Very Short List launched in 2006. Its founders were Kurt Andersen (co-founder of Spy magazine), Simon Dumenco, Michael Jackson, Tim Nolan, Emily Oberman and Bonnie Siegler, and Barry Diller’s IAC backed it. Its formula is one well-chosen recommendation a day, a design that changes with each topic and ads that stay out of the way, and in November 2026 it is still a good model for any curated newsletter. What changed is the inbox around it. Gmail now sorts mail into tabs and loads images through a proxy, and Apple Mail Privacy Protection has inflated open rates since 2021. Since February 2024, Gmail and Yahoo have also required bulk senders to use SPF, DKIM and DMARC and offer one-click unsubscribe. Google says senders should keep spam rates below 0.1% and avoid reaching 0.3%, and Yahoo advises keeping complaint rates below 0.3%.
Most daily email campaigns wear out their welcome. The content goes stale, the template never changes and readers stop opening. A daily email that holds a reader’s interest week after week is rare. This one turned up through StumbleUpon, the random web-discovery service that closed on June 30, 2018 and moved its users to Mix.
Very Short List is a daily culture email. It covers entertainment and media, and plenty beyond them. One day it might feature an obscure comedy album from The Goons. The next it might be a biography of Groucho Marx, a clever interactive website or the latest Criterion Collection release, which in those days meant a DVD. Nothing is off limits, and the more obscure the pick, the better. The editors described their approach like this: “We write about things we’ve discovered that please us so much that we can’t wait to tell other people about them.”
There is a lot to like about VSL. The content is consistent, engaging and interesting from one issue to the next. The design is simple and works well, but it never goes stale: the header image and pie chart change every day to match the topic. Even the ads are tasteful and never pull attention away from the content.
The best way to judge it is to read a few issues yourself.
It stands out as a daily read. The sign-up page is right here. Before you subscribe, check that the current edition still matches the one described above.
FAQ
How often can you send a daily newsletter without hurting deliverability?
Sending every day is fine if readers asked for a daily email and keep engaging with it. Deliverability suffers when people mark you as spam, not when you send often. Google asks senders to keep the user-reported spam rate below 0.1% and never let it reach 0.3%. Say clearly at sign-up that the email is daily, so nobody is surprised.
Do the Gmail and Yahoo bulk sender rules apply to a daily email?
Yes, once you send more than 5,000 messages to Gmail addresses in a day. A daily list with a few thousand Gmail subscribers crosses that line quickly. Bulk senders need to authenticate with SPF and DKIM and publish a DMARC record (a policy of none is the minimum), plus a one-click unsubscribe (the List-Unsubscribe header described in RFC 8058) on marketing and subscribed messages, and they must honor unsubscribe requests within two days. Since May 5, 2025, Microsoft has also required SPF, DKIM and DMARC from domains that send more than 5,000 messages a day to Outlook.com addresses.
Why are open rates for daily newsletters less reliable now?
Apple Mail Privacy Protection, introduced with iOS 15 in 2021, preloads images, so many emails register as “opened” whether or not anyone read them. Gmail’s image proxy also hides some reader details. Track clicks, replies, unsubscribes and spam complaints if you want a truer picture of whether a daily email is working.
How do you keep a daily email design fresh without breaking it?
Do what this newsletter did. Keep one stable, tested template and change one element per issue, such as a header image or chart tied to the topic. Use images with transparent backgrounds and check them in dark mode, since many readers now read on phones with dark themes. Keep the HTML under about 102 KB so Gmail does not clip the message.
Can you run ads in a daily newsletter and stay compliant with CAN-SPAM?
Yes. Under the FTC’s CAN-SPAM rules, the email needs accurate “From” and subject lines, a valid physical postal address and a clear way to opt out. You must honor opt-outs within 10 business days. For readers, the bigger risk is ads that crowd out the content. Keep sponsor slots clearly labeled and relevant, as this newsletter did.
Sources
- Google: Email sender guidelines and the sender guidelines FAQ (Gmail Help and Google Workspace Admin Help)
- Yahoo Sender Hub: Sender best practices
- Microsoft: Outlook.com requirements for high-volume senders
- Federal Trade Commission: CAN-SPAM Act, A Compliance Guide for Business
- Apple Support: Mail Privacy Protection