Our Secret War

There is a truth we don't like to discuss. The evidence lurks in the "What's New" page. It seethes and jeers. And though we've tried, we can't keep it quiet.

The site doesn't get updated everyday.

It's not always our fault. Sometimes depression assumes control. Sometimes we're propelled so quickly into the future that daily updates are impossible. And once, Shack was perhaps attacked by a hippopotamus.

The Weapon

Taking our lead from comic books, we've come up with a secret weapon. Now, we're ready to strike back. Behold! Our topica.com notification list:

notify-subscribe@topica.com

It hasn't been easy. Our hosting provider offered the Mailman List Server which we used in the early days. We were winning the war until the server was hacked. It was devastating. Though little was said, the enemy used such lack of imagination and poor grammar that we immediately took the list offline.

For a long time after, manual updates were sent out. It was a makeshift solution, at best. People were timid about sending subscription requests. "How do I get added to your list?" Getting removed was awkward, not that it ever happened.

The process now is easy:

1. Subscribe to the list by sending an email to the address above. You don't need to include a subject or any text in the body. (Our list name is "notify" because I set it up at 6am.)
   
   
2. A confirmation email will be sent from Topica, back to your address.
   
   
3. Activate the URL located in the confirmation mail and the process is completed. Another window may open asking you to register, but again this is optional.

We spent a lot of time evaluating options for the notification list. Sushi has been quite happy with Topica thus far and is subscribed to several other lists through their service.

Retreat!

(Shack hates titles with exclamation points in them.)

Feeling like unsubscribing from the list? Read this first. (Sushi can be found walking around in a stupor, mumbling it to herself, on particularly bad days.)

Though much is taken, much abides;
And though we are not now that strength
Which in old days moved earth and heaven
That which we are, we are:
One equal temper of heroic hearts
Made weak by time and fate but strong in will:
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
~Tennyson, from "Ulysses"

If you still want to unsubscribe, it's even easier than signing up.

1. At the bottom of every notification message is a special "unsubscribe" link. Click it and you're done.
   
   
2. Sushi will cry.
   
   
3. Shack doesn't cry.

But remember, as always we'll be sending out free Sake with every notification message -- just as soon as the technology allows.