Techdirt To Not Charge Readers For Content
from the just-saying dept
Okay, this one's just for fun, but seeing that Canadian national newspaper the Globe & Mail has announced that it's following on the pointless trend of putting metered paywalls up for online publications, and announcing it like it's a big deal, we figured it might be nice to remind people that some (actually, er, most) online publications are still doing just fine publishing for free. But, if they can get news out of making life worse for their readers and community, why can't we make some news out of the fact that we like to treat our community right, and let them read our stuff for free, and freely share it and talk about it? I don't see how making life more difficult for readers, limiting them, demanding that they pay and letting them do less in terms of sharing the content will do much to make people more interested in the site. As for the claims that the Globe & Mail is struggling, as Globe alum Mathew Ingram points out, perhaps they shouldn't be building new office space...
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
Filed Under: canada, globe and mail, mathew ingram, news, paywall
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
or of course you want to make some money, you just don't want to charge the readers for it?
just wondering
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
school system designed this way...
If anyone would like to learn more about the origins & true aim of government compulsory schooling, check out:
The Ultimate History Lesson: A Weekend with John Taylor Gatto [Free on YouTube]
The information contained within the linked video is extremely important context to understanding the reality of compulsory schooling and all that results from such a policy.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Techdirt has ads?!? Oh, oops, turning off adblocker for this site. Sorry about that Mike.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Pay Walls
I don't understand why all the newspapers with pay walls think that their version of the news is so special that they need their readers to pay for it.
They're all quickly turning irrelevant and worthless.
Oh, and thanks for letting us read Techdirt for free. Guess that's why you're not building a new headquarters, right?
Sorry, we're cheap that way.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
John Doe to not charge news outlets for his time or eyeballs
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: John Doe to not charge news outlets for his time or eyeballs
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: John Doe to not charge news outlets for his time or eyeballs
Surely you'll charge when you deign to respond to comments of others. Not charging for that would be CRAZY! There would be no incentive to interact with the populace filth at all!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: John Doe to not charge news outlets for his time or eyeballs
In retail it would work like this.
How much is this chocolate bar? - 50 cents
I'll buy it, here's a dollar. - and here's your 20 cents change
20 cents, the bar is 50 cents I should get 50 cents change - - Well you did check the price with us sir, our price confirmation charge is 10 cents.
That's ridiculous and it doesn't even explain the other 20 cents you weren't giving me - That would be the cash handling charge Sir
I want to speak to the Manager - Certainly Sir, that'll be 20 dollars, or you can leave him a note if you prefer.
And how much would that be - It's on special today Sir, only $7.50
Fnaaah
All the newspapers want is for you to pay to read the advertisements that they get paid to show you, it's not a big ask really is it?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: John Doe to not charge news outlets for his time or eyeballs
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
And furthermore......
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: And furthermore......
Sure it will cost the troll in terms of lost reputation and discrediting their stance through strawman and ad hominem attacks, fear mongering and other forms of obviously poor logic. But it doesn't cost any actual money, and that's the only economic incentive the trolls seem to recognize anyway.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Dreams
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
building not an issue
With the price of real estate in Toronto, the paper is just taking advantage of the increase. Currently their building is a 2 or 3 story one.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
One Less Source of Old Repetitive News
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
/sarc
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
How many more times do we have to say paywall to get bob to show up!?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
HAHAHAHA!
Oh man, sorry. I just couldn't say that with a straight face/without cracking up.
But seriously, an article like this, with that headline. Oh, you better believe bob will be putting in an appearance before the end of the day. In fact several. I guarantee it.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
paywall
paywall
you're welcome
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
is it sad to miss the random its a paywall rant?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Oh no, not a paywall!!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Also... if only we all could get $$$ to act as IP haters from Google and friends, we could all write for "free"...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Lifetime subscription
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Lifetime subscription
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Lifetime subscription
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Lifetime subscription
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Da Net
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
And Big Search, Big IT, Big Ben, Big Mac and Deuce Biggelow.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
its like an ipod... with herpes.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
it was so funny I tripped the moderation filter...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Sorry Mike,
We now return you to your previously scheduled comment...
Sorry Mike,
Though I understand the value of a website, and the attempt to make money off of it, I run adblock, here's why:
In a perfect world, The Net would be free. Both as in speech and as in beer, there would be no need to have ads on your site, because the costs associated with your site would be gone.
Information should be free, and open to anyone. Although I realize that in my 'perfect' world, favorites such as amazon, ebay et al may not exist, there is something to be said for brick and mortar, Instant gratification.
The internet was designed primarily so people could freely share and exchange information, and quite simply too many are making money off of it, it has become like our american holidays, overtly commercialized.
I appreciate the ability to freely post comments on your site, and have followed it for a while now, but I run Adblock. Not specifically targeted at you, but at the commercialization of the internet.
/soapbox
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Sorry Mike,
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Sorry Mike,
I can understand the temptation to run ads, but the websites I run (one of which I offer original digital content under a CC BY-NC license) all provide a choice of paypal(yuck, we desperately need a better alternative!) or Flattr to donate. Another website I have sells my & my partner's hand-crafted jewelry, so we make money directly from the product and don't need ads. While we aren't raking in the cash, my partner has been able to quit their day-job entirely and I've been able to cut my hours in half. This actually allows us to focus more time making jewelry & digital content.
Adblock is a godsend and not one to be apologized for. There are alternatives to the outmoded ad model!
(I also intentionally don't provide links to my sites in comments, as that would qualify as spam, IMHO) ;)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Sorry Mike,
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Sorry Mike,
[ link to this | view in chronology ]