Letting users skip our paywall if they wrote an apology

Re:Letting users skip our paywall if they wrote an apology by ambrosite on Tuesday October 31, 2017 @12:07AM (#15591032)

This is exactly the problem, and it's a difficult one to solve. I've seen research suggesting that the cognitive cost of filling out payment forms and giving out credit card information makes it easier to pay $10 than $1, since it doesn't feel "worth" all that effort to pay only one dollar. Unfortunately this is part of what reinforces the market dominance of mega-retailers like Amazon, because if you already have an account with them, the cognitive cost of signing up has already been paid.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Letting users skip our paywall if they wrote an apology by mysterypie on Tuesday October 31, 2017 @01:09AM (#15591211)

> cognitive cost of filling out payment forms, etc.

That's exactly the case for me. I spend physical cash with much less hesitation than for online purchases. I'd probably spend way more freely online if I didn't have to keep track of the purchase just in case something goes wrong, like getting mis-charged, double-billed, a continuing subscription I wasn't expecting, or just to remember why that $1 debit appears on my statement.

As an aside:

It's curious to see that this made it to the HN front page and already has more than 25 comments, yet nobody has commented on the original article's own page which does allow commenting. Well, there is one comment that says, "Great analysis", but that was me just to check if commenting actually works. I suppose that ties in with the same idea -- it's not worth the "cognitive cost" to make a comment no one will read.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Letting users skip our paywall if they wrote an apology by ambrosite on Tuesday October 31, 2017 @01:44AM (#15591327)

> it's not worth the "cognitive cost" to make a comment

Their comment form requires login or signup. I'm already signed up and logged in here. That's reason enough for me to post here and not there. I would never create an account just to leave a comment unless it was someplace where I intended to visit and comment often.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Letting users skip our paywall if they wrote an apology by miranda_rights on Tuesday October 31, 2017 @02:47AM (#15591481)

Not only that, but by now I've figured out that the comment sections of most sites are toxic with little, if any, moderation. HN has a good moderation set-up, respectful members, etc. I try to avoid even reading the comments of other websites since they just end up being depressing.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Letting users skip our paywall if they wrote an apology by test1235 on Tuesday October 31, 2017 @05:12AM (#15591857)

BBC is especially depressing.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Letting users skip our paywall if they wrote an apology by redblacktree on Tuesday October 31, 2017 @10:51AM (#15593630)

You should try Fox News.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Letting users skip our paywall if they wrote an apology by sitkack on Tuesday October 31, 2017 @02:29AM (#15591447)

So if true federated non-statist, non-corp entity login actually worked we would probably comment freely and purchase stuff in 0.10-0.50 increments? Mozilla should be a payments platform.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Letting users skip our paywall if they wrote an apology by pjc50 on Tuesday October 31, 2017 @06:38AM (#15592158)

The browser vendors are the only actors who might be able to make this work.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Letting users skip our paywall if they wrote an apology by majewsky on Tuesday October 31, 2017 @03:24PM (#15595819)

Seeing how Google makes basically all its money from internet ads, I don't think they have any interest to enable other monetization schemes. (Unless, of course, something makes them believe that ads are going to become unattractive and they need to pivot.)

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Letting users skip our paywall if they wrote an apology by thinkloop on Tuesday October 31, 2017 @04:05AM (#15591671)

I like the idea of no registration by having the browser locally generate a public/private key pair for use on the site.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Letting users skip our paywall if they wrote an apology by gldalmaso on Tuesday October 31, 2017 @06:03AM (#15592028)

The mobile stores come closer to that less hesitation scenario I think. Your card info is already there, you only need to input your pass to spend the money.

Though PayPal doesn't feel like that, I guess being in the browser is off-putting in terms of spending because of added risk.

[ Parent | on HN ]