$1 a month subscription to Luminous Landscapes

[ChrisLivsey]

The initial intention of the Luminous Landscape owners was to have the forums behind the pay wall.
The outrage this provoked among those who, as stated earlier, had contributed to them was such that they quickly, and to their credit, changed that decision.
It is not immediately obvious on the home page that the forums are free.

 

[michaelwj]

They day they started charging is the day I stopped visiting. If every site I visited charged $1 a month it would add up quickly. On top of that (and more importantly), I'd prefer not give my personal financial information to every website just to read an article. On the other hand, I've got no problem with a few adds (although JCH is unreadable now - I stopped visiting there too), and I use affiliate links from websites I regularly visit whenever I can, and use the classifieds here to buy and sell.

I think I would have been likely to purchase one of their videos which I think would be interesting, but they've now put their only platform bot advertising their videos (and photo trips) behind a paywall. No chance of me purchasing anything now.

Just my 2c

 

[Hsg]

Information that was free, should be kept that way. Turning free information into a product overnight, after years of ad revenue by the traffic those articles generated seems greedy to me.

Even if $1 is not much, who wants to give their personal and credit info for $1 membership - perhaps its that personal and credit card info, which has a far more substantial value than the "$1".

 

[bmattock]

Information that was free, should be kept that way. Turning free information into a product overnight, after years of ad revenue by the traffic those articles generated seems greedy to me.

Even if $1 is not much, who wants to give their personal and credit info for $1 membership - perhaps its that personal and credit card info, which has a far more substantial value than the "$1".

I think you should set up your own website, pay for everything yourself, and make sure you never succumb to greediness. And you should avoid those greedy websites that are trying to rip you off.

Just my 2 cents worth, but I won't charge you for it.

 

[bmattock]

They take paypal.

I'm sure he will still have an objection, on some moral grounds or another.

In my experience, whenever someone says "It's not the money, it's the principle," it's the money.

 

[Hsg]

They take paypal.

That's reassuring.

 

[Hsg]

I'm sure he will still have an objection, on some moral grounds or another.

In my experience, whenever someone says "It's not the money, it's the principle," it's the money.

Its the money, the beggar-grade $1 fee is more of an annoyance than an expense.

if you think free information should be repackaged like one of those mortgage scams and resold again, then you're more of a businessman than a photographer.

 

[bmattock]

Its the money, the beggar-grade $1 fee is more of an annoyance than an expense.

if you think free information should be repackaged like one of those mortgage scams and resold again, then you're more of a businessman than a photographer.

I think people who provide a valuable good or service are within their rights to charge money for it. As long as those who do not wish to pay are free to walk away, I see nothing wrong with it.

And I'm not sure how that would have anything at all to do with my vocation or my avocation, or for that matter, why being a businessman would be something to be scorned. It happens that I'm not, but it wouldn't matter if I was.

 

[splitimageview]

'The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right, greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind.' - Gordon Gekko

 

[pagpow]

I want to get rich too.

I'm considering charging $1 per month to members who want to complain.

Stephen

Stephen, that's brilliant!
Giorgio

 

[sojournerphoto]

'The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right, greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind.' - Gordon Gekko

And now we stare either:

A. The deeply unpleasant collapse of capitalism on the face, or

B. The return of a successful capitalist system and globally catastrophic climate change as a result of ever increasing consumption necessary to sustain the Beast



... Or both

 

[farlymac]

I'd put my two cents in, but I don't think anyone would pay me for it.😀

PF

 

[aoresteen]

There may come a time when RangeFinderForum.Com needs to ask for members to chip in, and I will happily pay my $1 a month. 🙂

+1 This site is well worth a buck a month.

 

[calebarchie]

Definitely a cringe-worthy thread. I'm complaining about the complaining, there should be fines for that, a great revenue potential!

 

[rpsawin]

I want to get rich too. I'm considering charging $1 per month to members who want to complain. Stephen

Stephen,

My check is in the mail...

 

[Hsg]

This attitude is what's driving the global economy into the ground.

I'm sorry you feel like everything should be "free" for you and don't care if people involved in production should be used up like a tube of toothpaste.

You sicken me.

So, your solution to global economic growth is, repackaging what was free and selling it all over again?

Lets say tomorrow google decides that access to youtube is $1 a month, or google search is $1 for 100 searches... How would you feel about that?

Apple, google, facebook, all these companies are sitting on some serious cash, have they created any jobs to fuel the economy of their own country other than sweat shops in china where workers commit suicide due to abuse and bad working conditions?

The slick iphone is made by semi-slave labor of migrant workers who have left their families and children and are living in horrible conditions working long hours just so the western consumers forget their sad lives and waste all their free time texting and staring at a small screen.


The world economy is in bad shape because the west wants to bankrupt Russia by keeping the oil prices low and secondly keep the energy cost low for china's economy, so that apple and all other western companies could continue to make cheap goods in china and sell it at insane markups to the western consumers.

Luminous landscape is not youtube or facebook or google search, but its a good example of what tech companies could do with all the free data that was submitted to them by users over the years.

 

[Hsg]

It should be, since a payment system like Paypal, or ApplePay, does not reveal your info to the seller, or place personal info on the seller's site.
😀

Good luck to Luminous Landscapes whatever payment method it uses.

 

[willie_901]

So a while back LULA decides gradually implement a business plan that gradually, but steadily increases to video-based content. LULA visitors are encouraged to pay for the video content on a topic-by-topic basis. However streaming video is bandwith intensive and bandwidth costs money. There is nothing inherently evil, greedy or silly about such a business plan. Many other corporate-based internet providers are steadily increasing video content because its advantages for advertising strategies.

If it turns out that streaming costs are eating into profits (or worse) one either has to cease video streaming or find a different way to monetize video content. Of course LULA still has a significant amount of non-video content as well. To be complete part of the $12/year value is LULA curates content as well. This saves time and effort. You don't have to visit half a dozen (or more) sites to stay informed.

While I tease about RFF's membership being resistant to new technologies and change in general, as with all stereotypes that one is incomplete. I write this because I do not enjoy on-line video content. I can assimilate information much more efficiently by reading than by watching a video. As many recommended in this thread, I simply vote with my money ( or in this case my credit card). I don't buy/sell often but I always use the RFF classifieds when I do. And I make major photography purchases for RFF sponsors. I spent $1,300 at an RFF sponsor in 2015.

I hope RFF's business model is sustainable.

 

[Faintandfuzzy]

Really? A dollar a month for a guy who thought a 3mp DSLR outresolved 35mm? A dollar a month for a guy who thought 11mp outresolved 6x7 film...and then contradicted himself after? A dollar a month for a guy who thinks film grain is binary?

Sure....let me send him a note so he knows where to send me a cheque each month.

 

[Emile de Leon]

You can always see where people put their money...and who they are...
If its cakes/candy/drugs/sex...the sky is the limit...
But if it is something really valuable that they really need..like good info...to make their life better..they wont put in a penny for that...