Journalism isn't free. For a different type of service, I would reconsider if I wanted to continue supporting them. But good journalism is disappearing, so I think if you're in a position to help keep it going, you should.
this post was submitted on 05 Oct 2024
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I would stop. At that point it's not really a donation, but a payment. I don't know how much of that donation to consider a "payment".
Similarly I didn't get the Tor Project stickers. I don't know how much the stickers, envelope and postage cost them, thus I couldn't determine the amount that is "donation". As such, I opted not to take them. Just the same with Fediverse Canvas 2024 stickers. Some amount of that has went for Canvas development, but how much I don't know. Once again I opted for donation only.
I'd like them in both cases. Perhaps $3 (excl. shipping) per sticker is still OK to consider a purchase, but $25 for a few stickers, meh.
Anyway, my point is, if for the donation I am provided exclusive products or services and I either don't know their cost (to subtract from donation amount) or don't have the choice to opt out from being provided the services/products, I won't donate at all.
But even outside of that, it wouldn't pass. For me, one requirement for donating is that whatever group I am donating to provides everyone the same service no matter if you pay them or not. Otherwise I can't really consider it a donation, and I don't have the money to pay.
Vox half-assed their paywall - the full articles are still in the free RSS feed
Doesn't address OP's question - still the most important comment.
I do not think I blame any services or sites for paywalls especially if its part of their financial model to continue operations and providing services.
There are many free services I have the privilege of being able to pay for to support: Proton, StoryGraph, Wikipedia. I used to donate to Pocket but no longer. I want these services to continue and am privileged enough to be able to donate
I want these services to continue and am privileged enough to be able to donate
I think this is the best model from sociatsl perspective. I like service that are available to everyone for free at least to some degree.
I pay for some things as an adult wage slave, I can do it and I do it with idea that it is my turn to pay.
When I was young I couldn't and I didn't but somebody else paid or Foss chads just did for the people.
I used to pay for content too but media industry lost their fucking minds so I am radicalized now...
I would only consider donating in the first place if it were not only free to access, but also licensed under a free license. I have donated to freely licensed projects before, but not to merely freely accessible websites.
Iβm annoyed by paywalls but I understand and accept them. I never view my payment as a donation, itβs just a way to get access to content. What troubles me is when important information is hidden to the public that might guide you in your understanding of the world and therefore (political) decision making.
Ask yourself why you're donating in the first place. Is it so that good journalism can continue to exist regardless of who gets to see it? Is it to give everyone access to good journalism regardless of their ability to pay? Is it so that the journalists can continue producing content for you to consume yourself? Maybe it's something else?
If the company is no longer providing what you expect from them, then that's a good reason to stop donating.
I think the details matter a lot. If I'm an active contributor to a site and I get a bait and switch, then I'm probably going to leave the site permanently. I try to keep track of what's happening to make that less likely.
If you're setting up a service and you realize it doesn't scale up well, I think you should try to state your roadmap on your site somewhere, so the users can expect changes that might happen. If people go in expecting that you might need to monetize in certain ways, they won't be disappointed when you do. Or rather, they might be slightly disappointed but they'll understand.
I find it funny how the internet still rages sometimes.
Yes.
I love how the top 4 comments in this pretty active post represent a substantially different approaches to the question.
IMO, if you like a service/subscription and it's your choice to support them and thier content I wouldn't think twice.
My only paid subscription is MS office, because I've used Xcel almost my entire career (almost 30+ years use?) and have never paid for it until a couple years ago.
So I like the content, I use the service and pricer per annum is good for me (only a few more years and I'm done, so it still works out for me).
Side note: do I have this right? You can actually picture a time in the foreseeable future where you never have to use Excel again?
If so, I am soooo deeply envious of you :P
Well...we all die at some point... right?
It depends. If Wikimedia does introduce a paywall they are SOL. I would absolutely fork them privately (I do copy the content for my language once in a while and the most important media)and never pay another penny.
If a news outlet changes, it's different,at least for me.