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Hate paywalls? 12ft.io is the answer

robinwinslow.uk

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Re: Hate paywalls? 12ft.io is the answer

#71

Post by linsomniac »

ajsnigrutin wrote: post #53
Barrin92 wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

because that kind of transaction system isn't in high demand. People already suffer from choice-fatigue and if anything people are likely looking for bundles that give them access to more papers for a flat fee rather than the opposite. It's why Spotify and Apple Music exist rather than people paying a fraction of a cent for each song.

Plus, as with everything involving money, this would cause even more clickbait to get those 25c out of you.

Maybe. I surely can't be the only one that avoids otherwise interesting articles because of a clickbait title? I know if I click it, it's likely to be BS, and I'm likely to get more of them because wherever I'm reading it goes "Ah-hah!"

Re: Hate paywalls? 12ft.io is the answer

#73

Post by eganist »

paxys wrote: post #68
towaway15463 wrote: post #30

I’m still waiting for micro transactions. I won’t pay $5 a month for a newspaper I might read one article from but I would gladly pay 25 cents for that one good article. How are there still minimum amounts and fees on transactions when everything is supposedly digitized and networked?

How do you know what is "one good article" and what isn't until you actually read it? There is already an increasing problem with clickbait as sites have to fight for eyeballs to get ad revenue. Making online journalism microtransaction based will completely kill whatever is left of the industry.

For 25 cents, I don't think I'd care.

If I get burned on five articles at 25 cents each, I'll probably stop reading their stuff though. And that might actually provide a usable metric to their editors.

Re: Hate paywalls? 12ft.io is the answer

#74

Post by paxys »

eganist wrote: post #73
paxys wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you know what is "one good article" and what isn't until you actually read it? There is already an increasing problem with clickbait as sites have to fight for eyeballs to get ad revenue. Making online journalism microtransaction based will completely kill whatever is left of the industry.

For 25 cents, I don't think I'd care. If I get burned on five articles at 25 cents each, I'll probably stop reading their stuff though. And that might actually provide a usable metric to their editors.

Think of the number of links you click on in a regular day. The front page of HN itself contains 30 articles. Browsing a few pages of it at 25c each is already $40+ in costs. Is that something you are willing to spend?

Re: Hate paywalls? 12ft.io is the answer

#75

Post by linsomniac »

towaway15463 wrote: post #30

I’m still waiting for micro transactions. I won’t pay $5 a month for a newspaper I might read one article from but I would gladly pay 25 cents for that one good article. How are there still minimum amounts and fees on transactions when everything is supposedly digitized and networked?

Totally agree here, I'd pay a quarter to read most of the articles I click away from right now because they are paywalled. The pain of unsubscribing from some of these places is obscene, and a major reason I avoid subscribing to many of them. That and it's hard to pay $10 for a site I might read an article on a month, or I might read 10.

Isn't the Brave browser trying to build in micropayments? I keep hoping that will get some traction.

I love reporters and investigative journalism. It's worth funding and I hate seeing it die off. But I also don't have many good ways to pay for it. Though a couple days ago I did read a good investigative piece, without paywall, so I sent the place $10 via one-time payment.

Re: Hate paywalls? 12ft.io is the answer

#76

Post by eganist »

paxys wrote: post #74
eganist wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For 25 cents, I don't think I'd care. If I get burned on five articles at 25 cents each, I'll probably stop reading their stuff though. And that might actually provide a usable metric to their editors.

Think of the number of links you click on in a regular day. The front page of HN itself contains 30 articles. Browsing a few pages of it at 25c each is already $40+ in costs. Is that something you are willing to spend?

No. (Also, I'm confused at how you got to the $40+ figure with each article costing $0.25, but alas.)

And consequently, I'd just browse less. If anything, I might spend more time outside as a result.

Re: Hate paywalls? 12ft.io is the answer

#77

Post by sefrost »

paxys wrote: post #69
sefrost wrote: post #32

In my opinion if we keep popularizing technologies like this we will lose them. Look at the number of websites that are now blocking ad blockers because we all installed ad blockers on our parents machines and popularized the technology. We should keep some technology under the radar and just for hackers.

No useful technology can be kept under the radar. In fact I think ad blocking is a good example of something that got so widespread that it became impossible to block. The "disable your adblocker to read this site" banners are quickly disappearing from the internet now that a critical mass of users has adopted them and companies are realizing they can't give up all that traffic.

Do you have any source to show that those banners are being removed? I haven't anecdotally noticed that.

Re: Hate paywalls? 12ft.io is the answer

#78

Post by paxys »

sefrost wrote: post #77
paxys wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No useful technology can be kept under the radar. In fact I think ad blocking is a good example of something that got so widespread that it became impossible to block. The "disable your adblocker to read this site" banners are quickly disappearing from the internet now that a critical mass of users has adopted them and companies are realizing they can't give up all that traffic.

Do you have any source to show that those banners are being removed? I haven't anecdotally noticed that.

Well you are the one who brought it up. Do you have a source to show that more of them are being added? Anecdotally I used to run into them all the time, but can't remember having seen a single one in like a year (or more) now.

Re: Hate paywalls? 12ft.io is the answer

#79

Post by u2077 »

I’ve been using 12ft since beta. They’ve been hit by some legal notices and no longer work on some sites like NYT. It’s just a game of whack-a-mole. Ideally these workarounds are open source so they can’t just shut a domain down.

Re: Hate paywalls? 12ft.io is the answer

#80

Post by ykevinator2 »

towaway15463 wrote: post #30

I’m still waiting for micro transactions. I won’t pay $5 a month for a newspaper I might read one article from but I would gladly pay 25 cents for that one good article. How are there still minimum amounts and fees on transactions when everything is supposedly digitized and networked?

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