How... how could you possibly start trying to profit off of a major resource for accessibility to movies. That's scummier than scummy. Fuck you OpenSubtitles, you're the fucking Elon Musk and Steve Huffman of deaf people everywhere. Get absolutely fucked.
Their website is still free and every legal way to watch movies already includes subtitles.
Oh, no harm done then, lets keep allowing every online resource to implement shitty money grabbing tactics
It sucks, sure. But it's been free for a really long time, and it costs money to run a service.
You can't really expect that a service will serve an increasing amount of people free stuff forever.
At least making people visit the site will encourage them to upload and help keep the service up.
Btw, it's not expensive and if you think it is. Just use some other service.
THEN ASK PEOPLE TO DONATE, how tone-deaf can you be about your own community?? What the fuck do they think Wikipedia is doing?
I've found pirates & FOSS enthusiasts are FAR more likely to donate into something they use regularly and appreciate, this is a blatant slap in the face to those people.They did do donations but maybe it wasn't enough 🤷 https://blog.opensubtitles.com/opensubtitles/thank-you-for-donations
It wouldn't surprise me if "VIP" was originally a tier given for donations which had some benefits.
Edit: that's indeed the case https://blog.opensubtitles.com/opensubtitles/free-vip-membership-for-first-20-users
This unfortunately helps sets a precedent for what the internet is going to look like in the future. Even the most basic things will be behind a paywall.
You cant even read a fucking news article from New York Times, who made 173.91 million dollars last yearnothing should ever be better than it was in the past. everything should continue to suck forever.
True, but just look at how much better it has gotten in the last couple decades. Putting the news behind the paywall runs the risk of ending the battle for impressions and might force nuance into well researched stories.
You mean the world renowned, universally known news agency in America owned by billionaires?
Making a burner account isnt that hard and hardly a shittification in my books.
Just a measure to ensure the free api access is correctly monetized which is a valid reason for a service to me.Would you work for free for your workplace without a compensation beyond a $5 bill and a pat on the back at times because your boss felt generous?
Would you work for free for your workplace without a compensation beyond a $5 bill and a pat on the back at times because your boss felt generous?
Misleading question. These kinds of communities are volunteer-fed, so you are basically asking me if I would work for free for a charity, which is the point. Things change notoriously when the boss then decides to monetize the entire thing for themself and not for you.
Well yes.
I go with the 2nd view because IMO the first option barely applies anymore with the current business course and decision.
My wife is deaf, and I take this VERY fucking personally. This is predatory to an already (unfortunately) overlooked demographic of movie lovers, I will absolutely rally against this bullshit.
Accessibility features are already scarce and paywalling them seems to be a trend that's going on, like how reddit closed it's API so blind users couldn't even use it anymore. The /r/blind subreddit needed non-blind mods because their native app doesn't support accessibility.
I'm afraid yes. I use their API to automatically download subs in jellyfin and I guess I'm gonna lose that too :(
Any alternatives? I myself havent seen one so I dunno if there is something to migrate to.
