Post AR9q0GhWSyOYe6oP1E by mitchw@mastodon.social
(DIR) More posts by mitchw@mastodon.social
(DIR) Post #AR9q0GhWSyOYe6oP1E by mitchw@mastodon.social
2022-12-29T17:40:35Z
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@davew You mentioned reading threads on masto is difficult. I find writing threads to be a pain. Twitter makes that relatively easy, and third-party tools make it even easier.
(DIR) Post #AR9q0HJSBwjiXkYh8q by BarbNerdy@chaos.social
2022-12-30T12:48:46Z
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@mitchw @davew I think it is time to rethink the idea how good articles are published. Substack or Blogging? Never understood why people fire out there own ideas in a 🧵 on a platform they are not owning.
(DIR) Post #AR9q0I899THn4yHB9k by mitchw@mastodon.social
2022-12-30T17:11:06Z
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@BarbNerdy @davew Substack is a kind of blogging, so it’s not either/or. Substack is incomplete though—blogging needs to include microblogging. And, yeah, I don’t really like threads, though I’m resigned to them.
(DIR) Post #AR9q0IiIz2D2t7C3W4 by davew@mastodon.social
2022-12-30T17:37:28Z
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@mitchw @BarbNerdy yes, substack is blogging, and it's totally valid for one blogging system to lead writers toward one kind of writing.what's wrong with substack, and why it will ultimately need to change or be replaced, is that they require writers to use their editor. that's lock-in. not interop.and interop is part of the philosophy of blogging imho.
(DIR) Post #AR9q0JHOsYHYdxc5Dc by chris@abraham.su
2022-12-31T06:44:24Z
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@davewSubstack will be Mediumed@mitchw @BarbNerdy @susanbeebe
(DIR) Post #ARPSHGHXzKDXtmai2K by timbray@hachyderm.io
2022-12-30T18:11:55Z
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@davew @mitchw @BarbNerdy I think Substack's real problem is that their business model is bogus and they will eventually expire or be acquired, in either case orphaning the stories published there.
(DIR) Post #ARPSHGkGGZBbKq1dnE by davidgerard@circumstances.run
2023-01-07T16:09:40Z
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@timbray @davew @mitchw @BarbNerdy bogus how? Processing payments like they do is a genuine and valuable service.My main objection is that Substack only has a niche because Patreon's blog editor is awful and so is its blog display.
(DIR) Post #ARPSHHBCeOjkgOd9mq by timbray@hachyderm.io
2023-01-07T18:57:46Z
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@davidgerard @davew @mitchw @BarbNerdy >> Bogus how?Two words: Subscription fatigue. I am a well-off highly-online person and I find each pull of the subscription trigger exponentially (well, maybe geometrically) more difficult. Have blogged about this, twice: https://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/201x/2019/11/03/Subscription-Commons and https://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/202x/2020/09/25/Subscription-Overload
(DIR) Post #ARPSHHZJCm1Ft9uPMO by khoji@ieji.de
2023-01-07T19:34:06Z
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@timbray @davidgerard @davew @mitchw @BarbNerdy I have a couple of subs, but that is it. Beyond that, any switch to a subscription model loses me as a customer. Paywalls on articles in aggregated mediums don’t work: If I’m reading you on Feedly I’m a) never going to be reading more than a couple of your articles anyway, and b) I’ve got plenty of alternatives where I’m reading your article.
(DIR) Post #ARPv8jl7aAnPSIuZii by davidgerard@circumstances.run
2023-01-07T16:07:09Z
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@mitchw @davew I find an adequate character limit - this server's limit is 5000 - makes a lot of difference. I'm finding Twitter-like threads here just annoying now, and the limitation is artificial.
(DIR) Post #ARPvC0LGNrjNktNI6C by mitchw@mastodon.social
2023-01-07T16:28:45Z
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@davidgerard @davew I dislike character limits, but they seem to be fundamental to the Mastodon and Twitter, experience, and users of those services rebel at changes to the character limits. So I grit my teeth and put up with them. When in Rome, you shoot Roman candles.
(DIR) Post #ARPvC0ieysRivSJyZE by davidgerard@circumstances.run
2023-01-07T17:46:17Z
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@mitchw as I just noted, they're not in any way "fundamental" to the Mastodon experience. mastodon.social is not the fediverse.
(DIR) Post #ARPvToM9gWQDnMHalM by ML2@akkoma.sandhill.social
2023-01-08T01:01:20.148216Z
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@davidgerard @mitchw I'm currently writing from a personal #Akkoma instance that costs less than $5 a month to host on Linode. I'm planning to invite close friends to it soon.It has way more features, with an adjustable character limit being among just one them.I'm almost tempted to be come an acolyte for Akkoma at this point. If it weren't for me having other things to do, I might just become one.
(DIR) Post #ARQlfAb4WwbtZhzuAC by pugloaf@aus.social
2023-01-08T10:44:45Z
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@ML2 @davidgerard @mitchw good to hear, I've been thinking of setting up my own akkoma instance on a cheap linode as well, nice the hear that people have a good experience with it
(DIR) Post #ARQofrH69fINngftXk by penllawen@infosec.exchange
2023-01-08T11:11:35Z
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@ML2 @davidgerard @mitchw Hmmm maybe this is the self hosting ActivtyPub software I’ve been looking for? Got partway through pleroma but got distracted. Mastodon had too many moving parts for me liking.
(DIR) Post #ARRRkDyXanwFZm4FIe by buck@mastodon.social
2023-01-08T17:11:41Z
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@timbray @davidgerard @davew @mitchw @BarbNerdy We still need someone to build the “read this article for $x.xx” service
(DIR) Post #ARRRkEnaX0lu85x0ro by davew@mastodon.social
2023-01-08T17:33:11Z
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@buck @timbray @davidgerard @mitchw @BarbNerdy everyone thinks this is the problem but it's not the problem. lots of people have developed that app.the news publishers aren't interested.so some even launched the feature and collected the money for the pubs, and still they didn't want the money.nothing will work here until the news orgs, or at least a few of them, get on board, and really on board, not tipping-a-toe-in-the-water way.dive in head first.
(DIR) Post #ARRRkFHMkIahcRsnHU by timbray@hachyderm.io
2023-01-08T18:15:19Z
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@davew @buck @davidgerard @mitchw @BarbNerdy What Dave's saying sounds crazy but it isn't. I talked to a bunch of journos back in 2020 and they explained why management is married to the subscription model and hates micropayments: https://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/202x/2020/09/25/Subscription-Overload
(DIR) Post #ARRRkFf7Jzaco6zlIm by wjmaggos@liberal.city
2023-01-08T18:37:22Z
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@timbray @davew @buck @davidgerard @mitchw @BarbNerdy every blog needs to be natively an Activity Pub "user".separately, we need to be able to send money as easily as we do an email. from every banking app/website, usable as a protocol. and automate that. no middlemen like PayPal, no crypto.
(DIR) Post #ARRoAe4DPCZf1Bj1XM by mashbooq@mastodon.social
2023-01-07T19:14:19Z
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@timbray @davidgerard @davew @mitchw @BarbNerdy agree about subscription fatigue; with every new subscription I have to consider not only whether I can afford it now, but also whether I'm ok reducing what I'll have available in the future for other things I might want to subscribe to. It's exhausting to constantly have to make decisions about it and I just end up skipping anything that requires subscriptions
(DIR) Post #ARRoAee1G5DKoETcLQ by jjoelson@mastodon.social
2023-01-08T18:08:41Z
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@mashbooq @timbray @davidgerard @davew @mitchw @BarbNerdy Also, every subscription provides *way* too much content. I understand why writers need to do “write a lot, charge a lot”, but as a reader I don’t have time to read that much from a single writer. Doesn’t help that a single writer producing lots of content with no editor is not exactly a recipe for tight and efficient writing.
(DIR) Post #ARRoAf4FgYCK7akZEW by kcivey@mastodon.social
2023-01-08T18:18:24Z
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@jjoelson @mashbooq @timbray @davidgerard @davew @mitchw @BarbNerdy It was bad enough when every small newspaper started expecting you to subscribe to read the one article a year you were interested in from them. Now we're moving toward having a full subscription for every author? I want to pay by the article, and a small enough amount that I don't have to think about it. Unfortunately that doesn't seem to be workable either.
(DIR) Post #ARRoAfelUnP9wppj96 by jjoelson@mastodon.social
2023-01-08T18:30:19Z
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@kcivey @mashbooq @timbray @davidgerard @davew @mitchw @BarbNerdy I think we're seeing that the concept of bundling _does_ make economic sense for both readers and writers:- Readers need a _small_ number of subscriptions that provide them a range of writers on a range of topics, not _all_ of which they'll be interested in, but enough- Writers need some revenue from readers who aren't so obsessed with _their_ writing in particular that they can devote all their time and money to them
(DIR) Post #ARRoAgI78UsdusF9Tk by FLGLchicago@mas.to
2023-01-08T19:10:39Z
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@jjoelson @kcivey @mashbooq @timbray @davidgerard @davew @mitchw @BarbNerdy Concept of micropayments for news has been around for 30+ years and has never been workable for journalists or consumers. In fact it's mostly consumer behavior that's held it back. There is no world where "I want to pay by the article" is a sustainable economic model for the industry, and frankly, it's incentive for bad and dishonest journalism.
(DIR) Post #ARRoGr71oeaJDP0CsC by timbray@hachyderm.io
2023-01-08T19:14:07Z
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@FLGLchicago @jjoelson @kcivey @mashbooq @davidgerard @davew @mitchw @BarbNerdy Well, the concept of every publisher in the world trying to pivot simultaneously to paywalled subscriptions isn't working.So I suggest we ignore people saying "it hasn't worked yet so it can never work" and keep trying for a little while.
(DIR) Post #ARRoGrXyCU8SYxbiro by FLGLchicago@mas.to
2023-01-08T19:21:33Z
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@timbray @jjoelson @kcivey @mashbooq @davidgerard @davew @mitchw @BarbNerdy Not working for who. Couple of premium subscriptions + aggregator + RSS = a depth and breadth of news content that couldn't possibly be consumed, for less than a dollar per day. No reasonable person would expect to pay less than that, and it's a fraction of what people used to gladly pay at the newsstand.
(DIR) Post #ARRoGs7m3Mm8M0MJfs by timbray@hachyderm.io
2023-01-08T19:25:05Z
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@FLGLchicago @jjoelson @kcivey @mashbooq @davidgerard @davew @mitchw @BarbNerdy Well, but I keep following interesting links and hitting paywalls from pubs that I'm never gonna subscribe to.
(DIR) Post #ARRoGsccChRftemwkK by kcivey@mastodon.social
2023-01-08T19:38:04Z
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@timbray @FLGLchicago @jjoelson @mashbooq @davidgerard @davew @mitchw @BarbNerdy Yes, "a couple of premium subscriptions" may provide more than I can read if I read all of it (which I won't), but it's far from covering all the things I happen across and want to read over the course of a day. Those places demanding I sign up for $12 a month to read one article aren't benefiting by blocking me from reading it, because I'm never going to do that.
(DIR) Post #ARRoGtHNl83Tw5rVI0 by FLGLchicago@mas.to
2023-01-08T19:23:36Z
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@timbray @jjoelson @kcivey @mashbooq @davidgerard @davew @mitchw @BarbNerdy Btw, also 30 years ago, when I was an executive in the newspaper industry, I used to tell whoever would listen that there's no such thing as local on the Internet. Didn't stop otherwise smart people and companies from throwing 10s of millions of dollars at local news projects. Who wants to keep trying to make that work?
(DIR) Post #ARRoivS7GzKYmgFcJc by FLGLchicago@mas.to
2023-01-08T19:28:21Z
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@timbray @jjoelson @kcivey @mashbooq @davidgerard @davew @mitchw @BarbNerdy That's your choice.
(DIR) Post #ARRoiw09ESYKUEAnMO by timbray@hachyderm.io
2023-01-08T19:30:35Z
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@FLGLchicago @jjoelson @kcivey @mashbooq @davidgerard @davew @mitchw @BarbNerdy I'm well off and would cheerfully pay more for news, in aggregate, than I am now. But I. Will. Not. Sign. Up. to any other parties to reach into my bank account every month. So either I'm weird, or I'm a significant unaddressed source of revenue.
(DIR) Post #ARRoiwhOdf9CeMPKls by FLGLchicago@mas.to
2023-01-08T19:36:05Z
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@timbray @jjoelson @kcivey @mashbooq @davidgerard @davew @mitchw @BarbNerdy Again, your choice. I will tell you as a former publisher for some major titles that I would have no problem walking away from you, and you're welcome to find your news somewhere else, because I wouldn't see the reason and purpose to break my dollars into pennies to satisfy someone who will likely never be satisfied. Subscribe direct or buy through an aggregator.
(DIR) Post #ARRoix6v6lZ1vWLiYS by lnxw37a2@pleroma.soykaf.com
2023-01-08T22:55:01.322787Z
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@FLGLchicago @timbray @jjoelson @kcivey @mashbooq @davidgerard @davew @mitchw @BarbNerdy If I follow a link to a site and they throw up a paywall, I am content to starve them of revenue permanently. I am willing to pay for one or two local papers and one big regional, but beyond that, I won't. And with paywalls, they won't even get ad revenue from me.
(DIR) Post #ARRomYtX5Hx5yroBmq by FLGLchicago@mas.to
2023-01-08T19:45:18Z
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@kcivey @timbray @jjoelson @mashbooq @davidgerard @davew @mitchw @BarbNerdy Try walking up to a newsstand and offering to pay to read just one article. The economics of what you want are simply not sustainable for the news industry, not even for very successful independent journalists outside of news organizations who have always wanted to embrace that model (see linked article). There's always the library if you want something for free.https://www.cjr.org/tow_center_reports/digital-platforms-and-journalistic-careers-a-case-study-of-substack-newsletters.php
(DIR) Post #ARRomZPn9Lkxautx4K by kcivey@mastodon.social
2023-01-08T19:49:34Z
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@FLGLchicago @timbray @jjoelson @mashbooq @davidgerard @davew @mitchw @BarbNerdy At a newsstand I can buy one newspaper or magazine. They don't make me subscribe.
(DIR) Post #ARRqOO6zit7FUqhpWC by FLGLchicago@mas.to
2023-01-08T23:06:27Z
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@lnxw37a2 @BarbNerdy @davidgerard @timbray @davew @jjoelson @kcivey @mashbooq @mitchw And they will starve you of knowledge, so I guess that's a fair non-transaction.
(DIR) Post #ARRqOOhVX8K5K5mzQm by lnxw37a2@pleroma.soykaf.com
2023-01-08T23:13:43.522410Z
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@FLGLchicago @BarbNerdy @davidgerard @timbray @davew @jjoelson @kcivey @mashbooq @mitchw Thanks to wire services, most of the stories blocked are available in other papers with more reasonable policies. They're not starving me at all.I should also clarify that some papers do a X stories per month before paywalling, which is different from "you haven't paid us, so you cannot read any stories at all". X per month makes sense.