• Metal Zealot@lemmy.ml
    ·
    8 months ago

    Oh, no harm done then, lets keep allowing every online resource to implement shitty money grabbing tactics

    • lud@lemm.ee
      ·
      8 months ago

      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.

      • Metal Zealot@lemmy.ml
        ·
        8 months ago

        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.

        • lud@lemm.ee
          ·
          8 months ago

          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

      • Metal Zealot@lemmy.ml
        ·
        8 months ago

        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 year