Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Please take Grits reader survey

Grits is considering a number of possible changes to the blog about which I'd like readers' input, so I sent out a note today to Grits email subscribers asking them to fill out a short reader survey, and thought I'd post the request here as well:
Dear Grits reader,

First, thank you for subscribing to Grits for Breakfast, and I hope you find the content useful. Please take a moment to fill out this reader survey in order to help me make the blog even more useful and interesting to you.

With the justice system ballooning and the number of mainstream reporters declining, there's more and more ground to cover on the issue areas Grits writes about, and fewer people than ever devoted to the task. Key agency boards and legislative committees too often meet in virtual secrecy, as far as the public is concerned, simply because no one shows up to report what they are doing.

I am considering taking this hobby to the next level by devoting myself to performing more actual, ground-level journalism on Grits for Breakfast (as opposed to mainly commenting on stories written by others). But before proceeding, I need to better understand your needs, and whether you would support expanded coverage in key areas. The additional time and expense might even require a paid subscription to access premium, original content, so I want to move carefully and with plenty of input from you.

To that end, it would help me tremendously if you could take a couple of minutes to fill out this brief reader poll to help me decide whether this idea makes sense.

With gratitude,

Scott Henson
Grits for Breakfast
The idea would be to continue to have link-and-comment type posts on the public part of the blog but to begin featuring more original, in-depth content behind a paywall. Take the survey and let me know what you think of the idea.

13 comments:

Rollory said...

" more original, in-depth content behind a paywall"

The only content on the net that I have found to be worth paying for has been subscription-based MMOGs, and even those I am pretty much done with. Everything else - actually, MMOGs also, now - can be found in "nearly as good and a whole lot cheaper" form.

Anything you put behind a paywall, as far as I am concerned, does not exist and never did.

What I have seen work is donation-based funding (and I have contributed to such myself). But that requires a dedicated audience of considerable size.

Anonymous said...

I supposed if you like biased, left wing, soft on crime propaganda, there might be some some stuff on Grits worth paying for. I, for one, won't be. On a free basis, it's a least mildly amusing to sometimes see what liberals, lefties, paranoid schizos, inmates, parolees and their sycophants are thinking. If it came down to choosing between Grits' pay content and an extra roll of toilet paper each month, I'd have to go with the toilet paper-although admittedly, there are some similarities.

Gritsforbreakfast said...

You may not be the audience for it, Rollory, if "nearly as good" is good enough. This is no doubt a niche information market. Not everybody has a need for reporting at that depth.

And 1:27, I'd suggest you not subscribe, if you feel that way. Nobody's cramming this down your throat, paid or free. You're here for only one reason: That's how you chose to spend your time today. Own it, fanboy.

Anonymous said...

Anon at 1:27 –

Save the money for that toilet paper since all I see from you is B.S.

Anonymous said...

I would pay for it.
Cathy

Pamela J. Lakatos said...

I think your work is excellent and would be willing to pay something.I do donate when I have the money.
Good luck
pam

Hook Em Horns said...

Scott, your work is both notable and outstanding! That being said there is little on the internet worth paying for. Most of the information can be read via other sources with some digging.

I enjoy reading your stuff but I am not sure I would pay for it. I am also not sure I wouldn't.

The Fishing Physicist said...

An far as I’m concerned **anything** behind a pay-wall is something that I won’t be accessing, period, end of story.

Texas Supreme Court, Texas CCA, and ‘Intermediate Appellate Courts,’ plus 425 State District Courts, 254 Constitutional County Courts, 214 County Courts at Law, & 17 Probate Courts, plus 828 ‘Justice of the Peace Courts’ not to mention 1,371 Municipal Courts. Total: 3,125 Texas Courts of all types. No one person, indeed no group of persons short of at least 100 persons can possible hope to cover anywhere near all the goings on in Texas Courts.

I view having Grits focus on bring together important stories on the Texas Justice System as being a MAJOR service. Grits as a ‘clearing house’ of information on the Texas Judicial Systems inadequacies, and more to the point it] injustices is what this site excels at.

My two cents....

RSO wife said...

Scott. I have already completed the reader survey and regardless of what some others have posted thus far, I am willing to pay to see what's behind "Door #2" Thank you for all your hard work and your championship of the "underdog" You can see by my screen name where my loyalties lie and my family and I really appreciate your efforts.

The Homeless Cowboy said...

Scott,
I find the information I get from you to be of value to me, if others do not then OK. 1:27 does not express a widely held opinion and I think he should take his opinions back to his cave with him, but, I digress.
I would pay to see grits were I able sadly I am unable due to fixed income issues but will continue to enjoy free side with gratitude.

Old Cop's Sidekick said...

Old Cop and I read your blog religiously and are greatly appreciative of the time and effort that goes into the work you do. Incidently, we are not liberal lefties...quite the opposite. The coverage you give to criminal justice issue is invaluable, and we would be on board to see more, even behind a paywall. Keep up the great work!

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
I supposed if you like biased, left wing, soft on crime propaganda, there might be some some stuff on Grits worth paying for. I, for one, won't be. On a free basis, it's a least mildly amusing to sometimes see what liberals, lefties, paranoid schizos, inmates, parolees and their sycophants are thinking. If it came down to choosing between Grits' pay content and an extra roll of toilet paper each month, I'd have to go with the toilet paper-although admittedly, there are some similarities.

3/14/2012 01:27:00 PM


You hit the nail on the head. Nailed it!

Get a real job, Scott. It's not that hard. You spend so much time criticizing the government and particularly LE, let's see you get a real job and do it better than any of us.

Real job, btw, = 40 hours per week. I'm sure Art Acedvedo would be a reference for you.

Anonymous said...

I guess the internet ad income for biased, left wing, soft on crime propaganda just isn't there. Most of the conservative sites seem to have no problem making $$ from ad money.

That being said, I'd pay real American money to see you and John Bradley take on each other in a no holds barred bare knuckle fight. Hard to say who the biggest wuss is out of you two.