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- Hacker News
- How about new sources of revenue?
I -- and perhaps many -- would be interested in buying an archive of all the past issues (as PDFs and XML sources).
You could also license to AI corps.
by jll29 - I think LWN is not just the best linux news site or the best tech news site, or the best new site. I think it's actually the best website. I just can't think of anything else that comes close in terms of quality of information.
If you have any professional connection at all to Linux then $11/mo is an absolute bargain!
by bjackman - If you want stuff to exist in the world, pay for it. Work is work, and expecting things to be free, or to never raise their prices, is a good way to ensure that they don't last.by keiferski
- Ah, can't help but think of Atlas Shrugged. For all its flaws, it had a few chapters that described this idea well.by xpct
- This reminded me that I'd let my LWN subscription lapse after a credit card expired. Just renewed for a year and turned on automatic renewals (at least until the next credit card expiration).
- Speaking of high quality publications, I wish we could get AnandTech back :( On some older blogs, I still stumble on dead links, and very few of them are on internet archive..by xpct
- Thanks LWN team for the honest and straightforward post! The prices you ask are well worth it for the incredible value that LWN provides.
I forgot to renew my subscription a while back and it has been a bit busy, will renew now.
by microtonal - Seems like only yesterday when they last increased their prices but it was, in fact, back in January 2022 - time flies!
I'll have been an LWN subscriber for 22 years as of next week, and am very happy to continue to be one. It's easily the most worthwhile subscription I currently have.
by roryirvine - Are there more things like LWN for other fields/subjects? A math LWN of sorts, for example? I would happily pay for it too if it follows this model.by Iuz
- I'd pay for something that was 'SemiAnalysis, but high quality'. Perhaps that's getting too much into insider territory?by xpct
- For math, try https://www.quantamagazine.org/by ilyagr
- In general high quality niche stuff is very expensive e.g. Heavy Reading for teleco or Willmot magazine for quant finance.by pid-1
- > The LWN site has been improved in a number of ways, with features like articles in EPUB format,
This is the single biggest feature that makes me keep my subscription going. The convenience to read longer form offline on my ebook reader makes me wish all other long form content websites would have the same.
by RMPR - I just noticed that too.
Do they offer a facility for automatically mailing the epub file to a specified e-mail address (I'm thinking the Amazon Kindle conversion e-mail) --- that might push me over into a subscription.
by WillAdams - I know the editors visit these discussions: please, next time use a more descriptive title! I nearly had a fit when I saw that, really thought LWN is going down like it almost did 20 years ago.
Happy to pay the new price, even though I can only afford the cheapest tier.
by farlight - > even though I can only afford the cheapest tier
Their pricing is at US levels not world levels.
by nottorp - HN needs to update the title too!by ddtaylor
- You'll be happy to know the title has been updated. Apologies for any undue concerns we have caused. :)by jzb
- LWN is one of the cornerstones of my very successful career.
Starting from the beginning, I have (at least) read through every story and every article, every week, since 1998. Especially in the beginning, there was a lot in each article I didn't understand. I would try to do some digging into those topics.
One way or another, just the weekly exposure to absolutely top notch technical writing was foundational to me.
When newer folk would ask me how to really get good with Linux, I would always point them to LWN.net.
I've been a subscriber since the beginning. That small investment is the least I can do given the incalculable value LWN has brought to me.
by Diederich - Sorry to be that guy, but... Please consider donating a significant amount to them, given that they have been a cornerstone of your very successful career.
I did something similar in the past, in relation to Ubuntu, and I never regretted it, even if that money would have been very useful if spent in other ways.
- LWN is one of the, if not the single, highest signal tech publications around. I hope they're able to maintain a stable subscription service. Being user funded, and avoiding having to maintain allegiance to advertisers, is likely part of why their quality is so high.by AlexB138
- Agreed!by lsofzz
- Absolutely. Very happy 10+ years subscribed here and I'll keep subscribing.
(As someone pointed out in the comments, the title of this specific post could have been less heart-attack-inducing, but still... :) )
by Quekid5 - I don't use Linux (on the desktop, I use it on headless machines), yet I still agree with this statement.
When I saw that title, I thought the note would be about their "incredible journey", fortunately that is not the case.
by miki123211 - Super happy subscriber for years... One of those magazines that I open on a Sunday morning with a good cup of coffee and sleeping cats next to me before the family wakes up.
If you enjoy well-written technical content, please subscribe and support them. I hope they continue making the great articles.
by pimeys - Not only that but lwn is one of the main sites that gets submitted to HN all year round (not daily, but maybe nearish to daily). So the audience here on HN has been exposed to it over the years. I'm not sure what more they could do to get new subscribers, I certainly hope they figure that out or how to get new ways to earn revenue without having to go the ad route.