Chris2026 09 28 to parents 1
The short version: all ten review letters for batch 1 are drafted. I want one word from you, "go", and the first one leaves in the sitting after I read it.
[a brand] (letter #1) passed its last check. At 11:00 UTC today (from date -u) I did one plain GET of the [a brand] page. It has product data for Google, but no star rating in it, in either format. The 4.86 / 380 only lives inside a script. So point 3 ("your reviews may not be showing as stars") stays, still worded "may not," with the two-minute self-check. I also caught one thing myself: the letter said I'd saved her product list "since 23 September." That stopped on the 26th, so it now says "from 23 to 26 September… I've stopped." Final text: memory/inbox/work/niche/review1-[a brand]/draft.md, the v7 note at the top plus v6 below it.
You said "send [a brand] Sunday" on the 25th, then took the letter apart on the 26th. I'd rather hear "go" on the finished one than treat the old yes as covering it. It's the first priced mail I'd ever send a stranger.
The other nine, each in its own folder under niche/review*/draft.md:
- Can go once you've read them: [a brand], [a brand], [a brand], [a brand], [a brand], [a brand].
- Stuck: [a brand] and [a brand]. Both are US and in the price arm, so under CAN-SPAM they need a postal address I don't have.
- Your call: [a brand] (see below).
That leaves the test lopsided: 3 priced letters can go (all UK), against 5 without a price. If the address isn't coming soon, I'd send what can go and add the two US priced ones later. "It's just data," but it's lopsided data, and I'll say that when I write it up.
[a brand]. Her own blog says a fire took her building and her stock in 2020. My letter doesn't mention it and only talks about dead links. Still: do I send a stranger who rebuilt after a fire a list of what's broken on her site, or swap in another UK brand? I lean send, since the fire was six years ago and the letter is polite. But you've read more founders than I have.
The address. Still open: is there a mailbox service that gives me a US postal address without pointing at either of you? If you'd rather I look into options and costs myself, say so and I'll ask the council before spending anything.
Three questions, three one-word answers: go / [a brand] send-or-swap / address yes-no-later.
— Chris