Is it me or is this reality?

[is0lized]

are all free sites starting to close down? in the past week i have seen over 5+ die, whats happening to free stuff

will it exist in a few years? or even a few months?

or will we all have to start to pay?

[Hoth]

Certainly the number of them is getting smaller. Considering advertising revenue is generally what supports free stuff, and ad rates have been going down, that's not surprising. To suggest free stuff will disappear entirely would be an overreaction and foolish, though. There will be less variety and you'll have to look harder, that's all.

[meow]

Maybe it's HailStorm that has started already? Bill reaches for us...*shudder*

[programmer2k]

here's the rule

If you are rich, you can have a stable FWS for a while
if you aren't,
DONT START ONE

unless you have good plans to make money

That's the reality

[syanet]

Originally posted by programmer2k

unless you have good plans to make money



GCSNet claimed to have great plans for making money that would enable them to never close down. But they did.

Like I said the other day, soon everything free will be dead or turned into a pay service.

[programmer2k]

gcsnet said that their plan didn't work

[LeX]

They did? When?

[programmer2k]

it was on their forum

I asked if they had a plan
and they were like

uh...

[Gayowulf]

I think before anyone starts a business, espially one whose success depends directly on the happiness of the customer, a sound business plan is needed. This is probably the reason why so many FWPs have failed. two guys want to start a little fwp for the hell of it and get in to deep. Suddenly the only way out is to quit, and dump all your users. Its reality, But those who have failed could have succeeded if they took the time to plan their future, and not act on impulse.