All the best to them. I was involved with a few Vice projects in 2011-2014 and it was honestly leadership that let them down. They have great talent but it's not easy in this day and age to run any kind of content site.
Hope they pull it off.
Hope they pull it off.
Supporting 404 feels better than sending money to some corp where it gets pocketed by the c suite.
No comment on whether either is reasonable but responding to “it costs too much” with a more expensive option is an interesting choice.
Also, paying monthly is only more expensive if the person paying decides to stay that long. Monthly payments allow flexibility to cancel rather than committing to a year.
- How much is the pizza?
- It's 10 dollars.
- I don't think it's worth 10 dollars!
- Uhm, okay then don't buy it.
- But I really need that pizza, it's really important that I get it!
- Then pay 10 dollars?
- That's too expensive, it's worth nowhere near that!
- If it's not worth 10 dollars why is it important to you?
- It's extremely important that I get that pizza and I really want it, but also you have to understand that it's not worth 10 dollars, so give it to me for free now!
...ad infinitum.
If it still doesn't make sense, then it will never make sense.
(cue cheesy music): "For just a quarter a day, you can save a struggling journalist from corporate overlords, submarine PR pieces, and human interest stories"
I don't know what the answer / formula is, but I pay more than that per year for my LWN.net subscription and for a few other publications. Less than that for others, but I really don't know what the "right" level would be to maximize revenue so they're able to pay themselves a decent salary and keep the lights on.
Ad-free Netflix is more expensive.
People seem to make the comparison only because the things are accessed by using a screen, which seems to be a very simple perspective. Just because Netflix is a great bargain (for those who like their content), doesn't mean you can conclude that everything else is expensive.
Both entertainment and reading in-depth paid news are one and the same: luxuries one does in their (typically) scarce spare time using an (often) modest budget.
If we use Netflix as a benchmark, you shouldn't spend money on anything except for on Netflix, since almost nothing gives the same amount of hours of use per cent paid. Exceptions for lightbulbs, which are not that entertaining to watch.
I think most people sometimes go out for a drink, a meal, or a coffee - without agonizing much about the price, even though you could get many days glued to Netflix for the same price as that drink with friends.