu of the requisite university degree or equivalent training/experience, I’ll just cite your suggestion as a reference.
Dear Andreas,
I checked in to your website as I had not received any email notifications for some time and I wondered if you were still blogging or not. Then, I went to the WordPress website and put in my email address and it sent me a link which can be used to check the subscriptions. It is a bit strange this set-up as I have subscriptions to WordPress blogs, but no WordPress user account (they keep asking me to create a user account and offer a free blog which I do not need). Perhaps this will “reactivate” the subscriptions. If not, then I may have to create a user account to get them going. I just have so many accounts, I tend to avoid creating a new one if I can.
You might want to ask WordPress what they did and how many of your subscribers are affected. They must have changed something in their subscriptions manager and/or the database that drives the system to make the subscriptions fail like this.
I just heard from them, John. Apparently, there was a glitch which is now fixed. I will announce it anon…