STLToday Behind the paywall?

Home The Cardinal Nation Forums Open Forum STLToday Behind the paywall?

Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 15 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #55035
    thejager
    Participant

    Paid - Annual

    So this is all behind the paywall now?
    This kind of happened out nowhere it feels like. Was there any notification that this was coming?

    I know i used to have to the surveys, and i turned off the adblocker, but $10 a month for their articles? I don’t see this working very well.

    They have every right to do this, but i feel like readership will dwindle online, and instead of going to this model they could have sold more ads and kept readership and interest up. Now they are undoubtedly going to lose readership (it wont go up) and it isnt hard to find other news outlets, especially for the sports related news.

    I used to work where they gave free parking, and then they made it $5 bucks and then saw admission and attendance go down. Then they started laying off people, then went back to free parking, and not only did they lose the people from the initial charging of the parking, but also that they found out that offering it back to free wasnt that big of a draw.

    I guess I will have to use TCN and VEB for all my news on the Cardinals now.

    Brian I hope you consider covering some of what they cover so many of us are not entirely out of the loop. I No longer can it be expected that all of us know what the beat writers say or write anymore.

    #55045
    Brian Walton
    Keymaster

    Paid - Annual

    I can see the problem from multiple angles.

    In this new media world, newspapers are trying to change to survive. As much as people want and expect it, nothing worth having comes for free.

    For TCN, I came to the realization long ago that as a small business owner, I cannot compete financially going head-to-head with the entities that have full-time beat reporters in St. Louis.

    When I launched this new site 11 months ago, I chose to go ad-free with the hope that those who care about our in-depth coverage of the minor leagues will subscribe. It has been a tough year financially, as I chose to cover all the subscriptions pre-paid to Scout, even though they kept the money. Some subscribers have re-joined, but others have not, despite no price increase since 2005.

    It is tough sledding for everyone out there…

    P.S. Personally, I have been selective about where I pay to subscribe and where I do not. I haven’t yet decided about the new P-D. MLB.com overlaps a large percentage of it with their Cardinals coverage so it may be a tough sell. MLB already has its hooks deeply into my pocket with MLB.TV (and to a lesser extent, MiLB.TV).

    #55051
    thejager
    Participant

    Paid - Annual

    You know me Brian, i have been around for a long time with you and the iterations of this forum. Im in for the long haul, and that was because of you primarily. I really appreciate the work you do and the care you have for your readers and subscribers. And if you had to go to ads i would understand even then, because i know you made the decision not just with your bottom line in mind but also for all of us.

    And that is what i kind of find the most troubling about the PD…no notice, or if it was it was buried, they are attempting to slide it in which to me shows a huge amount of disrespect to their readership. yes, it is smaller, but you took it upon yourself to take care of us when things changed and notified us before it all happened.

    I have always liked the PD coverage, not necessarily all the writers but i at least i thought they provided that good content to us as a kind of thank you for choosing to go with them.

    Now, I am FORCED to make a decision on whether i want to keep listening to them. Whereas before it was a no brainer to visit their stories every day. Btu now, I don’t see why i should spend the money on their viewpoints when i can get other good news for free, as well as have other options for paid.

    They just threw themselves into a huge pot for what i am willing to pay for, before they held my attention and readership because they offered great content for free. I am willing to pay with ads, and with surveys or adblocking disabled.

    I know they need to adapt to survive, but through their actions they are forcing their readers to make a decision when they have never had to before, and for the price they are charging there are lots of options…free and paid. I don’t live in StL or i’d read more of the paper, but i just read about the Cardinals…and i’d bet they get a lot of readers that same way. But take it away and charge me, without notice or care, and i will move on.

    Anyways, i ant be the only one a little bothered by this. I am curious how others feel about it. They have every right to do it and ask for money etc. I just dont see it as a wise move, if this is how they are planning on surviving, i don’t see how it works….it will inherently lose readership and that should be the prime focus of saving their jobs, not finding a way to get less readers to pay more….

    #55062
    Brian Walton
    Keymaster

    Paid - Annual

    Thank you for the comments, jager, and they are appreciated. Also, many other people have worked very hard to provide content here – both currently and those who moved ahead in their careers. I conduct an orchestra and here are the players.

    The Cardinal Nation staff

    #55182
    thejager
    Participant

    Paid - Annual

    You all do great work. It is appreciated

    I still get excited whenever i see UCONN posts in the threads…it’s like old times!

    #55192
    UConn Card
    Moderator

    Paid - Annual

    Why thank you, jager. I don’t post as much as I used to, husband and I experienced a big lifestyle change a couple of years ago (nothing at all bad but it takes much of my time).

    #55194
    gscottar
    Participant

    Paid - Annual

    In my opinion not having access to all of the PD material isn’t a huge loss. While this site tends to skew more towards in depth minor league info I have no doubt that Brian and his staff are in the know about the big league info as well.

    The unfortunate passing of Joe Strauss and then Bernie leaving hurt the PD. Both were/are a little cranky but provided good insights. I’ve never been a big fan of Goold. I’m sure he is a nice guy but he tends to get off topic in a hurry especially on twitter. I’ve always got the impression that he would rather talk about anything but baseball which is his actual job.

    I would also add that Joe Trezza and Jen Langosch at MLB both provide good coverage and are worth following.

    #55199
    Cardinal in France
    Participant

    Free

    I,too, am unhappy with the P-D. Living outside the United States and seven time zones away, my sources of Cardinals news are limited. A couple of months ago I wrote to the P-D asking if there was a way to subscribe to Cardinals news only, or, barring that, sports news only, in that St. Louis local, state and even national articles are of no interest to me. I got a one-sentence brush-off. Which makes me even more grateful for TCN to make up for the practically useless official MLB/Cardinals website whose Cardinals writer is so weak and so often makes you wade through hundreds of words of blah-blah before getting around to telling me what happened in the game.
    End of grumble.

    #55205
    thejager
    Participant

    Paid - Annual

    They still do good work at the PD, and the weekly chats and interactions with the players is still pretty fast and accurate, plus the team seems to give them a lot of access for information and interviews

    i couldnt read it but the one today about Molina seemed a good read and not something i tend to see from other sources often

    #55209
    bicyclemike
    Moderator

    Paid - Annual

    I still get excited whenever i see UCONN posts in the threads…it’s like old times!

    Now if we could get Gagliano and Ducky Medwick back on board, it would be a genuine re-union!

    #55263
    thejager
    Participant

    Paid - Annual

    awww….Gags and Ducky

    #55264
    CariocaCardinal
    Participant

    Paid - Monthly

    I interact with Gags quite a bit on facebook. He is busy trying to save Pope Francis from the world and the world from Donald Trump as well as being kneedeep in some academic research. He does bring up the Cardinals on a regular basis so he is still an avid fan though he seldom gets a chance to peek over here.

    #55271
    UConn Card
    Moderator

    Paid - Annual

    Yep, Gags is alive and well. CC summed it up beautifully.

    #55330
    grayssportsalmanacc
    Participant

    Free

    Offtopic- but i send uconn a cardinals purse my girlfriend had ( i think??) at the time a few years ago because she didnt use it anymore, and when she found out i gave it to someone she freaked out, not because she missed it but because it was dirty and she couldnt believe i would actually send that to someone…she still gives me trouble about it : )! lol…good to see you uconn

    #55333
    UConn Card
    Moderator

    Paid - Annual

    Hee hee hee.

    That’s funny!

    Good to see you too.

Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 15 total)
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.