A side note for email subscribers.
If you’ve subscribed to this blog’s email service you’ve had messages pushed out via a third party called follow.it. Loyal subscribers might recall the blog switched to this after Google closed down the Feedburner service.
Follow.it has worked great except that when you sign up they record the time of day and use this as the reference time to send you any new blog posts, the thinking being this when you are most likely to be online. So if you signed up one evening for the email you will be sent every new post in evening. This is useless if you want a race preview as it can arrive in your inbox after the race is done.
Followit > Convertkit > Kit
The fix is that the service has been switched to provider called Convertkit (about to rebrand as Kit). They say subscribers will get emails in about 30 minutes of a post going online.
Check your spam folder in case you’re a subscriber but don’t see new messages and add to the safe senders list.
If you’re not a subscriber and reading this you can sign up with the box on the screen.
Email can be handy if you are on the move and want blog posts sent to you but the format is adapted by the email service and so the suggestion to visit this site when you can instead.
Good news (I trust!). I found the Follow.IT setup clumsy in that the messages came late and the links in them didn’t go straight to your actual blog but to a page on follow.it itself.
Looking forward to getting the new alerts from (Convert)kit!
Thanks. Follow.it was a rare free choice at the time, now there is more.
Feedback is welcome as some of the features are customisable but not all as am using their basic plan for free.
It will be great to have your views before the race, they are informative. Also great timing to get them just before the TDF starts.
I wrote to follow.it and they tried to upsell me (the email receiver!?). Lol.
“On our free plan, it may take up to 6-8 hours for our system to capture the latest stories on the feeds you’re subscribed to. You can speed this up with Premium plans. …”
I also tried unsubscribing and then resubscribing in daytime EU time, but it didn’t change the delivery time in my timezone.
All moot though anyway. Look forward to your TdF posts on the day they’re published!
The told me the “time you sign up is the time you get the posts”… but I did test this also by unsubscribing and resubbing… but like you it didn’t work. So switched today.
Apparently this reveals my gen, but 👍
Great news! 🙏🙏 I was so frustrated since the swictch to follow.it, receiving race previews at 8pm…
Delighted you’ve been able to ‘true-up’ your content notification provider, unlike the poor mechanic who got handed Roger Hassenforder’s wheel….
If I’m following a race and want to see the previews and the review of yesterday/others’ comments on it, then I’ll go directly to your site.
Where I found it useful was to show me that you’d posted a new comment during between-races periods where you’re not posting everyday.
But I didn’t like the fact that longer articles were truncated and when I clicked on Continue/See More/whateveritis it took me to their site and showed me blank panels where there should be adverts (doubtless for things I’d not want, if they had any advertisers…)
Of course, at the bottom of the page it says “Don’t want to see ads and get taken directly to the publisher’s page? Upgrade to the “Hello”-plan for only 3 USD/month”
Of course it’s a Freemium site, I really can’t complain, it’s just that like everyone else I want my lunch for nothing ;o)
Thank you for letting us know. I’m one of those who usually receive some posts late (I’m currently at GMT+2). But those posts are valuable regardless of their time arriving. Even the stage previews are somehow interesting afterwards LOL.
Thank you for your work!
Having received a few of the new system’s email alerts now, I’d just like to say that these are much better. Thanks!