top | item 9698558

(no title)

mcmullen | 10 years ago

I disagree with your assertion that "paywalls don't work", which is fundamentally not true. Content produces need to raise revenue to pay for their costs and make a profit. One excellent way to raise this revenue is by raising pay walls. It works for companies like The Times (London), The FT and The Economist. Will you retract this false statement?

What I think you're saying is that "worthless ramblings on the internet aren't (inherently) worth anything and thus no one wants to give them their money willingly", which of course isn't the fault of the paywall but the content.

It comes down to content creation and paying for it. If nobody wants to pay for it then it doesn't get created (unless you're a blogger, or meet your costs in some other way). We shouldn't have any time for people who want to get content for free.

I'm in the unusual position of actually paying for content and use AdBlockers, however I use it because I disagree with tracking on the grounds of consent and privacy. (That said, I will happily disable adblocking for websites who only want to show me banners and not track me.)

discuss

order

the-dude|10 years ago

Blendle(http://blendle.com) is trying to be the 'micro'-paywall for content providers. After launching in The Netherlands, they have contracts with major German publishers now as well.

Micro-payment system which actually works.

Disclaimer: Dutch

mcmullen|10 years ago

Thanks for the link. Interesting company! Nice summary here: https://medium.com/on-blendle/one-website-all-newspapers-and....

I like the idea of micro-payments for interesting, long-form content because there are various journalists I like who work for newspapers I don't subscribe to. I would happily pay for in-depth analysis pieces. I remain hopeful about non-click-bait journalism.