April 1, 2008, HUKOU TAIWAN
Taiwan blog The New Hampshire Bushman in Taiwan, today introduced a policy to help defray administrative costs. This policy would be the first of it’s kind anywhere in the blogging world. From April 1st, the blog would charge readers NT$5 to reply to articles with their comments. When asked about the impact of such a policy on readership, and in particular comments, blog owner MJ Klein had this to say:
“It costs money to run a blog. Our readers know that. It’s all about time, and how best to manage our limited time. Creating quality content takes time and our readers would prefer to have better content in the long run. At first we’ll lose a few, but we’ll gain more with better content.”
In order to comment to articles, readers would have to setup an account on the blog and then pay for credits which would be used each time a reader left a comment on the blog.
“We realize this new policy is controversial. We realize that some people will be put off by this policy and may refuse to comment. However we believe that this is the future of blogging,” Klein said.
Comments Disabled To "NHBushman.com Introduces Controversial Pay-Per-Comment Policy"
#1 Comment By owshawng On April 1, 2008 @ 16:08
Can I email you some coins from Zimbabwe instead?
owshawng’s last blog post.. [1]
#2 Comment By owshawng On April 1, 2008 @ 19:33
Do you take checks?
owshawng’s last blog post.. [2]
#3 Comment By thenhbushman On April 1, 2008 @ 19:51
owshawng »
we can accept either, but please note that you now owe NT$10 on your account. just don’t tell CMIL, ok?
#4 Comment By Jan On April 1, 2008 @ 20:52
Noooo, I’m poor, please don’t charge me!
#5 Comment By Sandy On April 1, 2008 @ 21:11
Happy April Fools’ Day to you too !
Should I snail-mail you 5 nt?
Sandy’s last blog post.. [3]
#6 Comment By Kaminoge On April 1, 2008 @ 23:18
Do you take checks?
Kaminoge’s last blog post.. [4]
#7 Comment By Kaminoge On April 1, 2008 @ 23:23
Dang, owshawng already asked about checks. Can I get a refund on my first comment?
#8 Comment By MJ Klein On April 1, 2008 @ 23:29
Sorry Kaminoge, we have a strict no refund policy. so, be sure you really wanna say what you post! 😉
MJ Klein’s last blog post.. [5]
#9 Comment By mike01905 On April 2, 2008 @ 00:00
I can get my hands on one of those devices to scan a credit card… do you take Visa or MasterCard??? I doubt you take American Express 🙂
#10 Comment By Brunty On April 2, 2008 @ 01:21
I have some spare Laos money. Maybe a few hundred thousand Kip. I will post it but don’t spend it all at once.
Brunty’s last blog post.. [6]
#11 Comment By StefanMuc On April 2, 2008 @ 05:02
Can we accumulate a few comments on the blogs, then make a lump payment in rum?
#12 Comment By thenhbushman On April 2, 2008 @ 10:38
Mike, we prefer gold, but we’ll take what we can get.
#13 Comment By thenhbushman On April 2, 2008 @ 10:39
Brunty, the shipping costs of Kip are prohibitive because it takes a wheelbarrow full to do anything. Let me put you in touch with our shipping department. Thanks.
#14 Comment By thenhbushman On April 2, 2008 @ 10:41
StefanMuc, yes, rum is an acceptable currency:
Sang Som: 598 Comment Credits
Old Monk: 1,000 Comment Credits
Bacardi: 25 Comment Credits
#15 Comment By Mitesh Damania On April 7, 2008 @ 13:40
Only 5? You can’t keep my big flap shut!
#16 Comment By MJ Klein On April 7, 2008 @ 20:00
for your dumb comments i should charge you NT$5,000 each!
MJ Klein’s last blog post.. [7]
#17 Comment By John On April 7, 2008 @ 21:04
Only NT 5? I would pay double or triple that for sure.
John’s last blog post.. [8]
#18 Comment By thenhbushman On April 7, 2008 @ 23:56
i’ll take that as a compliment, John!