Paying to view

[wenwilder]

I love doing research, of all the things I do in a days time, research is my favorite. Knowing that I can go from reading a book to doing a search online, while talking to friends if I choose, makes researching more fun.

All the fun comes to a grinding halt though, when I find one of those websites that require you to pay for a membership to view them. I use to believe that only the 'taboo' sites required this, but I'm finding that more and more sites are switching to the 'pay-to-view' method and it STINKS! (That's a technical term by the way:) )

I have yet to see a perfect website so I know that's not what they are asking you to pay for, and I haven't found a site with flawless information. All content is written from the writers point of view, and it is never 100% complete. There is always an 'unkown'.

Now, it is not that I mind paying for a member ship IF I am going to visit that site often for the information they provide. I know others feel this way as well, and they may pay for a membership.

Who started this trend? The almighty buck definately rules doesn't it? At this rate we're going to have to pay to get into the shopping center before we go shopping. What fun that would be!

[Tubby]

I can understand some sites doing this, I always pay for my newspaper before reading it.

Of course it the content is not pretty good it would be a great way to loose traffic.

Tubby

[wenwilder]

You pay for newspapers and other periodicals for the up to date information they provide. News sells. Topic specific information, whether for research or entertainment, you go to a library because it is a store-house of information. Libraries, last I knew, were free. Since the internet I haven't set foot in a library because it is much easier to type in "tofu recipes", hit enter, and then browse through the results in the comfort of my own home.

I can understand paying for a membership to online periodicals, but I am not going to pay for a membership to the latest "dating" site just to read an article on the Psychology of Red in Romance Websites. I pretty much know what the article is going to say, but I'm always curious about the possibility that it may add a fresh perspective.

Not everything should come with a price tag.

[Tubby]

I have thought that there is possibly an oportunity for some central fund to operate, Where a user could simply have say, a part-cent, deducted from their account for everytime they visit some chosen sites.

This way a user could top up their account and visit some of the more information laden sites at an economical price.

There are a lot of sites that are well worth visiting for information that have no other option other than to cram adverts in - or have pop ups to pay the way.

A great number of sites would open up their vaults (so to speak) for a mere 1 cent for five visits.

It could be used for pages like this
www.restored-classic.com/chevy

I think in a onother ten years or so something of this sort could well be 'normal'

[redcircle]

I think they already have that sort of thing for the porno sites.. not that I know from personal experience or anything.. but they hide it behind the age verification thing. Pay them a fee and get access to all the sites on their ring.

[Tubby]

I imagine something a bit different, maybe organised by your ISP even.

Re Porn; they send me enough free samples, via spam and advertising - to satisfy my needs a dozen times over, in fact just having an email address these days is over-subscribing to porn.

[wenwilder]

What price do you put on information though? If you willingly place information on a website, then in my opinion, it is meant to be shared.

I don't place any information on my site that is not 1. supported, and 2. provides enough information for a potiential client to do my job themselves. I suppose I could place ALL of my information on the site and charge a fee for viewing it and for its usage. What fun would that be though?

Okay, my main frustration is............

In the beginning a simple method of sharing information was needed, thus the Internet. Pay-to-view sites are every where now. Information is no longer freely shared. It, like so many other things in our lives, has become a 'money maker.' The Internet is no longer seen as the wonder it is, instead it is becoming the scam of the century.

Visually challanged and contentextual incoherent websties bearing get rich quick schemes, illegally obtainable prescription medication ads, and chatroom stalkers have become the norm. When we're not deleting email we're searching for answers on a medium that proved humanity hadn't lost out to technology, because people from every country, speaking every language - no matter the age, skin color, race, religion, sex...etc. - was sharing information, and sometimes laughs, freely for no other reason than they could.

Society is losing faith in the corporate mongers that try to tell us what to think, what to wear, what to eat, and why. Small businesses are back in the game, competting with brand name companies because people want honesty and 'real'.

If you don't want to share information, don't put it on the internet, and if you do put it on the internet consider the true price tag if you make it pay-to-view. Whether we want to admit it or not, people try to find ways to cheat the system - get things free or cheap - because the system has to high a price tag and to few benefits to warrant paying.

[Tubby]

Yes i agree with most of that...

but a different spin would be the liberation of the little man, (staying with the classic car theme here)

It always has been a waste of time trying to sell scarce parts for pre dated cars; a rusted out panel from an early 1928 car has value to someone who is probably a thousand mile away - but its value is, as a pattern. Waste of time putting it in a newspaper it's too expensive and anyway you already know of everyone restoring a similar car for a hundred miles around.
to simply be able to email a photo to a service, so that someone who needs it, can find it, is brilliant The net offers this. but to pay someone $20 to sell a $1 part is not cost effective.

what is cost effective is buyers collecting old cars and selling of the badges for $150 each, so that the car will never be complete again until someone pays $200 for the final original piece. Its cost effective to scavengers !

A great majority of classic car enthusiast spend thousands of hours working to re-create a car from their early childhood memories - "This is the car that my grandfather drove my Grandmother to Brisbane in on their Honymoon"

The Internet is quite capable of cutting the cost of newspaper advertising down to less than 1 cent an item; making it totally free will not work, making it $20 an item will not work (long term)

I do not see why Mrs Jones cannot simply list her old $5 pram that she used to push her fith child around for the last 12 months simply and easily without the hassle of registration - simply listing her phone number as a contact. . and whover is buying simply type in 'second hand pram wanted' and the computer check the location of the buyer and present them with Mrs Jones pram. . . No adverts, no unslolicited email, no middle man pawn broker. . just an extra 1 cent added to their ISP account

I am a dreamer. . But I sell more classic car parts than ebay (not talking new parts 'drop shipping')- nobody pays - and I get paid for the traffic. . It it a beautiful concept, I love it, I love the Idea so much that even though I am totally cumputer unintuative, I manage to struggle my way into this new and (potentially) Beautiful world.

There is a place on the net to provide service, make money, advertise, promote, inform, argue, rant, etc etc, I WANT IT ALL. . I do not want a thousand forums all the same, I want them all different.

Its about now that I realise I was 'Raving' and looking for the spell checker that I cannot find......

We can ALL have . . what we want !

[wenwilder]

I think I understand your idea, I think. I don't do that very often so bear with me here.

You are talking about adding a 'fee' to an existing account for a service another company provides without requiring a sign up or membership?

A person has an account with an ISP, they pay for that account. While surfing around the internet, they chance upon your site and 1 cent is billed to their ISP account, because of their visit - and there is no membership, right?

I don't think ISP's would go for it, and I'm not real sure people would find the idea appealing. Pennies add up, there would likely be constant disputes from people claiming they weren't the one's visiting the site, but someone else they allowed to use the computer. Then there's Dial-up users with the same IP's - if this idea is based on tracking through the use of IP's - identity theft, etc.

Creating a site to post rare and valuable parts to antique and collectable cars is fantastic. Charging a small fee to post an ad or view it - while I'm not sure a charge for posting or viewing an ad would be as affective as a finders fee - is a feasible idea. Goodness knows I would love an easy way to finish restoring my '69 GTO without searching every back alley website and salvage yard between here and kingdom come.

Now, if I am completely off the mark and misunderstanding your post then I am sorry. That is what I took from your post. What am I missing or not understanding?

[Tubby]

No, I do not think you misunderstood the thoughts that I placed here. But I think you might not have considered that it could be quite a simple system.

I often seem to find my thinking does not run smoothly alongside other peoples thoughts, (maybe because I am approching 60 years in a younger persons world) but I do see something of the like I described in a few years from now.

I am quite content to sit back and watch the systems fall into place one by one. . I am Totally impressed with a few of the better search engines that now produce 'local' results to my enquireys. . even though I fully understand that people who are paying 20 cents per visitor, have rather insisted that they do not wish an Australian to click on their page especially if they are located in Texas, (I wouln't want to pay for me either). . . But it does demonstrate the way things are heading . . I wonder how long it will be before Google wants to know my location before showing me a relevent result ?? less than five years I suspect.

The Internet Has to totally replace newspapers, to plan its future with the concept of the two running side by side would be very poor thinking .

If I were an ISP I would be looking to the future, I do not think I would be inclined to sit back and wait until nobody needed to subscribe anymore.

[Tubby]

Do you realy own a 69 GTO . . COOOOOOL !

check out
http://restored-classics.com/carparts/page4.html

[wenwilder]

Do you realy own a 69 GTO . . COOOOOOL !


Is there any other car to own? :) Except maybe a Mustang fastback, or challanger, or charger, or..... I'm a hotrod girl, what can I say? :)

Don't tell, but everyone is supposed to have that one true love - well, mine is a '69 GTO (http://www.thinkingcritically.net/temp/1969gtojudge.jpg). It wasn't until I was 18 that I actually figured out that 'guys' owned cars and not the other way around.

If it wasn't fast with glasspacks and an excellent paint job I wasn't interested. I definately wasn't interested in the guys. They didn't come with glasspacks or a good paint job. ;)

I grew up with a mom and dad who worked on everything from tractors to riding lawnmowers. Mechanics was a way of life.

I can go from watching an opera to getting covered in mud at the monster truck rally. :)

But SssssssssssssssssHhhhhhhhhhhhhh don't tell!!! :)

[Tubby]

one of the reasons I started the website was because so many of my car club mates. . were totally inept at using forums, or the Internet, Most of them wanted a single page to be able to go to - or a page that could easily be copied and pasted on to the car club newsletter. Thats is why I originally created all the single make adverts on to a single page. (well a section of the page)- as funny as this may seem, in practise this is a lot less time consuming, than editing posts like "FANTASTIC OFFER" etc. I just delete them before they hit the site - and they turn up a week later in a format I prefer.

I also had the problem of highly mechanically minded mates, that were not very literate, so that is why I edit every message before it hits the web pages . . (Actually I delete a good fifty percent - and I often neglect to edit spelling for search engine reasons)

In fact most chit chat takes place totally off site, via email, Visitors find like model car owners from email addresses on site.

My website is my answer to most of my design peeves.
I even won an award for "The best of the 'bad sites' I took that as an Insult, but have since mellowed my affront. and often wonder why I spend time at places like this when my sites are well over 1000 hours behind . .

Now that I understand that your Basic instincts are metal, raw power based. . I shall read your posts more carefully.

A good observation was that I myself do not come with a "Glasspac" although I am a lot sleeker than my name suggests.

[wenwilder]

Just to keep this thread off topic a little longer.....we have an event here called the "Sugar Valley Rally" (http://www.sugarvalleyrally.com/) that amazes me every year. The town is filled with fantastic classic cars. Vintage vehicles that you don't see on a daily basis.

To quote the site:

"Conceived and organized in 1988, the Sugar Valley Rally has grown by leaps and bounds. Last year 70 cars were entered, with competitors from 14 states. Only the Great American Race, which sanctions the Sugar Valley Rally, has a larger field of antique auto rallyists. This overwhelming success is attributed to the hospitable nature of Nebraskans, plus the hosts' ability to stage a clean, competitive event. Spectators enjoy seeing history parade down the highways. The event is popular with all ages and, best of all, there is no charge for the public."

Anyway :) I get on the subject of cars and I revert back to my wrench turning days. Computers don't have the personalities like cars do. :)

Thank you for the link to the pontiac parts, I'll have to peruse it further. I'd love to get my GTO finished in time for the car shows this summer, but if I don't, that just means I get to keep her to myself for another year. :)

_______________________

I haven't really looked closely at your site - I glanced at the link you posted and then at your index page - I noticed that you use two different 'color themes' for the pages. Why is that?

[Tubby]

Two different colour schemes ?
The reason is simply that one page has been updated more than the other, I keep the classifieds adverts up to date. but as the site grows I create new pages. I have stopped trying to keep things uniform.
The latest update was to upgrade the chevrolet parts pages (was the same as the Pontiac page) Due to increased submissions, to seperate page for every year. (it is different again) My intent is to update The ford pages next to match the Chevrolet, the new pages are different. But intent is one thing, If I find users getting lost or getting confused, my plans will go out of the window until the problem is sorted, I am currently having problems with photo adverts, It is simply a case of doing what is needed most.

Simple answer; The site is not finished, I have over 2000 pages all under construction, some have been ignored for five years (just had the links updated)

newest page http://restored-classic.com/chevy
oldest page is currently; probably this one, http://restored-classics.com/capricornia/rally2/3.html

I do dream about having the site uniform. But I am not a fanatic, I just Plod along in the right direction . . . I need to update my search facility it is a mess, I found one (new search) that looks good, but they want 12 months payment in advance, I only want to pay monthly because the results are not weighted the way I want, and I do not know if I can live with it.

also I am currently working on another paying section of the site http://ignition.restocar.com this is interesting because I was asked by an ebay user if I could create a site to replace his usage of ebay on a 'commision basis' - I thought this sounded like a fun task - (and somewhere to direct traffic to and from)
To be truthfull I think running the site is probably more than a one man job . .

Some of the early race cars on the site you pointed me to were an absolute marvel. I LOVE THOSE MEETS.
Some time soon I shall convert to a lap top and you will find me there. . . I will be the fellow with the digital camera thats looking lovesick amongs the early race cars...

[sonnie]

If it wasn't fast with glasspacks and an excellent paint job I wasn't interested. I definately wasn't interested in the guys. They didn't come with glasspacks or a good paint job. ;)

wenwilder, I have have been told I'm very fast, and I do have glasspacks. Though painful to wear (one on each side), and somewhat bulky, I endure. Many have said my paint job is one of the best they have seen. I used a Krylon Pro rattle can on my face and the rest is done in mixed touch-ups (GMC colors only).

[DigitalDragon]

I can understand some sites doing this, I always pay for my newspaper before reading it.

Of course it the content is not pretty good it would be a great way to loose traffic.

Tubby

Yes, but you can pick up the paper first and peruse it; if you want to buy it, then you can. If not, you can put it back.

Hell, when I was younger, I'd read an entire book in a book shop. If I liked it, I'd buy it, if not, I'd put it back on the shelf. Now I know that's not the way to go, but to be able to accurately assess the value of what you are buying is important.

You know the paper by name and reputation; you can ask other people what it's like; you don't have to subscribe, and it generally doesn't cost more than fifty cents and you don't have to part with credit card info. There's no on going commitment or relationship.

Subscriber sites aren't like that. There's no way of knowing what really goes on in the site, and whether it will really suit your purpose. Then they have your CC deets... what if they refuse to cancel? There's always a possibility for hassle, even if it's minimal, it feels exaggerated because what you're buying isn't tangible.

I've noticed that when searching for hints, tips and tricks on coding (for whatever platform) LOADS of these pay sites pop up. A simliar query to mine is posted, then with "Want to know thw answer? FOr $29.95 you can subscribe!". For me, there's no point. A little more searching turns up the solution for me, nine times out of ten. So I view these sites somewhat with contempt.

I'll be honest - WebProWorld is an interesting diversion from time to time, but I would not pay for it (please, don't take offence, everyone here does a great job) as it's not necessary for me. So I can live with the ads.

Information alone doesn't generate revenue... why do you think there's an Advertising Industry? How do you think production companies pay for tv shows and get profit? Because they have content that attracts an audience, and it's the audience that you sell.

Magazines, newspapers, TV; they make money from selling our attention to other people. That's it, in a nutshell.