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Scribd Puts My Old Uploads Behind a Paywall and Goes Onto My Shitlist

blog.ericgoldman.org

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Re: Scribd Puts My Old Uploads Behind a Paywall and Goes Onto My Shitlist

#61

Post by jasonlotito »

acqq wrote: post #59
jasonlotito wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You can upload them on your free web account (like, Google Sites)? To be fair, that's what he did at the time. This account also had some added features he valued.

I see jasonlotito, you write about the main article author. As far as I understood, he tried to use the free university hosting but it was for him "cumbersome" to upload there and to follow the stats. His added values were only easier upload and easier following of the number of "reads." Note however that he does "self publishing" experiment. Enough readers here would be able to make him one click upload script in le…

He was also concerned that after leaving the university, they would take down the docs, and the links to them would then be broken.

I'm just wondering how the suggestion to use Google Sites or another free service is any different then using Scribd?

Re: Scribd Puts My Old Uploads Behind a Paywall and Goes Onto My Shitlist

#62

Post by there »

ajscherer wrote: post #22
ulf wrote: post #3

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…

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.

i agree.

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.

i disagree. many users may not pay on the first day because they don't see the value in it, or don't understand how the site works. but being able to use it for free and coming to depend on it may put a higher value on it over time.

how many users would pay $1 per month to access facebook now that all of their friends are on it and they use it every day? probably a lot. those users probably wouldn't have signed up for an account in the first place if they had to enter a credit card number.

Re: Scribd Puts My Old Uploads Behind a Paywall and Goes Onto My Shitlist

#63

Post by jasonlotito »

teaspoon wrote: post #56
jasonlotito wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reddit Gold? Yeah, not the same thing as what Scribd is doing here. Edit: Was mistaken. Assumed the parent was responding to the entire comment, rather than just a part.

The parent was pretty clearly in response to, "An other option is to add features which are only behind a new paywall."

Ahh, true. I read it as a reply to the entire comment, not a specific part (mostly because that's the way it was formatted), but you are correct. I'll edit my original comment. Thanks. =)

Re: Scribd Puts My Old Uploads Behind a Paywall and Goes Onto My Shitlist

#64

Post by Andrew_Quentin »

acqq wrote: post #49
ilamont wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Post "papers of other documents": You can upload them on your free web account (like, Google Sites)? Unless you don't have the right to distribute the documents, they will remain there. 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?

The best reason is really so that people who are not that computer literate, that is most people, like a student who does not know much about computers, but has a file that he owns to share, he can put it on there.

If someone is literate sufficiently with the internet to know how easy is to get hosting, and how cheap, then really there is no reason.

Re: Scribd Puts My Old Uploads Behind a Paywall and Goes Onto My Shitlist

#65

Post by aneth »

I've encountered a few documents that were 1 page application forms for community resources, and all were shocked when those were suddenly behind a rather expensive paywall. I also was really annoyed the first time I noticed some obscure document I read was broadcast to all my "followers." That means I've encountered both of these major beefs myself. I was never a scribd user, but I sure as hell would never use them now. This is not an issue of not charging early - it's expertsexchange all over again.

Re: Scribd Puts My Old Uploads Behind a Paywall and Goes Onto My Shitlist

#66

Post by alexyim »

I feel that the main issue is the lack of open and direct communication with the users.

Sure, making the paywall opt-in by default increases conversions. But you still have to tell the user about it rather have them discover one day that a lot of their documents are no longer being read. That sucks.

Re: Scribd Puts My Old Uploads Behind a Paywall and Goes Onto My Shitlist

#67

Post by thaumaturgy »

30thElement wrote: post #35
thaumaturgy wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The initial response was to flip out, but once people realized reddit wasn't going to switch to a pay-only site the outrage died down. It might have only worked because reddit users/admins try so hard to foster a sense of community, but it seemed to me like reddit showed how to set up a pay service correctly, and people were just too jaded because of sites like Scribd to realize it.

> ...once people realized reddit wasn't going to switch to a pay-only site the outrage died down.

I'm not very active in Reddit anymore -- HN is my last distraction now -- but I did watch that situation carefully because it was interesting. I got the sense that the outrage died down only because Reddit promised to migrate its paid features into the "free" arena. Until then, a lot of people were angry that there was going to be some kind of "elite" class on the site.

Practically speaking, even if Reddit had managed to permanently piss off this chunk of its userbase, I doubt they would have left altogether, and even if they did, there's no way to gauge what fraction of Reddit's traffic was really represented by these guys. It could've been (and probably was) just a tempest in a teapot.

But either way, in that specific case, there would have been some vocal rebellion if the paid-for features stayed locked behind a paywall.

Re: Scribd Puts My Old Uploads Behind a Paywall and Goes Onto My Shitlist

#69

Post by mmastrac »

From the FAQ (this is crazy):

Your documents will automatically be entered into the Archive after an initial period of time. You can recall a document from the Archive by opening the document's properties, clicking the Archive Status tab, then clicking the Recall from Archive command. If a document's properties page doesn't have an Archive Status tab, then that document has not yet been placed into the Scribd Archive. To learn how to edit your documents' properties, please see our Writer's Guide.

After a couple months your document will return to the Archive, and you can repeat this process to recall it again.

Re: Scribd Puts My Old Uploads Behind a Paywall and Goes Onto My Shitlist

#70

Post by kareemm »

kmfrk wrote: post #46

This reminds me of chi.mp. I recently suspected that my Gmail was hacked, so I clicked maniacally to get to the page where I could reset my password. 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…

HopToadApp.com did the same to me. About a year ago, I signed up for their free plan. It allowed two users, so I added our lead engineer.

Recently, he left and we added another engineer. So I removed engineer #1 and couldn't add engineer #2 unless I paid to upgrade the account. I don't mind paying when it makes sense, but a) HopToad was totally unwilling to grandfather the account, which meant I couldn't add the new engineer, and b) there was no messaging that the plan changed. I found out about it when I tried to add engineer #2. Lame.

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