TRAINS now requires a paid subscr. to the magazine in order to read the “newswire”… formerly, only a free registration to the website was necessary… according to the editors:
The Newswire is the Internet’s best source of professionally reported and edited railroad news. As such, it is an expensive service to produce. After several years of offering the Newswire for free, we have decided to make this a bonus for Trains magazine subscribers only, recognizing their commitment to the magazine, and our commitment to them."
how trains expects to offset the expense of producing the newswire thru subscription enforcement is not clear… present subscribers currently have access to the newswire, as would future subscribers… how would this policy generate added revenue? would registered users of the trains website suddenly decide to subscribe to the magazine in order to have access to the newswire? as the newswire has been free since the website was opened, users have been familiar with the easy access to the newswire… now they see a paid subscription is the way to read the newswire… is this an incentive to open a new subscription?
what do you think? should the newswire continue to be free to registered users? should the newswire be restricted to magazine subscribers? if i could see a path to TRAINS increasing revenue by requiring subscriptions in order to read the newswire, i could understand why TRAINS would do this… i just dont see a great deal of funds incoming to the magazine due to the new status of the newswire… i could see paying a fee for access to the newswire… i wouldnt enjoy it, but i could understand paying a fee for access to daily info about railroads… going for a full subscription, to me, is out-of-bounds…
Man…here I was thinking that we were done with these threads. Silly me. Perhaps one of these days the “Thread for Everybody!” threads will make a comeback, too.
As for my [2c], I still think that it’s presuming upon the goodwill of Kalmbach to complain about their policy for the Newswire on the forum that they still provide free of charge.
Subscribing to the magazine isn’t that big of a commitment. If you can’t handle it, please don’t bother to pollute the forum with your complaints.
well, COPCARSS, i thought id seen it all… I guess “freedom of speech” ends where
your forum begins… sorry, i didn’t know dissent, or even a different
viewpoint, was not tolerated here… should there be separate forums for
those who only like steam, not diesel? as for criticizing those who offer free services-- i guess
you’ve never criticized your employer, your teachers, your parents, your
govt… do you want to screen forums for disrespectful comments? whatdo you think forums are for, if not to exchange ideas, even if you dont agree with them? i suggest if you cant read an opinion that differs from yours without taking it personal, maybe you should give up reading forums… the dictionary definition of “forum” is “an open meeting place for discussion”… try being tolerant of things you dont understand, you might learn something, perhaps patiience… A forum is not a means of changing the world… it is just a way of expressing opinions and learning from others… do we need your permission for that?
I think that the problem was that you did not get the hint that this topic was “flogged” to death after Bergie made the announcement of impending format change.
This is an open forum and certainly you are welcome to post as you like [ within reasonably accepted bounds]. I would not try to speak for Chris or anyone else who posts here, but sometimes there are subjects that have been thrashed through so long and hard, there are still some tender feelings and a desire to move on.
cabforward, you are surely entitled to voice your opinion,but occassionaly a trip back through the archives by way of refreshing your memory might be helpful to get the lay of the land.
Sam has the general idea of my negative post. This topic was simply beat to a bloody, terrible painful death at the time of the site makeover. It really is beating a dead horse.
However, the second point of my post is that I think it is absolutely inconsiderate to complain about what Kalmbach is denying you on the forum that they are providing you free of charge.
Think of it this way. Say you invite me to dinner. You cook me a nice meal, not expecting anything in return. How would you feel if my choice of topic for dinner conversation was “Why on earth didn’t you cook me filet mignon served with 25 year old Cabarnet?” A little presumptious, don’t you think?
That’s exactly how I feel about complaining about the Newswire subscription requirement in the free forum. I think it would only be common courtesy to complain about it elsewhere. At the very least, take the time to compose a well thought out, courteous letter sent directly to Bergie instead denouncing Kalmbach publicly.
Offering something for free initially and then charging for it is standard operating practice in IT. For example, Microsoft does this with all of their products – the first versions of Windows, Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint, etc. They got the bugs out and then started charging in the next version. No one complained. The other ploy is to offer dirt-cheap subscription fees initially, and then raise charges dramatically in subsequent years.
I have to say that I take a bit of blame for this. About six months ago I wrote Bergie and suggested that they do what their compadres over at Fine Scale Modeling are doing. (FSM is a Kalmbach publication.) It seemed to me at the time that TRAINS was trying to find a path of least resistance and enhanced sales. They are a business, and they are entitled to charge fees for their services. I don’t think their price is outrageous for the quality of their product. And from what I can tell, we aren’t paying for a bunch of self important, self promoting reporters to go hob nob with the publisher of the Washington Post. (For that, I get the on line version of the NY Times, which is free. Mostly. You get charged a monthly fee to read some of their editorials.)
It is more than possible that insisting on a subscription as part of a service was not the idea of the TRAINS staff, but Kalmbach corporation.
By the way, I finally gave up trying to crack the forum codes for FSM and subscribed. They are worth it. So is TRAINS. If the cost of paying a reporter is partially covered by my subscription, I’m glad to be of help. If asking for a subscription helps keep TRAINS going, hey, I’m all for that too.
Now if they start charging a surcharge for using their logo… like some railroads I know… then you will see me get REALLY mad.
I am not a subscriber, and I wish I could get to see the news again.
It is not for cheapness that I do not subscribe. I am on the road for a month or two or more before I get home. I don’t want to wait to read the mag, so I get it at a newsstand.
Well said. I’d like to add that Kalmbach should accommodate all those desiring access to the Newswire without having to buy a magazine subscription by charging … say, $42.95 a year … for the Newswire service.
People tend to forget using the forums here are a privilege, not a right, and certainly not an entitlement.