Slashdot Mirror
Announcing Slashdot Subscriptions
To understand why the system works like it does, you need to first understand that Slashdot is about to start accepting new ad formats. The large ads that you see on many other sites are coming here. We really don't have an option: these are what advertisers want, and if we don't provide them, we won't be around much longer. But we want to give you an option to see Slashdot without these ads. Second, you need to understand that Slashdot readers fall into a variety of types, and charging the same flat fee just isn't possible.
Slashdot subscriptions will essentially let you buy a thousand pages to be viewed without banner ads. And you will have some flexibility to decide what types of pages (Comments, Articles, The Homepage) you want ads removed from, and what types of pages you just want to see the ads.
The rates are currently set at $5 per 1000 pages. To put this into perspective, $20 (typical magazine subscription) will be enough pages for 82% of our readers to view Slashdot without ads for a year. Another 15% will need to spend $5 a month to accomplish the same thing. 3% of our readers would need to spend more than $5 a month- but they could choose to see ads on comments and in almost every case, still pay around $5 a month. (As an aside, it's also worth noting that more than half of all comment posters fall into this 3%)
We realize that this system is more complex, but Slashdot has a third of a million readers per day with different reading habits, and this is the best way to accomodate everyone fairly.
Currently we only accept payment via paypal. It was simply easy and fast. We intend to offer other options as time permits and readers request.
Eventually we intend to offer additional features to subscribers. Exactly what those plums are remains to be decided: Access to the rejected submissions bin? A 'Gold Star' in your comments header? Karma? (I think that would be hilarious) We really don't know. We'll decide and implement what makes sense as we have time to do it.
We are doing our best to learn from the mistakes made by other sites that have started charging for subscriptions. We won't create subscriber only features that cost more to maintain than they generate. But we do need support from you if we are to continue. So anyway, here's that link again if you forgot it ;)
Will you be charging extra for first posts?
Let me just put out a vote that I don't mind big ads. I'm not a freeloader, and don't expect a free ride to pay for something as expensive as Slashdot.
And yes, if you use Junkbuster, you are a freeloader.
Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.
I think that paying users should have the ability to mod stories. That way we could mod out katz entirely.
"Blake is an idealist, Jenna. He cannot afford to think." - Kerr Avon, Star One, Blakes 7
Oh well, you couldn't blame them. Everybody succumbs to the succubus of greed from time to time. Sucks bad for the people in india who may only make 5 dollars a month. Have to blow the whole thing just to read slashdot without ads.
Predictable, I know - but does this mean that Slashdot will actually be able to afford a spell-checker for CmdrTaco? Oh, and throw in a grammar-checker while you're at it. Probably a two-for-one going on somewhere ...
----- rL
Basing a business plan around the stupidity of your audience, after all, never fails.
Banner ads are small enough that I can easily tolerate them, but the popups, flash ads that play music, animated shoot the monkey or all this annoying stuff is forcing me to configure some serious anti-ad protection. This is sad cause I clicked on an interesting ad once in a while and I bought some cool softwares and stuff after clicking an ad.
But when you go too far with advertisement you start annoying people, people get angry when they are annoyed and angry people aren't good customers.
True warriors use the Klingon Google
Did your mommy help you find adequacy? Maybe she should have explained to you that it doesn't even try to be a news source, so how you decide it's similar to Slashdot is amazing... Perhaps what you really mean is Kuro5hin, but perhaps the language-equipped members of your clique have yet to introduce you to all of the hackneyed slash clones...
They're spying on us, people, how else could he know our money spending habits?
(Note to Troll-Button-Happy-Moderators: yes, this is a joke)
One shall speak only if what one has to say is more beautiful than silence
Maybe if /. just dropped ACs, they would save enough bandwidth. Whatcha think about that?
Pay the fuck up!
I really want to get ThinkGeek involved with the Slashdot subscriptions. Buy $X worth of stuff, get a Slashdot Subscription free... or else if you subscribe, you get a dollar back as a TG gift certificate. I don't know what the numbers would be, but I'd love to do it.
Pants are still optional, but recommended for you.
Picture a quarter-of-a-million-guys-on-one-gal bukkake.... ;-)
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.