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That's the thing though. You can get all the value from LWN through here. Even if it wasn't for them tolerating subscriber links being posted on HN, the week-lo
by rdpintqogeogsaa 1mo ago
That's the thing though. You can get all the value from LWN through here. Even if it wasn't for them tolerating subscriber links being posted on HN, the week-long delay isn't nearly enough an incentive to actually subscribe, rationally speaking.
- roryirvine 1mo agoI think the generosity and straightforwardness are a big part of the attraction for many subscribers. They've always respected their readers and I hope that continues to pay off.
- excitedrustle 1mo agoAgree. I don't read it every week, but I greatly appreciate the quality (both of the technical content and the lack of advertising/sensationalism/clickbait) when I do read an article. Happy to pay to support this style of tech reporting and journalism.
- giancarlostoro 1mo agoEasy to say until they have to eventually make the hard decision to shut down.
- tonyarkles 1mo agoRationally-speaking, maybe not. I’ve been a long-time subscriber. When I first subscribed, my day-to-day involved embedded Linux and getting the “breaking news” was pretty valuable. These days I still do that somewhat but I’m stuck on a crusty vendor kernel and anything I read about a kernel newer than 5.15 is going to land on my desk in approximately 2028… but I still subscribe, mostly with a patronage mindset: I don’t acutely get value from the subscription every week, but I think it’s a community service and I’m happy to pitch in a few bucks to keep it alive.
- kokada 1mo agoSame as me. I started subscribing LWN when I was a Linux enthusiast from my early college days, because the content was so good and interesting. Nowadays I barely read it but I still keep my subscription alive, just because I think the content is worth it.
- WD-42 1mo agoWouldn’t rationally speaking you’d want to support them to keep them around? Or did you mean selfishly speaking?
- GuinansEyebrows 1mo agonot saying parent feels this way but the target class of this website often does not separate the two. we're still sloughing off the goofballery of objectivism, i guess.
- kjs3 1mo agowe're still sloughing off the goofballery of objectivism Are we though? I certainly don't sense the volume of FYIGM entitlement decreasing.
- wonnage 1mo agoThey literally fearmonger for a permanent underclass, it’s definitely not decreasing
- chrisweekly 1mo ago(FYIGM = F* You, I Got Mine)
- GuinansEyebrows 1mo agobased on other replies to the parent, at least some folks feel differently :) but generally i'm not very optimistic about it.
- freedomben 1mo agoWell for me, at least, it's those features that make me a subscriber. If not for those I wouldn't do it
- classified 1mo agoRationally speaking, if you're getting value from it, you should be interested in its continued existence and therefore subscribe.
- teiferer 1mo agoSelfishly speaking is the word you were looking for.
- roughly 1mo agoThis is why nobody likes economists.
- Sharlin 1mo agoTBF, economists, if any group, would understand the freerider problem and what it leads to if there are too many of them.
- roughly 1mo agoYou’d think, but in practice their entire policy prescription seems to come down to “well if they didn’t want me to have it, they should’ve bolted it down, this is really an incentives problem, if you look at it.”
- kjs3 1mo agoThis is pretty close to "I shall stand under this tree during the storm to stay dry, and if this tree starts to drip on me I'll just run over to that other tree and stay dry there" thinking. If LWN goes away, that value leaves HN too. Rationally speaking.
- gpvos 1mo agoRational thinking includes thinking about the long term.