I actually have some constructive criticism in this debate, too. How about you make the premium programme actually worth something?
For example, I can imagine a similar model to lwn. All your benchmark articles will be available to premium users right away, but other users or guests have to wait a week until the article is available to them. This wouldn't make much sense with the shorter news items, as they're largely irrelevant after a week, but I think it could be useful with the benchmarks. Of course, you have to combine this feature with a friendly site wide login system, but I'm sure you're more than capable of implementing one.
Then, the people who really care about benchmarks would actually have a good reason to pay $10 for a three months subscription, which is really not a lot. And they'd be actually getting something out of it. For me, as I wrote before, this would be irrelevant as I'm not interested in benchmarks, but I wouldn't be surprised if there are enough users willing to pay. The users who don't care would have the added plus that they don't have to use adblock here as there would be no ads, if this works.
I believe websites should be ad free and users shouldn't depend on installing software to block ads. The main reason for this is that I want to be able to surf a site from everywhere and with anything, and not just from my personal computer using my browser.
Another idea is to maybe make the premium programme a bit more flexible. Instead of asking for $10 three months, let users set their price. The Humble Indie Bundles have served to prove that in such a situation, there are more than enough people willing to donate enough (and we're looking at a much lower, albeit monthly, average of $3+1/3 dollars).
For example, I can imagine a similar model to lwn. All your benchmark articles will be available to premium users right away, but other users or guests have to wait a week until the article is available to them. This wouldn't make much sense with the shorter news items, as they're largely irrelevant after a week, but I think it could be useful with the benchmarks. Of course, you have to combine this feature with a friendly site wide login system, but I'm sure you're more than capable of implementing one.
Then, the people who really care about benchmarks would actually have a good reason to pay $10 for a three months subscription, which is really not a lot. And they'd be actually getting something out of it. For me, as I wrote before, this would be irrelevant as I'm not interested in benchmarks, but I wouldn't be surprised if there are enough users willing to pay. The users who don't care would have the added plus that they don't have to use adblock here as there would be no ads, if this works.
I believe websites should be ad free and users shouldn't depend on installing software to block ads. The main reason for this is that I want to be able to surf a site from everywhere and with anything, and not just from my personal computer using my browser.
Another idea is to maybe make the premium programme a bit more flexible. Instead of asking for $10 three months, let users set their price. The Humble Indie Bundles have served to prove that in such a situation, there are more than enough people willing to donate enough (and we're looking at a much lower, albeit monthly, average of $3+1/3 dollars).
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