Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Won’t Subscribe

tbray.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

311–320 of 362 posts

Re: Won’t Subscribe

#311

Post by lstmemery »

bthallplz wrote: post #301
znpy wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ironically enough, buying a physical copy of a newspaper is quite literally "a daily pass", and you get to keep the newspaper in case you want to re-read an article tomorrow, want to dig deeper or share it with somebody else in the house/office. Here in .it most newspapers cost less than 2.50-3€, and you get a physical good. I just checked on one of the most relevant newspapers in Italy (IlSole24Ore) and if you want…

This makes me wonder how effective a Jetbrains model would be for publishers. Pay once to receive access to the entire archive as of the date when your subscription ends. Or a one-time payment to just get access to the archive as of the payment date.

Many libraries have access to newspaper archives and it's hard to compete with free!

Re: Won’t Subscribe

#312

Post by munificent »

mikelward wrote: post #10

> “But wait,” says Mr Manager, “you already subscribe to five publications, so you’ve proved you have a propensity to subscribe! You’re exactly my target market!” Wrong. It’s exactly because I’ve done some subscribing that I’m just not gonna do any more. Exactly. Same thing is happening with cable unbundling. Few people want to subscribe to Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, HBO, ESPN+, Disney+, Peacock, and YouTube TV/Sli…

When Disney+ was announced, I joked to my friends that I was going to do a business startup where you buy one subscription and you get Netflix, Hulu, HBO, Disney+, etc. I'd call it "cable.com".

Everything old is new again.

Re: Won’t Subscribe

#313

Post by nobody9999 »

names_are_hard wrote: post #158
flexie wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Developers cost a lot more than typographers and delivery boys and you need a lot of them to run a modern online media. A developer on staff is sort of like a subscription that the newspaper pays. The way to bring back advertisement to newspapers is to use antitrust rules and to start taxing search engines and social networks. When Facebook or Google runs an ad for my local gym, it is taxed in some remote tropical is…

You only need a lot of developers if you are trying to do sophisticated things with tracking, engagement, etc. A basic WordPress install doesn't require a team of developers to run full-time and that's the equivalent of a printed paper.

I suspect that this isn't a popular viewpoint given that a significant portion of the reading population's livelihood is based on believing differently.

Re: Won’t Subscribe

#314

Post by [deleted] »

munificent wrote: post #306
ako wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a publisher maybe it is time to rethink your primary metric. As a long-time reader, i'm not interesting in being a loyal reader, i'm interested in reading the best news. I don't limit myself to the music of one band, so i really appreciate spotify, and i don't limit myself to the news of one publisher.

> I don't limit myself to the music of one band, so i really appreciate spotify This is perhaps a better analogy than you realize, but not for the reason you realize. Yes, Spotify is great for music consumers , but it is profoundly destroying the well-being of music producers . Of course, the big-money days of the 90s are never coming back, but I hope most people would agree that talented musicians should be able to…

[deleted]

Re: Won’t Subscribe

#315

Post by aero-glide »

Santosh83 wrote: post #137
mnky9800n wrote: post #133

What's strange is it used to be you would pick up a newspaper at a stand for the day, pay a dollar or whatever, and then have quite a lot of articles to read for that day. But now, it is impossible, the only way is to lock-in. And that may be for the rest of your life if the complaints about the labirynth you may navigate to unsubscribe the nytimes is to be believed. If there was some sort of daily access pass that d…

Here in India the printed newspaper is still the dominant mode. Very few people I know subscribe to digital news.

I wish my monthly print subscription of "The Hindu" also gave me access to online version

Re: Won’t Subscribe

#316

Post by pcmaffey »

ako wrote: post #126
boplicity wrote: post #19

As a long-time publisher, there is only one primary metric that matters to me: loyal readers. I don't publish for the occasional visitor. I publish for the loyal readers that I have worked hard to cultivate, engage, and enrichen. The primary work is one of building a relationship with a loyal readership, based on consistency and quality. Our websites, as they're designed, are probably a little annoying to people who…

As a publisher maybe it is time to rethink your primary metric. As a long-time reader, i'm not interesting in being a loyal reader, i'm interested in reading the best news. I don't limit myself to the music of one band, so i really appreciate spotify, and i don't limit myself to the news of one publisher.

How do you identify "the best news" without exorbitantly wasting time filtering through rubbish?

By trusting in a publisher. In which case, you then become a loyal reader, just like you become a fan of a band. Of course, this is not an exclusive relationship.

Re: Won’t Subscribe

#317

Post by ako »

pcmaffey wrote: post #316
ako wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a publisher maybe it is time to rethink your primary metric. As a long-time reader, i'm not interesting in being a loyal reader, i'm interested in reading the best news. I don't limit myself to the music of one band, so i really appreciate spotify, and i don't limit myself to the news of one publisher.

How do you identify "the best news" without exorbitantly wasting time filtering through rubbish? By trusting in a publisher. In which case, you then become a loyal reader, just like you become a fan of a band. Of course, this is not an exclusive relationship.

No, a publisher will always tell they have the best news, but that is not possible as they can only employ a limited number of journalists. And usually they have a certain way of looking at the world and filtering their stories and reporting to this way of looking at the world.

If you want to best news, you need to look across different sources, and get recommendations from different sides, e.g. something like but not limited to hackernews.

Re: Won’t Subscribe

#318

Post by patrickaljord »

He says he's subscribed to:

- Business Insider - Washington Post - Wall Street Journal - New York Times - Guardian - Globe & Mail - Telegraph - Bloomberg - Times of London

That's like reading the same opinions 10 times a day (edit: minus Telegraph which is still very centrist). Am I the only one reading from diverse perspectives? I often read NYT, BI, Guardian but also the Dailymail, RT, Fox etc. I would hate to always be reading articles from people of the same political side if only because certain issues tend to be completely ignored by each political sides when it goes against their narrative so I make sure to read from both to avoid missing much.

Re: Won’t Subscribe

#319

Post by verelo »

boplicity wrote: post #19

As a long-time publisher, there is only one primary metric that matters to me: loyal readers. I don't publish for the occasional visitor. I publish for the loyal readers that I have worked hard to cultivate, engage, and enrichen. The primary work is one of building a relationship with a loyal readership, based on consistency and quality. Our websites, as they're designed, are probably a little annoying to people who…

I've worked inside of these publication businesses, heard these conversations, listened to the plans. There is no shock to me that for the most part, they're struggling to make ends meet.

In my opinion, any business that is designed to ostracize future customers will struggle in one way or another. I don't meant this to say it cannot work, but as someone that would like to read more, but also suffers from subscription fatigue...nothing annoys me more than when i see something i'd like to enjoy, but am told no because i'm not in the club. If i cannot see why i should join the club, why should i join the club?

Re: Won’t Subscribe

#320

Post by jstanley »

patrickaljord wrote: post #318

He says he's subscribed to: - Business Insider - Washington Post - Wall Street Journal - New York Times - Guardian - Globe & Mail - Telegraph - Bloomberg - Times of London That's like reading the same opinions 10 times a day (edit: minus Telegraph which is still very centrist). Am I the only one reading from diverse perspectives? I often read NYT, BI, Guardian but also the Dailymail, RT, Fox etc. I would hate to alwa…

I don't think the Telegraph and the Guardian are the same political side.
Post reply on HN