BS: Donation tactics

Subject: BS: Donation tactics
From: Joe Offer
Date: 09 Aug 22 - 11:08 PM

I really like Snopes.com and Wikipedia and a number of other services. I looked up something on Wikipedia today, and they gave me a "nag notice" for a donation - I've donated to them before, but it was time, so I gave them fifty bucks.
I went to Snopes and wondered how long it had been since I donated to them. They offered several categories of donation, including a "once and forever" donation of $150. That sounded reasonable, so I paid the $150. It sounds like a good idea, but will they let me use them forever without any more nag notices?

I love newspapers, so I subscribe to my local Sacramento Bee online, and buy the Sunday paper for $4 at the drugstore (they don't deliver to my rural area anymore, which is a blessing because I'm paying $14.95 a month online instead of the hundred bucks a month I paid for home delivery). I also subscribe online to the New York Times. I used to subscribe online to the Washington Post, but I found the price wasn't equal to the amount I used it. I also like the Guardian, which relies on donations instead of a subscription fee. So I sent them a donation today, too.

I want to support reputable information sources, but I think these sources are best off if they allow flexibility for financial support. The Washington Post lost my participation because they were too stingy.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: BS: Donation tactics
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Aug 22 - 11:46 PM

Are you an Amazon Prime member, Joe? Then you can get the Washington Post for $4 a month, after a free 6-month trial. See if this article link still works. I've also seen four weeks free offers.

I also read the Guardian with two or three donations a year. The Atlantic, The New York Times, the Dallas Morning News, The New Yorker - and I'm sure there are others I've forgotten. I have several I get through campus connections and changing browser windows after my free articles are up for the month.

Subject: RE: BS: Donation tactics
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 10 Aug 22 - 04:02 AM

I get the daily briefing from the NYT (for which I pay nowt) and I'm a full subscriber to the digital Guardian and Observer daily editions. I stopped getting the physical paper several years ago as it was (a) much more expensive than the digital sub, (b) I wasn't looking at an awful lot of pages, and (c) it seemed like an alarming amount of paper to recycle every day. I've been taking the Guardian for almost half a century. I don't always like the comment in the Guardian and it tends to be a fair bit more right-leaning than me at times, but what I do like is that it's owned by a trust and not by a billionaire, it endeavours to be independent, it invites pieces from contributors from right across the political spectrum (I've seen comment pieces from David Cameron and Benjamin Netanyahu, for example) and that it has a very accessible, paywall-free website (I actually resort to that more than the daily edition, as it's constantly updated through the day). I do get those irritating yellow requests for money occasionally, even though I get the premium edition as part of my sub, because the dear old Guardian has a habit of forgetting that I'm already paying. I also resort to the BBC News website (I do pay the BBC licence fee, of course). About once or twice a year I get an appeal from wiki, to which I always respond with a few quid. I use ad-free wiki so much that I feel I should.

The so-called "quality" papers have stern paywalls and I don't use them. I don't see why I should be supporting right-wing outlets with my dough. The tabloids are far more accessible as long as you don't mind incessant ads, slow page-loading and the screen jumping around all over the place. I tend to avoid, though I'm not religious about it.

Subject: RE: BS: Donation tactics
From: DaveRo
Date: 10 Aug 22 - 05:36 AM

I too am a full Guardian (digital) subscriber. But I like to read the paper 'serially' on a Kindle, which is not included and costs another £10/m (of whuch Amazon take 30% I think).

I also subscribe to the NYT - $8/m. There is IMO less trivia in the NYT than the Guardian these last few years. The NYT's opinion pieces are often interesting; here's one from a few days ago (but it may be behind a paywall)
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/07/opinion/media-message-twitter-instagram.html

The NYT website is pretty poor compared to the Guardian's - if I see something and fail to bookmark it I can rarely find it again - but some of their interactive pieces are really well done:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/05/08/arts/design/dutch-still-life.html

Subject: RE: BS: Donation tactics
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 10 Aug 22 - 09:58 AM

I gave up getting the hardcopy Guardian on Thursdays when they dropped the computer section (I did read other parts, possoibly to Herself's surprise). I gave up even looking at their online site when I realised my laptop was collapsing under the weight of the adverts, trackers and other in-page drek. *Sigh*, as I regard it as one of the few newspapers that still actually propagates news.

Subject: RE: BS: Donation tactics
From: Charmion
Date: 16 Aug 22 - 09:44 AM

I read the Ontario edition of the Globe & Mail, the Toronto Star and the New York Times, all with digital subscriptions, and occasionally drop in on the Grauniad. In French, I like Le Monde, a habit left over from the Guardian’s old international edition that included Le Monde diplomatique, and a Quebec magazine called L’Actualité.

My husband preferred hard-copy newspapers that he could fold up and stuff into his briefcase on his way to court, but I went to the on-line editions to save money, clutter and space in the recycle box.

Joe’s original point about Wikipedia’s “nag notice” is a good one. I use Wikipedia plenty, and I give them substantial hunks of money at least once a year, but the nag notice has the same effect on me that the PBS pledge drive used to. I want it to bloody well go away! I don’t mind paying for what I use, but I resent the fact that the wolf doesn’t stop chasing my sleigh no matter how much of my cash I throw at it.

Subject: RE: BS: Donation tactics
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 16 Aug 22 - 11:18 AM

I send money to both Wikipedia and to the Internet Archive (Wayback Machine). They don't ask often, so when they do, it gets my attention.

Subject: RE: BS: Donation tactics
From: robomatic
Date: 17 Aug 22 - 06:11 PM

I subscribe to NYT, my local newspaper, New Yorker, and The Atlantic. I send a significant donation to Wikipedia at least once a year, but not when they are sending me the reminders. Mainly because I send the money from a laptop not a phone.