From the Editor’s Desk: Settling for less than perfect

I started NRI NOW in 2018 with a vision.

In a time when even the 65-plus bracket was starting to turn to social media for news, traditional newspapers were scaling back, and the very concept of reading print news had become foreign and dated to a whole generation, I would cut out the expenses for print and distribution, and bring local news stories to a modern, online audience in northern Rhode Island.

Six years later, I have been mostly successful.

With an average of 26,000 visitors a week (at last check,) an ever-expanding social media presence, increased advertising, new subscribers daily, and an impressive list of talented contributors, the business has grown immensely by any metric.

I say this not to boast – but to let you know, dear reader, that I’ve only been able to get here by regularly settling for imperfection with the knowledge that every day, the website can and will get just a little better.

For example, I am still not only the publisher, editor, key journalist and web developer, I am also the ad designer and marketing executive. As a result, I admit you may find the occasional typo. The website itself may misbehave at times, losing my formatting on various articles and in the past, loading so slowly you have time to grab a coffee. I may develop, and then abandon particular policies or features. And when things get particularly hectic, you may not get quite enough in-depth coverage with my own byline on it. Because at some point, I do have to sleep.

I have learned that often, I have no choice but to fall short – to settle for a little bit less than what I want. Some of these growing pains will undoubtedly continue.

Even as I type this now, the long list of business “to dos” nags at me. I spent roughly eight hours in contact with tech help in the past week and I have knowledge of at least two smaller issues I’m not quite sure how to fix. There are have been stories I hoped to write that had to wait and less than timely responses to many emails.

The website, however, is running smoothly for the most part. We’ve put out plenty of quality, original content this week, published releases for many candidates for office and educated readers about dozens of local events, developments and government happenings. And while there may still be a smoldering ash or two, the house, most certainly, is not burning down.

I have improved this community resource with more local stories and greater reliability, slowly but surely, by understanding that sometimes, that just has to be good enough. I will keep moving forward.

And so, I write this now to thank each and every reader who has stuck with NRI NOW through the light news days, the misplaced commas and the occasional (gasp!) 404 errors. Please know that I’m disrupting the natural order of things with my single-handed persistence and web traffic that far exceeds the expected size of my audience.

We’re going to keep getting better by knowing that sometimes, you have to settle for less than perfect even as you continue to strive for it.

We look forward to an even brighter future where limited staffing and resources are never holding us back.

Your publisher, editor and unrelenting newshound,

Sandy Hall