41–50 of 111 posts
People still don't understand all of the things they are agreeing to on sites like this: Scribd Creator Terms Of Service http://ipadtest.wordpress.com/2010/05/06/scribd-creator-term...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> If you start a free service, and then try to establish a pay system afterward, your users will feel tricked and trapped and they will rebel loudly. If you lock behind a paywall things previously available for free, sure. And they'll be right too. An other option is to add features which are only behind a new paywall. Issue then is providing additional services of value and a way for users to discover them.
Just as a case study, Reddit did exactly that, and their users flipped out . Reddit ended up doing OK with it -- they've made at least enough from it to be able to afford some infrastructure upgrades and at least one new hire -- but there was a pretty vocal not-small group of users that were unhappy about it.
Sometimes, when reading pieces like this, I think it is time that we as internet users reach a certain point in our understanding of entitlement. There are so many services we readily use, most free of charge, while some of them provide a huge service to us. Some even make us money. But if the service providers themselves try to validate their business by making money out of it in some way, we start bitching... I do…
I would flip that around on you: I think it is time that companies reach a point in their understanding of users' reaction to the bait & switch. The value of your service to a user isn't going to increase simply due to the passage of time or growth of your site. If they wouldn't pay for it on day 1, the odds are they won't pay for it after 2 years of using the service. If, in the process of trying to monetize your se…
For real. This always reminds me of the dude who tries to be friends with the girl so he can eventually date her, instead of simply asking her out, and risking the 'No' like a man.
Slimy.
I've never seen the appeal of Scribd, and I'm no fan of the direction they seem to be stumbling in, but it seems a bit unfair to dismiss invitations to join a user advisory board and/or come visit them as "not much of a response". Even if both are mere PR exercises, it's an improvement on the kind of content-free hand waving I'd expect from a company desperately seeking profitability.
Exactly. How can he call this "not much of a response?" As you pointed out, the message said, "I'd also like to extend an open invitation for you to come in and meet the team." To me, that sounds like a free trip to give direct user feedback and have a real chance to make a positive change. Instead, it sounds like Mr. Goldman just wants to bitch. He feels like Scribd used him? Did he not use Scribd? At least Scribd p…
I think there are a few takeaways here: * You have to charge from the very beginning. If you start a free service, and then try to establish a pay system afterward, your users will feel tricked and trapped and they will rebel loudly. Scribd seems to have been in a hurry to get adoption, so they made it free to host documents; as this guy said though, he much preferred hosting with Scribd over doing it manually on his…
It seems like Scribd would solve more problems if they let uploaders pay to give their readers free access. I'm not the Scribd user; the guy publishing with them is.
I don't agree with their choice (or methods) but it makes sense for them to do this.
I discover that my chi.mp account is the back-up e-mail, which is great; the service lets me decide which e-mail address to forward to.
I go to chi.mp, think for a minute to remember my password, and get to the e-mail-forwarding screen. The account is set to forward to an e-mail address that is inconvenient (I can't remember the reason), so I remove the forwarding I've set up and---
"Something, something, you need a Pro account to create a forwarding address."
What the hell is a Pro account, I think to myself, a thought that is quickly eclipsed by the fact that a) The guys screwed me over without telling me, and b) I have no way of saving my e-mail account from a potential invader, unless I pay these s.
I have yet to e-mail them and give them shit for it, but I didn't want to let it ruin my week, but I'll be sure to contact them when I can muster the time and energy.
Everybody is surprised when someone tells him "Why have you made the document available for download only via purchase?"
If they don't fix this thing soon I'll stop using Scribd completely.
Also, a really funny sentence in the response from Scribd:
> You’re right that our communication around the Archive should have been more clear.
It sounds like, yeah, we know, but we like it this way for now.
I have content hosted there too and value the "open access" spirit, but would also like to see Scribd develop a viable business model. An alternative is the service will close down and everything -- both free and archived -- will go away. Another question: Besides an archive paywall, what else could the company do to build revenue (such as professional services, print-on-demand, etc.)
> I have content hosted there too Can you please or anybody else explain me why you see any added value of scribd at all? I see it only as an annoyance. If I'd like to read a pdf I'd prefer to click on the link and read it, not to go to some suspicious site which demands from me to sign up there only to do what otherwise would be one single click. As far as I know the only "advantage" of the service was to make conte…
- I can post papers or other documents that other people might value but not otherwise be available, such as court docs, academic papers, etc.
- I can embed the documents easily in my blogs (and before at the publication I worked at)
- I don't have to worry about hosting. I could easily upload the PDFs to the Web server my school grants me, but after I graduate, it's gone, and I have to find another solution and change the links.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I have content hosted there too Can you please or anybody else explain me why you see any added value of scribd at all? I see it only as an annoyance. If I'd like to read a pdf I'd prefer to click on the link and read it, not to go to some suspicious site which demands from me to sign up there only to do what otherwise would be one single click. As far as I know the only "advantage" of the service was to make conte…
There are several reasons why I use it: - I can post papers or other documents that other people might value but not otherwise be available, such as court docs, academic papers, etc. - I can embed the documents easily in my blogs (and before at the publication I worked at) - I don't have to worry about hosting. I could easily upload the PDFs to the Web server my school grants me, but after I graduate, it's gone, and…
Embed: Who really needs embedded PDF? What for? To have it harder to read? Just give me the plain link, thank you.
Hosting: See the first paragraph.
OK, anybody knows some better reason?
People still don't understand all of the things they are agreeing to on sites like this: Scribd Creator Terms Of Service http://ipadtest.wordpress.com/2010/05/06/scribd-creator-term...
A whole pile of data on scribd was never uploaded by the original owners though, but by people posting links to pdfs to sites like HN.