Negoitiation with WDT fail

[Sultan]

Please see ...
http://www.skatingsaints.com/cgi-bin/message/archive.cgi?year=2002&month=12&day=12

For more details

[placid]

A newspaper is a *business* with a product. Why would you expect ANY business to give away it's product for free? If every hockey story in the WDT is posted on the message boards WHY would anyone bother to purchase a subscription? The newspaper is not a charity, it has to make money to survive. I'm surprised people are upset at any company that doesn't give away its product for free. Are you mad at McDonalds because when you go there they don't hand you a free Big Mac? When you go to a gas station do you get upset when they tell you that you actually will have to pay for your gasoline?

[Stemmer]

Well, The New York Times online is free...as are many other papers both large and small.

Guess the WDT is not interested in promoting interest in their publication. Is it because they have a monopoly among readers of a daily local paper in the north Country?

[mccullmw]

Back home my little local paper, probably the same size of the WDT, posts every single story online. I remember the first time I tried to read something in the WDT and found out you had to pay for that. That's definately a load of crap.

[tbch13]

I agree. Most newspapers that I like to look at are free on the web....minus archives.

[tbch13]

Speaking of the WDT, there is a great article on Dave Reid there today. quite impressive and he had very nice things to say about Jim Roque recruiting him there, and that Parker is doing a good job taking over. It is more about his life and the direction it took/is taking....quite good though.
Here are some quotes:

"I talked to a lot of schools, but Clarkson was just pretty aggressive at first," Reid said. "I kind of fell in love with the place right away. The decision didn't seem too difficult to make. (Roque) came and saw a lot of our games, because they had recruited Matt Poapst the year before. He'd watched me for a long time. When he recruited me I knew he knew more about me than I did, in terms of hockey. He's a very smart man. I think he was the one who kind of brought me into the fold."

"He's a real good guy to deal with," said Clarkson's interim head coach, Fred Parker. "He's real level-headed and intelligent. He's been very professional. I think the greatest test of Dave is him as an individual. He's just a great team guy and is willing to do whatever it takes for the team. He's been battling through some injuries (a hip flexor) here in the first half, so I don't think we've seen him play as good as he can."

"Leadership has always been a huge part of the success of the team," Reid said. "It's important for us to help the guys to stay focused and work hard every day and have fun. (Parker) has done a great job."



:)

[scottcomstock]

I've seen the WDT's response to SkatingSaints.com. While their decision does not surprise me, I can't help but feel extremely infuriated at the inability to get any kind of decent news out of the North Country without jumping through a lot of hoops or laying out a lot of cash.

It seems that now, the only halfway-decent sources of free NC information are the Clarkson Integrator (whose website is never updated half the time), North Country Now (which doesn't post much, if anything), or the various local TV station sites. [The Potsdam Courier-Observer does not put articles online.]

Sadly, the WDT's policy of requiring payment to even look at a paper is one that is being emulated by many newspapers across the country -- the Colorado Springs Gazette does the same thing. Yes, newspapers are businesses, but why does the WDT feel the need to do this when most others don't?

I grew up in Oneonta, NY (a town not much larger than Potsdam), and its newspaper has been online and readable for almost five years! (http://www.thedailystar.com)

Unfortunately, as the owner of this site, I have to ensure that the WDT's wishes are respected in this matter, so I can't allow anyone to post anything other than fair-use quotes from the WDT.

But don't think for a damn minute that I like it any more than all of you. I'm just as hungry for hockey news as all of you, and WDT's position does little more than make me want to write a very nasty letter to them. I will post the WDT's mailing address once I locate it. (The email address of the person who's been talking to SkatingSaints.com is: bgorman@wdt.net)

:mad:

[petal]

The Boston Globe is online every day(FOR FREE) and yet I still buy a copy every morning at the T station on my way to work. WDT is just being arrogant because they're the only major newspaper in the area. I rarely read it when I was at Tech and I sure won't now.

[ScottO1992]

"Everyday, WatertownDailyTimes.com will make available to its online subscribers selected stories from the actual print edition. Plus, our news web site has a listing of the last 15 days of NNY obituaries. With your paid online subscription you will be able to obtain the award-winning journalism of the Watertown Daily Times from anywhere in the world. Stay connected to NNY each and every day."

15-days of northern NY obituaries?? WOW! Is this is a compelling reason to spend $39 - $79 a year for a web-only subscription? (I'm surprised they actually charge home delivery customers $39!)

[scottcomstock]

And if you read the WDT online, they won't even give you all the stories that print subscribers get:



"Everyday, WatertownDailyTimes.com will make available to its online subscribers selected stories from the actual print edition.

(emphasis mine)

At least if I pay to read the Colorado Springs Gazette online, I can see everything that the print subscribers get, ads included -- in fact, it looks EXACTLY like the printed paper.

For those of you who are interested, this is the WDT's mailing address:

Watertown Daily Times
260 Washington St.
Watertown, NY 13601

[ScottO1992]

I figured I'd save everybody the money & time and post today's headlines here:

From the WDT - Thursday, December 12, 2002:

Front Page - Local boy leaves town, attends college

Business - Phone/Electric service due in '05, Internet in '08

World - Potsdam to hold pancake supper

Sports - Deer spotted in woods, "it was big & furry" says local resident

Obituaries - Jed dies, owned dog & tractor

Classifieds - double-wide trailer, spare propane tank, fancy wood paneling, includes free burial plot & '74 Nova (needs engine & tranny)

[Muskieman]

Here are my thoughts posted easrlier today on SS.Com. Obviously Scott Comstock was made aware of this ridiculous decision.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thu Dec 12 10:18:15 2002
I guess our site has become a threat to the existence/ profits of the WDT. I know many, many people in my hometown of Alex. Bay, and the surrounding area, and will be encouraging all to cancel their subscriptions.

As an annual Christmas gift, my Mom used to buy for me the WDT from mid-Oct. to early-April for obvious reasons. I asked her to discontinue doing so a year ago and now view that as one of my better decisions made.

Thanks for your efforts, Scott (Sultan). Despite your efforts, this decision does not sit well with me, and I know the same can be said for many SLU and Clarkson fans. BTW, have we notified Scott Comstock yet? He will assuredly want to publicize the outcome on the Clarkson RoundTable

I am not a happy camper right now.

Brian
Muiskieman (hhenry01@nycap.rr.com or muskieman@skatingsaints.com), SLU 76, from: Johnstown, NY

[placid]

Get used to online papers charging. Most of the ones which are free are losing money at the moment. The Colorado Springs paper used to be free, it learned. The Glens Falls paper also used to be free. It's just a fact of life. I imagine within five years you'll have a hard time finding a 'free' online version of a newspaper. It's sort of like when satellite dishes first came out, you could watch anything on them, but eventually stations started scrambling their signal and people had to start buying 'packages' to watch the same stuff they used to see for free.
As for the content of that site, it's a little tricky. You have to click on the 'news' link, then you get the list of pretty much every story that was in the paper that day. If you just look at the main page you only see about three from each section.
just my 2 cents on this