Forum - View topicNEWS: Subscription Server ?
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Tempest
 I Run this place.ANN Publisher  Posts: 10468 Location: Do not message me for support. |
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A few notes on what would and would not be included
1) Ads would become optional. Users of the subscription server would have the option of turning ads off, or leaving them on. 2) The server would be much faster. It would actually be a slower machine, but with a much lower number of users accessing it. 3) None of the content currently available for free would become "premium" content. 4) We might include / offer cheaper subscriptions to Protoculture Addicts 5) We might offer some special ANN merchandise (if this interests you, tell us what interests) you, not available to other readers. (Jadress Plushies anyone? ... T-shirts?) 6) Whatever you suggest would be considered. (No fansubs, torrents or otherwise illegal material, but perhaps we could work out some legal downloads). -t |
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TiredGamer
 Posts: 246 Location: Florida |
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3) None of the content currently available for free would become "premium" content.
There's two ways to take this: a) ANN plans on making certain news, reviews, interviews, columns, editorials, or sections of the encyclopedia or forums premium-only in the future; b) ANN plans on finding new and exciting things to make premium-only other than the above-listed things that are already offered for free. So which would it be? |
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Proman
 Posts: 947 Location: USA |
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There's also another thing I was wondering about: now that ANN is thinking of offering premium content does it mean that it will be hiring new people or at least increasing it's number of moderators?
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icepick314
 Posts: 486 Location: Back in the Good Ol' US of A |
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figure this would happen....
banner ads no longer are able to sustain these free sites... i wouldn't be surprised if www.animeondvd.com becomes pay site as well.... |
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Advent_Nebula
Posts: 932 Location: Colorado |
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I would only use a subscription server for ANN if the cost was no more that $5.00 a month.
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ANN_Bamboo
ANN Contributor
 Posts: 3904 Location: CO |
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B. |
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Tempest
I Run this place. ANN Publisher Posts: 10468 Location: Do not message me for support. |
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Banner ads do a relatively good job of sustaining the site and we can survive without the premium stuff... Or we can expand and make the site better... -t |
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Shinotaku14
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 233 Location: Greenville or Rock Hill, SC |
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Temp, I think you might have an easier time squezing water from a rock than getting poor anime Fans to shell out money for a website. That's what I think anyway. All in all, I wouldn't mind you guys start producing and selling merchandise, but I don't know if this whole "payed members access only" thing feels right to me.
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jmays
ANN Past Staff
 Posts: 1390 Location: St. Louis, MO |
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What's not to "feel right" about? All of the features that ANN currently provides will still be free. We're talking about extra stuff on top of that, like downloads. To be absolutely clear: We will not pull an ESPN.com and slowly bring news, columns, or any type of content you can currently browse on ANN under a paid "subscription" service. If you never want to give a penny to ANN, please hold your replies from this thread. But if you are open to the idea, let us know what sort of new stuff you'd be willing to pay for! Don't be afraid to think big, wild, creative--everything's on the table. |
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Shinotaku14
Encyclopedia Editor
Posts: 233 Location: Greenville or Rock Hill, SC |
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No, I'm quite well aware that you weren't intending to withhold news or anything but as the merchandise thing was stated in the original post by Temp sounded as if you would need to be a premium member in order to purchase the aformentioned possible t-shirts and Plushies.... or maybe I'm misinterpeting that?
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RainOfSteel
 Posts: 30 |
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I will be willing to pay up to $5.95/month . . . but this premium content that is mentioned will have to be real.
1) Ads: Advertisments for anime/manga are among the few I appreciate. Even when paying, I'd probably like to keep the ads going, on one condition. I have animations off on all my browsers (I have a great deal of difficulty tolerating distracting motions on web pages I view), and yet the ads on animenewsnetwork continue to animate in defiance of my user preferences. That must stop! There must be an option to have non-animated ads only, otherwise I will turn off the ads entirely. 2) Server Speed: This is of medium importance to me. As long as a web page loads in under 3 seconds, I'm ok. Sub-second page loads are the ideal, but I can live with a 3 second delay. Anything over 3 seconds on most page loads causes my annoyance level to increase geometrically. 3) Encyclopedia Content: This is the most valuable feature of the site for me. And yet, it's largely a mess. Sometimes entries are duplicated. Most entries are incomplete. I come here looking for information about my favorite series, and am frequently frustrated by the lack of information I find. More links to the best fan sites for each series, more thorough descriptions of the scope of the anime (total episodes, OAV volume sequences, publishing/release sequences); more episode, movie, and OAV synopses, etc. Yes, this means someone out there grinding away at assembling this information. If it can't be contained here, then links to fan sites where this information is posted (and done so accurately) are a must. (Official site links are appreciated, as well, but are often of less use in obtaining the information I seek). Items 4, 5 are secondary or even nearly non-existent concerns for me. I want information about my anime and manga, and I want it in one easily accessible location. 6) Other Suggestions: I'd want to see collections of Trailers I could download onto my hard drive (and not just stream temporarily). Most companies should be happy to have you host their trailers. (It's free advertising, after all.) SUMMARY Failure to provide a major content enhancement will fail to secure my dollars, especially since $5.95 x 12 = $71.40 = 2 or 3 anime Titles lost to money spent here. I'm not giving up anime purchases unless I get something equally valuable. |
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Ohoni
Posts: 3421 |
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I'd have to know what I'd be getting to decide. I hated when IGN became subscription and a lot of the stuff that would normally be free became Insider only. I paid, but I don't think I would do that for ANN.
If ANN is in trouble, I'd help out to keep it alive, but if it's just a matter of the fees paying for new stuff, and I don't need any of that new stuff, then why pay the fees? What would this new stuff be that it would be worth paying for? Increases speed and relaibility is nice, but I wouldn't be willing to pay for it. What we have now is fine by me. Reduced subsciption to PA is nice, but I stopped getting PA years ago (since I have something called "the Internet" now, and PA was always months behind what I'd already seen), and don't plan to pick it back up. Removal of ads? They've never bothered me on this site. You guys don't have pop-ups (at least none that Mozilla sees), or redirrects or anything a-holish like that. |
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cyrax777
 Posts: 1825 Location: the desert |
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Tshirts would be nice.
Did ask about that at ax glad to hear its still being looked into. |
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Bahamut God
 Posts: 113 |
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I must be pretty cheap, cause i was thinking closer too 15$ a year. I'm not sure what you could do extra for me that would be worth 5 dollars a month that was legal. And ANN is my home page. (I click the hell out of the ads in case that makes anyone feel better...) >_> |
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Animedude35
 Posts: 98 Location: Dallas, Texas |
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If the subscription price is reasonable, then I would do it, and when I say reasonable, it's about $5/month.
Ads/Speed is a given so I'll just go for the others. For extra content, how about special contest for premium only, such as like a boxset of a series, instead of some of the contest for just one dvd. You can still do the one dvd for free members, but boxsets and such "rare" items can be for the paying consumer. Also another idea is about exclusive deals at online retailers for premium customers, like an online coupon for extra discounts on a specific item(s). Also, free exclusive downloads of trailers and/or FIRST episodes of a series that can be hosted up on ANN for premium members. And finally, T-shirts, Plushies, keychains, bookbags, coffee mugs, ect. will be fine as well. |
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