If you want stuff to exist in the world, pay for it. Work is work, and expecting things to be free, or to never raise their prices, is a good way to ensure that they don't last.
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A note on subscription prices from LWN
101–110 of 165 posts
Re: A note on subscription prices from LWN
#102Earlier quoted context omitted.
not saying parent feels this way but the target class of this website often does not separate the two. we're still sloughing off the goofballery of objectivism, i guess.
we're still sloughing off the goofballery of objectivism Are we though? I certainly don't sense the volume of FYIGM entitlement decreasing.
They literally fearmonger for a permanent underclass, it’s definitely not decreasing
Re: A note on subscription prices from LWN
#103> The LWN site has been improved in a number of ways, with features like articles in EPUB format, This is the single biggest feature that makes me keep my subscription going. The convenience to read longer form offline on my ebook reader makes me wish all other long form content websites would have the same.
I just noticed that too.
Do they offer a facility for automatically mailing the epub file to a specified e-mail address (I'm thinking the Amazon Kindle conversion e-mail) --- that might push me over into a subscription.
Re: A note on subscription prices from LWN
#104Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not only that but lwn is one of the main sites that gets submitted to HN all year round (not daily, but maybe nearish to daily). So the audience here on HN has been exposed to it over the years. I'm not sure what more they could do to get new subscribers, I certainly hope they figure that out or how to get new ways to earn revenue without having to go the ad route. https://news.ycombinator.com/from?site=lwn.net
That's the thing though. You can get all the value from LWN through here. Even if it wasn't for them tolerating subscriber links being posted on HN, the week-long delay isn't nearly enough an incentive to actually subscribe, rationally speaking.
This is pretty close to "I shall stand under this tree during the storm to stay dry, and if this tree starts to drip on me I'll just run over to that other tree and stay dry there" thinking. If LWN goes away, that value leaves HN too. Rationally speaking.
Re: A note on subscription prices from LWN
#105They could also consider paying their employees less. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38106227
Seriously? You joined HN 2 hours ago just to post "tech writers are little people unworthy of a decent living"?
Classy.
Re: A note on subscription prices from LWN
#106> There are few things we like less than raising prices, which is why we have done it so rarely. It would be far better to keep LWN as inexpensive as possible and make it up in volume. Subscriber growth has stalled, though, in recent years, making that strategy unworkable for now. We are working on schemes to bring in more subscribers again, but that is a long-term process; getting there requires some short-term help…
If we can grow the number of subscribers, we don't need to raise prices for the ones that have supported us all this time; I would find that preferable. Besides, who doesn't want a broader reach?
Sure. Just, raising prices in line with inflation is not really raising them in a real sense. You are trying to give people a discount. :)
Re: A note on subscription prices from LWN
#107LWN is The publication for serious Linux kernel news. It's well worth the money.
Re: A note on subscription prices from LWN
#108Although I seldom use Linux as main desktop, LWN is one of the services I keep subscribing to.
Re: A note on subscription prices from LWN
#109LWN is one of the, if not the single, highest signal tech publications around. I hope they're able to maintain a stable subscription service. Being user funded, and avoiding having to maintain allegiance to advertisers, is likely part of why their quality is so high.
Agreed!
Re: A note on subscription prices from LWN
#110If LWN isn't your exact thing, consider donating to a project you get outsized value from. For me it's neovim, for you it might be something else!