Paywall goes up at LJS

[JHudson]

Similar to what the OWH has been doing ... Ten free locally produced stories per 30 days, then you get blocked unless you subscribe.

I'm posting the link, but do you really want to click on it and perhaps use up one of your 10? (I do like how the news is buried in the fifth paragraph and is not even mentioned in the headline.)

http://journalstar.com/news/local/jo...73a34d7f4.html

It will work like this: In any 30-day period, you’ll have access to up to 10 views of locally produced content. Advertisements, contests and national and international news will not count toward those 10 views.

After those 10 views, you’ll be asked to purchase an online subscription. For seven-day subscribers to the Journal Star, the price will be $1.95 per month. For others, it will cost just $9.95 per month. After 30 days, your meter returns to zero stories, and the count starts again.

[NUcornhuskers01]

IMO, thats rediculous!

[bigredboy79]

IMO, thats rediculous!

Why? I venture to guess the reporters, webmasters, and other staff dont work for free. More and more people are dropping newspaper subscriptions because everything is online for free. If they put more ads on their site you would complain about that too. These are businesses that need to make a profit to stay around. I don't want to depend just on national outlets for news, I still want good quality locally produced content. If I have to chip in a few bucks, so be it.

[NUcornhuskers01]

Why? I venture to guess the reporters, webmasters, and other staff dont work for free. More and more people are dropping newspaper subscriptions because everything is online for free. If they put more ads on their site you would complain about that too. These are businesses that need to make a profit to stay around. I don't want to depend just on national outlets for news, I still want good quality locally produced content. If I have to chip in a few bucks, so be it.

I agree with JHudson, I understand that these places have to make a $$ somehow. But just like he said, there are so many free alternatives out there, how many people are going to fork over that $$ when they can read the same thing somewhere else? And from the looks of some other previous post, I am not the only one to disagree with it here.

[bigredboy79]

I agree with JHudson, I understand that these places have to make a $$ somehow. But just like he said, there are so many free alternatives out there, how many people are going to fork over that $$ when they can read the same thing somewhere else? And from the looks of some other previous post, I am not the only one to disagree with it here.

I am not saying I like it, but the current model is not working. Papers are cutting back staff, not publishing every day, and in some cases going out of business. Sure there is free stuff online, but a lot of it is not the same as local reporters who are around the program every day. The local TV stations have not stepped up with their online content, and stuff like bleacher report is just garbage. I guess I don't want to have to depend on just national outlets for my Husker news, and sites like rivals don't give their content away for free either.

[joncarl]

Why? I venture to guess the reporters, webmasters, and other staff dont work for free. More and more people are dropping newspaper subscriptions because everything is online for free. If they put more ads on their site you would complain about that too. These are businesses that need to make a profit to stay around. I don't want to depend just on national outlets for news, I still want good quality locally produced content. If I have to chip in a few bucks, so be it.

I couldn't agree more. It seems everyone wants something for free forgetting that the business has a payroll to meet. Those with the deepest pockets are going to drive out the little guy.

[Nishioka]

IMO, thats rediculous!

What's ridiculous? The LJS not giving their content that they paid people to develop away for free?

[bilsker]

What's ridiculous? The LJS not giving their content that they paid people to develop away for free?

Similar to the outrage people expressed when they found out that they couldn't download music for free.

[The Impaler]

Similar to the outrage people expressed when they found out that they couldn't download music for free.

Similarly I wonder if a better model might be an iTunes-esque model. Give you a preview of said article and you can purchase individual articles at a cheap (maybe $.10 - $.25/article) type thing.

[bilsker]

Similarly I wonder if a better model might be an iTunes-esque model. Give you a preview of said article and you can purchase individual articles at a cheap (maybe $.10 - $.25/article) type thing.

Good idea. I wonder if individual columnists/reporters would like this style of "voting". I'm guessing NOT.

[Huskers57]

damn it.

[Huskers57]

nm

[JHudson]

FWIW, I just clicked on about a zillion LJS stories and nothing unusual happened. So I'm not sure whether the wall is actually up yet.

[Huskers57]

FWIW, I just clicked on about a zillion LJS stories and nothing unusual happened. So I'm not sure whether the wall is actually up yet.

is there some form of protest that the Husker Nation can do, other than not visiting LJS and giving them the click count to show we're frequenting their site?

[Huskers57]

Fill Mr. Bundy's email inbox with your thoughts, complaints or feelings:

dbundy@journalstar.com

or call:

402-473-7334.

[Huskers57]

let's give mr. bundy a nice surprise of a full inbox tomorrow morning when he comes into the office.

[JHudson]

I've been on both sides of the fence on this. I've worked for the LJS, OWH, Philadelphia Inquirer and Denver Post.

They've got to generate revenue just like any other business to pay the bills and write all those paychecks. Print advertising, historically the bell cow, is in the tank. Giving away your product doesn't seem like the long-term answer.

Part of me wants to see the paid-subscription model succeed, because I want newspapers to survive. But the other part of me has a strong hunch that it won't work, because there are way too many free alternatives out there.

[SWVAHusker]

I've been on both sides of the fence on this. I've worked for the LJS, OWH, Philadelphia Inquirer and Denver Post.

They've got to generate revenue just like any other business to pay the bills and write all those paychecks. Print advertising, historically the bell cow, is in the tank. Giving away your product doesn't seem like the long-term answer.

Part of me wants to see the paid-subscription model succeed, because I want newspapers to survive. But the other part of me has a strong hunch that it won't work, because there are way too many free alternatives out there.

This won't work for papers like the OWH and LJS. The only papers it's ever worked for are the NYT (somewhat), the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times. For it to work you have to have a dedicated reader base that wants specific content they can't get elsewhere. Basic news on the Huskers can be found at hundreds of different outlets. Columnists for the LJS and OWH aren't good enough for those who don't subscribe to the dead tree version of the newspaper to pay for it online.

This is just an attempt to put the horse back in the barn when it's been out since the mid-90s.

[Shevin Wiggins' Foot]

Here's what to do to beat any newspaper pay wall...

When you hit your article limit and get locked out, simply clear your browser cache and delete the cookie/cookies from the LJS. The easiest way to do it is to simply delete all the cookies- sometimes they can have a name that isn't super obvious in order to be harder to find.

Once that cookie is deleted, your computer is now a new visitor in the eyes of whatever website you go to.


http://www.wikihow.com/Clear-Your-Browser%27s-Cookies

[Huskers57]

if given the choice of having to pay for either LJS or OWH....I'd pay for LJS, hands down.