AUTOSPORT to introduce metered access

Yeah and be forced to use Firefox which is abysmal. I had ie7 until a lot of websites ceased to support it, like photobucket, so had to get ie9. The Spanish, being what they are, haven't got to 9 yet. When I have to deal with my bank, I have to use firefox as I no longer have ie7 installed. It is most frustratingly slow, so much so that if I was obliged to use it, I'd give up the internet altogether. Probably to some people's relief.

Going a bit OT here but try using Google Chrome. For me it was noticeably quicker than FireFox.

There's no way that IE7 is better than the latest FF though!

It's against my principles to pay for whatever content on the interweb!

to you:

My traffic to Autosport have not changed, I am on here several times a day every day. If nothing else then to come here, I see the headliners and then I go other places to read the stories which I would normally have read here, the strange part is when I read them and Autosport is credited as the source.

I still read news here, and I will continue doing so, have not yet seen myself being warned that I was getting close to a limit but when that happens will be able to just not read anything here until we are in a new month.

As a matter of principle I will not resort of any means of hiding who I am, I will not jump through hoops in order to bypass anything put up by Autosport, I will just not pay for the new and just read it somewhere else.

Knew absolutely nothing about this until just a moment ago when the "screw you,you've been limited" banner popped up. WAY too many other sites with the SAME articles to even consider paying for it here. The banner ads should be paying for this site. If not then maybe it's your product and not the viewers fault. I appreciate it's not the Mods/Admins fault here, just be sure and pass along to those who made this decision that you have and will lose a lot of viewers. I was happy with my other news sites and only started viewing AS because it was a better read on a mobile device (just slightly) Switching back now.

Bookmark, delete

Any "genius" moves like that to the forum and the same applies there.

Edited by Woody3says, 27 September 2012 - 11:25.

Well I would sadly pay for the forum, through gritted teeth and being annoyed to no end, but I would not want to lose this great forum and all it have given me both Auto-Racing related and all the worldly affairs which have taught me bunches.

The end of a three-race-month, and the driver marker explodes. You are going to lose a lot of readers today..

Yeah and be forced to use Firefox which is abysmal. I had ie7 until a lot of websites ceased to support it, like photobucket, so had to get ie9. The Spanish, being what they are, haven't got to 9 yet. When I have to deal with my bank, I have to use firefox as I no longer have ie7 installed. It is most frustratingly slow, so much so that if I was obliged to use it, I'd give up the internet altogether. Probably to some people's relief.

Well, this sounds like some frustrated user who doesn't know how to properly use a computer.

Firefox is very fast, at least as fast as its competitors. It's not because you've had a bad experience of your own fault that it makes it a poor browser.

Your loss

"The autosport says" editorial touch at the end of the Lewis to Mercedes article was a good addition.

Having gone down this route, adding a bit more "value" to the news reports is a good idea IMO.

"The autosport says" editorial touch at the end of the Lewis to Mercedes article was a good addition.

Having gone down this route, adding a bit more "value" to the news reports is a good idea IMO.

Too bad I can't see it for myself and thus decide to subscribe to Autosport +

Edited by Ravenak, 28 September 2012 - 11:42.

I guess the point is precisely to get people to sign up and pay, but since the metered access has been introduced it gets really noticeable how problematic the news format is, for a cheapskate a-hole such as myself.

On the backdrop of Hamilton signing to Mercedes, Autosport talks to about 4 people and it gets broken down into 17 clickable articles.

Solution?

-Sign up.

or

-

Nope .. not paying for it .. no thank you ..

With the amount of free information available in this digital age this decision is ludicrous!
I`ve a list of bookmarks as long as my arm for F1 news that are free as well as following over 100 F1 personnel on twitter providing almost real time information.
This will not work. You will not gain. You will lose sponsors due to dwindling website hits. I will not be subscribing.

I think it would be best for everyone if AUTOSPORT apply this so called metered access only for those news which is exclusively produced by AUTOSPORT be it interviews or information, not those which are published crediting to other sources.

I think it would be best for everyone if AUTOSPORT apply this so called metered access only for those news which is exclusively produced by AUTOSPORT be it interviews or information, not those which are published crediting to other sources.

That I am pretty sure Autosport is not planning to do, I have finally seen a message of 20 stories to go, but that was yesterday so should be good for all of the Japan Grand Prix, and the other October races.

I wonder if the news story that is quite literally just an advert for What Car disguised as news counts as our allocation.

As it is, I ran out in September, so I went to look at racer.coms ads instead.

I wonder if the news story that is quite literally just an advert for What Car disguised as news counts as our allocation.

Or the one that states: A report in respected German magazine Auto Motor Und Sport said...

Hell may becoming colder.

I am seriously thinking that I may want to buy the most expensive AutoSport package, looked at it when I got my 20 stories left warning. But I can not figure you what the heck I get, and more importantly what I will not get for shelling out for the full monty.

Not sure what will come of it.

No Grayson, not the case. I'm an Autosport + subscriber living in the Canaries and often, not always, I get banner ads. Today, I've got a Siemens active ad, no problem when I scroll down a bit to the second or third post on a page.

Sorry - I should have been more specific when I mentioned the main page. I mean the front page of the site and all of the news stories, articles and features but not the forums. The link to the Castrol EDGE Grand Prix Predictor is still there, but that's because we think that most subscribers would still want the option of playing the game!

We've effectively got two templates for the front page and the article pages. One includes the ad spots, the other has no ads, a slightly different layout and no login box. You also see an AUTOSPORT+ logo at the top of the page rather than the AUTOSPORT.com logo and get greeted by name at the top of the page!

I wonder if the news story that is quite literally just an advert for What Car disguised as news counts as our allocation.

Given the headline of this story, was there much confusion that this was a chance to enter our sister magazine's competition to win a car?

Hell may becoming colder.

I am seriously thinking that I may want to buy the most expensive AutoSport package, looked at it when I got my 20 stories left warning. But I can not figure you what the heck I get, and more importantly what I will not get for shelling out for the full monty.

I'll try to answer that, but let me know if any of this is still unclear!

What you get with the most expensive subscription package:
- Unlimited access to news stories.
- All of the AUTOSPORT+ content - the features and columns which are listed in the right hand column on the homepage.
- All of our high resolution photography.
- Access to the FORIX database. This is the best and most complete motorsport database in the world, with detailed stats on every F1 race since the World Championship began as well as stats on a huge number of other major racing series.
- An ad free environment when you're in the main site (but not the forums).
- Access to a digital edition of AUTOSPORT magazine every Thursday morning. You can either view this as a pageturner in your browser or download it as a PDF. You can view this PDF on your computer or on a mobile or tablet device (this digital edition is the difference between the cheaper subscription and the more expensive option).
- The warm fuzzy feeling that comes with knowing you're supporting quality journalism.

What you don't get with the current subscription packages:
- Access to the Apple Newsstand version of AUTOSPORT for your iPad or iPhone. This is on its way (soon, I hope) but the package with this will cost a little more.
- A copy of the magazine sent to your house. Click here if you're after a subscription to the paper edition of the magazine!

In terms of what you don't get, I've probably missed something which isn't as obvious as it seems to me (after all, the list of things you don't get is almost infinite) so let me know if there's something not on the list of things you get which you're wondering about!

I'll try to answer that, but let me know if any of this is still unclear!

What you get with the most expensive subscription package:
- Unlimited access to news stories.
- All of the AUTOSPORT+ content - the features and columns which are listed in the right hand column on the homepage.
- All of our high resolution photography.
- Access to the FORIX database. This is the best and most complete motorsport database in the world, with detailed stats on every F1 race since the World Championship began as well as stats on a huge number of other major racing series.
- An ad free environment when you're in the main site (but not the forums).
- Access to a digital edition of AUTOSPORT magazine every Thursday morning. You can either view this as a pageturner in your browser or download it as a PDF. You can view this PDF on your computer or on a mobile or tablet device (this digital edition is the difference between the cheaper subscription and the more expensive option).
- The warm fuzzy feeling that comes with knowing you're supporting quality journalism.

What you don't get with the current subscription packages:
- Access to the Apple Newsstand version of AUTOSPORT for your iPad or iPhone. This is on its way (soon, I hope) but the package with this will cost a little more.
- A copy of the magazine sent to your house. Click here if you're after a subscription to the paper edition of the magazine!

In terms of what you don't get, I've probably missed something which isn't as obvious as it seems to me (after all, the list of things you don't get is almost infinite) so let me know if there's something not on the list of things you get which you're wondering about!

Thanks your answer, what I wanted was all that you list PLUS the printed magazine so when you reply as you do then there is no a package holding all that? Even so I most likely will go for the full monty package and not start rebuilding my collection of hardcopy AutoSport magazines.

Kudos for - The warm fuzzy feeling that comes with knowing you're supporting quality journalism, I like your tenacity when that is the exact missing part which have many of us up in arms over this and other of the 'improvements' you have thrown at us the past years.

I will get my details straight and order the package.

The metered acces is going fast this month:
4 posts about practically the same thing:
Schumacher calls time on F1 career
Schumacher's retirement speech in full
Schumacher relieved to announce exit
I had options to stay in F1 - Schumacher
Perhaps you could just update the first newspost?

with 2 more related headlines:
Vettel: Schumacher quitting a big loss
'Schumacher is 'driver of the century'

With 50 headlines/month, you haven't started the GP weekend and you lost 6 of them already. Discounting even MotoGP and support classes, I hardly look anymore due to this. With all the F1 and motorsport sites out there, why would you chase people away with this? Most leaving people aren't leaving messages behind.

Edited by SenorSjon, 04 October 2012 - 15:29.

I still don`t get it?
Why would anyone pay to read a few quotes when you can go on the BBC and SKY web sites and watch the entire interviews for free?
I`ve avoided the Autosport site all week which as a motorsport fan of 25 years is a shame but there are so many free resources out there now.
I wonder what the site sponsors will be saying about the hit rate in 6 months time?

How about metered number of posts on the boards?

Any idea on how much longer the Hd Ipad Plus subscription is going to take? Its been 'coming soon' for ages now, i have been holding out for it as its the ideal set up for me.

Any idea on how much longer the Hd Ipad Plus subscription is going to take? Its been 'coming soon' for ages now, i have been holding out for it as its the ideal set up for me.

Sounds like they either don't know or won't tell, and frankly I'd bet on the former. I check most days, before heading off elsewhere for news...

Given the headline of this story, was there much confusion that this was a chance to enter our sister magazine's competition to win a car?

That's not an answer.

Well it is, it's also an admission that not only are adverts now hidden "inline" in headlines, that we are charged for viewing them.

The warm fuzzy feeling that comes with knowing you're supporting quality journalism.

Those ctrl-C and ctrl-V keys from Auto Motor und Sport's website won't buy themselves.

It seems someone in the marketing department are coming up with these not so bright ideas.

First it was the live coverage that became a pay service and now this. Tell me how long did it take before the live coverage had to be changed back to free viewing?

Let me tell you that readers will disappear to other sites where they can practically read the same things for free. And the advertisers? I guess they wo'nt be queing to spend their money on the front page.

I give it maximum until the end of the year before someone in charge realizes how stupid this idea is and ends this metered access joke!

Lone

Let me tell you that readers will disappear to other sites where they can practically read the same things for free. And the advertisers? I guess they wo'nt be queing to spend their money on the front page.

This. Autosport does not have a monopoly on the vast majority of the content it produces and charging/limiting users from getting content that other sites give for free is only going to hurt both parties. I suppose their analytics study concluded the average schmo doesn't read many more than fifty stories per month and therefore they thought this would help them lure hardcore readers (defined as those who usually read more than 50 stories a month) towards a subscription once their ration of page views expired. What they don't understand is that, in most cases, people who are hardcore readers of F1 news don't exclusively check Autosport, and all the pay wall serves to accomplish is to eventually drive even more business to other sites than it did before, strengthening their competitors and weakening them.

I don't even visit the main page here anymore, just the forums. I go elsewhere (e.g. SpeedTV, Sky F1, F1.com) for all my news and I don't refer Autosport to anyone for motorsport news anymore. Hopefully their numbers will dip enough for them to realise that they're not the only game in town, and that driving away customers with a pay wall for content readily available for free elsewhere is the business equivalent of shooting themselves in the foot. If it weren't for the forums, I wouldn't be here anymore.

What? You wanted feedback. This is what I think.

... Now I'm getting AddThis and Clicky readdressing attempts hidden in "reply" buttons?

<snip>

I don't even visit the main page here anymore, just the forums. I go elsewhere (e.g. SpeedTV, Sky F1, F1.com) for all my news and I don't refer Autosport to anyone for motorsport news anymore. )<snip>

Snap.

Well its half way through the month and I have apparently clicked on too many team press releases because my allotment of "F1 stories" are up. I joined Atlas F1 11 years ago because at the time it was the best US based F1 news board around however cutting and pasting does not make an F1 news site.

What happened to the restrictions? I reached the limit this month but suddenly today I can access the stories without any problem

Hello.

This happened again this month.

I don't read Autosport that much these days, but somewhere in the middle of the month I got the popup information that I have 5 free stories left.

The month isn't over yet but I don't have those restrictions. I'm not bothered by popups. Just a second ago I opened 10 links to test this.

I can't say I'm not pleased with this

So I've started going back to other sites to get my fix of basic F1 news. Surely this is not what Autosport intended? The other sites must be loving it...

I don't think that Autosport sees it.

I always come here via the front page, so will count as a visit each time I am here. I have not disappeared for them, so I count as I have always counted. I am certain that some have ponied up for the paid news, and everyone who already have qualifying subscriptions will continue to come as well.

Bottom line I do not think that Autosport really see anything disappearing and for all intents and purposes see a gain in paid subscriptions. Personally I am still wavering as to buying or not.

Right, I use various wifi networks, friends family and such, now I'm at a friends house and she has never been on the autosport website on her laptop, but because I have used autosport on my phone using their wifi she cannot read articles on autosport! Tell me how this is right!? Tell me how this is fair!!

I always thought this metered usage was a big pile of horse poop but now!?! I'm convinced its a load of ****!!

Can you explain why this happens as I do not think it is right!! My usage on my own phone or laptop should have no effect on someone else's laptop or home wifi!

I'm sure you can appreciate people use other people's wifi when out and about, what happens if you use McDonald's wifi!? Because 1 person has read 50 stories or 50 people have read 1, would that mean the other million or so users are stuffed?

It's like how ISPs are being told to combat piracy. A pirate can hijack someone's bandwidth and the user paying for that bandwidth will get cut off.

Whether they deserve it for leaving their wifi unprotected is obviously another matter...

Right, I use various wifi networks, friends family and such, now I'm at a friends house and she has never been on the autosport website on her laptop, but because I have used autosport on my phone using their wifi she cannot read articles on autosport! Tell me how this is right!? Tell me how this is fair!!

You're accessing Autosport.com through their IP address. not yours. Autosport.com has recognised when that particular IP address has accessed 50 stories.

Still.... don't quite get why she wants to access Autosport.com now, when you say she never has done before!

Can you explain why this happens as I do not think it is right!! My usage on my own phone or laptop should have no effect on someone else's laptop or home wifi!

See above...

I'm sure you can appreciate people use other people's wifi when out and about, what happens if you use McDonald's wifi!? Because 1 person has read 50 stories or 50 people have read 1, would that mean the other million or so users are stuffed?

If all McDonalds (for example) all had the same IP address it would be unusable!!

Hope that helps.

I just noticed editors' commentary under some news.

Finally some actual content, I like it!

How come access to F1 News articles on Autosport are being metered, when the exact same articles are available unmetered for free on the Yahoo UK F1 website? How is that fair? Are you trying to lose traffic?

How come access to F1 News articles on Autosport are being metered, when the exact same articles are available unmetered for free on the Yahoo UK F1 website? How is that fair? Are you trying to lose traffic?

Thanks for the heads-up. Somehow I've already reached my free news allowance for November. Sad really

Bad move. Time to remove Autosport from my bookmarks.

Ridiculous to have to pay for reading PR files straight from the teams.

how much free view do I get huh? 50 or 30?

Edited by sesku, 03 December 2012 - 09:42.

Yes, it appears the free offering has reduced further in December.

Very, very disappointing attitude from Autosport recently. They seem to have become very greedy.

You get 30 free this month instead of 50. You could lower to 10, or none, I will NEVER pay! Actually, this B.S is p*ssing me off so much that I'm no longer buying the print Autosports. Good luck with this nonsense, guys! All your stories are available elsewhere for free btw. Besides, why would I pay to get stories 2-days later that you plagiarized from Autosprint?

Edited by Fiorentina 1, 06 December 2012 - 14:52.

Oh how the great have fallen so rapidly.

Yeah I just noticed this, still just means I'm looking at Racer.com's ads rather than Autosport's earlier in the month than I normally do.

Looks like its reduced to 30 articles now, what a shame...

I take the decrease to 30 as meaning they do not really care what we write as constructive criticism here.

As noted by the last few posters, we have set the limit at 30 stories for December. The first popup warning you of the page limit now shows when you've read just 10 stories, so hopefully the page block won't take anyone by surprise once they reach 30!

We're reviewing this on an ongoing basis, on the basis of both visitor feedback and also our site analytics.

I take the decrease to 30 as meaning they do not really care what we write as constructive criticism here.

We've had a lot of constructive criticism both here on the forum and from readers contacting us directly, and we've done our best to take it on board and to act on it where possible. Since this thread started, we've launched the iPad subscription and introduced the option to subscribe via PayPal, as well as changing some of the messaging around metered access where people told us that some aspects were unclear. Our development team has also put an effort into refining the metering tool after reports that it was blocking people who hadn't yet reached the limit - this should be a much rarer occurrence now. We've also made improvements to the site, such as the top ten stories box and the revamped jobs and business directory sections, to make sure that all of our users including non-subscribers are getting more out of the site.

There are more improvements coming in the New Year, including improvements to both the subscriber experience of the site and the free experience of the site, but I'll hold off announcing anything for now for fear of ruining the surprise (and also for fear that particular plans we have may be delayed).