UPDATE: Confirmed in the chat itself:
Craig (ShysterBall, Blogosphere): Wait, you're free now? On behalf of free-bloggers everywhere, I must go on record saying that I do not like this unnecessarily field-levelling development.Damn, five minutes in the real, wild blogging world and Rob's already developing an attitude.
Rob Neyer: (12:24 PM ET ) I'm not sure exactly why, when, or how. But yes, I seem to have been freed. Eat it, Blogger Boy!
I like it!
looks free to me.
ReplyDeleteAnd Keith Law's has been free for the past 10 days or so. Though in his chat he said he was unsure if it would continue.
ReplyDeleteCraig, the "logout" button is the "Not Craig?" button at the very top of the page.
ReplyDeleteAnd yeah, it looks like it's free. I wonder if I should cancel my subscription now.
Ah. Given Rob's comment in the chat, this may be a temporary/accidental thing. I'll hold it for a while, but if this is the end of Insider, I will be a very happy camper indeed.
ReplyDeleteIf chat transcripts are now free, then there is almost no reason to have insider account...
ReplyDeleteThanks! Things to do....cancel my ESPN subscription, the only reasons I pay for it are Neyer & Law.
ReplyDeleteInteresting....what's happening @ ESPN?
This from SBJ Oct 13 - Kosner, is John Kosner - Senior VP, GM,
digital media ESPN
SBJ: What is the future of premium content?
KOSNER: We have several hundred thousand Insiders and we have a revamp coming in early October on that. We package Insider with our [print] magazine in terms of helping subscriptions, and that’s been a success story for us. We have a broadband network, ESPN360, where we have more than 3,000 live events. … I think a lot of this comes down to whether or not the fan feels he or she can get that product elsewhere and whether or not they want it.
Well, Mr. Kosner, I'm out! And I never have rec'd the friggin magazine even once ( though, I could care less - wink to tad )
I'm with you, Pete, on the Law and Neyer thing and the magazine.
ReplyDeleteI've tried to change my mailing address for my subscription each of the last 2 times I've moved, and it hasn't worked (their user accounts features are pretty crappy). Whoever moved into my college apartment is presumably still getting that massive pile of suck.
All I can think is that ESPN has realized that in this economy, the first thing ANYONE is going to cut from their budget is a subscription service for online content. Since we're all going to be unemployed, however, we will still be surfing the web.
ReplyDeleteIn my mind, that counsels in favor of making Law and Neyer free, pumping up the ads, and hoping for the best.
So...Neyer/Law blogs AND chat wraps are free? Is that correct? I'd like some sort of confirmation, because if so, bye bye Insider.
ReplyDelete"Eat it. Blogger Boy"
ReplyDeletesublime
It is funny you guys are having issues receiving ESPN the magazine, because my experience has been the exact opposite. I receive 2 or 3 copies of the magazine every month, which I have on multiple occasions tried to reduce to zero with no avail. I begged them to keep the magazine to save me the hassle of moving it from the mailbox to the trashcan. Eventually they told me that I could opt to have the magazine sent as a "gift" to military personnel on active duty somewhere. As soon as I opted into this program, I started receiving multiple copies of the magazine, and nobody could solve my issue. Eventually I moved and chose not to forward my mail for this very reason. So someone in my old apartment is cursing my name month when their trash can is clogged with oversize ESPN the magazines.
ReplyDeleteOk, I might be slagging Disney unfairly. That remark about opting to send it to military personnel or whatever is familiar....I may have done that...
ReplyDeleteIf anybody from Disney is out there, I used to be in the mailing business and could hook you up with some help with your data!!!
I did not renew when my insider account expired earlier this year. Reading Neyer was the only thing I genuinely missed so I was happy to discover about two weeks ago that his blog was now free. Hope that lasts. I'm also glad to be free of that damn magazine. It never had any trouble finding me despite my best efforts.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I was about to say: I get roughly a half-dozen copes of the Mag monthly. They must be sending me yours, Pete.
ReplyDeleteI would send them to the military, but I don't feel like being the Jane Fonda of the aughts.
I was excited when I first heard this, thinking, "Great, now I can cancel my Insider subscription."
ReplyDeleteHowever, after reading the comments on Neyer's MVP blogs the last two days, I'm not so sure. I'm glad anyone who wants to can now read Neyer and KLaw, but it has REALLY dumbed down the level of comments.
On some level I should be glad that everyone who reads about baseball on ESPN will be exposed to progressive ideas, but I suspect many readers have no interest in being educated.
There are currently over 350 comments on Rob's article about Pedroia winning the MVP and 90% of those personally attack Rob for suggesting that Mauer should have won the MVP. Note that Rob doesn't knock Pedroia, calling him an "excellent" choice; Rob merely states that he would have voted for Mauer. I'm all for debate, but when most of it is ad hominem attacks on the writer and comments about Pedroia's heart, it's hard to have a meaningful discussion.
APBA Guy-
ReplyDeleteGood call on the comments, Matt. it's the same reason I comment here about the A's as opposed to A's Drumbeat. The level of discourse here is much higher.
Of course, I can be moved to ad hominem concerning Dustin Pedroia, but unfortunately Mark Ellis at .233 this year isn't supporting my rage.
I'm expecting this to be only a temporary development, intended to convert some tens of thousands of people into regular Neyer and/or Law readers and then snag $40 from a few thousand of them when they move the blogs back behind the pay wall.
ReplyDelete