Real action (Was: Nooooooo!!) [LWN.net]

Real action (Was: Nooooooo!!)

Posted Jul 25, 2002 10:03 UTC (Thu) by leandro (subscriber, #1460)
In reply to: Nooooooo!! by cpeterso
Parent article: The end of the road

If this is truly the end and we are waiting for a miracle, why not discuss the financial realities of such a miracle?

Not only that, what can be trimmed? It’s hard to achieve the right balance among popularity, conciseness and completeness, but I particularly don't care about proprietary software news, about anything other than News, Resource and Events at the Security section, and anything but Recommended Reading in the Linux in the News section. And I don't care about comments: for me Letters to the Editor were just nice – I could live with comments or letters, but both are just a waste.

I already said this at Slashdot: it's a pity that so much in the Web must grow until it's not viable anymore. Perhaps we'd have better stuff if Web news ventures like LWN would start small, find its financial ground, and only then grow. Perhaps a return to the roots would do the trick. For example, the format of the oldest edition available at the archives, January 29th, 1.998, perhaps is enough for most people and much cheaper to run.

BTW one can go further back even more with the Archive, way back to January 15th, 1.998 – and that looks even simpler and cheaper.

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Real action

Posted Jul 25, 2002 20:26 UTC (Thu) by other-iain (guest, #2810) [Link]

I've read LWN for about 4 years. My guess is that a reasonable subscription
price would have been $30 a year. That's $120. I gave $20 earlier, so that
leaves $100 unpaid.

I've just put that $100 in through PayPal. Consider this payment for
services rendered. I'm sorry to see you go, but I understand why...

Three people need about $300K a year to keep going full time. I'm sure
LWN was a full-time venture for you all. $300K a year is 10,000
subscriptions, and I note that your contributions page shows 546
contributors, just 5% of the way to breakeven.

My employer is now considering contributing something as well, since I serve
as our primary means of surveying the Linux scene, and LWN is one of my
better sources. The information of most use to my employer is the
security page.

Personally, I find the front page and the kernel page to be the only
things I read for myself, and the security page as part of my job. The
rest I have no interest in. If, by trimming the rest of the 'zine you
could get your expenses down to $100K a year, that would be great, but
I suspect you couldn't keep up your editorial excellence going part-time.

Good luck in your post-LWN ventures. Let us know who you're writing for
next so we can tune in. Like stock brokers, you have a long list of
clients that you bring with you to your next job. Remind your next
employer of that when negotiating your salaries.