I wouldn't.

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http://www.sfuelsgolonger.com

I'd pay a subscription/membership for exclusive merch, like I do for the radio stations I listen to, or for extra content on the podcast (or just to keep the podcast going)

Like a smart person once said "if you really like a band which is just getting started, and you want to help them out, don't ask for free stuff; buy everything they have, give it away to OTHER PEOPLE who would like them, and buy MORE!!!"

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

Nice try, Slowman. Posting as Hydrosloth is a new low.


editing to say that in actuality, paywalling a forum limits the opinions to those that have "bought-in". Tri already has enough of a pay-to-play problem, making it's most prominent online forum paywalled would be per for the course but also terrible for the sport. I believe in Sloman and rrheisler, they know the right answer is not always the (ahem) mathematically correct one.

 
i happily pay for escape collective, and would do likewise if slowman pursued the same business model.

 

I have bought from advertisers on this site and forum members. Plus, I have bought Slowtwitch clothing. I think that helps support Slowtwitch to some extent.

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Once, I was fast. But I got over it.

This reminds me of an article I read the other day in the Atlantic “democracy dies behind a paywall”. It’s basically showed that paywalls create a two tiered system where the rich got all the correct information and the poor were left to scrounge for free articles that were more likely to be fake news.

It’s enough that rich guys can buy a better bike. With ST as pay now they’re going to have all the latest fueling, gear, aero, whatever info too. Not to mention what Lionel’s next race is. The poors will have to wait until his next YouTube and comment there

1. Make a valuable service for free.
2. ????
3. Profit!

That seems to be the winning model for Google.

A pay wall would turn the forum into an echo chamber.

Now, a cool kids section of the forum that is paywalled that has a different pro posting on a couple days every week? That comes with other perks like member discounts at various mfgs and discounts on race registrations? That buys the member a nice little blue checkmark or something?

Ya, that kind of thing could totally work. I would pay something for it if I knew the discounts I was getting would be worth it.

I mean, the local tri clubs have member fees, so I could see something like that working for a sub forum with extra perks.

So much misinformation has been peddled by pay walled media. WaPo? They're actually in the business of killing democracy. New York Times? Ha.

Anyways, I guess I pay for one paid media per year and that's ESPN+ and I can't say I'm getting the editorial value out of it. Rarely read ESPN, I'm there for all the live content.

Can't imagine I'd pay to read anything on slowtwitch, there's not enough content to get there, could there be? No not really. This is an incredibly niche sport. The reddit page for triathlon barely talks about professional triathlon.

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Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

I get all the "Triathlon Information" I need from Facebook, Insta and YouTube. For example,today I learned how much crap Daniela Ryf travels to races with and that she can break down and pack a bike better than most ST'ers.

There is nothing groundbreaking really here for me. What I do come here for is the social interaction.

So how much would I pay?

The Atlantic clearly has no sense of irony, since that article was behind a paywall.

Putting a site like ST behind a paywall is very different than putting a site like NYT or The Atlantic behind one, since this site (like most social media platforms) relies on users to provide the vast majority of content. Reducing usership via a paywall also reduces the content production (and thus the value) for the remaining users.

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ECMGN Therapy Silicon Valley:
Depression, Neurocognitive problems, Dementias (Testing and Evaluation), Trauma and PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

Is also different because access to proper news is important for a functioning democracy. What's lost without equal access to ST? A few watts?

But I agree with the post above. ST content isn't worth more than a $0 subscription to me. The tech and race info is usually late and limited. The member discussions can be interesting but they also go on elsewhere.

I'd maybe change my mind if there were more posts by industry experts and pros. I'd pay for the knowledge of people like Josh Porter, Xavier, Bu, and Jean-Paul Ballard.

a lot of speculation as long as the owner of the site has written no at pay walls in his sig line than i guess this is what one is to believe to expect , so i guess to entertain this maybe the sig line should be deleted

otherwise for the current content i would pay nothing at the same time i would be all for it to have a small subscription fee as i do not expect a person to write an well researched article for 100 to 200 bugs.

ups i see the sig line is not anymore no at paywalls.

I'm not familiar with any other sports forums that have paywalls, since the content is user provided. Perhaps they are out there. Websites with paywalls typically have a tremendous amount of daily produced articles - such as cyclingnews, ny times, wsj, etc. If fresh front page content was to be on par with the preceding websites, a paywall would be considered, but I wouldn't pay to access the forum.

I think Escape Collective is an interesting one. They are cycling focused. They are 100% member funded. They have a lot of content for non members but membership gives you access to their forums which is based on Discord architecture. Some podcast content is member only.

I see a lot of ST members over there (including Dan). I would say people are happy with the membership since they have a high renewal rate.

I'm an EC subscriber as well. I pay because the caliber of their contributors and content is probably unequaled in cycling right now. It's like an online version of The Surfer's Journal for cycling. If ST had a similar level of content, I would consider it.

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My thoughts exactly. The $100 per year is well worth it.

Give us some merch ideas...

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Editor-in-Chief, Slowtwitch.com | Twitter

though in the above analogy, EC is more like the NYT in that is a news site and is a good one at that. I do question the theory of having the forum behind a pay wall. I think that limits the discussion to those who drink the Kool-aid. EC though has a good balannce of free and pay wall content I think.

How about a kick ass Desoto running shirt.

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http://www.fitspeek.com the Fraser Valley's fitness, wellness, and endurance sports podcast

Other than EC (only one?), I agree. And I'll add that I'm on a bunch of other forums that are not sports related and none of them have a fee, unless you are a vendor who wants to talk about your product(s).

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Not a coach. Not a FOP Tri/swimmer/biker/runner. Barely a MOP AGer.
But I'm learning and making progress.

Hint: it'd probably come from one of the brands listed at the bottom of the site.

But the idea stands.

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Editor-in-Chief, Slowtwitch.com | Twitter

And coffee or coffee paraphernalia. Id totally lay down cash for gifts of that ...ideal for tri friends or club functions.

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http://www.fitspeek.com the Fraser Valley's fitness, wellness, and endurance sports podcast

Over a 10 year horizon, I have probably come to ST more than any other site (incl others I have paid for)

So on that regard, I clearly value it

If you were to show the P&L of running a site like this (I have no idea), I’d happily pay just to keep it going. It’s a principle based decision for me - that you guys shouldn’t be paying out of your pocket for my enjoyment. Kinda like I donate to Wikipedia every once in a while

I always assumed that y’all were getting paid by the brands in some capacity, and that covered the expenses. If that’s the case and we’re all just freeloading off you, then I feel a bit bad

I would pay $2-5 per month for a front page subscription largely for community service to support the ecosystem just like I pay for membership to Triathlon Ontario (actually mine has expired).

Keep the forum free because it makes no sense to charge for it, since the forum is based on all of us creating content. Don't charge us to create content, we are already putting our time in, and ST needs that and the diversity of content/thought/opinion/experience/expertise.