4 ms·

I for one much prefer paywalls. I'd rather be the customer than the product.

elicash 7y ago
My issue isn't that I don't want to pay the paywall -- it's that because people broadly don't prefer paywalls that relying on them rather than a thriving online ad business means they can't hire more reporters, video people, data folks, etc. So at the end of the day, it means I don't get to enjoy as much quality content from the publications that I love. In my view, I end up with the best content when advertisers aren't going to one or two central places for their ad buys online. I'm actually an advertiser, myself (as just one part of my job). And I certainly know how my own buying practices have shifted over the past 14 years to now be 100% focused on FB/Google. Some of the Google money trickles down to other publications, and certainly this makes my job easier, but I don't think it's a good thing as somebody who also loves reading online.
- vinaypai 7y ago
  Online advertising is pretty much always going to be a race to the bottom because everything a website does is just a dog and pony show to get people to watch ads. Why bother putting together quality content when churning out clickbait and low-effort crap generates far more clicks with far less work?
  - elicash 7y ago
    As an advertiser, I can tell you that clickbait is the worst place for my ad to live because people click away immediately.
    - vinaypai 7y ago
      Yeah I agree advertisers would rather have their ads next to quality content. Publishers don't always have the same incentives while it's easy to fill lots of inventory with at lower prices but make up for it in volume. A fine dining restaurant might make more money per diner than a McDonald's, but your average McDonald's probably makes way more money.
      - elicash 7y ago
        If something benefits McDonalds AND the fine dining places I enjoy, that's fine with me. I don't have a problem with bad content out there, so long as there's a ton of really good content. For the great publications I read, I want them to be successful businesses so they can expand. A better ad market, or even a return to how it was before the dominance of FB/Google, would enable them to do that in a way that relying mostly on subscriptions hasn't.
Nextgrid 7y ago
Most news websites load trackers regardless on paying so you can be both the customer and the product. This is also why I will never subscribe to a news website. I'd rather let them try their luck with tracking rather than just hand them in all my personal & payment info on a platter.
- vinaypai 7y ago
  You mean like the Google Analytics you have running on your website?
  - Nextgrid 7y ago
    Yes that is something I plan to address by switching to another blogging platform. If you look at the GA ID you'll notice it's not mine and it belongs to my blogging platform (which apparently enables GA with their own ID even if you don't provide a custom one instead of just disabling the feature). Edit: I have now deleted the DNS records so the website will be down until I have time to fix this properly.
    - vinaypai 7y ago
      Do you have another platform (ideally self-hosted) in mind? I used to run a WordPress instance for my personal site but took it down after it got annoying to stay on top of the frequent updates and security fixes.
      - Nextgrid 7y ago
        I have the same problems regarding Wordpress so it definitely won’t be that. I’d look into static site generators but the problems with them is that I will always be tempted to tinker with it which is why I went with a hosted solution. I will look into Substack as I’ve seen it used quite a bit around here recently. If not, I’ll see what Squarespace has to offer. I actually tried emailing the owner of Svbtle (the platform I used) about removing GA but haven’t had a reply.

My issue isn't that I don't want to pay the paywall -- it's that because people broadly don't prefer paywalls that relying on them rather than a thriving online ad business means they can't hire more reporters, video people, data folks, etc. So at the end of the day, it means I don't get to enjoy as much quality content from the publications that I love. In my view, I end up with the best content when advertisers aren't going to one or two central places for their ad buys online. I'm actually an advertiser, myself (as just one part of my job). And I certainly know how my own buying practices have shifted over the past 14 years to now be 100% focused on FB/Google. Some of the Google money trickles down to other publications, and certainly this makes my job easier, but I don't think it's a good thing as somebody who also loves reading online.

vinaypai 7y ago
Online advertising is pretty much always going to be a race to the bottom because everything a website does is just a dog and pony show to get people to watch ads. Why bother putting together quality content when churning out clickbait and low-effort crap generates far more clicks with far less work?
- elicash 7y ago
  As an advertiser, I can tell you that clickbait is the worst place for my ad to live because people click away immediately.
  - vinaypai 7y ago
    Yeah I agree advertisers would rather have their ads next to quality content. Publishers don't always have the same incentives while it's easy to fill lots of inventory with at lower prices but make up for it in volume. A fine dining restaurant might make more money per diner than a McDonald's, but your average McDonald's probably makes way more money.
    - elicash 7y ago
      If something benefits McDonalds AND the fine dining places I enjoy, that's fine with me. I don't have a problem with bad content out there, so long as there's a ton of really good content. For the great publications I read, I want them to be successful businesses so they can expand. A better ad market, or even a return to how it was before the dominance of FB/Google, would enable them to do that in a way that relying mostly on subscriptions hasn't.

Nextgrid 7y ago

Most news websites load trackers regardless on paying so you can be both the customer and the product. This is also why I will never subscribe to a news website. I'd rather let them try their luck with tracking rather than just hand them in all my personal & payment info on a platter.

vinaypai 7y ago
You mean like the Google Analytics you have running on your website?
- Nextgrid 7y ago
  Yes that is something I plan to address by switching to another blogging platform. If you look at the GA ID you'll notice it's not mine and it belongs to my blogging platform (which apparently enables GA with their own ID even if you don't provide a custom one instead of just disabling the feature). Edit: I have now deleted the DNS records so the website will be down until I have time to fix this properly.
  - vinaypai 7y ago
    Do you have another platform (ideally self-hosted) in mind? I used to run a WordPress instance for my personal site but took it down after it got annoying to stay on top of the frequent updates and security fixes.
    - Nextgrid 7y ago
      I have the same problems regarding Wordpress so it definitely won’t be that. I’d look into static site generators but the problems with them is that I will always be tempted to tinker with it which is why I went with a hosted solution. I will look into Substack as I’ve seen it used quite a bit around here recently. If not, I’ll see what Squarespace has to offer. I actually tried emailing the owner of Svbtle (the platform I used) about removing GA but haven’t had a reply.