unique/candidate-sources.md

# Candidate sources

Newly nominated sources awaiting review before promotion to `sources.json`. Each entry says where it came from and the case for adding it. Vet manually, then move to the main list.

## 2026-05-03

- **Robin Good's "Best Curated Newsletters"** — https://robingood.substack.com/ — surfaced via WebSearch. Annual list of curated newsletters; less a daily-find source than a yearly source-of-sources to scan once and harvest. Worth checking the most recent edition for newsletters in our brief that we don't yet track.

### Gift-focused round (Amazon-leaning)

Goal of this round: expand `gifts` coverage with sources that lean Amazon-purchasable, and probe whether Amazon's own surfaces (Idea Lists, Influencer Storefronts) are usable as feeds. Note up front: Amazon does not run a unified consumer discovery blog — the closest native equivalents are user-curated Idea Lists (`amazon.com/ideas/...`) and Influencer Storefronts (`amazon.com/shop/{handle}`), neither of which has a central "browse new" feed. Discovery there is per-curator. All US-locale; `src/lib/affiliate.ts` only tags `amazon.com` today.

**Editorial curators (highest signal-to-noise, vetted gift voice):**

- **Wirecutter — Gifts** — https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/gifts/ — surfaced via WebSearch. NYT-owned product testing publication; the gifts hub is a perennial source of considered, taste-driven recommendations, and most picks have an Amazon purchase path. Likely needs `curl` (NYT blocks WebFetch) or `skip` if paywalled — vet fetchability first.
- **The Strategist — Gifts** (New York Magazine) — https://nymag.com/strategist/tags/gifts/ — surfaced via WebSearch. Long-running gift-recommendations vertical with strong editorial voice; many picks Amazon-purchasable. Same publisher anti-bot risks as NYT may apply.
- **Apartment Therapy — The Bazaar** — https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/the-bazaar — surfaced via WebSearch. Home-and-living shopping vertical; lots of Amazon picks framed by design taste. Likely WebFetch-friendly.
- **Girls' Night In — "The Cute List"** (Alisha Ramos) — https://girlsnightin.substack.com/ — surfaced via WebSearch. Taste-driven curation of "delightful discoveries" (style and culture); gift-adjacent with regular Amazon links. Substack feed available, so the existing `curl` pattern used for Recomendo should work directly.
- **Wirecutter — Deals** — https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/deals/ — sister hub to Gifts; surfaces Amazon-discounted versions of already-vetted picks, useful as a "gift on sale" signal. Same fetch caveat as Wirecutter — Gifts.

**Reddit communities (cheap to add — existing curl + JSON path supports them via `top/.json?t=week&limit=25`):**

- **r/AmazonFinds** — https://www.reddit.com/r/AmazonFinds/ — community-tagged Amazon discoveries. Mixed quality (some TikTok-style slop), but the top-of-week filter should surface the genuinely upvoted finds. Vet for delightfulness vs. cheap-gadget noise before promoting.
- **r/Gifts** — https://www.reddit.com/r/Gifts/ — request-and-recommendation community; many resolved threads point to Amazon. Useful for "what to give X" patterns rather than discrete products. Vet noise level — requests outnumber recommendations.
- **r/HelpMeFind** — https://www.reddit.com/r/HelpMeFind/ — people hunting for specific items; resolutions often land at Amazon. Lower volume of pure gift content but high signal when a thread closes with an answer.
- **r/INEEEEDIT** — https://www.reddit.com/r/INEEEEDIT/ — community sharing surprising/delightful product finds, very gift-shaped. Strong overlap with the "delightful and distinctive" brief; many items are Amazon-buyable.

**Amazon-native surfaces (experimental — fetchability uncertain, per-curator quality varies):**

- **Amazon Influencer Storefront — Alix Earle** — https://www.amazon.com/shop/alixearle — surfaced via WebSearch (AmraAndElma roundup). Trial example of a storefront with unusual categories like "Gift Guides for a Partner's Parents" and "Amazon Luxury." Vet for taste fit — fashion/beauty leaning may be off-brief. Storefronts are SPA-heavy; both `webfetch` and `curl` may fail.
- **Amazon Influencer Storefront — Julie Capozziello** — https://www.amazon.com/shop/juliecapozziello — surfaced via WebSearch. 64+ curated Idea Lists across lifestyle, gifts, books, snacks. Trial example of breadth. Same fetch and taste caveats as above.
- **Amazon Gift Finder hub** — https://www.amazon.com/gift-finder — Amazon's own editorial gift surface. Expect heavy algorithmic + sponsored content; included as a baseline to evaluate whether Amazon-native editorial is worth tracking at all. Likely fails the brief on its own; useful as a control.
- **Amazon Idea Lists search** — https://www.amazon.com/gift-ideas-list/s?k=gift+ideas+list — there is no native "browse all Idea Lists" page, so a search-results URL is the closest thing to a discovery feed. Probably noisy; flagged for evaluation rather than confident inclusion.

**Sources-of-sources (one-shot scan, not daily fetches — same pattern as Robin Good above):**

- **AmraAndElma — "25 Top Influencers with Amazon Storefronts" (2026)** — https://www.amraandelma.com/top-influencers-with-amazon-storefronts/ — yearly roundup; scan once to harvest more storefronts that match the brief, then drop.
- **The Influence Agency — "Top Amazon Storefront Creators"** — https://theinfluenceagency.com/blog/amazon-storefront-top-creators-2025 — second curator-of-curators reference; harvest names, then drop.