Important News About Uni Watch’s Premium Content on Bulletin

Hello! As you may have heard, Facebook is shutting down Bulletin — the platform where I’ve been publishing my feature-length Premium content (including the NHL Season Preview, which was just published today) — at the end of 2022.

What does this all mean for Uni Watch? A few key issues are still unresolved, and will likely remain that way for at least another week or two, but here’s where we stand at the moment:

When did you learn that Bulletin would be shut down at the end of this year?

The same time the rest of the world did — on Tuesday. My Bulletin contact told me that morning.

What does this mean for your weekly Premium column?

In the short term, nothing will change. I will continue to write a feature-length Premium article for Bulletin every week. That includes the NBA Season Preview next week.

And then you’ll leave Bulletin when they shut it down at the end of the year?

Technically, I will be free to leave Bulletin in a few days. But I want to take my time to explore a few other options before I exit Bulletin. So I will keep writing for them for at least another month, and possibly all the way through the end of the year.

What do you mean by “other options”?

I will definitely keep writing the weekly Premium column, even after I leave Bulletin. Maybe I’ll move it to Substack, or to another newsletter platform, or maybe we’ll just host the Premium content here on the Uni Watch website. I’m not sure yet. But the basic format of the weekly Premium column will continue without interruption (or, possibly, a one-week interruption — we’ll see how smooth the transition turns out to be).

I paid for an annual Bulletin subscription via Facebook, and it hasn’t been a full year yet. What happens to the rest of my subscription — do I get a partial refund? Will my subscription automatically move to whatever the new Premium platform turns out to be?

If you paid for Bulletin via Facebook, you will get a full, 100% refund after I exit Bulletin. (This will come out of Facebook’s pocket, not mine.) You will get this full refund no matter how much time is left on your subscription. So if you signed up back in late January, when I first set up the paywall, you will get a 100% refund; if you signed up yesterday, you will also get a 100% refund.

For that matter, if you sign up today, or anytime from now until I leave Bulletin, you will still get a 100% refund. So go ahead, get yourself an annual subscription — it’s basically no-risk and free, because you’ll be getting your money back.

In order to get this refund, you must not cancel your subscription. As long as you leave it active and don’t cancel, you will get the refund from Facebook.

If you subscribed via Facebook, your subscription will not carry over to the eventual new platform. You’ll have to subscribe again on the new platform — but that’s not so bad, because you’ll have essentially gotten your Bulletin subscription for free.

I paid for a monthly Bulletin subscription via Facebook. Will I also get a refund?

As long as you don’t cancel your subscription, you will get a refund of the one-month price ($3.99). But if you’ve been paying on a month-to-month basis, you will not get a refund for all of the months that you paid for — just for one month.

I paid for an annual subscription to the email workaround. What happens to me?

Nothing will change. You will continue to receive the Premium articles via email from me. I’ll let you know when your annual term is nearing an end — at that point you can either re-up or just subscribe with the eventual new platform.

I paid for the UW+/Bulletin bundle, which includes the email workaround. What happens to me?

Same as above — you’ll continue to receive the Premium articles via email from me each week, regardless of which platform they’re being published on.

What will happen to the Bulletin content that’s been published?

After Bulletin is shut down at the end of this year, the content will remain on the web through the end of March. After that, it will be taken down.

However, Facebook is letting the Bulletin writers take their published work with them. They say they’re developing a tool that will allow us to download the articles, complete with all the links, photos, and so on, so we can upload them elsewhere. Once I choose a new home for the Premium column, I will try to get the Bulletin content hosted there.

Are you really upset about all this?

I’ll admit that the timing isn’t great, especially given I’m already dealing with a stressful situation on the home front, but it’s not the end of the world. Overall, the Bulletin experience has been a good one — I liked the people I worked with, enjoyed stretching out with feature-length content, and am proud of the work. Also, as I’ve mentioned before, it’s very gratifying to produce work that’s supported by people actually paying for it, instead of by advertising. I’m sorry it’s ending, but I’m looking forward to taking the lessons I’ve learned to a new home. Onward, upward, etc.!

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I think that’s it. If you have other questions or concerns, post them in the comments or email me, and I’ll do my best to answer. Thanks for listening, and for your support.