Would you pay for access to this site?

Would you pay to access this site?

  • No

    Votes: 221 83.4%

  • Yes.. but no more than £20 per month

    Votes: 4 1.5%

  • Yes.. but no more than £10 per month

    Votes: 4 1.5%

  • Yes.. but no more than £5 per month

    Votes: 36 13.6%
  • Total voters
    265
photodog

photodog

Lord High Commander of Upper Broughton and Gunthor
Joined
8 Apr 2007
Messages
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Quick poll....

If IPC Put all the editorial content of their magazines on line here... including all of the articles.... and then made access to the site, including these forums, by subscription.....

Would you pay to access it?


PS; if you would pay more than £20 per month... tell us how much... but vote for the £20 please!



PPS; IF you vote NO... please can you tell us why?
 
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I would like to but I imagine the cost would be prohibitive for me...
Edit:
No I couldn't justify 20 quid a month, I was right! However I would ask my library if it might be possible for them to arrange a subscription, they already subscribe to YM...
 
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fireball said:
quite simply ... no ...

The forums would die very quickly and quick responses to questions posed would disappear.
If IPC put all the editorial content online with subscription access then it would be worth considering ...
Click to expand...

READ THE POLL!! A subscription would include all the editorial content of all the boaty mags listed... and that would include the back material as well!!
 
quite simply ... no ...

The forums would die very quickly and quick responses to questions posed would disappear.
If IPC put all the editorial content online with subscription access then it would be worth considering ...
 
photodog said:
Quick poll....

If IPC Put all the editorial content of their magazines on line here... including all of the articles.... and then made access to the site, including these forums, by subscription.....

Would you pay to access it?
Click to expand...

No. Well, maybe...

Put another way, I might consider paying for a subscription to an online magazine instead of my YW subscription. Especially if I got more content for the same money.

But it is my belief that any subscription to content has to be entirely serparate from forum use. To make the forums paid would kill them, as it is the wide range of views, and quick answer to questions that make them work in the first place.
 
It all should be free with advertising paying for the content provision. In fact posters should be paid for contributing and making the site more interesting.
 
photodog said:
Quick poll....

If IPC Put all the editorial content of their magazines on line here... including all of the articles.... and then made access to the site, including these forums, by subscription.....

Would you pay to access it?


PS; if you would pay more than £20 per month... tell us how much... but vote for the £20 please!
Click to expand...

A definite maybe! But all the costs in your poll are far too high - remember that IPC probably fund these pages entirely from the Google Adverts that appear in the side bar and top bar. Also consider that I suspect the paper copies are on the wrong side of the supply/demand curve - better to price a web-site very cheap (many people will think ANY cost is too high), and get lots and lots of hits which will generate revenue from the adverts. I might consider a cost of £10 per YEAR, but ONLY if I thought that the content was worth it. But high quality journalism is available on the web for free - for example, in another field (IT), The Register is a very well thought of (if slightly anti-establishment) journal for IT people; it is a pure Internet journal as it has no print component. The Register makes it's money from the adverts it supports, and of course it doesn't have the overheads of producing and distributing piles of paper. Remember also that the journalism costs are low compared with production and distribution, and all that a web magazine is paying for is journalism - production costs are low once your content management software is in place, and distribution is the price of running the servers. The specialist articles that are what most of us would PAY for are usually by freelance authors; it is photographers and so on that probably make up the bulk of the professional costs of the magazine.

It is also, perhaps, worth remembering that even paper publications can be distributed free - look at the free newspapers distributed in London! And these are not second rate journalism. Of course, the distribution chain is very simple and depends on the fact that the majority of London workers commute using public transport, but that is the comparison we should be making.
 
But it is my belief that any subscription to content has to be entirely serparate from forum use. To make the forums paid would kill them, as it is the wide range of views, and quick answer to questions that make them work in the first place.


So, the time that you spend here... and the entertainment and knowledge that you gain... is worth NOTHING to you??
 
I voted "No". No desire to read the editorial content. Anything controversial/interesting/plain stupid/etc. in the magazine gets aired, if not on this forum, on others. Other fora are available.

A bit parasitical perhaps but that seems to be the way of the internet. On the other hand all you guys would lose the benefit of my erudition and wit.
 
photodog said:
READ THE POLL!! A subscription would include all the editorial content of all the boaty mags listed... and that would include the back material as well!!
Click to expand...
And implied subscription access to the forums too!! I did read the poll!! :p

[edit]You Asked - Would you pay to access this site? - and your post said including these forums in subscription access - I said no - I would consider paying to access editorial content - but I wouldn't pay to access these forums ...
 
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No, no way.

I spend a lot of time looking at a computer screen, I like to sit and read my YM at home, sat on the sofa with a glass of red grape juice, or on the boat, or away visiting boring relatives (I might even take a copy I have already read).
 
Fiver a month ok

I used to get PBO, YM, ST by mail but stopped a few years ago. I thought the content didn't
justify the cost. There was duplication of content between PBO & YM. Why buy both? Also seemed like there was lots of easy to test articles, stuff a load of chart plotters on a bench, next month, VHFs etc etc instead of what I would call more practical things. Something has gone, I can remember reading them cover to cover, now I skip though them in Smiths. Maybe I have changed?
So if all the mags were available on this site plus the forums/fora then I would pay a fiver a month maybe more.

PS to the twenty percent who have stopped reading this after the first sentence due to spelling and grammer/grammar, well you won't have got this far anyway.
To the rest of you who took part in the poll, forgive my poor education.

PPS I would insert one of those smiley fings here but don't know how!!!!
 
photodog said:
But it is my belief that any subscription to content has to be entirely serparate from forum use. To make the forums paid would kill them, as it is the wide range of views, and quick answer to questions that make them work in the first place.


So, the time that you spend here... and the entertainment and knowledge that you gain... is worth NOTHING to you??
Click to expand...
Oh - the time/entertainment is very useful and "worth" quite a bit - but I wouldn't pay for it - I'd move onto another "free" site and give them the benefits of my knowledge!! :D

Have you seen the Bavaria Owners Forums? You can't even browse unless you're a BOA member ... and the forums are ... very quiet ... in comparison - these fora are huge and attract great numbers of folk - some with useful contributions, others without... I think that comparison speaks volumes!
 
I voted no.

I don't think it is would be worth it to me. The back issue might be of some interest on a very occasional casual basis, and I probably wouldn't pay other than a trivial amount (and then I probably wouldn't bother as it's a hassle using a credit card on-line for trivial amounts).

Anyway, I've got a large number of hard-copy back issues - can't give them away. I'm going to have to start sneaking into dentists, pretending I have an appointment then leaving them behind one by one.

In terms of the forum, anything that cuts the number of participants will detract from the value. There would still be other free forums out there.

And on top of that I believe in the free internet. I don't pay credit card annual fees either. No doubt ybw generates advertising revenue. If that doesn't fund it already, it is not going to if a user subscription drives away a large percentage of the forumites and the advertisers demand a cut in their charges.
 
I vote no to the question as put. If it cost me anything to access these forums I would go elsewhere. The forums would die! I found this place whilst searching for an answer to a problem in 2006. If I had had to pay to look, I wouldnt have bothered, and nor would most.

The business model for most forums is like the NHS - Free at the point of use, paid for out of other income, e.g. advertising.

As for the mags online etc.. I dont currently buy any of the mags. I used to buy all that I could lay my hands on, 3 or 4 a month, but the credit crunch and increasing prices meant thay were an area where I could save money, (£12 per month is £144 p.a.), and saving several small amounts of money in a variety of ways has added up to a significant sum, (mobile phone, utilities, insurance, eating out etc. ).

What might I pay to access the mag content? £20 p.a. would probably motivate me.... £50 p.a. wouldnt, so there you have it :)
 
Not a good poll as I answered 'No' to "Would you pay for access to this site?" and then read your qualifying post that then included eMags option to view the IPC organs online, for which I would pay for.

Then in post #4 you shout, "READ THE POLL!! A subscription would include all the editorial content of all the boaty mags listed... and that would include the back material as well!!"

I did read the poll and it simply asked me if I would pay for access to THIS site, with no mention of editorial content.

I suspect the majority of 'No' respondents did the same.
 
Major Catastrophe said:
Not a good poll as I answered 'No' to "Would you pay for access to this site?" and then read your qualifying post that then included eMags option to view the IPC organs online, for which I would pay for.

Then in post #4 you shout, "READ THE POLL!! A subscription would include all the editorial content of all the boaty mags listed... and that would include the back material as well!!"

I did read the poll and it simply asked me if I would pay for access to THIS site, with no mention of editorial content.

I suspect the majority of 'No' respondents did the same.
Click to expand...


****it. I give up.:confused:
 
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