Dispatch.com Now Limiting Free Access to Some Online Articles

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Dispatch.com Now Limiting Free Access to Some Online Articles

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Started 10 months ago by arualpalm
Latest reply from musicfan2

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murfmurphy
Westgate
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lizless said:
Wondering if it's still common for most workplaces to have copies of the Dispatch laying around for their staff? We get one copy delivered to our workplace each day, the staff fights over the different sections and Sunday coupons. The staff has told me that they would never read the paper if we didn't have it at work. There's still a big demographic that doesn't bother with online news but I don't think they're buying any more papers. Our one daily copy is read by about 15 different pairs of eyes each day.

There are usually several copies on the guard desk in my building downtown. I never pick one up, guess I might have to if I want to read anything.

Posted 10 months ago #
Bear
The woods
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murfmurphy said:
There are usually several copies on the guard desk in my building downtown. I never pick one up, guess I might have to if I want to read anything.

...

Huh?

You know you could actually buy a copy, if you want to read something, right?

Posted 10 months ago #
News
Columbus Underground
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Dispatch Resumes Charging Web Site Users
July 18, 2012
by Steve Brown
89.7 NPR News Morning Anchor

People who read the Columbus Dispatch online might have recently received a notice saying “thank you for being a frequent visitor to dispatch.com. You’ve reached your quota.” That’s because as of last week, The Dispatch began charging readers, even those who subscribe to the paper edition, who want to read more than 10 articles a month on its Web site.

READ MORE: http://beta.wosu.org/news/2012/07/18/dispatch-reinstalls-paywall-for-online-readers/

Posted 10 months ago #
ricospaz

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News said:
Dispatch Resumes Charging Web Site Users
July 18, 2012
by Steve Brown
89.7 NPR News Morning Anchor

People who read the Columbus Dispatch online might have recently received a notice saying “thank you for being a frequent visitor to dispatch.com. You’ve reached your quota.” That’s because as of last week, The Dispatch began charging readers, even those who subscribe to the paper edition, who want to read more than 10 articles a month on its Web site.

READ MORE: http://beta.wosu.org/news/2012/07/18/dispatch-reinstalls-paywall-for-online-readers/

No shit, Sherlock.

Posted 10 months ago #
cheap
Westgate
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wow,that guy was pretty arrogant.

Posted 10 months ago #
alexs
Limestone bluffs of the Scioto
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"...very frankly, the pool of dollars available to the newspaper aren't what they are."

Posted 10 months ago #
Walker
The KLD / Downtown / Gay Street
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If you listen to the the audio that goes with the story it provides some information about the decision behind this.

The comparison to the kids reading free comics and magazines in the drug store and the drug store owner shooing them with "buy something or get out" was a painfully dated cultural reference.

Posted 10 months ago #
alexs
Limestone bluffs of the Scioto
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Yeah, "this is not a library"

Posted 10 months ago #
joev
Merion Village
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Maybe if The Dispatch stopped spending so much money on the pet political issues of its owners, there would be more money for journalism.

Posted 10 months ago #
Parker
Franklinton
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People, please, it is time to put your money where your value is. At some point we need to grow up and pay for things that we value. If you do not value the Dispatch and its content, then do not buy it, and do not expect to get it for free (I know some will scrounge for free copies or dig for a work-around... cheapos that they are). We're only talking about a couple of bucks. Somehow our models have shifted from pay for content to expecting people at the Dispatch to work for us for free. This makes us no better than those who expect people to work for next to nothing anywhere else. Perhaps those who insist this should still be a free service should consider putting in a few extra hours to pay for their bosses next vacation.

Posted 10 months ago #
murfmurphy
Westgate
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Walker said:
If you listen to the the audio that goes with the story it provides some information about the decision behind this.

The comparison to the kids reading free comics and magazines in the drug store and the drug store owner shooing them with "buy something or get out" was a painfully dated cultural reference.

They could have just cited Borders as an example. That would have been a little more timely. They could have also used a picture of the sign that says "No Public Restrooms. Try Amazon."

Posted 10 months ago #
Walker
The KLD / Downtown / Gay Street
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murfmurphy said:
They could have just cited Borders as an example. That would have been a little more timely.

Yes, a much better comparison. ;)

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703373404576147922340434998.html

Posted 10 months ago #
cheap
Westgate
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Parker said:
People, please, it is time to put your money where your value is. At some point we need to grow up and pay for things that we value. If you do not value the Dispatch and its content, then do not buy it, and do not expect to get it for free (I know some will scrounge for free copies or dig for a work-around... cheapos that they are). We're only talking about a couple of bucks. Somehow our models have shifted from pay for content to expecting people at the Dispatch to work for us for free. This makes us no better than those who expect people to work for next to nothing anywhere else. Perhaps those who insist this should still be a free service should consider putting in a few extra hours to pay for their bosses next vacation.

lmao

the Dispatch sucks,and it has for years.the business attitude of the whole media in this town sucks,actually.

they jam fatal car wrecks and shootings down your throat,but when an important issue pops up,you get a 100 word blurb and poof.it is gone.

do you really expect the Dispatch to improve because of this paywall?

i just looked at the Dispatch this morning for free ,and not a damn thing has changed to me.

Posted 10 months ago #
arualpalm

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I agree with you, Cheap. It is not worth paying.

Thanks to all the insight and suggestion since I questioned a work-around. I now realize why I give money to the Columbus Library (whose website I can utilize to look up dispatch articles) and NPR (whose website I overlook for local news).

Posted 10 months ago #
bobkow

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You can call out the freeloaders all you want, but my earlier point was that The Dispatch is also asking their full-price, paid-in-full, long time subscribers to now fork over more money. Never did they say "Thanks for being a loyal paid subscriber and to show our gratitude we are making this new feature available to you." No, they took people like me for granted and said, we don't care about your monthly payments that exceed what we charge new subscribers, we want more out of you. I have no sympathy for the freeloaders and ask them to pay something.

Posted 10 months ago #
Walker
The KLD / Downtown / Gay Street
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Parker said:
People, please, it is time to put your money where your value is.

I think that's exactly what people are doing here. They're deciding whether or not they want to pay for it. And having a discussion about it.

Posted 10 months ago #
Rockmastermike
The Bacon District
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Its interesting to me that the ones who seem to be most vocally against the D charging for access (after 10 articles) are the ones saying they don't want to read it at all. The actual readers, like bobkow, who has a very good point, appear to be a minority.

I'm also not sure why people care so much if the D's readership (as measured by webhits) goes down. Advertising revenue (wait... websites still have ads? does anyone NOT use an adblocker? Sorry, Walker, its true.) is in the toilet anyway, so it doesn't matter much if the revenue stream is made up or exceeded elsewhere. They're attempting to make money to stay in business, not win a readership contest.

Posted 10 months ago #
groundrules

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bobkow said:
You can call out the freeloaders all you want, but my earlier point was that The Dispatch is also asking their full-price, paid-in-full, long time subscribers to now fork over more money.

you pay extra for quality Topix. some shit you just can't get on paper.

Posted 10 months ago #
Rockmastermike
The Bacon District
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groundrules said:
you pay extra for quality Topix. some shit ~~you just can't get~~ best not printed on paper.

fixed that for ya

Posted 10 months ago #
Walker
The KLD / Downtown / Gay Street
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Rockmastermike said:
Sorry, Walker, its true.

We actually see an extremely tiny loss in ad display through blocking software when comparing our site analytics to our advertising analytics.

You might actually be the only one going out of your way to block ads on CU. I hope it gives you warm fuzzies. Thanks for the support.

Posted 10 months ago #