Slashdot goes subscription

[SteveDallas]

Originally posted by dhamsaic
Like I said, it's going the way of the buffalo. No doubt about it.

Oh, cool... it's going to be chopped up, processed, dried, packaged, and sold to tourists at the Gateway Arch museum in St. Louis???

Sorry, couldn't resist.

Undertoad is 100% right. News is a commodity, even high-tech news. What's your favorite flavor? I myself usually look at InfoWorld, news.com, wired.com, theregister.co.uk, slashdot, the New York Times, and the Chronicle of Higher Education. With the exception of the Chronicle (which obviously covers a niche market), there's generally a very high level of overlap in the stories covered by these sites. Heck, slashdot not only relies on its readers to provide commentary, it relies on them to figure out what stores are interesting and submit them! The value a site like slashdot adds is strictly and exclusively in the quality of the opinions and commentary offered by its visitors. I could be wrong in my gut reaction that this payment stunt will drive down the quality of /. postings, but it's sure not going to drive it up.



russotto wrote:

Sorta like those grocery discount cards where they jack up prices big time, reduce them (not as much) for cardholders, sell the discount card personal info, and claim this is a benefit.

Only I think most slashdot users aren't dumb enough to fall for it.

So what's dumber.. buying into this system and using a card, or not using a card and paying the higher prices? This annoys me to no end, but for the time being I'm choosing to save the $$$.