Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
There are a number of "pay for access" web sites which are successful. Examples, to name but two that immediately spring to mind, are the Encyclopedia Britannica and the Oxford English Dictionary sites. It seems to be a model that works especially well for "reference" type sites.
|
Successful as compared to what? Do you mean at least still in existence?
You can't mean as profitable as they were before the internet decimated their sales. You can't mean as relevant as before the internet ate their lunch. You cant mean as popular as Wikipedia or Google.
Pay for access sites are doomed to a long and drawn-out slide into oblivion. The only thing they have going for them is their remembered reputation with the older generations. I don't think that many people under 20 would even recognise their names today. If you can't search their site, link to their pages or quote from their content — they don't exist.