Roger L. Simon is looking at ways to make blogging profitable, and he's come up with an unusual twist:
I am thinking about adding a nominal—two dollars a month or ten dollars a year, something like that—charge for the use of comments on here. What I mean is that my initial blog posts would remain open as they are now, but you would have to pay the fee to view or to add to the comments, which I would also participate in, as I do now. This would all be done by a simple (I hope) and anonymous registration process.
Roger's comments section is one of the best in the (money- and time-draining) business, and I'd gladly pay a small fee to continue reading it.
However, I'm less certain I'd want to do the same thing here. While a lot of the comments I get here are silly, obtuse, obnoxious (much like the posts preceeding them), I'd hate to drive off those people who lend some valuable insights, into issues where I'm woefully ignorant.
And oftentimes on issues where I already know a lot, too.
Add your thoughts -- free of charge.
Maybe we should charge you to keep adding content to your site in the comments ;)
It seems like a decent idea that would only work on a very tiny percentage of the blogs. Sort of how Motley Fool works now. Reading the site is free, the bulletin boards cost $24.95 year.
It's not really that different from Bill Quick's premium service scheme is it? How long did that last?
It's very difficult to start charging for something that people have gotten used to having for free.
Plus, it's not like there are no alternatives out there. Roger Simon may be a great blogger, but I think only a small percentage of readers would be willing to pay to see or add to the comments section.
I agree with "Another Thought." People resist paying for something that they had been getting for free. It seems to be that blogads are the most viable option I've seen so far.
The problem is that in order for it not to be considered outrageous, everyone--or at least all the top bloggers--would have to be doing it. But how many blogs do we read on a daily basis, and want to contribute to in the comments section?--therefore the cost has to be multiplied by how many blogs each reader haunts on a regular basis. So it would quickly add up.
What happened to the idea of FREE (hint hint) speech?
