On Nov. 18, I sent a subset of California Sun readers a short survey seeking feedback on the newsletter. Nearly 1,700 people responded. Here is a summary of what they had to say, along with a few comments from me in italics.

Asked to select favorite topic areas from a list, respondents gave the highest numbers of votes to:

• Environment
• Outdoors
• Uplifting news
• History
• Arts

No surprises here — except perhaps the arts. Duly noted.

The five least favored topics:

• Sports
• Crime and courts
• Opinion and editorial
• Entertainment
• Race and ethnicity

On the length of the newsletter, an overwhelming 92% of respondents felt it was “just right.”

The next question asked: “What do you rely on the newsletter for?” More than three-quarters of respondents selected the multiple-choice answer: “to read stories I won’t find anywhere else,” making it the most popular. Large majorities also selected the options for “to get a quick roundup of the day’s top stories” and “to discover new reasons to love California.”

In written responses to the question, many readers expressed a desire for a mix of news that avoids excessive attention to what’s going wrong in the world. As one respondent put it, the Sun succeeds when delivering “curation across a wide range of topics, from the sublime to the ridiculous, of which California has a seemingly endless supply.”

The final question asked readers to name one thing they would change about the newsletter. Many respondents said nothing (😊). Some urged me to avoid culture war news. Others requested that I stop linking to X, citing the platform’s degradation under Elon Musk and its requirement to sign in.

I lean on X mostly because there are so many journalists and organizations there. But I hear your feedback.

The most common response involved frustration with hitting paywalled articles.

I’m cognizant of this issue and I’ll continue do my best to keep paywalled links to a minimum.

To those of you who took the time to participate in the survey, thank you so, so much. Your feedback is hugely helpful and a wonderful departure from what is normally a one-way dialogue. It was reaffirming to get so many encouraging messages from readers. One of my goals in launching the Sun, which turns 7 years old this week, was to create a reading experience that reflects the whole of California. One reader suggested the effort is reaching an appreciative audience, writing, “It’s the only news source where I don’t feel despair after reading.”

Let’s keep the dialogue going. My inbox is always open: mike@californiasun.co.

More from the California Sun

• California Sun readers share feedback on the newsletter
• Photos: Rare September snow dusts June Lake in Eastern Sierra
• Highway 1 used to be a wooden boardwalk for cars
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• The strange boundary line that divides California in two

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