3 ms·
It's a consequence of three things: 1. Facts can't be copyrighted. 2. Continuous publishing. 3. Google and Facebook cause a large preference for free content
by im3w1l 6y ago
It's a consequence of three things:
1. Facts can't be copyrighted.
2. Continuous publishing.
3. Google and Facebook cause a large preference for free content.
If you do great journalistic work and try to charge for it, moments later (no longer a full day) someone else will change a few words around and offer it for free. And Google and Facebook will lead everyone to their story.
Those who create value are unable to capture it. This leads to great journalists getting fired, quality declining, a less informed populace.
- creato 6y ago> 3. Google and Facebook cause a large preference for free content. And hackernews. I think the most frequent kind of post on this site is a complaint about a paywall. The second most frequent kind of post is a workaround or alternative source sidestepping a paywall. edit: That's not to say the scale is anywhere near the same. HN is a not going to show up on any news site's radar. But the problem is the same.
- im3w1l 6y agoAgreed. And I just want to clarify: I don't think there are any bad guys here. Just a dysfunctional system.
- drusepth 6y agoCouldn't it be argued that people just have a large preference for free content regardless of how they find it? With such a focus on money, having it, and keeping it (especially in the West), it seems only natural that people would naturally gravitate towards free content of all kinds. If not through HN/Google/wherever, it seems they'd spend the time figuring out a way to find it elsewhere.
- mrep 6y agoAgreed. I think it will be especially interesting to watch things in the EU as the link tax seems to me to be partially aimed at stopping the rephrasing and linking back to a paywalled article by another free website, and the copyright directive seems to be aimed at stopping a single user with access from posting the entire article in some comment which I see happen a bunch on reddit and sometimes here.