the problem is that right now the pay-or-ok screen often opens *as soon* as you open any page of a website. Increasingly often, you can’t even consume a single page as a one-time user without getting what’s basically a new strict paywall.
The other thing that concerns me is the increasing number of 3rd-party partners that get your data after enabling cookies. Just a few months ago I would be outraged by 200-300 data brokers that get your data after enabling cookies. Now it’s easily in the order of 800-900, often even >1000. There should probably be something between a you-can-checkout-any-time-you-like subscription and publishing my data to basically all data brokers in the world if I want to read a single article. The whole point of GDPR was to allow users to select who they want to share their data with, but these pay-or-ok packages don’t even give that freedom anymore.
Of course everyone needs to make money, but I’ve often advocated for alternatives that would give users more choice - because that freedom has currently been stripped out of us:<li><p>Micro payments: pay-as-you-read is the third way between subscribe-for-everything and let-data-brokers-feast-on-you. How much is a single article read worth? Probably $0.01 for a tabloid and $0.50 for an Economist report? Well, let the market decide and let new pricing models flourish. I’d be happy to pay to read a single article, or maybe purchase a one-off 10 articles bundle, than paying a fixed amount every month to a news outlet from which I may consume at most 10 articles per year. It would even be fairer to journalists - those who write the most interesting articles bring in more payments, so performance can be rewarded in a much more granular way. The only reason why this model isn’t common (outside maybe of overpriced scientific journals) is that managers are rewarded on the basis of metrics such as recurring annual revenue, and they’ve become that guy who learned to use a hammer and thinks that the whole world is made of nails.</p></li><li><p>Bring back the 5-10 free articles before you get a paywall model. Very occasional readers shouldn’t be forced to decide between subscribing and compromising their privacy the very first time they open a website.</p></li>
Fabio Manganiello /
npub1s9…jdnmu
2024-07-11 02:11:04
in reply to nevent1q…n08k
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npub1s9uc08n58mxqk5umvapqulwzng0sja635q86r36d8n4rr9r9ygaskjdnmuPublished at
2024-07-11 02:11:04Event JSON
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"content": "the problem is that right now the pay-or-ok screen often opens *as soon* as you open any page of a website. Increasingly often, you can’t even consume a single page as a one-time user without getting what’s basically a new strict paywall.\n\nThe other thing that concerns me is the increasing number of 3rd-party partners that get your data after enabling cookies. Just a few months ago I would be outraged by 200-300 data brokers that get your data after enabling cookies. Now it’s easily in the order of 800-900, often even \u003e1000. There should probably be something between a you-can-checkout-any-time-you-like subscription and publishing my data to basically all data brokers in the world if I want to read a single article. The whole point of GDPR was to allow users to select who they want to share their data with, but these pay-or-ok packages don’t even give that freedom anymore.\n\nOf course everyone needs to make money, but I’ve often advocated for alternatives that would give users more choice - because that freedom has currently been stripped out of us:\u003cli\u003e\u003cp\u003eMicro payments: pay-as-you-read is the third way between subscribe-for-everything and let-data-brokers-feast-on-you. How much is a single article read worth? Probably $0.01 for a tabloid and $0.50 for an Economist report? Well, let the market decide and let new pricing models flourish. I’d be happy to pay to read a single article, or maybe purchase a one-off 10 articles bundle, than paying a fixed amount every month to a news outlet from which I may consume at most 10 articles per year. It would even be fairer to journalists - those who write the most interesting articles bring in more payments, so performance can be rewarded in a much more granular way. The only reason why this model isn’t common (outside maybe of overpriced scientific journals) is that managers are rewarded on the basis of metrics such as recurring annual revenue, and they’ve become that guy who learned to use a hammer and thinks that the whole world is made of nails.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003cp\u003eBring back the 5-10 free articles before you get a paywall model. Very occasional readers shouldn’t be forced to decide between subscribing and compromising their privacy the very first time they open a website.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/li\u003e",
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