Register  Login  Active Topics  Maps  

When free language sites turn to profit

  Tags: Internet
 Language Learning Forum : Cultural Experiences in Foreign Languages Post Reply
27 messages over 4 pages: 1 24  Next >>
Arekkusu
Hexaglot
Senior Member
Canada
bit.ly/qc_10_lec
Joined 5169 days ago

3971 posts - 7747 votes 
Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto
Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian

 
 Message 17 of 27
13 June 2013 at 5:57pm | IP Logged 
leosmith wrote:
Serpent wrote:
Time to acknowledge that without me there would be slightly less useful info, and without the top
10 posters this forum wouldn't be itself anymore.

Oh, you're dispensable dearie.

Unfortunately, we all are.
8 persons have voted this message useful



leosmith
Senior Member
United States
Joined 6338 days ago

2365 posts - 3804 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Tagalog

 
 Message 18 of 27
14 June 2013 at 7:22am | IP Logged 
Cavesa wrote:
there are a few points where most of them fail, make a stupid mistake,
unnecessarily alienate people and earn much less than they could have earned had they
avoided the stupid mistakes.

I have to disagree with you here. Unless you are an owner of these types of sites/products, the best you can do is
guess at what really makes long term profits. I'm convinced that making people pay for something that's been a very
successful free product for several years is a big money maker. Yes, I'm guessing too. But so many big sites have
done this, dropped major hints that their profitability skyrocketed, and still remain in business. For example,
Kaufman was bragging about this in another LingQ thread a friend sent me. Why an owner would actually disclose
this is a mystery, but it sounded like he was telling the truth.
1 person has voted this message useful



Cavesa
Triglot
Senior Member
Czech Republic
Joined 4797 days ago

3277 posts - 6779 votes 
Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1
Studies: Spanish, German, Italian

 
 Message 19 of 27
14 June 2013 at 2:04pm | IP Logged 
Unfortunately, they remain in the business, just as other companies who make crapy products of any kind. They are not ashamed of the way they treat their customers because there are many stupid customers who give them money nonetheless.

An example: Majority of the parasites working in the fun industry says the copyright in this current ugly and stupid form is necessary. But than there are authors and musicians (like Neil Gaiman or Dresden Dolls) who have discovered that an alternative earns them much more money. That not being a jerk pays off. Unfortunately the industry is too big to be changed fast and it uses all the possible dirty tricks to keep to their lazy money. It doesn't matter to them that some studies already show that giving more for free or reasonable prices and treating the customers well leads to more money in the end. It is not just my wild guess.

The reason why the language learning market goes the opposite way is simple. It is smaller and it is still discovering the internet so it is making exactly the same mistakes. Trying to squeeze the money out of people at all costs. No wonder the whole situation is full of unhappy learners/customers who just give up and won't pay a single more cent because "they have no brain for languages".
2 persons have voted this message useful



Serpent
Octoglot
Senior Member
Russian Federation
serpent-849.livejour
Joined 6385 days ago

9753 posts - 15779 votes 
4 sounds
Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese
Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish

 
 Message 20 of 27
14 June 2013 at 2:05pm | IP Logged 
leosmith wrote:
Serpent wrote:
Time to acknowledge that without me there would be slightly less useful info, and without the top 10 posters this forum wouldn't be itself anymore.

Oh, you're dispensable dearie.
6 people voting for this sh*t, seriously?
We all are, no need to single me out. But I sure hope our contributions will stay alive even after we are gone.
1 person has voted this message useful



Arekkusu
Hexaglot
Senior Member
Canada
bit.ly/qc_10_lec
Joined 5169 days ago

3971 posts - 7747 votes 
Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto
Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian

 
 Message 21 of 27
14 June 2013 at 2:49pm | IP Logged 
Serpent wrote:
leosmith wrote:
Serpent wrote:
Time to acknowledge that without me there would be slightly less useful info, and without the top 10 posters this forum wouldn't be itself anymore.

Oh, you're dispensable dearie.
6 people voting for this sh*t, seriously?
We all are, no need to single me out. But I sure hope our contributions will stay alive even after we are gone.

Well, you singled yourself out. But there is no point in taking that remark seriously (or personally).
4 persons have voted this message useful



hrhenry
Octoglot
Senior Member
United States
languagehopper.blogs
Joined 4918 days ago

1871 posts - 3642 votes 
Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, ItalianC2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese
Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe

 
 Message 22 of 27
14 June 2013 at 3:33pm | IP Logged 
Serpent wrote:
6 people voting for this sh*t, seriously?

And 8 people voted for your post. Does that make you feel any better?

Honestly, who cares how many votes a post gets? It's not a contest.

R.
==
1 person has voted this message useful



Cavesa
Triglot
Senior Member
Czech Republic
Joined 4797 days ago

3277 posts - 6779 votes 
Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1
Studies: Spanish, German, Italian

 
 Message 23 of 27
14 June 2013 at 4:25pm | IP Logged 
Of course we all are dispensable. But I would miss you here, Serpent :-)

(But if you still want to bring those "like" contests from facebook here, than I demand another fb inspired feature. Throwing virtual dictionaries at each other. And games like BiblioVille. And embarassing photos/audio/video of people using the languages/failing at it, preferably drunk :-D And anonymous answers on questions about other members, such as "Do you think Iversen's photo with the gepard is photoshopped?")
3 persons have voted this message useful



Serpent
Octoglot
Senior Member
Russian Federation
serpent-849.livejour
Joined 6385 days ago

9753 posts - 15779 votes 
4 sounds
Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese
Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish

 
 Message 24 of 27
14 June 2013 at 4:27pm | IP Logged 
Arekkusu wrote:
Well, you singled yourself out. But there is no point in taking that remark seriously (or personally).
Did you see the context? I was just pointing out that it's stupid to claim that the longer you've been a member (and the more posts you've made), the more you owe to the forum. It's the opposite. This forum isn't even a language learning resouce per se.
I'm just disgusted that someone is quietly voting for that post and not even showing their face.


1 person has voted this message useful



This discussion contains 27 messages over 4 pages: << Prev 1 24  Next >>


Post ReplyPost New Topic Printable version Printable version

You cannot post new topics in this forum - You cannot reply to topics in this forum - You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum - You cannot create polls in this forum - You cannot vote in polls in this forum


This page was generated in 6.9531 seconds.


DHTML Menu By Milonic JavaScript
Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved
No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization.