A big thank you — and a little giveaway

The Machine celebrates passing 200 subscribers

This tee could be yours if you refer a friend (or, you know, pay for it). (Etsy)

By The Machine’s infallible calculations, this newsletter just passed the 200-subscriber mark. It literally could not have done it without you, as one of those 200-plus subscribers.

To celebrate these past three months of growth, and to keep it up, The Machine could use your help — and it’s willing to bribe you a little. (I forgot to program it with anti-bribery coding.)

So: The first five subscribers to upgrade now from a free to a paid subscription or refer a friend to subscribe will receive a free Fairfax Machine/local news T-shirt.

Option No. 2. (Etsy)

You can buy a shirt at The Machine’s new Etsy shop either way to rep local news in your community, whether that’s in Northern Virginia or wherever else. Each one is just $16 plus shipping.

Otherwise, a quick update: You’ll receive the (newly) usual Friday Download this week, while I continue poking around on a few longer ideas. The deeper human features are my favorite part of this work, but I’ve been juggling The Machine with two other jobs since July, and some weeks it’s not easy.

Thanks, through it all, for reading. I believe strongly in this local journalism mission, in the importance of explaining the news and telling the stories of Virginia’s largest county, and I hope you’ve been enjoying it, too. Reach out anytime.

Ryan