Packard Forum Index » General

Quote:

That's an interesting position for a young guy and one I wouldn't have expected. The whole computer thing is more your generation while my generation of retirement age are traditionally the newspaper crowd.

I enjoy a paper as well but also enjoy the convenience of instant news gratification and have contemplated going online if I could get it at a reasonable rate. Also same with some of my favorite magazines where the content is rapidly changing or dated and it doesn't make much sense to keep them.

Currently in our locale, the paper is suffering & losing ads and subscribers-- as so many are --and is getting so thin that it is hardly worth picking up. Yet the prices are getting out of hand at the same time and to get an online subscription you still have to subscribe to the print and pay an extra bit for online. A lot of magazines are in the same position yet have the same restrictions.

"I'm proud to say that I have NEVER paid one red cent for any sort of subscription to ANY online publication - and hope I NEVER do."

I don't get this attitude. Where would you be without this site (which you apparently never give any money to....)? Do you see no obligation to support this site? Kevin is far too nice to call you out on this, but I'm not nearly as nice and I am calling you out here. I have never seen a printed publication that came anywhere near what this site offers.

Thanks to the community that uses this site and the material that has been sought out and shared here, accuracy is pretty darned good.

Even a web publication has costs and consumes time for the operator. I see it as our responsibility to do what we can to help here.

Sorry for the rant, but I find comments like the quote above offensive in a variety of ways on a number of levels.

This isn't about being pro or con the web and the various cultural changes it has brought us, it's about common sense and usefulness.

Quote:

Yes, many of my peers are fully and happily immersed in the digital age that is currently being foisted upon us. However, those of us in our early thirties were really only on the cusp of the whole PC/internet boom. For instance, I rarely saw a computer in use in our high school (graduated in 1995) and never had the slightest clue about the internet until I began attending university. As a matter of fact, I ended up as one of a handful enrolled in an obscure "Computers for Business" class during my junior year because the typing class (yes, complete with IBM Selectric II typewriters) was popular and filled up quickly. So, while it's a broad generalization, I would say that the twenty-somethings (and younger) out there were the ones that really "grew-up" with computers. Yes, there were geeks that I knew that messed with Commodores and Apples, but for the most part we, like our parents and grandparents, were late comers to this digital "party."

Regardless, while I do see the value in the net and PC's, I'm also not so infatuated with technology to be fooled into giving up all of my old print standbys to the new digital media. There's just too much garbage floating around in cyberspace for me to waste time sifting through it to find worthwhile, trustworthy sources.

That said, thank goodness for PackardInfo.com...both trustworthy and imminently worthwhile!

Quote:Pat,

Pardon me, but I believe you might have the bull by the horns on this one or, as you might say, the cow by the tail!

BH has been a prolific contributor to PackardInfo since it's inception over 4 years ago. As Kev's blurb says in Helping Out, "PackardInfo is supported and funded by user donations.........by either donating content, or funds to help with the upkeep and hosting of this site". BH has certainly been a major content contributor which benefits ALL PackardInfo users. As to whether he's contributed financially I just don't know, that's a matter purely between Kev and BH. There is also a difference between a subscription service for an Online publication(which PackardInfo is not) where access is subject to payment and a user driven Site such as this. You would also note that BH is a Forum Ambassador. Those positions are not handed out lightly by Kev, in fact they are earned and rightfully so.

Edit - You really need to turn your question around look in the mirror and say "Where would you I be without this site and without contributors like BH"?
All that said, I know BH is not backward about coming forward so brace yourself!

I'm the exact opposite of ScottG. I'm 34 and grew up as one of the Commodore nerds. My school had computers and classes for them. The real change was when the Internet came to be mainstream. When I was younger, I had subscriptions to Cars & Parts, Hemmings, some coin magazines, and computer magazines.

Now that I'm older, I totally prefer the Internet. I get all of my news from either the TV or the Internet. It is just too convenient. Why pay to read a paper when the info in it is already old by the time it is printed? I don't subscribe to any magazines anymore.

I believe that soon everything will be online (or downloaded into some kind of reader device like the Kindle). The real question will be how revenue will be generated when so much information is free. Journalism will really suffer when there will be no funds to pay reporters.

Mal -

Thank you for setting the record straight. You've come to know me pretty well, from the other side of the world.

Actually, I had to laugh a bit at the previous response. However, I make no apologies for my statements in this thread.

Why would I want to pay for a digital edition of a printed publication that I'm already subscribing to in print? Printed matter never needs to be plugged-in, yet is completely self-contained and portable. All I need is the light of day to read it, which is enough by me.

Frankly, I am offended by Korporate America trying, so often, to get their hand in my pocket - for even one more nickel from me - to fatten their own, when CEOs in this country are paid more, on average, than probably anywhere else in the world, and while they outsource as many jobs as they possibly can to other countries, which erodes our own tax base at all levels of government. I know too many good people who have been out of work or underemployed for too long because of too much greed in this country.

Now, even if a publication was online-only, I wouldn't subscribe to it because I already spend enough time on the computer as it is, which strains my eyes (and I'm only 50).

PackardInfo may not have the flash and polish of some Korporate website, but it offers so much more than any webzine and is user-friendly - even to those with nothing but dial-up access. BigKev'sa kung-fu programming, combined with all the user-driven content, has brought enthusiasts more of what they're looking for than any other source I know of in the Packard niche of the hobby. Yet, I don't think donations of material would be as forthcoming, here, if there was a subscription fee or site traffic was used to generate advertising revenue.

And just for the record, patgreen, no, I haven't sent BigKev one red cent. Everyone is entitled to give in their own way, here, but I'm beginning to wonder if perhaps I've given too much.

Nonetheless, stay tuned for an important announcement in the days ahead.

I am also an early 30's guy. I love having the magazine in my hand. I like holding a book. I also like the internet for its usefulness.

The saddest thing to see in the future would be invited to see someones 3000 book library and the person holding up his Kindle and saying "here it is".

Attach file:

---

  (49.81 KB)

BH said: Quote:

Don't take your ball & go home. There has been to much of this as of late.

Don't worry, Don.

Brian, Your contributions are so many to this site that you never need to explain yourself to anyone.
Funny, I am going away on a camping trip in my old motor home in the next few days to a remote campsite so I can just sit and read with no computer to distract me. I tried reading an article online at the Cars and Parts site and it is terrible. I need a book or magazine in my hand so I may take a few of the old 70's editions to read over again along with a few good books!