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The Free and Open Internet

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Re: The Free and Open Internet

#3
That free model that Wilson louds got us to this point in the first place. Over last twenty years that Wilson been making money investing in free Twitter, etc., thousands of people lost jobs in journalism, etc. He has no solution or suggestion, just ranting. Isn't he the freemium guy anyhow?

Re: The Free and Open Internet

#4
I despise paywalls and not because I'm cheap. If I see good value I'd pay for it. I already do it for books, movies and music.

But paywalls are not different from the old model of selling print subscriptions, and that's my problem. I don't see the value of paying for an article of the WaPo or NYT. If I susbcribe then I had to consume that media daily and read several articles to make that subscription worth it and I won't do that. Reading daily news is neither motivating or important for me.

So paywalls for me are just deterrents. I will never get converted into a pay user and they are just another reason for me to go and look for alternative media or simply rely on Twitter with all its biases and shortcomes.

Re: The Free and Open Internet

#5
As much as I was in awe of WaPo's tablet app (on Amazon's Fire), I despise their website on the public Internet ever since they have started the paywall flags. Neither NYT, nor WaPo are going to solve the world's publishing business model on the Internet. The author here makes a lot of good points. And someone please tell me exactly why Bezo wrote his letter on Medium and not anywhere else?

Re: The Free and Open Internet

#6

I recommend taking a look at the good discussion happening in the comments section of that blog article.

I can't tell if that's sarcasm. What good discussion are you referring to?

It's not as bad as what I'd normally see on an article. But I don't see much of value. Just a bunch of people sharing anecdotes as to why the death of the news industry is good/bad/deserved.

Re: The Free and Open Internet

#7

I despise paywalls and not because I'm cheap. If I see good value I'd pay for it. I already do it for books, movies and music. But paywalls are not different from the old model of selling print subscriptions, and that's my problem. I don't see the value of paying for an article of the WaPo or NYT. If I susbcribe then I had to consume that media daily and read several articles to make that subscription worth it and I…

>>If I susbcribe then I had to consume that media daily and read several articles to make that subscription worth it and I won't do that.

Why do you feel compelled to read several articles per day to make that subscription worth it? I presume the answer is because you think current subscription prices are too expensive. Perhaps this compulsion would be dampened if the subscription price were lower -- but by how much?

Re: The Free and Open Internet

#8

That free model that Wilson louds got us to this point in the first place. Over last twenty years that Wilson been making money investing in free Twitter, etc., thousands of people lost jobs in journalism, etc. He has no solution or suggestion, just ranting. Isn't he the freemium guy anyhow?

add to your points this gem:

>> places like Twitter and Medium that remain open and free.

WHAT? Perhaps only in the most literal sense of "they don't make you pay money to read", but that's not really what people mean when they talk about open and free...

Re: The Free and Open Internet

#9

That free model that Wilson louds got us to this point in the first place. Over last twenty years that Wilson been making money investing in free Twitter, etc., thousands of people lost jobs in journalism, etc. He has no solution or suggestion, just ranting. Isn't he the freemium guy anyhow?

add to your points this gem: >> places like Twitter and Medium that remain open and free. WHAT? Perhaps only in the most literal sense of "they don't make you pay money to read", but that's not really what people mean when they talk about open and free...

Not to mention how much of Medium is behind their paywall...

Re: The Free and Open Internet

#10
post #7

I despise paywalls and not because I'm cheap. If I see good value I'd pay for it. I already do it for books, movies and music. But paywalls are not different from the old model of selling print subscriptions, and that's my problem. I don't see the value of paying for an article of the WaPo or NYT. If I susbcribe then I had to consume that media daily and read several articles to make that subscription worth it and I…

>> If I susbcribe then I had to consume that media daily and read several articles to make that subscription worth it and I won't do that. Why do you feel compelled to read several articles per day to make that subscription worth it? I presume the answer is because you think current subscription prices are too expensive. Perhaps this compulsion would be dampened if the subscription price were lower -- but by how much…

Or better yet, a service existed that paid per view. Microtransactions, for example, could pay per article read in a similar way to Medium's system (although it would be better if there was just a wallet that it paid from, without a minimum monthly charge). I know Brave is working toward that goal, and I like what they're doing, but I'd prefer if their system was universal (I refuse to use their browser).
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