Two suggestions
Two suggestions
Posted Sep 30, 2005 3:40 UTC (Fri) by pimlott (guest, #1535)In reply to: Two suggestions by dash
Parent article: An LWN status update
By opening to far up, you will remove all pressure to subscribe, except for the "feel good" donation aspect. In principle, this is a sustainable model, but it has been explored by LWN in the past without overwhelming success.I'm not sure how true that is. IIRC, when LWN went through its big "we're closing" crisis, the number of donations and offered donations was one of the factors that made Jon believe that subscriptions might work. I instead took this as evidence that LWN could survive on donations, and I don't believe this hypothesis has ever been seriously tested. My memory says we went straight to subscriptions without giving the donation model a chance. (People could donate before the crisis, but they were less aware of the need, so that doesn't count.)
I further have a strong sense that LWN was more a part of the free software community before subscriptions, and was for example slashdotted regularly. I think the donation model would have preserved that integration. (On the other hand, LWN now has a nice little community of its own.) In the same way, I think the "send an article" idea is terrific. It would serve to generate awareness of LWN in addition to bringing in subscribers. I would make it free for members, with a few measures to limit abuse. I also think making a few articles free from the start in hopes of getting them slashdotted would create buzz, though ISTR Jon was lukewarm on that idea at one time. (Of course, slashdot can link to older articles today, and doesn't. I wonder why. Does anyone submit them?)