Is Slashdot's Ad Model Working?

from the yes,-no,-maybe dept

Business 2.0 takes a look at the Slashdot ad model as if it's a work of genius. The plan (which has been debated endlessly) is that you pay $5 to get 1,000 ad free pages. Or... you don't pay and you get ads. Of course, there's an ingrained hatred for subscription models, and this sound curiously like a subscription model to many people. In the article they quote Rob, and it made me realize that they should have pitched the idea simply as a donation model. He says that many people have asked how they can donate money to keep the site going, and this is one way. If they'd simply pitched it as a donation model - and as a thank you, they'd remove the ads, it might have generated less controversy. Personally, I don't have a problem with Slashdot offering such a plan, but at the same time, I'm wary of any business model that involves pissing off users to get them to pay.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread



Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.