5,000!

Less than 20 weeks after launch, Law Dork hit 5,000 subscribers. Thank you so much.

Late Sunday night, the 5,000th person subscribed to Law Dork. Thank you!

Just shy of 20 weeks since I launched this newsletter on June 21, I am so incredibly grateful to everyone who has shown their support to this venture since I started coming around to some of you asking if you thought I should try this — and to some of you with newsletters asking how you do this.

Now, less than five months later, I’ve reached my initial goal for where I wanted to be for total subscribers at the half-year mark. So, I’m very happy. That also means that I’m adjusting my total subscriber goals upward.

One of the most exciting things about creating this space is that you all truly appreciate the expertise that I bring to my coverage. Nowhere is that better seen than in the fact that my two most popular posts thus far are on completely different topics — although both ended up involving US District Judge Reed O’Connor in Texas.

The PrEP decision is bad — but the question now is whether any judges will stop it

Breaking: Oklahoma sues the Biden administration in the state's quest to kill John Hanson

I also set this 5,000-subscribers mark as the point where I would let myself feel like this is working. As such, I’m going to try out some things over the next month. Let me know as I try them out if you like them or not!

Part of that is trying to open Law Dork up more to this incredible community of subscribers. I think at this point we’ve reached a critical mass of people interested in discussing here what’s going on out there. A first step of that was last week’s launch of the chat feature (on iOS for now).

A second step is going to be opening up comments to everyone. Go for it. I know that many of you have substantial knowledge in the areas I cover at Law Dork. Please, share your insights. Ask your questions. Give me your coverage ideas. (You can also email me on that front.) Comment to one another. … But, know that I will not tolerate hate, personal attacks, spamming the comments, or anything else that you can imagine would similarly offend what I’m trying to do here.

I’ve also said that I want to keep the reporting, news coverage, and big analysis pieces here open to all, and I will. At the same time, I also want to implement a feature or two for paid subscribers. I’ll be trying things out on that front this month as well. Along with that, and in order to focus more of my time on Law Dork, I do need more people to support Law Dork with a paid subscription.

tl;dr: Over this month, I’ll be opening up Law Dork to this community more, doing some other new things, and trying out features for paid subscribers—and I ask that you consider a paid subscription to support this work.

As always, I’m truly glad that you’re here. And, if a paid subscription isn’t possible, don’t fret. The news will always be available to everyone.

And, again, 139 days after launching:

Thank you for being one of the first 5,000 subscribers. It means so much to me that so many of you, so quickly, have given me your trust at this new virtual home of mine.