A combination of solutions is required

A combination of solutions is required

Posted Aug 1, 2002 17:54 UTC (Thu) by maphew (guest, #1147)
Parent article: Is it really The End?

As usual, the final "solution" will be a combination of ideas, all of which have already been said but I'll say again to add weight to the ones I consider important. :)

- In the absence of a large corporate sponsor, and none have stepped up to the plate since you first started talking about the financial problems some months ago, I think we all agree some sort of subscription model is a must.

- Restricting content will change the nature of LWN. That is a given. The question is what changes can you, and we, live with happily.

- For subscribers, consider changing to Linux Monthly News, with longer articles. (e.g. spend 2 weeks programming for $$$ and 2 weeks writing LWN for <$)

- The free access edition should be at least one, maybe two, issues behind the current paid for edition (only one if LWN is monthly). A few days will not be enough.

+ crazy idea: Convince Google to buy a subscription so that search results can point to articles which have not yet "ripened" to free public access.

- Allow editions to be purchased individually like newspapers. This will necessitate some sort of teaser summary articles "In this edition of LWN we cover ...."

- Leave a tip jar out on the counter

- I personally find the articles and editorials the most important part of LWN, announcements etc. are available in many other places (and it is very convenient to have them on LWN too).

- Whatever the setup, no part of LWN should ever be permanently unavailable to the anonymous and non paying public.

- Sadly, a staff member or two leaving for other hunting grounds is probably a necessity, at least for ahwile.

Free software *users* (which includes myself) need to understand that there really is no such thing as a free lunch. If we haven't paid anything so far it is because someone else has picked up the cheque already. Our community as a whole needs to come to grips with this reality and respond to it. This is a perfect opportunity to start.

My 2 canadian cents.

-matt

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