Slashdot Mirror
Slashdot Subscription Update
By far the biggest complaint that we heard was from users who either hate paypal, or simply don't want to mess with it. I'm not going to go into the politics of that issue here, but it's a valid complaint. As we've explained countless times, we picked paypal first because it was simple and quick and planned to support credit cards directly as soon as we worked the kinks out of the system. And now that's happened. I'm still interested in other payment mechanisms and I'm open to suggestions as to what they might be.
Complaint number two was from people who didn't like the metered subscriptions. Again, this is a very valid complaint. I've already explained why it was essential that we impose some sort of limits, so what we've implemented is a new option called Max Ads. What it does is limit the number of pages you choose to view ad free on any given day. By default, that is 10. So even if you view slashdot 20 times a day, your $5 subscription will still last 100 days with the default setting of 10 Max Ads. Of course, you can up that number too.
Subscribers still have the ability to choose what page classes you suppress ads on. Simply hiding ads on Articles and Index, but seeing them on Comments is enough for the vast majority of readers to never hit the default Max Ads settings. At those settings, the subscription fee for a year on Slashdot would be on par with a typical magazine.
So far we've been really pleased with the turnout: 2% of our logged in users have chosen to subscribe, and we really hope that number will increase since such a huge number of readers expressed support for the subscription system, but distaste for paypal.
As we explained earlier, a large part of our decision to suppress banner ads was so that we could start accepting other ad formats, but give users an option to support Slashdot, without seeing these new ad formats. These other ad formats are highly desirable and should allow our sales folks to get contracts that we would otherwise be ineligible for. Web Advertising is a highly competitive field, and these ad formats make it possible for us to compete.
The last thing I'm mentioning here is Subscriber Plums. We have a variety of things that subscribers will eventually have access to. We're certainly open to reasonable suggestions, and we'll announce them as they come online. As I've said before, we won't be taking away things from non-subscribers, just rewarding those who are throwing quarters into the guitar case. More on these plums at a later date.
Thanks to the subscribers, as well as to those who click on our ads and support us by supporting our advertisers. You guys are helping to ensure that Slashdot sticks around for a long time.
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;)
Last Chance to See! The final opportunity to discuss this before the lights go out [slashdot.org]
Questions? There are answers here! [slashdot.org]
Saved for posterity, from a discussion about the new subscription system:
... while I don't mean to dismiss the value
of comment posters, the percentage of readers
that read comments is small. Yes comments draw
readers, and keep them coming back. But half
of readers don't care! An accepted story
submission provides a benefit to hundreds
of thousands of Slashdot readers. A Score:3
comment is read by 1/50th of that. So if we
decide that an accepted story submission is
worth 1000 page views, you would need to post
perhaps 50 Score:3 comments to affect the
same number of people
A statistic in the hand of the ignorant is more dangerous than a gun in the hand of a child. Malda's dismissal of the importance of comments [slashdot.org] reflects on the inability of Slashdot's "editors" to understand the way communities work.
For the record, my feelings on the Slashdot Subscription Embroglio rests firmly in the uninterested. I have almost zero opinion on the final outcome of subscriptions. I love Slashdot, and will probably subscribe at some point to support the site, but the details are dull (to me).
Says Rob Malda, "... while I don't mean to dismiss the value of comment posters, the percentage of readers that read comments is small. Yes comments draw readers, and keep them coming back. But half
of readers don't care!" In that case, Slashdot would be much better served by dumping the flaky and irritating overhead of a DB server and filling the pipe with a longer "Favorites" list--which, essentially, is what Slashdot is once you strip away the comments and comment posters. This is where a meaningless SQL query puts dangerous statistics in the hand of the ignorant. If Malda thinks that he can divine real knowledge from a SELECT query, he is sadly mistaken. While I do not doubt the validity of the numbers, I seriously doubt the validity of his extrapolation of the data. The ebb and flow of a community cannot be read from the tea leaves of an Apache log file.
This easy dismissal of the value of the only providers of interesting and insightful content on Slashdot is offensive. Thus, I propose a small revolt. The (Hopefully) Great Slashdot Blackout.
T(H)GSB will be during the week of April 21 through April 27. Easy to remember, the full moon in April falls on the 27th. During that time, I will not be posting, nor will I click through to read the comments from the home page. I will become as Malda's idea of the typical Slashdot reader. I will provide no new content (neither comments, nor story submissions--although I'm not much of a story submitter).
During that week, I'd like to see if Malda sees Slashdot become a better place, or if it becomes the Hallowed Shrine of Troll. I'd like for the logs to be revisited and new queries run. And, I'd like for the "editors" to really see what the true value of Slashdot is--not the sum of click-throughs and page-views, but the sharing of knowledge and dissemination of information; the passing of experience from the more to the less.
This is where the (Hopefully) comes in. This is only meaningful if enough free content-providers (i.e., comment posters) agree to go along and participate. If there is only me and a handful of others who cease normal activities during that week, it will be pretty meaningless. Barely a dent will be made, and Malda and the other "editors" will never realize the incredible value they receive from comment posters.
To spread the word, I'm changing my sig to link to this journal entry. If you would like to help, you can link to this journal from your own sig, or you can simply resolve to enter into a voluntary one-week blackout. Pass the word. This will only work if a goodly number of comment posters participate.
To summarize, if you wish to participate, during the week of April 21 through April 27
A useful HTML link to this journal entry (69 characters, should fit in most sigs). You'll probably have to unfungle it after the lameness filter gets through with it:
<a href="http://slashdot.org/~rho/journal/5872">T( H)GSB</a> Apr 21-27
Last Chance to See! The final opportunity to discuss this before the lights go out [slashdot.org]
Questions? There are answers here! [slashdot.org]
I hate Slashdot, yet every day you'll find me here, shitting all over everything I can. In fact, I'll use this thread talking about subscriptions to further my rant about everything that is wrong with Slashdot, since it is vaguely on topic. Not that being on topic means much to me.
C'mon now, you're not willing to throw quarters in the guitar case? Never mind that all the content is created by volunteers, and all slashdot does is distribute it.
You already can.
Go to your preferences: Homepage, down about half the way, you will see "customize slashboxes". Check the stuff you want, leaving out "slashdot poll". (all of the default stuff is in bold.)
It really is that simple.
duh.
room101 -- how much can you stand before they break you?
(they always break you eventually)
loser
I'm a big retard who forgot to log out of Slashdot on Mike's computer! LOOK AT ME.
I think there are a couple ways to look at all this. Sure, I don't think paying for an ad-free site is worth the money. Personally, I consider the subscriptions to be more of a tip jar. I contributed not to get rid of the ads, but rather just to give a little back. The only thing that bothers me out of all this is though, is that I know Katz is going to get some of that money, and that REALLY gets under my skin.
Keep Austin Weird!
Sure, seems like it.
btw, there is something between reading the comment and not reading the comment, its called mis-reading the comment.
room101 -- how much can you stand before they break you?
(they always break you eventually)
I'm having a bit of a dilemma. I'm happy to pay Slashdot in order to keep it going, but sometimes a banner pops up that's interesting. I know it sounds silly, but like 3 times now I've seen a banner pertaining to something I was seeking. For example, I want an MP3 player that can play mini-CD's to travel with. *Gasp* I saw an ad for one at ThinkGeek.com, and now I'm considering purchasing it.
So if I get the subscription, I lose the ads. I guess Slashdot wins either way, but if I pay for Slashdot I'd like to get a little bit more benefit than just no ads.
One idea is that I'd like to see who mods me down. I think somebody'd be more careful about modding me down as troll when they know that I know who's doing it. Here's an example:
http://www.nanogator.com/slashdot.jpg
See that, within 6 minutes I had several posts modded down as Troll. If you look up a bit you can see that my other posts take about 20 minutes in between to get moderated. Anybody else think this is a bit suspiscious?
I really don't care so much about getting modded down, but I do think the quality of the moderations would go up if some of the 'premium members' know who's doing it. Afterall, if I'm paying to visit the site *and* look at the ads, its less likely that I'm here to just cause trouble.
That's all it'd take for me. I'm not demanding typo-free articles (damn people are anal about that, heh) or anything like that. I'd just like my time spent contributing to Slashdot worth more.
"Derp de derp."
Your analogy is completely false. Sitting outside a coffeshop, drinking your own coffee, costs the coffeeshop nothing except a lost potential sale. Using Internet Junkbuster, you are directly using the resources /. provides, and not paying for them. This is legally known as "theft of services" and is a prosecutable offense. I'm not sure what Taco & the rest think about this issue, but legally, you are in the wrong.
But until then, why would someone who is being treated as a second-class citizen care a whim to give you a dime? Lift the fucking RTBL ban already.
Mod me down. It's only Karma.
I only post comments when someone on the internet is wrong.