Tell us a bit about yourself and your background.
I’m an accidental journalist who learned to build websites as a teenager in 2003, and that knowledge ended up defining my professional life. I combined interests in writing and technology and eventually specialized in that area. I’ve been covering technology for blogs and newspapers since 2008.
What do you write about in your newsletter?
Consumer technology, but with a more humanistic perspective — fewer products, more on the social and psychological impacts of products, the internet, and tech innovations.
The newsletter for my blog, Manual do Usuário (pt_BR), was born alongside the blog in 2013. Since then, it has had several formats and schedules. In 2025, I created an English version, hoping to reach the rest of the world. I send it on Saturdays, gathering links to what was published during the week on the blog and a behind-the-scenes conversation. Of course, I invite everyone to sign up.
What attracted me [to Buttondown] was the promise of a simple, straightforward service and Justin’s (and later the whole team’s) availability to answer my emails, asking for help, and suggesting improvements.
Where did you first learn of Buttondown, and what made you decide to give it a try?
I don’t remember how I first learned about Buttondown! I became aware of it a long time ago. I sent my first email to Justin in July 2019.
What attracted me was the promise of a simple, straightforward service and Justin’s (and later the whole team’s) availability to answer my emails, asking for help, and suggesting improvements. That’s a huge differentiator that, fortunately, remains as good as it was at the start — even better, I’d say. All the recognition you’ve earned in this area is deserved! You’re an inspiration for my small consultancy for journalistic sites, which I run as a side job.
What are some ways Buttondown has helped you run your email?
Although I really appreciate Buttondown’s simplicity (write in Markdown, press a button, done), some advanced features are very useful on a day-to-day basis.
For example, I use tags to organize my paying subscribers, automations to welcome new subscribers, remind them about renewals, and collect feedback from cancellations, as well as feeds to email the “cool links,” a daily curation of neat things I find on the web.
(Note that I’m kind of old-fashioned: I like blogs, newsletters, and the web; I don’t like commercial social media.)