Initial August 2023 Newsletter draft (#234)

* Initial August 2023 Newsletter draft

* Fix build with same rst_epilog as in .org so we can refernece the sites easily

* Address feedback

* Ship today

Author: ericholscher

conf.py

@@ -433,3 +433,11 @@
 
 # If false, no index is generated.
 #epub_use_index = True
+
+# See dev/style_guide.rst for documentation
+rst_epilog = """
+.. |org_brand| replace:: Read the Docs Community
+.. |com_brand| replace:: Read the Docs for Business
+.. |git_providers_and| replace:: GitHub, Bitbucket, and GitLab
+.. |git_providers_or| replace:: GitHub, Bitbucket, or GitLab
+"""

newsletter-august-2023.rst

@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+.. post:: August 3, 2023
+   :tags: newsletter, python
+   :author: Eric
+   :location: BND
+   :category: Newsletter
+
+Read the Docs newsletter - August 2023
+======================================
+
+News and updates
+----------------
+
+- 🏝️ A few team members took vacations this month, and everything kept running smoothly, which is always wonderful to see.
+- ⏩ Our `git cloning code <https://github.com/readthedocs/readthedocs.org/pull/10430>`_ was refactored, and now projects should be building much faster. The more git branches and tags you have, the faster the build will be.
+- 🆕 All new projects imported on Read the Docs get the latest versions of our default documentation tools installed. This is the goal of our large set of deprecations lately, and now all new projects are starting in a place where we want all projects to get to.
+- 💵 We are working to simplify our subscriptions on |com_brand|, to make it easier for customers to know what they are getting, and for us to ensure all the features in each plan align with our pricing page.
+- 🔒 We shipped a `change to authentication <https://github.com/readthedocs/readthedocs.org/pull/10498>`_ on our build servers to dramatically reduce the permissions required when building documentation.
+  This increases our "defense in depth" security posture, and reduces the risk of a security breach.
+
+You can always see the latest changes to our platforms in our `changelog <https://docs.readthedocs.io/page/changelog.html>`_.
+
+Upcoming features
+-----------------
+
+- Our marketing website (https://about.readthedocs.com/) transition will be finishing up next week.
+  We will be redirecting all logged out |org_brand| users to the new site, completing this migration.
+- We continue to finish rolling out our updated Proxito v2 code. This is fully rolled out to |org_brand|,
+  and has a couple customers we're waiting on to migrate |com_brand|. This will happen in August.
+- We are rolling out HTML search indexing for all projects. This removes a small bit of functionality from our search for Sphinx projects,
+  but makes it much more reliable across all documentation tools.
+- We continue to work on a revamped flyout using our `addons <https://github.com/readthedocs/addons>`_ system.
+  This is the first step in a larger project to improve the user experience of our documentation platform.
+
+Want to follow along with our development progress? `View our full Roadmap 📍️`_
+
+.. _View our full Roadmap 📍️: https://github.com/orgs/readthedocs/projects/156/views/1
+
+Possible issues
+---------------
+
+- Continuing deprecations:
+  We have a number of old feature deprecations underway. 
+  The goal here is to reduce complexity of our build platform,
+  and enable users to control their own builds via ``build.tools`` and ``build.commands`` instead of feature flags.
+  You can see the full list and timeline on `issue #10587 <https://github.com/readthedocs/readthedocs.org/issues/10587>`_ & `issue #9779 <https://github.com/readthedocs/readthedocs.org/issues/9779>`_.
+
+-------
+
+Questions? Comments? Ideas for the next newsletter? `Contact us`_ or just reply to this email.
+
+.. _Contact us: mailto:[email protected]
+