Comment by bee_rider
4 days ago
> There are few things we like less than raising prices, which is why we have done it so rarely. It would be far better to keep LWN as inexpensive as possible and make it up in volume. Subscriber growth has stalled, though, in recent years, making that strategy unworkable for now. We are working on schemes to bring in more subscribers again, but that is a long-term process; getting there requires some short-term help.
I can see why they’d want to keep bumping prices occasionally (to keep up with inflation). Why do they need plans to increase subscriber growth, though, are they not currently profitable? It seems like they must have hit a steady-state by now.
If we can grow the number of subscribers, we don't need to raise prices for the ones that have supported us all this time; I would find that preferable. Besides, who doesn't want a broader reach?
> Besides, who doesn't want a broader reach?
Anyone who does something for the love of it. At some point, more reach can only be gained by making compromises and that point is usually earlier rather than later.
Sure. Just, raising prices in line with inflation is not really raising them in a real sense. You are trying to give people a discount. :)
Inflation means that hosting costs increase. On the site they also mention being under heavy scraper load which also isn’t free.
Then the writers probably also need compensation increase, at the very least to be a responsible employer so that the employees can deal with inflation.
Inflation happens regularly, normally, or when world leaders emit another chaos bomb, and they do not raise prices immediately causing a lower income/costs ratio. In order to keep up with that without raising the prices in between you need more income and that comes from more payers.
Hosting is probably ~0% of the cost lol.
The costs of the writers is what makes journalism expensive.