[GTALUG] Linux Journal, RIP

D. Hugh Redelmeier hugh at mimosa.com
Fri Feb 2 12:39:58 EST 2018


| From: Russell via talk <talk at gtalug.org>

| It's a somber fact of modern publishing that, as the cost of delivering 
| written content goes down, so does the monitary value of that content.

That is an interesting second-order effect.

For one thing, it's not that the unit cost has gone down.  It's that the 
cost of getting in the game has gone down.  Newspaper printing and 
distributing technologies deliver quite inexpensive copies if you are 
printing and distributing hundreds of thousands of copies regularly.  It's
hard to get in the game -- look what it cost Conrad Black to create the
Post newspapers.

With competition as it was in the newspaper business a decade or more
ago, there was an auction for good writers.  The quality of the
product went up.  But it was an unsustainable war and the collapse is
happening now.

The cost of putting up a web site is minor.  Lots of folks aspire to
be writers so will generate content for peanuts.  It's a race to the
bottom.  Eyeballs are in short supply.

What we need is more discerning readers.  Ones who will pay for good
content (and lack of bad content!).  Or otherwise reward.

I haven't put my money where my mouth is.  For example, LWN.net seems
deserving but I haven't thrown any money their way.  But I do value
the Globe and Mail and do subscribe.


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