Why should we reward Whiskey Media crew for bad behavior?

Earlier this week Whiskey media rolled out a huge promotion for their membership program, enabling users to view HD videos, hear the 'full' Bombcast, and in some cases, receive a 'free' T-shirt. First problem of this description, (which I try to keep as neutral as possible) is the first descriptor. The word 'huge'. it pretty accurately describes this new giantbomb payment method. And for me at least, is a wrong move, not in the business perspective, but in overall user ethics.  
 
 
 First reason is because it seems pretentious to shove something down the users' throats, I know pretentious is not the right word, but it is close enough. The big Live show really took up the front page, and the whole purpose was to educate the readers to some degree about how we can get these live shows all the time, and that way is through paying. 
 
 I am not at all against Giantbomb for wanting a bit more money, lets face it, videogame journalism is still sort of a bad paying career right now. In the media Hierarchy, it goes Television is the top media, then Internet, then radio, then newspaper, and somewhere in there is videogame jounalism, and it's not really respected in the grand scheme, so YES, memberships are a good way to go about getting an extra wage, but the way Giantbomb and Whiskey do it, is sort of worse than Playstation plus' membership plan. Giantbomb has the audacity to take away half of what was already given to us users. the bombcast. I will compare to Sony, because when their membership program rolled out, they took NOTHING away from its loyal users.  Giantbomb also went all counteractive on us, and payed for a shit load of bandwidth I would imagine by broadcasting hours of live show. Sure the bandwidth was on Justin.tv, but gb had to deal with traffic.  
 
 
 Next, they told the fan base, 'hey there! Ya know, since we are like, the top of top of podcast, we will let ya try to get a full bombcast by getting, 5000 subscribers by whatever date.' That sounds terrible to me, it doesnt feel like the old, small Giantbomb. Then again, nothing fucking does anymore, Digg? Nope. Gametrailers? Nope, The entire internet is this facebook like Web 2.0 bullshit, and I hate it. Fuck Giantbomb, or at least until Brad and Jeff stop acting dicks and think they are awesome, but that's not the poi-- 'If you want the FULL article, subscribe today, yes my minions yeeessss!"

do i look like a  xylophone?

Dude you got issues, go to IGN. Your whiny little rants will fit in nicely with all of the kiddies over there. 

Dude you got issues, go to IGN. Your whiny little rants will fit in nicely with all of the kiddies over there. 

" Dude you got issues, go to IGN. Your whiny little rants will fit in nicely with all of the kiddies over there.  "

Oh hey, it's another one of these. 

seriously. if you want it you pay. if you don't who cares.

Please, it's getting old. There are a good 10-20 threads open regarding this subject: couldn't you just go to one of those to express your opinion (which you are completely justified in doing, but starting a new thread seems unneeded)?

I feel like it is mostly the unsubscribed people that complain. 

Boohoo, don't pay or stop coming here problem solved.

You're a bitch. A stupid, whiny bitch.

obvious troll is obvious

" Oh hey, it's another one of these.  "

" @dantheman1515 said:

" Dude you got issues, go to IGN. Your whiny little rants will fit in nicely with all of the kiddies over there.  "

Someone's got to speak some sense.  "

I demand a congressional hearing into this blatant capitalistic free-market exercise. How dare Giant Bomb try to make a living and attempt to float a business model that allows them to focus more on content for consumers than being beholden to advertisers in the long run. Even worse, the idea of proving eight hours of straight uninterrupted entertainment to everyone for free, with the ulterior motive of getting a few (total) minutes out with the message that they're looking to get people to subscribe to help fund the site.
 
Like any right-thinking human being, I ask -- no, I DEMAND -- that everyone behind Giant Bomb and Whiskey Media be forced to live in pup-tens inside of Dignity Village and eat nothing but Top Ramen while creating endless awesome content at no cost and with no advertising for my fat ass.
 
By the way, I subscribed, because that's just what I do. I like to reward value with value. I also subscribed, because I want to support the site so they can continue to do awesome stuff whether people are subscribers or not. I also shard with others in voicing the opinion that is popular among subscribers that we don't want to see the podcast molested, because it's such a vital part of the Giant Bomb experience and it's not just enough for us to get it as subscribers -- we want everyone to enjoy it. And you know what? Giant Bomb said "make it financially reasonable for us to continue doing that and we totally will" and we did.
 
It sounds like you have more of a problem with the whole concept of free-enterprise than anything else. Sorry if the idea that I make something awesome for you and you have the option of giving me something of value in return for it, because you want me to make more awesome stuff for you offends your sensibilities.

" Earlier this week Whiskey media rolled out a huge promotion for their membership program, enabling users to view HD videos, hear the 'full' Bombcast, and in some cases, receive a 'free' T-shirt. First problem of this description, (which I try to keep as neutral as possible) is the first descriptor. The word 'huge'. it pretty accurately describes this new giantbomb payment method. And for me at least, is a wrong move, not in the business perspective, but in overall user ethics.     First reason is because it seems pretentious to shove something down the users' throats, I know pretentious is not the right word, but it is close enough. The big Live show really took up the front page, and the whole purpose was to educate the readers to some degree about how we can get these live shows all the time, and that way is through paying. I am not at all against Giantbomb for wanting a bit more money, lets face it, videogame journalism is still sort of a bad paying career right now. In the media Hierarchy, it goes Television is the top media, then Internet, then radio, then newspaper, and somewhere in there is videogame jounalism, and it's not really respected in the grand scheme, so YES, memberships are a good way to go about getting an extra wage, but the way Giantbomb and Whiskey do it, is sort of worse than Playstation plus' membership plan. Giantbomb has the audacity to take away half of what was already given to us users. the bombcast. I will compare to Sony, because when their membership program rolled out, they took NOTHING away from its loyal users.  Giantbomb also went all counteractive on us, and payed for a shit load of bandwidth I would imagine by broadcasting hours of live show. Sure the bandwidth was on Justin.tv, but gb had to deal with traffic.     Next, they told the fan base, 'hey there! Ya know, since we are like, the top of top of podcast, we will let ya try to get a full bombcast by getting, 5000 subscribers by whatever date.' That sounds terrible to me, it doesnt feel like the old, small Giantbomb. Then again, nothing fucking does anymore, Digg? Nope. Gametrailers? Nope, The entire internet is this facebook like Web 2.0 bullshit, and I hate it. Fuck Giantbomb, or at least until Brad and Jeff stop acting dicks and think they are awesome, but that's not the poi-- 'If you want the FULL article, subscribe today, yes my minions yeeessss!" "

" I feel like it is mostly the unsubscribed people that complain.  "

The Internet is not a magical free thing.

I have no problem paying to keep Giantbomb just the way it is.  You don't want to put Jeff in a situation where he has to fire Brad for giving an advertisers game a bad rating do you?  You do don't you.  Where do you get off....

...Fuck Giantbomb, or at least until Brad and Jeff stop acting dicks and think they are awesome... "

At first I thought that this would be a thread about how drinking excessive amounts of alcohol live and glorifying it is a bad thing -- bad behavior -- in which case I would have at least understood what you were saying.
 
But that's not what this thread's about.

" @ziropiro said:

" I feel like it is mostly the unsubscribed people that complain.  "

hahah why would the subscribed people be complaining, they have subscriptions.  I think the whole "if we get this many subscriptions by this point we'll give it for free!" is a weird thing to do. What I don't want is have them progressively limit what content I can or cannot view, like, one day you have to be a subscriber for quick looks, or you have this or that slowly not available for people who have to use that five bucks to eat and pay for internet. I think they'll get their 5K because GB fans are fucking legion, and if I were not so damn broke, I would eventually cave in and pony up, seriously. Point being I think one of the cool things giant bomb's podcast (or any podcast) is that if you have internet, you can listen to some cool dudes talk about videogames  I will not get to play. Now I can't and I don't see a good reason why not. The videos? I suppose. Endurance run and paying drew and dave and vinny for all the tech work? Totally. But when you have a bar in your basement, you get shit in the mail every week et cetera et cetera, it does seem to suck. If just a little.   Because really, it's videogame journalism. "

as long as they put my money into something good, like more site content and live streams, then im fine.

Huh.  I wasn't aware that some people didn't like the subscription service.  It's refreshing to see both sides of the argument.  Thanks!

 Earlier this week Whiskey media rolled out a huge promotion for their membership program, enabling users to view HD videos, hear the 'full' Bombcast, and in some cases, receive a 'free' T-shirt. First problem of this description, (which I try to keep as neutral as possible) is the first descriptor. The word 'huge'. it pretty accurately describes this new giantbomb payment method. And for me at least, is a wrong move, not in the business perspective, but in overall user ethics.  
 
 
 First reason is because it seems pretentious to shove something down the users' throats, I know pretentious is not the right word, but it is close enough. The big Live show really took up the front page, and the whole purpose was to educate the readers to some degree about how we can get these live shows all the time, and that way is through paying. I am not at all against Giantbomb for wanting a bit more money, lets face it, videogame journalism is still sort of a bad paying career right now. In the media Hierarchy, it goes Television is the top media, then Internet, then radio, then newspaper, and somewhere in there is videogame jounalism, and it's not really respected in the grand scheme, so YES, memberships are a good way to go about getting an extra wage, but the way Giantbomb and Whiskey do it, is sort of worse than Playstation plus' membership plan. Giantbomb has the audacity to take away half of what was already given to us users. the bombcast. I will compare to Sony, because when their membership program rolled out, they took NOTHING away from its loyal users.  Giantbomb also went all counteractive on us, and payed for a shit load of bandwidth I would imagine by broadcasting hours of live show. Sure the bandwidth was on Justin.tv, but gb had to deal with traffic.  
 
 
 Next, they told the fan base, 'hey there! Ya know, since we are like, the top of top of podcast, we will let ya try to get a full bombcast by getting, 5000 subscribers by whatever date.' That sounds terrible to me, it doesnt feel like the old, small Giantbomb. Then again, nothing fucking does anymore, Digg? Nope. Gametrailers? Nope, The entire internet is this facebook like Web 2.0 bullshit, and I hate it. Fuck Giantbomb, or at least until Brad and Jeff stop acting dicks and think they are awesome, but that's not the poi-- 'If you want the FULL article, subscribe today, yes my minions yeeessss!"  

" At first I thought that this would be a thread about how drinking excessive amounts of alcohol live and glorifying it is a bad thing -- bad behavior -- in which case I would have at least understood what you were saying.  But that's not what this thread's about. "

Le sigh

And they should be able to keep putting out content for free! Because people will keep investing in Whiskey without a proposed business model! Because if they don't advertise for their primary source of income they'll be able to make money!

Also, please stop mentioning Giant Bomb. Its Whiskey Media. Any beef you have, take it up with the Parent company.

I think it may have come from higher up in the company. I could see Jeff and Ryan being for it, Vinny on the fence and Brad against it.

You would think that paying for a subscription might improve the quality of the responding posts, but alas, clearly it doesn't. 
 
If I wanted to waste my money, I can think of 39,428,267 better things to waste it on.  Each to their own I guess, but paying for a subscription on the internet makes as much sense as slamming your testicles in the door.  

" @BestUsernameEver: Stop fighting It.They've won,we've lost.Bitching will not get you any medals.I too miss the old,small GiantBomb.What's done is done. "

Whiskey Media has to start making some money. They are independant so they are backed by private investors IIRC. Those investors won't keep putting money into Whiskey without some sort of return eventually. 
 
All the other whiskey sites have a one hour podcast or none at all (vice anime). Podcasts cost money to make, money that is needed right now. So, the compromise was made so that there could still be a two hour podcast. Would you prefer the split (which will likely not happen afterall due to the 5k subs by the 15th deal) or none at all?
 
It was nice while it lasted but the reality is that people need to be payed.

I agree with the OP. The whole "If you give us this much monies, then we let you have what was originally free for free again" is painful to see. I imagine they must be going through a tough time financially for this to happen, or they just totally buttered us up and then pulled the rug out from underneath us (conned us). The difference is that we don't have to pay, so there really shouldn't be a whole lot of complaining. 
 
On the other hand, taking away things that are free on just about every other website seems a bit foolish. Maybe they can just add something else to justify the subscription and keep the bombcast free? Still, even if it went free, this left a really bad taste in a lot of people's mouths. :\

Dude, how else do you propose they get paid?
 
If I had been doing this as long as jeff or ryan, i would expect to get paid 80k plus (not unreasonable with the hours they work, and the draw they have). 
 
If 20,000 people subbed for a year, that is 1 million dollars. Thats enough to cover 20 peoples yearly saleries at $50k. Horrible pay for the work they do, but at least they can eat, get to work, and afford rent (prolly not a mortgage though).
 
At least by the end of the Big LIve LIve Show, Live , they hadnt subbed anywhere near that. They were hoping for 5k in the first 24 hours. 
 
The other point is, they have more than 20 staff, and even with 1 million dollars, they have not paid for technology, computers, staff amenities, BUILDING RENT, Bandwidth, travel, stock (shirts), and a million other things.
 
My point is, people expect these guys to do this for free. Realistically WM needs millions of dollars to run a year (I would guess in excess of 5 million), so these guys like the op piss me off. YOU STILL GET 2 hours of Bombcast a week. You still get to hear it within a week of it being recorded.  It is such an artificial change, and to point out to the free members, IT COSTS A BUNCH OF MONEY TO DO THIS. How do you think this stuff has been paid for the last few years? LOANS! These guys need money just to cover the debt of giving us this stuff for free, let alone moving forward.
 
Man if you like the site, and have enjoyed all the free things. Help these guys know if they can afford to be working in a year. Those free bombcasts most likely represent over a hundred thousand dollars worth of debt at this point (or owners equity - ie personal investment). 

Oh, hey! A topic complaining about the subscriptions! What a novel idea!

The internet, just like newspapers was invented to sell advertising space.  That is how they make money.  Unlike newspapers there is no printing or distribution costs, so all they need is traffic and they sell ads.  There is no real justification for charging a fee unless the content is soooo unique, it deserves it.  I have yet to see a single site on the internet worthy of a fee and Giantbomb is a really long way down near the bottom of the list of quality content.  I would pay for CVG before I paid for GB and I still wouldn't pay for CVG.