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A note on subscription prices from LWN

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Re: A note on subscription prices from LWN

#151

Post by account42 »

corbet wrote: post #70
bee_rider wrote: post #51

> 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?

> Besides, who doesn't want a broader reach?

Anyone who does something for the love of it. At some point, more reach can only be gained by making compromises and that point is usually earlier rather than later.

Re: A note on subscription prices from LWN

#152

Post by account42 »

mook wrote: post #146
mmooss wrote: post #47

> prices have changed considerably I'm not doubting it, but I wonder what costs have changed for them?

Also, as mentioned elsewhere in the thread, more scrapers. They're trying to keep things accessible without JavaScript, which mostly rules out the typical proof of work solutions like Anubis (which they're definitely aware of, as they had an article on it). https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48864252

LWN is a poster child for something that could be entirely static pre-generated HTML for literally all unauthenticated requests at a server cost lower than serving and verifying anti-bot checks. If Anubis provides any benefit at all then they are really doing something wrong like fetching a bunch of comments from a database and generating the resulting HTML for each visitor.

Re: A note on subscription prices from LWN

#153

Post by account42 »

LtWorf wrote: post #135
mmooss wrote: post #47

> prices have changed considerably I'm not doubting it, but I wonder what costs have changed for them?

Have you seen the price of hard drives these days?

Only 200 subscriber months at their previous lowest tier for a 28 TiB drive. How much storage do you think a text-heavy site like LWN needs?

Re: A note on subscription prices from LWN

#154

Post by account42 »

slater wrote: post #56

What subscription level will finally make them increase their article CSS's line-height from "affront to eyes" to "actually legible"?

Use a user style sheet instead of trying to force your preferences onto others. Or better yet, fix your monitor settings.

Re: A note on subscription prices from LWN

#155

Post by account42 »

insane_dreamer wrote: post #148
wolvoleo wrote: post #127

Wow $6 a month is really a lot for a tech site at least for someone from a lower income country in Europe. And that's only the cheapest tier I think the issue there is that they're based in the US so they have expenses in that economy too, but it will lead to less foreign subscribers I think. There seems to be a lot of pricing disconnect between the US and Europe. Like when a vision pro is $3500... I've never even sp…

the archives are free (their issues are un-paywalled ~2 weeks after publishing)

Bu they are missing out on the long tail of people who might subscribe at lower prices. Especially for something called a starving student tier (no doubt to shame people into paying more), $5 or not $6 per month is a really big recurring fee for something that is at best nice to have. That's more than half of what I pay for my mobile phone SIM and LWN doesn't even come close to compete in the value that provides to me. These "small" subscriptions really add up quickly so a lot of people rightfully avoid them.

Re: A note on subscription prices from LWN

#156

Post by account42 »

thataccount wrote: post #19
bryanlarsen wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect everybody likely to do so has already done so. Anybody who thinks $6 a month is a lot of money will also think $5 a month is a lot of money for something that they can get for free by waiting a week.

5 to 6 dollars is not much in terms of a donation. In terms of a subscription, though...One thing is voluntary if you find value, the other is mandatory to get to the value unless you are willing to wait.

Yes, $5 recurring payments really add up quickly to something you feel.

Re: A note on subscription prices from LWN

#158

Post by LtWorf »

account42 wrote: post #153
LtWorf wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you seen the price of hard drives these days?

Only 200 subscriber months at their previous lowest tier for a 28 TiB drive. How much storage do you think a text-heavy site like LWN needs?

They archive A LOT of mailing lists… it's not only about the articles they write themselves.
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