Historically, blog posts provided information to readers without the subscription paywall which seems to be a large part of many online newspapers. But I’m beginning to see more and more subscription paywalls on blog posts. When bloggers everywhere are preaching information transparency, there’s a real disconnect here when a reader has to pay to read a blog post.
Great piece. I think that particularly in the scientific community, when we have growing problems with public trust, transparency, plagiarism and reproducibility, putting information behind a paywall seems the wrong tack. As far as individual bloggers, I do see some value to a limited paywall to the extent that they are often providing a better service than legacy media and the money helps them to keep working and staying competitive. Further, maybe it's a push-back against the fact that so publications always want content for free, and promise 'exposure' which never really goes anywhere. I've experienced that a lot as a writer in the medical sphere. Anyway, sorry to ramble on. Well said.
Thank you for your kind response. As a prolific medical writer, you have a valuable perspective to add to the discussion. I do believe subscriptions can be valuable to bloggers, but I often find myself in a position in which I would donate a dollar but not subscribe. :)
I completely understand! There are so many articles I would love to read, but I simply won't pay to see them. At a certain point it does get tedious. Anyway, really enjoyed your writing here.
Great piece. I think that particularly in the scientific community, when we have growing problems with public trust, transparency, plagiarism and reproducibility, putting information behind a paywall seems the wrong tack. As far as individual bloggers, I do see some value to a limited paywall to the extent that they are often providing a better service than legacy media and the money helps them to keep working and staying competitive. Further, maybe it's a push-back against the fact that so publications always want content for free, and promise 'exposure' which never really goes anywhere. I've experienced that a lot as a writer in the medical sphere. Anyway, sorry to ramble on. Well said.
Thank you for your kind response. As a prolific medical writer, you have a valuable perspective to add to the discussion. I do believe subscriptions can be valuable to bloggers, but I often find myself in a position in which I would donate a dollar but not subscribe. :)
I completely understand! There are so many articles I would love to read, but I simply won't pay to see them. At a certain point it does get tedious. Anyway, really enjoyed your writing here.