# An idea for the server?? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [April 26, 2001, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-idea-for-the-server/63438 "2001-04-26T20:33:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MagicalSilverKey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@MagicalSilverKey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MagicalSilverKey)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2001, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-idea-for-the-server/63438/1 "2001-04-26T20:33:24Z")
I don’t know if anyone else has ever come up with this exact idea, but I think it’s interesting. I know people have tried all sorts of ideas, and keep coming up dead-ended. What if the Chicago Reader stopped making physically printed paper-newspapers altogether, then converted the Reader to a scrictly online, subscription-based newspaper service? This way, the majority of revenue would _ **have to** _ go to keeping the server up to date and upgraded. OR Continue to manufacture the paper-newspaper, in addition to, the ONLINE paper which would still be subscription based. My local newspaper has done something along of the latter idea. You can subscribe to their online archives, which dates back 10 years, and look up stuff accordingly. The web paper matches the all of the printed paper, and has many many extras as well. Our daily paper online is free, however. I think the cut-off for archived pages is 2 weeks. If its older than 2 weeks, you have to pay to access it. If you want to check it out go to [http://www.southbendtribune.com](http://www.southbendtribune.com) ---
**Author:** ![Andy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/aeb1de/32.png) [@Andy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2001, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-idea-for-the-server/63438/2 "2001-04-26T22:07:56Z")
Well I would have been severely pissed to have wandered along on a friday to pick up the Reader (to read while eating lunch) only to find a sign saying “Now online…only”. But maybe I’m old fashioned or something. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2001, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-idea-for-the-server/63438/3 "2001-04-27T04:01:09Z")
Yes, if the Reader did that, they’d have an incentive to maintain the server. There’s only one question: Why would they do that? I don’t see that discontinuing newsprint would help the Reader at all, especially considering that they apparantly have a lot more success selling ad space in the paper than on the website (and therefore make more money off of the paper). It wouldn’t matter if [straightdope.com](http://straightdope.com) got 100% of the Reader’s revenues, if that worked out to be 100% of $0 ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2001, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-idea-for-the-server/63438/4 "2001-04-27T10:49:27Z")
Plus, the _Reader_ is a free newspaper now. If they made it subscription-based, they would no doubt lose a lot of readers. Besides, not everyone has Internet acces. I’d venture to say _especially_ people who read a weekly free newspaper aren’t particularly interested in an online version. ---
**Author:** ![CnoteChris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/278dde/32.png) [@CnoteChris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CnoteChris)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2001, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-idea-for-the-server/63438/5 "2001-04-27T11:24:17Z")
**Coldfire** - I’m a bit surprised by your answer. I’ve always considered readers of free weeklies to be bright, intelligent, well-educated individuals. In fact, I’ve always thought of them as a more intelligent crowd than the majority of the people walking down the street. My basis for that belief, up until now, has only been my personal observations of readers of _our_ local free weekly, _The Twin Cities Reader_. To support my theory, I was going to check my local’s papers demographics. Instead, I found the information I was looking for at the [Chicago Reader information page](http://www.chireader.com/readerinc/Demog.html). > [@](#): > > DEMOGRAPHICS > > Median age: 36. > 43% are 21-34 years old (27% of U.S. adults are 21-34). > Median household income: $56,000. > 20% make $100,000 or more. > 92% have attended college (U.S. adults 48%). > 72% are college graduates (U.S. adults 22%). > 54% hold professional or managerial positions. > 59% male, 41% female. > 72% are single. > Source for demographic information: Mediamark Research Inc. (MRI), August, 2000. Now I know, a lot can be made by those figures. And I don’t know about you, but those figures tell me that the readers of the Chicago Reader are more likely than most to have and use an internet connection. All that aside, I think **MSK** ’s idea is kind of goofy. ---
**Author:** ![CnoteChris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/278dde/32.png) [@CnoteChris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CnoteChris)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2001, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-idea-for-the-server/63438/6 "2001-04-27T11:27:40Z")
Change the ‘by’ up there to an ‘of’, remove that ‘and’, and I think that’d be a nice post. ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2001, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-idea-for-the-server/63438/7 "2001-04-27T11:34:06Z")
I suppose that could have been phrased better, yeah. The main gist of it is: it’s a large step from a free newspaper to a paid-for website. No matter what the demographics. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![CnoteChris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/278dde/32.png) [@CnoteChris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CnoteChris)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2001, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-idea-for-the-server/63438/8 "2001-04-27T12:20:52Z")
I agree. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2001, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-idea-for-the-server/63438/9 "2001-04-27T16:09:56Z")
Is the Reader the same in Chicago as it is in SD, Calif? ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2001, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-idea-for-the-server/63438/10 "2001-04-27T22:09:49Z")
Getting back to the OP: In any case, if the Chicago Reader decided to put more effort for the online version of their publication, the time/money would be spent on the server for [http://www.chicagoreader.com](http://www.chicagoreader.com) , which is not necessarily the same as the server for our message board. ---
**Author:** ![MagicalSilverKey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@MagicalSilverKey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MagicalSilverKey)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2001, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-idea-for-the-server/63438/11 "2001-04-28T00:14:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Arnold Winkelried \* > \*\*Getting back to the OP: In any case, if the Chicago Reader decided to put more effort for the online version of their publication, the time/money would be spent on the server for [http://www.chicagoreader.com](http://www.chicagoreader.com) , which is not necessarily the same as the server for our message board. \*\* Well there has to be SOME way, there just has to be!