When New Matilda switched to our new site, just over a year ago, we had a quick burst of new subscriptions (which we loved, and were extremely grateful for, by the way).
As part of that process, our new shopping cart set new subscribers to annual auto-renewing subscriptions. When we realized, a few weeks after launch, we turned this feature off, and we’ve notified readers in a number of email digests throughout the year. Understandly, some folks might have missed those messages (apparently, not everyone reads every word of NM… which I’m still struggling to get my head around).
It has affected a small number of subscribers. If your subscription to New Matilda automatically renewed in the past 14 days and you didn’t intend for that to happen, please contact us at admin@newmatilda.com and we’ll arrange a full refund. And again, apologies if you were inconvenienced.
Speaking of inconvenience, the Pozible campaign on The Sparkke Change Beverage Company, which we announced over the weekend here, has sparked (pun intended) some interesting feedback from readers.
Most of it has been extremely positive, and take up of the special New Matilda offer has been pretty encouraging. We’d obviously love ALL NM readers to jump in and buy a carton for Xmas… and remember, if you want the special NM subscribers only deal, which includes a one-off ‘C U Next Tuesday, Mr Trump’ beer, you need the password pussygrabsback.
As with all things New Matilda, there was also some criticism. And so to address that: no, we’re not kidding; no, we don’t agree we’re now ‘officially a joke’; you don’t even know my mother, so please don’t say things like that about her; and yes, we’re aware that some people drink alcohol to excess, and so to them we say, don’t. It’s bad for you.
To the overwhelming majority of others who drink responsibly, we say cheers… and tell your family, tell your friends by sharing us on social media. You can sum it up to them like this: The thinking behind Sparkke – of which New Matilda is a small, but loud and proud part – is to generate discussion on some of the really important social issues confronting our nation. We’ve got to start doing things differently, because traditional media models are failing. This certainly qualifies as different. That, and the greatest conversation starter known to humanity is a mid-strength Pilsner, chilled to 4 degrees and served in a can!
You can buy a carton of that without all the bells and whistles here (some feedback from readers was they just wanted the beer without all the freebies – fair call!). And let your family and friends know that 10% of direct sales go to charities fighting for social justice. Some of it might even eventually ‘trickle down’ to help support independent media like NM.
Until Thursday…
Cheers, Chris Graham