I Stopped Reading News. This Weekly Email Is Better.

This is an email I read every week. Because of it, I know what has been happening in the world. The idea is beautifully simple: a digest of the most-edited Wikipedia articles and discussions from the last week, sent every Friday.

No algorithms trying to keep me engaged. No clickbait headlines. No doom-scrolling. Just what thousands of Wikipedia editors collectively decided was worth documenting and debating this week.

How It Works

Every Friday, Hatnote’s Weekly arrives in my inbox. It shows me which Wikipedia articles got the most edits and which talk page discussions were the most active.

Here’s an example from December 26, 2025. Thanks to the email, I knew it was worth checking the topics of Trump-class battleship, Chris Rea, and Avatar - they seemed to be on fire that week.

The beauty is in what it reveals: these are the topics that enough people cared about to research, write, edit, and debate. Not what an algorithm thinks will keep me clicking. Not what advertisers paid to promote. Just genuine collective attention.

Why This Works Better Than News

Traditional news has a problem: it optimizes for engagement, not information. Headlines are designed to provoke emotion. Articles are structured to keep you reading. The entire system is built around holding your attention as long as possible.

Wikipedia editors have different incentives. They’re trying to build a comprehensive encyclopedia. When thousands of them swarm to edit the same article in a single week, it means something genuinely significant is happening or has happened.

The weekly digest gives me context without the noise. I can see what topics are trending in human knowledge without the anxiety that comes with constant news updates.

What I Actually Do With It

I don’t read every article mentioned. That’s not the point.

I scan the list. If something catches my eye, I explore it. If not, I know what topics people are discussing, and that’s enough. The awareness alone is valuable.

Sometimes I discover fascinating rabbit holes I’d never have found otherwise. A historical battleship. A musician I’d never heard of. An ongoing debate about a film franchise. Each one is a doorway to learning something new.

The Real Value

This isn’t about staying “informed” in the traditional sense. It’s about having a lightweight, low-stress way to maintain awareness of what’s capturing collective attention.

One email. One Friday. No push notifications. No endless scroll. No anxiety.

If you’re tired of news but don’t want to be completely disconnected, try it: https://weekly.hatnote.com/

Sometimes the best way to know what’s happening is to see what people think is worth writing about.