Ducati Monster Forum

Here is the link to the introductory article (http://hellforleathermagazine.com/2010/11/you-are-the-future-of-hell-for-leather/)

Here's my take:
"... it’s entirely possible because we’re going to be doing it in an entirely new way."
"Having said that, this isn’t an entirely new idea."
"It’s new because we think we’ve found a way to remain open to the Internet while offering you significant value as a subscriber."

So, it is a walled garden.  This is, as they point out, absolutely not new.  This is try 2.0 to get people to pay for things on the internet.  I am of two minds - we need something to replace legitimate print journalism now its last death throes and we can't rely solely on blogs.
On the other hand, I still don't think page views and clicks are fungible.  I think NYT and WSJ will succeed because they are venerated, well-known and widely read.

I like things to be free on the internet, but not to the extent that we compromise the quality of things like print journalism in order to keep them free.  But I don't think people are ready yet to pay website owners what they used to pay magazine publishers.  I could be wrong.  What do you think?   Aside from boobies (you can vote twice).

I would think that after removing the cost of print and distribution (and the jobs associated with it) selling ad space would cover the cost of site maint. and paychecks for writing staff.

hell, mags are 98% ads anyway. the 3$ a year I pay for sport rider cant really be doing much more then print and distribution.

I like Hell for Leather.  His cynicism helps me see though some of the manufacturer's marketing B.S., but I'm not paying for it.  There are too many other free sources of information.

what he said.

 I have enjoyed it the past week or two with the plethora of press releases with new models, but i could have done with out.  (awesome things like the MV F3 were published elsewhere)

regardless of what that article says...I figured out why they are charging....

to pay for the damage they incurred (ie:probably a new bike) when they did this to the bike on their vacation..

http://hellforleathermagazine.com/2010/11/2010-bmw-f800gs-crash-report/ (http://hellforleathermagazine.com/2010/11/2010-bmw-f800gs-crash-report/)

after having rented the bike from these guys at ridiculous rates...

http://hellforleathermagazine.com/2009/04/jupiters-bringing-motorcycle-rental-to-nyc/ (http://hellforleathermagazine.com/2009/04/jupiters-bringing-motorcycle-rental-to-nyc/)

Won't subscribe as their past stories weren't worthy of pay anyway.  I doubt going forward things will change much (quality wise. Not to say it sucks by any means).

I'll still visit the site to check out the free headlines and story, but I really don't need to pay to view pictures I can get elsewhere or read peoples comments about how every bike that comes out looks ugly.

I'm still partial to asphaltandrubber.com anyway.

What I don't understand are the rates. Usually the longer you subscribe for, the lower the rate; well it's the opposite here... 1 month is 1.99 and 12 months are 23.99 but 1.99 x 12 = 23.88. I don't think $0.11 is a big deal, but they should put a bit more thought into pricing.

I check the site almost everyday and like their spin on all things moto. Yes, I could get most of the news on other sites but for only $1.99 I don't mind paying a couple bucks to support the site with the hope it gets even better.

Do any of you guys pay for printed mags?

the only printed mag I subscribe to is Men's Journal which I paid for as part of a fund raiser. Other wise, I'd not waste my money.

Hey, remember when we were willing to pay for creative hard work and interesting viewpoints? Man that's a lot better than copy and pasted information aggregated by the lowest common denominator.

I already signed up. Good writing doesn't grow on trees, and if it did, you'd have to pay to pick it.

No doubt I am, I love wes's writing and have enjoyed it since he was writing for jalopnik and using his own time and money to run HFL.

HFL is easily the best moto blog out there, it's fun to read because they're having fun. Which is why we ride motorcycle in the first place.

Most blogs and (all) american moto mags feel like work to read. there are few that are actually fun, Bike, Two, HFL and a few others that I gladly pay for that dont have that boring ass clinical feel.

/bromance rant

Thanks for the kind words guys.

What we're doing is offering a premium alternative to all the copy and paste motorcycle content out there. If you want quality content, this is how you get it. If you don't, no worries, there's plenty of outlets for you.

Oh, and NOBODY is making money with advertising right now. That's why you see magazines slashing staffs and refusing to spend on good content. It's happening throughout publishing, even at big name mainstream magazines. At some of the ones I write for I've seen my editor change from incredibly talented, experienced professionals to chuckleheads even younger than I am. More websites will be adopting this model in the future, we're just ahead of the curve and actually have the content to justify it.

It's going very well so far, we're exceeding our targets and the quality of our community has improved dramatically even in just a couple days. So far, so good. As more people sign up we'll be able to expand with more writers, more and more ambitious stories.

 :)

i'm in.   [thumbsup]

I probably won't.  Not because the site isn't good, but because I don't have enough time to really warrant it.  I already should be doing something else than surfing another mc site.


mitt

+11tyb.

I fear that the death of the paper publications is paving the way for underwhelming, subpar, free "journalism" om the web.

Isn't sad that only 50 years ago publications like the Times was hiring writers such as make the beast with two backsing Hemmingway to do multi-part stories, and now we have the daily updates on the make the beast with two backsing Kardashians?

God Bless Rupert.




 [roll]

but here's the thing... it's not the papers fault... it's our faults. all of us who read random blogs and don't support a true reporting agency's site.

so... maybe by paying for Hell for Leather... we can reverse a trend.