3 ms·

All hard-to-argue with pain points that could be addressed in a novel way. There’s a lot of unsolved problems in the new media morass and it would be great if a

by RONROC 5y ago

All hard-to-argue with pain points that could be addressed in a novel way. There’s a lot of unsolved problems in the new media morass and it would be great if a couple of new white hat firms emerged in this space to cut through the noise and the bullshit. But identifying what’s wrong and even getting an MVP together is one of the easier problems. The burning question is how do you monetize your efforts without giving into the ad cartel? Will people pay a premium for a link tree? Unless this is more of a civic minded volunteer type thing? Either way, best of luck. There’s a sack of coins somewhere in here.

gpm 5y ago
Monetization is definitely a hard problem. If I have any advantage it's that my costs should be a lot lower, since I'm happy pointing people at pre-existing articles instead of writing my own. Unfortunately I don't think I have any great insights that the news industry hasn't already had on it. In the end, I suspect I will be using advertising, even though I do find that industry pretty distasteful. Low costs mean that if I do go down this route I should be able to keep it pretty unobtrusive and minimal, which gives up short term income but is likely a good long term tradeoff. I don't think it makes sense to put the core product behind a subscription wall. Apart from the issue of "would people pay for it", it's the sort of thing that benefits from network effects. I'd be shooting myself in the foot if I tried. Conceivably the tools I'm making to help gather the information could make a useful product for professional researchers of various kinds (hedgefunds, paralegals, etc) - but that would be more of an offshoot and not something I could really pursue before gaining traction. Another idea I've had (and again, this is largely ripping off existing monetization schemes), is that it might make sense to have a section of the website dedicated sagas about "products" (e.g. "IPhone 17"), linking to things like reviews and spec sheets, with affiliate links to amazon. Conceivably you could attract the /r/buyitforlife crowd to something like this, and make it a force for good in the world. Just asking for donations seems to work to some extent to (see The Guardian, and wikipedia) - though given how hard they seem to need to push for them I'm not sure that's a route I really want to go down. --- Like you say, there's a sack of coins somewhere in here. I'm willing to believe that if I make a useful product that people like, I'll figure out how to pick up at least a few of them.
- RONROC 5y ago
  > Another idea I've had (and again, this is largely ripping off existing monetization schemes), is that it might make sense to have a section of the website dedicated sagas about "products" (e.g. "IPhone 17"), linking to things like reviews and spec sheets, with affiliate links to amazon. I don’t know much but as a user i’m hard to deceive, and this seems like the most pragmatic way to make a real, efficient compromise without sacrificing some of the purer intentions of your project. Good luck man, I’m rooting for you.

by RONROC 5y ago

gpm 5y ago

Monetization is definitely a hard problem. If I have any advantage it's that my costs should be a lot lower, since I'm happy pointing people at pre-existing articles instead of writing my own. Unfortunately I don't think I have any great insights that the news industry hasn't already had on it. In the end, I suspect I will be using advertising, even though I do find that industry pretty distasteful. Low costs mean that if I do go down this route I should be able to keep it pretty unobtrusive and minimal, which gives up short term income but is likely a good long term tradeoff. I don't think it makes sense to put the core product behind a subscription wall. Apart from the issue of "would people pay for it", it's the sort of thing that benefits from network effects. I'd be shooting myself in the foot if I tried. Conceivably the tools I'm making to help gather the information could make a useful product for professional researchers of various kinds (hedgefunds, paralegals, etc) - but that would be more of an offshoot and not something I could really pursue before gaining traction. Another idea I've had (and again, this is largely ripping off existing monetization schemes), is that it might make sense to have a section of the website dedicated sagas about "products" (e.g. "IPhone 17"), linking to things like reviews and spec sheets, with affiliate links to amazon. Conceivably you could attract the /r/buyitforlife crowd to something like this, and make it a force for good in the world. Just asking for donations seems to work to some extent to (see The Guardian, and wikipedia) - though given how hard they seem to need to push for them I'm not sure that's a route I really want to go down. --- Like you say, there's a sack of coins somewhere in here. I'm willing to believe that if I make a useful product that people like, I'll figure out how to pick up at least a few of them.

RONROC 5y ago
> Another idea I've had (and again, this is largely ripping off existing monetization schemes), is that it might make sense to have a section of the website dedicated sagas about "products" (e.g. "IPhone 17"), linking to things like reviews and spec sheets, with affiliate links to amazon. I don’t know much but as a user i’m hard to deceive, and this seems like the most pragmatic way to make a real, efficient compromise without sacrificing some of the purer intentions of your project. Good luck man, I’m rooting for you.