Hello B/T’s
First, an introduction. My name is Jean Paul Vellotti and I am the managing editor of FineHomebuilding.com. Over the last few months, I’ve been working to make this a better site for you and all Fine Homebuilding readers.
In another thread, there is some confusion about the membership portion of FineHomebuilding.com. Let me clear this up:
The cost of membership ($19.95 for subscribers, $39.95 for non-subscribers, or $5.99/month) allows you to access our online magazine article archive. That’s over 1000 articles, all downloadable as .pdfs. Virtually every article since issue #1 is online (a few were pulled due to safety issues or contract rights).
We’re also working to include the Tips and Q+A’s from back issues, with over 1300+ available right now. In the coming months, we also will publish articles and videos just for members. Lastly, online subscribers can view the entire current issue online (starting with #186).
Breaktime, certain magazine departments and selected articles and videos on the site are free.
Again, there is no charge and there will be no charge to join or participate in Breatime.
I welcome your comments anytime. Please post your thoughts in the Feedback on Fine Homebuilding folder.
— Jean Paul
Replies
Thanks for the note Jean Paul.
I for one, appreciate that Breaktime will continue to be free.
I have to say however, that $40 for access to online content for which you have virtually zero cost to create and maintain going forward is a trifle steep. The archives should be free to subscribers who have already paid once for the articles.
I'll stick to flipping through my library.
> you have virtually zero cost to create and maintain going forwardMost people who have built and maintained web sites of even relatively simple content, let alone thousands of articles and such, have found them to be far from zero cost to create and maintain.
>> you have virtually zero cost to create and maintain going forward
>
>Most people who have built and maintained web sites of even >relatively simple content, let alone thousands of articles and such, >have found them to be far from zero cost to create and maintain.That's what I was going to say.And the greater the volume of content, the more complexity and expense there is in maintaining it.Rebeccah
I agree. That was a very naive statement he made. Reminds me of when i had a recently retired guy helping me on a project. he had retired from one of the major airlines and their style was in his blood. We were at HD one day an he saw some new tool that he thought would make our project easier, and wanted me to buy it. I said no, cost too much. his response was "just have the company buy it."
"Put your creed in your deed." Emerson
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt
I respectfully suggest that before you accuse someone of being naive, you should endeavor to know them and their skillset a bit more. You should also carefully read posts for qualifying words like "virtually" and "going forward".
You don't know me... that's okay. Honest mistake.
Okay, I guess I need to give you some background... I have been involved with the internet, worldwide web software, and ISP/ASP businesses since anonymous FTP networks back in the 80's. I have founded, invested in and consulted to many web companies in the past 15 years. (yes, before people even heard of Navigator, there was an Internet.) And yes, I have built commercial web sites.
I participated in hypertext standards development back in 1988 prior to Tim Berners-Lee even coming up with the Web. Many of my closest friends and business associates still own web software companies, web development firms and ASPs that host sites very much like this one.
Should you like a quote on building/hosting a web site like this one, I can make that happen.
Should you like a quote on building a house, that's still not my core business.
I respectfully suggest that before you accuse someone of being naive, you should endeavor to know them and their skillset a bit more. <<<
You might consider filling in your profile so we know who we're getting grouchy at : )
A good friend will come and bail you out of jail...but a true friend will be sitting next to you saying,"Damn... that was fun!"
http://WWW.CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM
snork*
u be rockin' in the free world!
every court needs a jester
View Image
A good friend will come and bail you out of jail...but a true friend will be sitting next to you saying,"Damn... that was fun!"
http://WWW.CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM
snorkle
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
You might consider filling in your profile so we know who we're getting grouchy at : )
That's a valid point of view.
Personally, I try to assume everyone knows more than me on a given topic unless I can prove otherwise and doing so is constructive or helpful.
I try to abide by that philosophy in online forums in particular, since even a profile may not be accurate, and frankly is not relevant to the conversation most of the time. Is my opinion or statement of fact any more or less valuable to you if you know my life story, location, age, etc.? Maybe for some, but I don't think that way.
If advice sounds reasonable, I take it.
If I can answer a question or share an experience and give back, I do it.
I won't go into my personal web business experience (predates the web actually), but the largest cost is always content creation, not posting it on a web site. That's why I stated "virtually" and "going forward".
The dead-tree press loves to tell everyone how costly web sites are, but the truth is that the technology to transfer already electronic source material like magazine copy into online resources is very mature. Notice how many newspapers and other magazines offer free access to their archives.
Most businesses burn through mountains of cash paying for the sexy graphics and other "image" features that add little to archive searches.
Yes, you need a good webmaster, and yes, you need to pay for bandwidth going forward, but that does not add up to $40 or even $20 per head. This is just another top line revenue item for Taunton.
I do not begrudge anyone profit, but I also don't take kindly to online subscription prices being higher than delivered magazine subscription prices.
Just one guy's opinion.
In the interest of sharing opinions...I don't worry about Taunton's cost structure when I consider whether a product is worth paying for or not. I don't care if FHB.com is a top line revenue item or not. To me it either is or is not worth 19.95.I don't care that online subscription prices are higher than delivered magazine prices. As before, a product is either worth its price or it isn't, but I can't imagine not taking kindly to it. That personalizes it way to much for me.>Notice how many newspapers and other magazines offer free access to their archives.And how many are changing from that...
You're absolutely right.
Something is only as valuable as what people will pay. As I look at my library of back issues (starting at #1), I simply can not justify paying for those articles again.
To each his own.
Thanks for the clarification. You know how rumors are!
Forrest - BT junkie
Good to hear it reenforced. And I'd have no problem with paying the access fee if I felt I needed it -- I already pay such fees for a couple of journals.
Jean Paul,
Thanks for this forum and for keeping it free. It's a fine resource. As an older guy, I also appreciate having a place where I can give something back to my trade, offering some of my experience to others, for whatever it may be worth.
Regarding the fees for access, they seem fair to me.
Peter
Breaktime is good, but when one considers the addiction it creates, it is certainly not free : - )
Lastly, online subscribers can view the entire current issue online (starting with #186).
Ah man! Now I gotta get a computer installed in the bathroom, complete with broadband internet.
Support our Troops. Bring them home. Now. And pray that at least some of the buildings in the green zone have flat roofs, with a stairway.
What! You don't have a T-1 line in your bathroom???!!!
My wife said "no" - so I bought a Blackberry!Quality repairs for your home.
AaronR ConstructionVancouver, Canada
Welcome to Breaktime, Fine Homebuilding's free online forum, where you can learn from the veterans, share your own secrets of success, and simply chat about all aspects of home building.
.......interesting...............some hack has been altering the log on page.[email protected]
WHICH content will be free, of course; WHICH content will require registration; but WHICH content will be available only to members of FineHomebuilding.com.???
I dont have a header
I dont have a header<<<Dbl 2x12 header and a flitch plate for you son..lol
http://WWW.CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM
LVL's mo' bettah :-)
Log in page?
Header?
What're youse guys talkin' 'bout?SamT
Anyone who doesn't take truth seriously in small matters cannot be trusted in large ones either. [Einstein] Tks, BossHogg.
Eric, let me ive a go at trying to clear this up...Breaktime forum... What you are looking at right now... The forum we all know and love, and hate and love some more...Always has been free, and will continue to be so. (The free registration gets you in, and posting.)Taunton has web content, aside from the Breaktime forum, that is also free. Always has had, right along with the forum.Taunton also has web content that has always cost, to view.What has changed, is that now some of the content that you had to pay to see, before, is free.And... They have added a LOT of stuff to the "pay to see" content.They have also chnaged the way the pay to see area works. And have devised a means for people to subscribe to that area, and see pretty much anything there... Rather than have to pay individually for an article.~~~Breaktime forum... Free.No change here.~~~Fine Homebuilding web content that has always been for sale... Some now free, but the majority... Still for sale, but set up differently now.
Hey, don't look at me, I'm mentally retireded.
Welcome to Breaktime, Fine Homebuilding's free online forum, where you can learn from the veterans, share your own secrets of success, and simply chat about all aspects of home building.
.......interesting...............some hack has been altering the log on page.
Jeff,
I don't recall having a question. That squirrely looking free above is new and it looks like a hack did it. That was my point.
Perhaps you meant to reply to the OP.
Thanks just the same...............I think!
Eric[email protected]
WHICH content will be free, of course; WHICH content will require registration; but WHICH content will be available only to members of FineHomebuilding.com.???
Ah.=0)I don't ever see that page.I can see what you mean.=0)You're welcome. =0)
Hey, don't look at me, I'm mentally retireded.
Thanks for the clarification, no complaints, but I have one observation/point to make - the articles that were "pulled" due to safety or contract issues are nevertheless available to those who have printed back issues. No point in making articles unavailable online if they are available in other media. How about putting 100% of them up on the site with a disclaimer?
Thanks for the confirmation - while reading the other threads since the change did you bnotice the multile notes and complaints about the size of the new header? I is so excessive that many of us had to find ways to turn it off entirely because it is a constant source of agravation making it extremely hard to read Breaktime.
Welcome to the
Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime.
where ...
Excellence is its own reward!
How tall is your header, mine doesn't seem so big, but the color keeps shouting at me.
Right now it doesn't exist.
When I log in it steals 30% of the screen real estate like a spamming squatter. The space left to actually read messages is only about 25% of the screen which takes me right back to about 1996 or earlier
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
You guys must have awfully small screens. Even on my laptop screen it's not that bad. I don't even maximize on my 17-inch LCD.
So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable Creature, since it enables one to find or make a Reason for everything one has a mind to do. --Benjamin Franklin
My biggest complaint about the header is that it steals too many colors, presumably for the cover pic. My workstation at work is only 256 colors, and the header breaks it and makes lots of other windows go black.
So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable Creature, since it enables one to find or make a Reason for everything one has a mind to do. --Benjamin Franklin
Paul, trying to keep Spellchecker on your tail?
I can see why.
A great place for Information, Comraderie, and a sucker punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
http://www.quittintime.com/
Calvin...She's got all you guys so fooled dude!
http://WWW.CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM
Say, when you're finished taking photos of my plumber, could you send her back to work? :)"anyhoo ... to any of the girls here who can't hit a nail with their purse .... ever think of actually trying ... and practicing ... instead of looking to see which screws match yer shoes?" ~ Jeff Buck 3/13/07
'kinda narrow in the shoulders,and broad in the hip..
everybody knew ya didn't give no lip to..
Spellchecker'
_______________________________________________________________
I just want you to feel you are doing well. I hate for people to die embarrassed. - Fezzik the giant
snort* Sang that at karaoke last night.
be yep, I stunk alright but was fun
View Image
every court needs a jester
LOL - I'm not sure whether to file that under information, camraderie, or sucker-punches!;)
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
It sounds like there's a lot of good content on the pay for webzine. That said, it even sounds like there might be enough content to create 12 issues of Fine Homebuilding a year instead of the paltry 8 isues a year. I would even be willing to pay more for the subscription.
I only wish this had happened before I bought my Best of Fine Homebuilding DVD, just a couple of months ago. Now suddenly everything on the DVD (and more?) is available online at a fraction of the price.
Seems the online service should be included in the price paid for the DVD.
be there be square
every court needs a jester
Agreed.And retroactive.
Hey, don't look at me, I'm mentally retireded.