Tech republi SOLD OUT

It can never be a sold out it's to important to IT industry, It's the place where I came to help my fellow professionals, and to improve my knowledge. In fact I like it so much that I include techrepublic has integral part of my CV.
I hope you don't get upset by this but it's a must to reply to your critics because in my country (Portugal) there isn't nothing like this website and we the Portugese IT comunity heavily rely on this site and others similar

Would you rather pay for access?

Many sites of the value of Tech Republic have become pay sites.

Since TechRepublic bacome part of CNet a while back, there has been a steady increse in the amount of adds, and spam.

As you, I do not like thechanges.
But, I will tollerate the adds if it is what is needed to keep TR as a (mostly) free site.

Chas

I don't think it's sold out. They've done really well for a company that provides free help. They have proved worthy as I have come here many times with questions and gotten answers and I've even returned the thanks. Banners produce money withouthaving to charge the end user. TechRepublic rocks. Later, Jeremy

THis post would have been better posted as a Discussion,becuase it seems as though you are rejecting any opinion that does not support your side,that tech republic has sold out.
So,why not save your points and open it as a discussion

No, I have to disagree with your statement.
TR has to make money somewhere in order to pay for servers, drive space, and IT staff. And at least TR does not employ popup windows!
You just learn to ignore the banner ads on the top and left side of each window (sorry, TR advertisers!!!)
Now sure, I am not a big fan of Macromedia Flash banners like TR uses (what's wrong with quick-loading animated GIFs??? Why not just use them?). Sometimes it takes a while for a page to load when it is a Flash banner. But, these are the travails we must suffer through.
TR still provides a lot of good content for free! That is the bottom line, IMO.

I noticed that you rejected the answers posted thus far. However, your question, “Do you think that tech republic has sold out”, is a question asking for an “opinion”. There is no “correct” or “incorrect” answer. And since the answer depends on a perspective – and different people most likely have different perspectives – then those answers, neither right nor wrong, are just opinion, no more, no less – just what you have asked for. Since you asked people for their opinion, and those people gracefully shared theirs with you – free of charge – the least you could do is treat them with the kindness and respect that they’ve shown you. (Unless you, too, have “sold out”.)

Nonetheless, regardless of how you react to this answer, I’ll give mine anyway.

Consider this: You are a programmer that works for TechRepublic. You maintain this Web site for any and all to use – free of charge. When payday rolls around, who will (indirectly) pay your salary? Will those “freeloader” users pay it? Nope, they don’t pay a fee to use the site. Will your boss pay your salary out of his own personal savings account? Nope, bosses don’t do that. Your salary will be paid by those methods that bring revenues into the business. And in this case, the advertisers to whom you referred generate the revenue.

Without the revenue, the programmers don’t get paid. If the programmers don’t get paid, the programmers don’t program. If the programmers don’t program, then people like you can’t reject the perfectly good answers they receive for the questions they post – all free of charge.
You’re welcome.

Do I think it has sold out?
Yes.
Do I think it had a good reason?
Absolutely.
See Max's post.

Even I am starting to use ads on my sites. I just can't afford to keep them free in today's economy. I make less money; I can't pay for the server and the bandwidth and the time and energy that goes into the sites with just my pocket cash any more. This site is just a larger extension of my little sites - a place where people can get information for free.

What do you suggest they do to pay for the programmers, designers, bandwidth, servers, software, etc? Do you have some enlightening ideas to share with us? If you do, please tell us. We'd all like to use less ads.

I'm just here for the points...can I have yours?
What sites DO you like these days?

And I have a question for you. If not for the advertizing, how would TR generate revenue to pay the salaries and equipment necessary to maintain the space for all this "good information"?

Go ahead - answer this question (before you reject it).

I think we must get accustomed to the fact that nothing is free. We will have to put up with reality. However, things can be done with all types of class ? from a lot of to little or none.

I agree with you to the extent the ads are getting a little out of control.

It would be better if the ads were less conspicuous and rotated. There could have a link to a separate page that contained all the ads for those who might want to review them.

Rich

This question was closed by the author