New Paywall / Free article limit since Jan 4th 2021

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Please see our announcement here for more details:

https://seekingalpha.com/article/4396836-important-update-for-seeking-alpha-users

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Duplicates 240
5 articles a month? You have an ad based platform Your user base will go down 90%
I can't afford to pay for this subscription but I need it's content
Hi. I never subscribed to SA Premium. So why do I get the message "You have reached your free article limit and blocks me from reading the articles available freely on the Open SA website. Please advise.
Hi. I never subscribed to SA Premium. So why do I get the message "You have reached your free article limit and blocks me from reading the articles available freely on the Open SA website. Please advise.
Free Articles Read not counting correctly

On Monday, 1/4, I read an article by Ken Reel.  A message told me this was article 1 of 5 free articles for the month.  Later that day I read one by Brett Jensen.  This time the the message said I was on article 3 of 5.  Screen shot below shows the articles I've read this week.  I belong to F&G's and Nick Ackerman's services, so those two should not count toward the monthly total.  And when I read those articles I didn't get any message about the article count, which is as it should be.  So something's not counting these articles correctly.

Which brings us to a second issue.  How is one supposed to know how many free articles he has, or has left?  I poked around my settings and profile and didn't see any way to get this info except through the articles I've read section.  

Which brings us to a third issue.  This whole article limitation change has been poorly communicated and poorly implemented.  I've looked at a couple of the recent related issues here and the only "answer" I see is a link to the news article you published New Year's eve.  So nobody knows how many articles they have or how they're being counted.  Did that news item about the changes count as a read free article?   In the services I belong to the service owners seem to be as much in the dark as I am.  

I've been on SA for over 5 years now.  I belong to three services.  I'm not going to rant and rave here and threaten to quit.  I'm getting good service from Savvy Investor, Income Lab, and Income Factory.  I'll likely stay as long as those folks are in business.  However, I feel I deserve better than to be limited to 5 articles a month, and to have that thrust upon me in the way SA has done.

Image 38478

Stop sending me things that require a subscription!
After recent changes, I believe my time here on Seeking Alpha is done. Good bye!
This limit issue was handled poorly. If you only want paying members just say so. You're not the only game in town.
Ridiculous fee. Would pay something and/or deal with ads. After many years I'M OUT. Sucks, bad decision by SA
How does the website determine the number of free articles you are permitted to read. Apparently the number is zero.
Why is every article I read now a premium article not available for unsubscribed reader?
Premium ad pops up on every article

The ad to subscribe to Premium pops up when I try to read any article, blocking it completely. This happens with all articles, whether free or Premium.

Ikeepgeting an ad placement for free trial of Premium. There doesn't seem to be any way to cancel it off my screen
Not worth $20 a month for content, not worth my time for 5 articles a month. Will delete my account if I can, otherwise just delete the link in the browser. Been here since 2013 and think the content is not the quality it was in the early days.
What is my free article limit? It appears you blocked all articles
What is the idiocy about reaching the max free reads? I'm gone. Hope your advertisers enjoy all this.
If you are going to lock me out ~ take me off your mailing list.
The ads for premium are blocking content and cannot be x out or closed. Cannot read the free seeking alpha articles at all.
5 articles a month? I’m outta here. My next move is to delete the app (and exposure to your advertisers). Your loss
Will be leaving due to inability to access anything without paying subscription fees.
Paywall and Article Limit
I'm out

I have been following for years, but I refuse to be forced into anything. Count me in the thousands who you have succeed in driving away. I'm out. 

Exported my portfolio. Enough is enough!

Exported my portfolio. Will restart with a competitor. I'm fed up with your pathetic site and censorship. David you are greedy and arrogant. Hope your SA will sink like the Titanic.

Kbwells So I am not a subscriber, and you limit my ability to read company news. Not analyst, but public news. I know longer have use of this app. Thanks and good luck.
I am unable to read my articles it says that my max has been reached and I must upgrade to premium to unlock this article and to be able to read all articles. I have not heard that the free articles had a limit.
what is the monthly limit on articles?
I’ve been using this for over two years and it’s now telling me I’ve reached my article limit? Please advise..
Having trouble reading articles, is SA closing there web sight? Very sad.....
The new 5 article limit is ridiculous.
Great trying to squeeze money out of people for a service that's been free all these years. PFFFt
I will probably unsubscribe,being forced to pay for iteems that were free is total nonsense,comments are all that I read, not long drawn out articles.
is this site unusable with the adverts forcing users to sign up?
I’ve been using your service for years and now I am being told I’ve reach and article limit and that I have to pay money... is that an error?
Your sudden, unannounced change is a bad business decision. Now I will go to brokerage site instead of your site.
Premium price? too rich for me, guess greed takes over
that dam advert for upgrade blocks all articles!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I just want to read the free articles. why is there a limit on my account?
How many free articles can be read monthly before a reader is blocked ??

How many free articles can be read monthly before a reader is blocked. ?

Annoying pop-ups for premium service is souring me on seeking alpha
Subscription pricing is too high for small investors. Wake Up!
I can't afford to pay for this subscription,,I don't believe you should charge for reprinting other sites content

SA thanks alot for taking away our ability to keep up with the news,,,greed

dont send the emails if you dont allow reading
All of your recent notifications to me require a premium subscription. That just annoys me. Please give a way to opt out of notifications requiring a premium subscriptions.
extremely disappointed that your website went to pay only. especially at $30 per month. way overpriced for the small investor.I have been a seeking alpha fan for many years. ,but alas no more, . too bad.
Has there been a change in subscription- no longer free
Access

I was a beta tester. Why am I no longer able to read even news articles? I can understand analyses but suddenly nothing is available without premuim.

I have used Seeking Alpha for years-now it seems any one of my stocks in my portfolio is immediately put on the premium level. The only things free are paid entries by advertising firms . Since I can get the info elsewhere with little checking why do I n
I cannot copy news articles anymore
what is the "free article" limit? never bucked up against it before. is it a one-time limit or a monthly limit?
I receive emails from authors of articles but am no longer able to read free content. Keep getting a page indicating that I have reached my limit on free content and that is before I have read anything.
Suddenly, all the articles are blocked immediately. Why?
Free articles
Exactly what is the number for the monthly free article limit? 5? 10? i did not see a number
Any free articles?
Previous access to articles received in my mailbox are blocked....totally blocked by pro ad to subcsribe. Is this legal?

Why are articles sent to me blocked by ad from pro?

I can't open an article without your ad to subscribe to premium covering the page. It won't go away.
Used to be an O.K. site, but they have become too greedy. I'm gone.
Used your site for years and love it, but will not pay for a tip to buy COSTCO ! Also app not working.
Cannot load story to read. Article title pops up in my gmail mailbox but pops off when I hit read. Used to be able to read story
why can I not read articles I click on? Is it all pay to play? If so, I'll just cancel. please advise.
loved the site for the free articles and news, but $239 /Yr is way too much for a few articles when there are other sites that are as good or better
All articles are closed to me. I am isolated senior who takes my portfolio. Seriously but cannot afford membership. Why the sudden deletion of articles.?
No articles are visible. How do you disable the free trial pop up?
I'm leaving! There are some authors I really appreciate, but not worth what you want to charge. Huge impact on my inbox, Thanks.
Free article limit

How many free articles is a reader given a month?

popups to subscribe prevents reading articles even when logged in
alternatives to Seeking alpha

what are the alternatives to sA?

Seeking Alpha is desperate - it is bombarding every page with sale pitch. Is it going to survIve?
Your leadership is failing you for grabbing greed instead of long term growth; been reading articles for many mar many years now and your
I guess I’m done with this site. $30 a month to see anything now is ridiculous. Good luck with that.
I don't want a free trial I just want to read the article?
Why do I now have to scroll back to the headlines, each time I click on an article?

In the Portfolio page, when I click on an article and scroll, it takes me to the top each time. Very frustrating!

I am unsubscribing from everything associated with Seeking Alpha. Read your own Premium Service.
I cannot read any articles because I am being told to upgrade to Premium and my free reads are used up.
like everyone else on this thread i'm unsubscribing as well. Why would anyone pay 19.95/mo for info that may or may not be good?
The services available in my free account seem to no longer be working. Is this by design? If so, let me know and I will find somewhere else to do my research and tracking. If not, please fix the problem.
please provide affordable subscription for single retail user with one year low price.
Your pop up that says that I have used up all my monthly pre views on the third of the month, should be changed to you will pay or we will block everything. Think this will be good by from me.
Can't access articles, have been a subscriber for years but now I get an endless loop saying I need to subscribe to premium
Deleting

Deleting my account. Not worth the subscription.

WHAT'S UP WITH THE LIMITED FREE SITE PUSHING TO JOIN YOUR SITE? I WAS UNDER THE IMPRESSION IT WAS A FREE SITE
Every time I try to read articles subscription pitch comes up.
Avatar j56
There are no free articles?
Cancelling all email subscriptions
5 free articles a month ?!

Are you joking me? May be 3 to 5 articles for free a day would be reasonable in order to keep majority of your users happy ! Yes.. SA is blind to see that you scare future paying users away like this.

I cannot view articles so I have tried to unsubscribe for forum but do not see a link to do it
Please delete the constant ad to purchase SA Premium. I can't afford it. Kindlylet me read your contributors articles which are blocked unless I purchase your premium product.Thank you for unlocking my reading of your atricles, in advance.Larry Johnson
Thanks for taking away your reports from the public, please remove my email from your advertising.
i cannot see any of the articles. What am I paying for?
You just lost a reader trying to foce subscription

I enjoyed reading the articles until you forced subscription. Good byr

Please calm down the “premium” click bait. It’s making your app unusable and interfering with research.
Premium

Please indicate which articles are premium before I attempt to read after tapping on them only to be told then that the content is premium and cannot access

1/3 of the way into any article it locks up saying I need to be a premium member.
Blocking articles without Premium subscription

When will you unblock articles for non-Premium users?

I, for one, am not happy with the shut down of free content. There are many sites that "mimick" the successful format of Seeking Alpha and I will look into those sites.
$20 a month is too much
I will be leaving SA following your implementation of locking the site after reading x articles. Other sites have found that opening their site leads to greater revenue and free advertising (word of mouth). I am greatly disappointed with your decision.
I signed up and an email stated my account was activated, but I can not avoid the paywall. What should I do?.
What are the new number of FREE articles that can be read ?
Very disappointing you have now decided to charge for so many articles. I'm looking for a new site to accommodate my needs.
I’m unhappy that you’ve blocked articles for non-premium users. That’s sad.
No more looking at articles unless I buy service....bye bye
Too bad your now charging to see articles. Moving on to different source of info
why do you keep blocking the articles i want toread
stop sending your stupid emails im not paying for amatuer opinions....are you shitting me
When did the articles become limited

What is going on. use to read several a day. I dont need the tools and all of that I get that with my platform. I guess you don't want your advertisers exposed too much. This was really handled poorly. 

I don't want a "Free Trial" of Premium service!!! I just want to read an article -- your popup block is ANNOYING!!
Complaint

Can’t read any news anymore.  Y’all justxcrewdd everything up.  Just take your site down

After years of using this free app, all of a sudden am told I have no more free articles and need to pay. I understand you offer additional for a fee, but there was no notice that I saw telling us to pay or get lost.

Subscription 

Bye bye seeking alpha
It is Feb. 01,2021 and I read ONE ARTICLE for free under the basic plan and when I tried to read another I was cut off with the pop up to upgrade to $$$$ plan to read it. So the basic plan allows one article per month!!! Thanks S/A and BYE BYE.
Very disappointed by the change to pay wall, if you maintain it I will depart SA
free limit on articles
Avatar ST3

Is it a new policy to limit seeking alpha users to a certain amount of "free articles?" I did not see a warning issued. This will limit my time on the site if they insist on premium to view articles.

sa--stupid question---you've received numerous neg comments re: your new pay system--any chance reversing that decision?? (lol) if not i cannnot justify paying for opinion articles.
Don't want a free trial good bye forever!!!!
paying for articles

Seems really silly because the creators of Seeking Alhpa have to know that we can just go to a "free" website and read the same articles. This will drive readers away from the site not help get more premium subscribers. I was actually thinking about subscribing to some premium content but not anymore. 

Offer Partial Access

I visit your web site very little and interested in a very few categories (tabs).  Have a lower fee for limited access.

Enough of this nonsense. You have become too greedy for me. Your app will be deleted and I will unsubscribe from e-mails. Will have more time for more productive things.
5 articels limit? Forget it.
When I click to read a news story on my stock list, it takes me to a subscription sign up and I can’t read the story. Why?
The monthly charge is too much. We can pay for premiums as we want but now must pay even to sample the authors. Looking at many other sources though I will miss Seeking Alpha
Cannot open app notifications
Good bye Seeking Alpha! Forcing people to pay to read your articles is not cool. I'll find my financial news elsewhere.
OK ..... so I've been a LONG TIME follower of SA and read multiple articles EVERY day. However this new paywall / free article limit is insane. I'm minutes away from making a decision to stay away from your site forever.
Why do we have to pay for articles now that were once free?


Is this a money grab? I am not paying for articles that were once free. Go back to the old way, and make money like every other large internet site through ads, which are popup every minute 

why am I being block from free articles I thought this community was to help us?
SA ..... thanks for the boilerplate response to new paywall system. It's simply BS. Guess I'm going back to CNBC. Too bad.
Shame on you for putting a limit of free reading of articles. It was bad enough that many authors think they are experts and start charging for their opinions. SA email is now treated as SPAM.r
Stop pop ups and restore free articles (for limited # days), or after may years I will leave and go to IBD
5 free articles a month - what a joke?! Really hope they change this policy way too restrictive.
You send me emails EVERY DAY with articles that are blocked. Insane.
...want to be a subsriber.

Why are there volumes of posts about not being satisfied? 

Dear Sirs, I have enjoyed the free portion of Seeking Alpha,often disagree. You have every right to limit your access, but if you do insist then Please stop sending me any articles and information that fill up my inbox as I can not read them. Regards Chri
It saddens me to loose the SA of past years with the only option a Premium Pay Site. This was my favorite investment advisor.
Won't be back. I hope your advertisers are happy.
I can't access any news articles... says i have to upgrade from basic to premium. But all i want is access to news articles and it says it should be available thru the basic package. Please help.
Suddenly in the last week half of your articles when I click on them require that I subscribe what’s that all about?
very disapointed to see the move to virtually no content ifyou dont sign up for the premium service.
The blocking of articles because of monthly limits is new. Not exactly policy that is user friendly
How many free searches do I get
Hi I'm now band for articleship in seeking alpha and why?oh you get people to get involved in this site,then it's a oh no nothing is free of I want to continue I need to pay for premium,why is this?
Sorry to see you go...Your emails have been increasingly fatuous and lacking in real analysis...this new approach to your marketing says you aren't the patient type.
Free account

I have a free account but I’m not able to view most articles without signing up for the premium subscription. Are you now charging to view articles?

I have read articles on Seeking Alpha for the last 5 years and now I have to become a subscriber to read them.
If this is now a PAY ONLY site; say so. Why antagonize people?
Articles for free for years not available now
Reading news require "premium service"?

Everything I click on says I need "premium service".  Is this now how it is?

It’s time for me to abandon Seeking Alpha. There are some good authors and ideas presented but not worth the premium content price. I think you have made a mistake in understanding the sites true value.
Seeking Alpha - now bait and switch spam site. I’ve been long time subscriber but no more after the recent 5 article limit. It is just spam now and I’m making a point of complain about the spam on any site that has links to it. Nice while it lasted
As a long time user I’m disgusted at the amount of articles I can’t read anymore due to not having a Premium account. You r going to lose a ton of ur users if u don’t fix this issue
seeking Alpha just committed suicide

Stupidest new policy ever implemented (new undefined limit on free articles). I'm out.

Should have changed what was free to a 6.95 month as an option, $30 basic is too much, bad marketing.
Am bombarded by adverts or popped ups ups hole trying to read. Spare me please!
Googbye to Seeking Alpha .. gotten greedy..

Congratulations on losing yet another viewer. Paying for virtually every article link (even company press releases!) means I'm switching to Yahoo Finance.. goodbye..

I Thought the News was always FREE on Seeking Alpha
I’m being told I’ve used all my free access to articles. Don’t recall being given a numerical max? Regardless, if I’m not going to be able to read them then why send them at all? Stop sending. Btw, about two years ago I entered a now foolish opinion m

Access to articles ceased

I currently subscribe to 2 of the services paying $800/year but can't read anything else unless I subscribe to your premium? What a bad marketing plan as I was considering a 3rd, but no longer!

I was considering another Seeking Alpha service but can no longer read any articles to evaluate one as I aparently cannot get access unless I subscribe to your premium. What a bad marketing plan!!! No additional purchases coming from me.

paywalls sucks....good bye

paywall sucks good bye

I am unable to view headlines or news on any of my holdings. What are my options other than the premium subscription. Thanks
Why do we have to pay for articles now that were once free?

Is this a money grab?  I am not paying for articles that were once free.  Go back to the old way, and make money like every other large internet site through ads 

Please delete my profile and unsubscribe me from all newsletters and marketing. Thank You
why am I blocked from reading articles in basic ?
free article limit. have been a member since 2010 and now there is a limit on the number of articles one can read? This is not stated in the thee options that we are now given. Good idea shame some MBA is running it.
so how come articles that were not behind the paywall on Saturday (and I commented on) have moved behind the paywall on Sunday?
I recently signed up for seeking alpha and now every article I try to read tells me I need to become premium member, when I had paid nothing I was able to see alot more !!!! Why
I am bob@tsgsix.com; I am a subscriber to your "basic" service. You send me e-mails which are available from your "superior " service which I cannot open. Please stop sending the e-mails which pertain to the superior service. Many thanks! Bob
Have been a registered member since 2014. Recent restriction on "limit of number of free articles is a real turn-off". Understand restricting the premium articles but no the general ones. Will not turn out well for SA!
Paywall

Did I miss the memo? All articles now behind paywall?

Earnings call transcript

Did SA change access to earnings call transcript recently? I used to be able to view it and now it is asking me o be a paid premium customer.

I am going to drop your app since everything is locked and have to pay for everything now
what is seekinmg alpha phone number
Goodbye SA Announce your limits. If this is your support, why join????
The app will not let me read individual stock update news
Unable to read comments directed to me without a premium account.

I have a relatively new problem with SA - when I  go to my messages on SA and try to read comments directed to me that originate from an article that is a week or 2 old, I'm not allowed access and am told that I need a premium subscription to access the message and reply to the message. 

I'm unable to read the message or respond, if appropriate.  Very frustrating. 

I've worked with Lajoy earlier on other things, perhaps he could respond?

Most Sincerely,

@blackcrk

not good that you cut everybody off from basic information
I was a long term member, but I am disgusted that you won't allow me to read even one article on your site. Public news on companies should be free!
For years I read a few articles most every morning and now every time I click on one it always says I have run out of free articles!!

Thank you

I am deleting the Seeking Alpha app. It was my favorite app to use for researching different stocks. Now I can read no more than 5 articles a month so the free app is useless now..
I articles will open in the app, after downloading latest version. They will open from my notifications screen on iPhone.

No articles (not I articles)!

For last number of days, I cannot access your articles. I just get a blank screen. Can you fix this?

For last number of days, I cannot access your articles. I just get a blank screen. Can you fix this?

Unable to read information
STOP sending the subscription ad which it is impossible to delete and, likewise, makes it impossible to view the article it blocks, This invasion has been going on for too long.
How do I get rid of the premium reminder? I want a basic free tier.
I HIT MY LIMIT ON ACTICLES ON THE FIRST ONE I TRY TO READ
Article limit

They just deleted my post of yesterday. What a dictator censorship is going on?

Shame on you SA!!!!!!!

I can't believe I have reach my daily allotment of ZERO articles! Guess it's time to look elsewhere.
I was having issues with app where I was able to read articles and forums without question. Uninstalled and reinstalled and new app now requires subscription to do the same thing. That's too bad...😡😡
is there a limit to the number of articles that can be accessed in the basic mode?
What is with this site that they have decided to charge for information you can get free on Yahoo Finance?
I agree. I will be leaving this site soon if…

I agree. I will be leaving this site soon if they do not fix this banner or ad that I cannot get away from.

Articles will not load from app on iPhone.

Articles will open from the notification screen. I’m on all latest versions of phone and SA software.

No longer can read any articles without Premium subscription??

Why after 3 years of using seeking alfa as my morning routine am I now blocked to read any articles without a Premium subscription?

Charge a small monthly fee for DATA/NEWS, etc , EX articles. I don't need the articles and do not access S.A. to read them.

I would be willing to pay a small monthly fee to access S>A> and NOT have access to articles, as my primary purpose for visiting is not the articles.

Article limit

Why I’ve reached my article limit?

You are killing this site. Bye bye.

Seeking Alpha used to be a good site. Right now it's useless, as it locks up with a pop-up telling me to upgrade to Premium within a few seconds of clicking on any article. There seems to be no way to close the pop-up. I hope this is just a bug - if it is deliberate then bye bye SA. It was nice knowing you.

WHY is the official news paid?

why has access to official news become paid? I cannot read the news of the companies in my portfolio! Article and news are different things, if you ask for a fee to read the official news, then you are a typical scam.

why has access to official news become paid? I cannot read the news of the companies in my portfolio! Article and news are two different things, if you are asking for a fee to read the official news, then you are a typical scammer ??
Are you asking to pay FOR COMPANY NEWS ???

Б

Removal of premium

How do I decline the premium offer and just receive other news? It seems that every news article is now "premium" and App demands purchase.

Deleting your app

I’m deleting your app as your site no longer works for me & I've tried to update the app but still can’t get any news articles just tries to get me to signup for your premium subscription

SA lying

It would seem that SA is now lying about the free article limit.Not only will they not say what it is but today (Feb 1st) I'm still getting the annoying pop-up on every article. Or is the monthly limit zero?

Reaching the article limit

I have no use for the subscriber side of Seeking Alpha and only log in on the free side of the platform.  I have reached my article limit so if you are not going to post any good articles on the free side then why would I need to receive any more articles or emails.  Good Bye!

why am I receiving 90% less articles; not even getting some earnings and transcript announcement?
deleting your app

I will be deleting your app since you started metering your content and forcing subscriptions. I've been a long time follower ,but will be going to another investment content provider 

kill this repetative add over, and over, and over ad nausium
Dear Alpha management

I cannot access to your free articles ..as many of my invesror club friends despite we appreciate your website ..we will go to yahoo or motley

Forcing people to take your expensive membership is not the way..

Regards

Djs in thailand

Free Service

Why are all my articles now are consider a premium article and I need to upgrade in order to read the article.  I thought the mission of Seeking Alpha was to educate us on how to protect our portfolio's and not charging a service fee????

SUBSCRIPTION

I've been a "Basic" subscriber. Any articles I access now I'm advised I've reached my "FREE LIMIT" on articles. Is ALL your content now subject to a subscription? Your prompt response is appreciated.

Looking for a new service. This paywall has ruined your free service.

The new paywall has me looking for someone else.


Why offer a free service?

You can’t even read articles anymore without subscription?

I’ve been a seeking alpha user for over 10 years, now your limiting the latest news? Just as seeking alpha took eyes from the big financial websites, so too will the next free forum take users away from seeking alpha. I guess it’s an inevitable cycle.

Do basic users get a limited # of articles to read or not?

Hello:  


I subscribe to just a few authors, and was under the impression that I could still read a limited number of their articles after the new subscription policies were rolled out?  Perhaps that is incorrect, and now I can't find any reference to why I believed I could still read a few articles.  I'm sorry.

I thought perhaps it was a monthly limit, but here we are on Feb 1st, and I cannot read any articles.  So now I'm writing to see if I can get a definitive answer.

Thank you for any response.  It makes no difference to me that SA has changed policies.  I wouldn't want anybody telling me how to run my business either.  I'd just like to be able to find out what the new terms are for a basic/free subscription.  With my limited interest in certain authors, it may or may not be worth paying for a different subscription.  With a little more information, I can make that choice.

Many thanks.

Please add "News Only" Subscription Option

With the new paywall, I can't access the news feeds and corresponding comments.  This is the most valuable tool for me within SA.  I only read a few articles/month from contributors, so can do without that feature.  I would be happy to pay $5/month to just get the news/transcripts/etc.  I hope you consider this option.  Thanks.

After years with free account, suddenly getting free article limit message. What changed? What are the new rules?

After years with free account, suddenly getting "free article limit" message when I click on messages emailed to me. What changed? What are the new rules? Not finding anything on this subject in help area.

Unable to open SA articles with Safari now?  Why???

Unable to open SA articles with Safari now?  Why???

BLOCKED

In the past, I was able to read most author and analysis reports now all is blocked until I subscribe to premium what is up with that?

Why I am locked out of SA articles, telling me my free time is up?

Since when did I have a time limit on the Seeking Alpha platform?  Why don't you  just be honest and let us know you're going to a subscription based platform.  It would be good customer service to write a letter explaining your process.  Very disappointed in the difficulty in getting good vendor response.

Daily Free Article Limit

It was great that your site would allow for reading of the most recent articles, but not the article limit will activate when my browser auto refreshes which means your site will now be useless as a way to see the days news. Oh well, you dont have to tailor yourself to free users, but guess I'll find a new site to use every day

Free article limit

I want to voice my dissatisfaction with your most recent monetization attempt. I already subscribe to several of my favorite authors so am not opposed to paying for content. I viewed the free articles as advertisements for the authors pay service. Some are interesting reads but not really actionable. Those that I likes the most I subscribed and payed for their content. I wonted be paying for the new paywall so I probably will be reading fewer articles on your site and subscribing to fewer payed services.  

Free Account

I’m very disappointed with SA in the way they have gone to an subscription service only without any warning.


It is very frustrating to receive emails with articles I can’t access. I understand the right to charge for access to articles but I won’t be forced (bullied) into an subscription to read articles that are coming to my email. The only way I know to stop this is to delete my SA account, which I hope will stop the emails. SA perhaps you should stop advertising FREE accounts. NOT COOL SA!

Not happy with new policy limiting free acticles. Good bye seeking alpha.

Not happy with new policy limiting free acticles. Good bye seeking alpha. Other venues can make money with advertising, ever thought of that?

I couldn't use Seekingalpha website because its asking me to subscribe. I don't want to subscribe.

I couldn't use the Seekingalpha website because its asking me to subscribe. i don't want to subscribe. Need help please.

Free Articles without a subscription

How many free articles per month are available without a subscription ? S.A. is still keeping this number a secret. To me, that is unethical. ( I have a feeling the number has not been decided on ).

Why can't I read almost any article without upgrading to Pro.

Why can't I read almost any article without signing up for the premium service.  In the past about one in 5 articles were restricted.  Today it seems like almost all of them are.  This will not fly....there are plenty of places I can get information.....I've been investing for 40 years....35 of them without Seeking Alpha.  I can go back pretty easily.

site changes

Folks I used to use this site to learn.  Something changed.  I'm no longer allowed to.  Why the change?

Unable to read any articles dropping Seeking Alpha APP now.

Value of Seeking Alpha has declined to to Zero

Seeking Alpha information is often incorrect...by blocking everyone, including issuers there is no way to offset incorrect statements. This exposes you to potential liable. Please address immediately before lawsuit.

Authors are never fact checked and in fact regularly mislead. If issuers are unable to check your content freely and you do not check or offer access unless you blackmail people into paying, you risk liable. Get ready for lawsuits when you disseminate bad information you can liable fund operators.

Who came up with this plan? If we felt a subscription benefited us, we would sign up. But what is their background that make their ideas worth the premium price. A forum is an exchange of ideas/opinions. There are some good ideas, but not worth a premium

What happened to FREEDOM of Speech?

Reached maximum article’s

Why am I getting the inability to read articles. It says I reached my maximum number of articles. I always assumed if I did not want this description that the regular articles could be read and they also include advertisements. Is there something I don’t realize

Useless to me

This site is now useless as far as I am concerned.  Not one article of interest can be viewed without paying the fee.  It used to be good for the average investor.  Bye-Bye,

SA only catering to premium viewers. Too bad.

Not an active trader but enjoyed the SA Dividend Investing newsletter. For years any article I clicked was available. Now most of the time I have to have premium. No point in subscribing. Bad move SA

This site has become too annoying to use

Well it looks like Seeking Alpha is going down the "Dark Path" (like Motley Fool), making it harder and harder to tell what content is free and what is paid. I'm sick of my time being wasted by clicking on articles that "look" free only to get the annoying pop-up begging for money. 

News item are blocked

Everytime I click on a news item in my portfolio I get the seeking alpha premium screen and I cannot get rid of it or read the news item.  8t locks on that screen. There is no x to cancel. This started last night. I am not a premium customer but it looks like in the menu bar the app is defaulting to premium and then freezes the news items. 

Happ...aywall new year :)

I understand you can do what you prefer, because site, contributors, etc. are yours, and you have all rights to choose.

Anyway, a little improvement, could be to give the reader the choice NOT to see any article with subscription (or, at least, to show an evident sign before tapping for reading it).

You wrote somewhere advertising it's not a good choice for you. I disagree but, as I told initially, it's not my right to choose. A simple proposition: consider selling this option to google for one year... and appreciate (or not) the retour after one year...:)

Marco CATELLANI

Shedding users over paywall

If you have a way to reach out once you change your mind on the ridiculous paywall, I'd come back. Plenty of platforms that have found a way to make revenue without it. For me, it's off to Yahoo Finance app. Have enjoyed SA up until this month.

limiting the number of "free" articles I can read

You are now limiting the number of "free" articles I can read to ONE!! Goodbye Seeking Alpha, I will NEVER subscribe. Your service is simply not worth the price!!!

What the blank are you doing forcing the subscription model on your members??!!

You are ruining the best site for diversified stock investment information ever assembled. You had ad revenue, you have authors selling their articles with shared ad revenue based on readership. You had authors selling their own newsletters. Now you're pushing a subscription model that is higher priced than competitors like Motley Fool's list of newsletters. Why are you screwing up a good thing? I won't ever pay for unsubstantiated opinion research and you will lose me as a follower, reader, and supporter if you continue to force the subscription requirement. Don't ruin a good thing with GREED. I am so disappointed with these decisions which I totally missed if you emailed notices of the changes, really a deceptive trade practice.

Can I stop emails that are only for premium?

Hi, I like some of your news alerts, but it is a big time waste for me to click on email alerts that are then blocked as premium content. I would be okay receiving these emails if you let me know it was premium only in the email body. Please help or I'll need to unsubscribe from SeekingingAlpha altogether.

Best,

Mike

Why is subscription price so high?

I do find value in this app, but why is the price so high per month?  
should be less than $10/month and you would probably get 5x the subscribers. 

Paywall for Basic - I have decided to uninstall. Greed has taken over.

Such a shame to see greed ruin something I used daily (Basic member) and told friends about all the time.

I'm uninstalling until something changes.  Will try to find other sources.

Ransomeware?

Hello,

I get your email every day and occasionally read an article. I find that they are informative. I am not an active investor but I occasionally ask my advisor to read one of the article and comment.

I have presumed that the fact that you send the email means that you intend for the articles to be read,

Today I tried to read an article and discovered that it was being held hostage and would not be released until I paid the ransom of $240/yr.

Since I don't actively trade , you can see that there is no way to justify $240/yr just to satisfy my curiosity. 

If your intent is to prevent non-subscribers from reading then, perhaps, you should just stop offering and sending  email to non-subscribers.

If these ransomeware messages are going to be the norm from now on, then I might as well unsubscribe from the email as there would be no pint in clogging my inbox with something useless.

New article limit

Dear SA executives

Come on now, we all know that this is a lose-lose situation right now. You lose customers, contributors lose customers and income, and the customers/readers can't access even basic news articles any longer.

Read some Management 101 education book and get a grip now.

Do something, just anything. Make everybody happy again and make the first step towards us and create a win-win situation again.

I know it's hard to admit that some decision was wrong. But it's even harder and worse to see your platform sink into oblivion because you're stubborn. This is your big opportunity now, but don't wait too long. Do it now and make us happy again.


Stop that stupid paywall or change it to such an extent so everybody can live with! Don't destroy your own hard work!

Best wishes

Please stop offering me Alpha Premium or I'll cancel what I'm getting.
Pinned replies
Avatar
-244
anonymous
  • PINNED
  • Answer
  • Answered

Hi,

Thanks for your valuable feedback. Please see our announcement here for more details:

https://seekingalpha.com/article/4396836-important-update-for-seeking-alpha-users

Thanks,

Daniel Hochman

VP Product, Seeking Alpha

Avatar
-32
SA Admin Kushal Mehrotra
  • Answer
  • Not a bug

Hi,

Please give the following a read, it may give some context to the recent developments at SA

https://seekingalpha.com/article-new/4396836-important-update-for-seeking-alpha-users

Regards,

Kushal Mehrotra

Data QA Analyst, Seeking Alpha

Avatar
112
BeaBaggage

sad, even some contributors are upset, no warning, just change things on us, been coming here for over 10yrs since Yahoo Finance went down hill.. oh well.. there are a lot of other resources that are free.

Avatar
-278
David Jackson

Thanks for your comments. I know it's frustrating when something which was previously free is no longer free. However, we believe that the growth of Seeking Alpha, and our ability to reward our contributors for their work, requires subscriptions as well as advertising. 


I'm sure you've seen this from other publishers as well. There's a growing consensus in the publishing industry (other than Facebook and Google) that quality publishing is not sustainable with advertising alone. And we believe that Seeking Alpha articles are far more valuable than articles which many news sites charge for -- because Seeking Alpha articles help investors make profitable investment decisions. 

   

We understand that many of our users won't want to pay. Receiving something free for a long period of time naturally creates a sense of entitlement. And $75 a month is considerably more money than news sites charge (for their articles which don't help you make profitable investment decisions). 


So we've tried to design our paywall to maintain what we hope will still be a great free experience. All our news is still free. Analysis articles about broad themes or groups of stocks are still entirely free. And analysis articles that focus on a specific stock are still free in the first 10 days. Only analysis articles about specific stocks which are at least 10 days after publication now require a subscription to read. And for those, everyone can still see the article summary, and if you commented on one those articles and receive a comment notification, you'll still be able to see the comments without a subscription (but not the article itself). 


The net effect of this is that if you have a portfolio on Seeking Alpha, or follow your favorite authors, or find articles in sections of Seeking Alpha like Dividend Investing, you're probably reading articles within 10 days of publication, so your experience will be unchanged. 


However, if you want to research a stock, the most valuable articles -- those about the specific stock in question -- now require a subscription. But even then, many articles which discuss the stock are still free. Here's how to find those articles. if you're on a quote page (like Altria -- MO), click on "Analysis" and select "Related Analysis" from the dropdown.

I hope this explains some of our thinking about this issue.

Avatar
32
BeaBaggage

thank you for appreciating how entitled we "free" viewers  are for supporting you and your sponsors who paid a lot of money to advertise on the site, in my case for 10+ yrs.. bringing new viewers to the site via links to articles in yahoo, stockhouse, etc..  linking articles within SA to help good contributors build their followings etc.  and providing what you and others who have reached out to me with quality comments that also contribute..


I just think it could have been handled differently rather than a surprise to your core supporters (commenters)  which really seem like a small universe overall.  oh well.. thanks for explaining.  Bea

Avatar
-78
David Jackson

Bea, you're right -- instead of writing "Receiving something free for a long period of time naturally creates a sense of entitlement", I should have written "It's hard to contemplate paying for something when you've been getting it for free for a long time, irrespective of how valuable it is." I apologize for that.


I also think your suggestion that we communicate more directly with our comment community is important.


And finally, a genuine "thank you" for your support and comments -- which I'm now reading! (https://seekingalpha.com/user/237658/comments).

Avatar
BeaBaggage

thank you, Ill get over it.. I try to contribute w not just the "great article" comment .. you have to do what you have to do..time will tell.  Bests.. Bea

Avatar
-15
David Jackson

Thank you, Bea!

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47
LarryMelman

And your failure to properly disclose or announce this, speaks to your ethics.  We're just the tip of a huge wave of disappointment and disgust.

Avatar
29
Respect
Quote from David Jackson

Bea, you're right -- instead of writing "Receiving something free for a long period of time naturally creates a sense of entitlement", I should have written "It's hard to contemplate paying for something when you've been getting it for free for a long time, irrespective of how valuable it is." I apologize for that.


I also think your suggestion that we communicate more directly with our comment community is important.


And finally, a genuine "thank you" for your support and comments -- which I'm now reading! (https://seekingalpha.com/user/237658/comments).

I have an idea. How about charging extra for reading comments? You can then make more money.

Avatar
-12
Crabpaws

SeekingAlpha is simply applying the principles of capitalism to publishing. If you are an informed investor, you will recognize that it is maximizing revenue from a product that is in demand.


If you know about marketing, you will assume SeekingAlpha has done audience analyses with income segmentation, possibly surveying specific segments, and produced projections of what people will pay for the product.


Management then looked at the cost-demand curve and set the cost ($900 per year) at a point where revenues would be maximized despite some loss of readership. It's not a charity, it's a business.


Reading complaints is a low-cost consequence of making this change, sudden or otherwise.


If the projections are not accurate and revenues do not meet expectation, SeekingAlpha may occasionally have reduced-rate specials to boost sales.


SeekingAlpha is a business first. The nurturing of so-called community with free content and social media aspects built site participation and popularity. That phase is over.


If, as an investor, you are knowledgeable about how businesses work, you already know this.


The lack of notice for the change, however, was inelegantly handled. But maybe SeekingAlpha management saw no reason for it, giving notice would only prolong the complaint period, which will unwind in time. I hope whoever among the staff is assigned to read the complaints and comment sympathetically gets a bonus for it.

Avatar
35
mfreeman775
Quote from Crabpaws

SeekingAlpha is simply applying the principles of capitalism to publishing. If you are an informed investor, you will recognize that it is maximizing revenue from a product that is in demand.


If you know about marketing, you will assume SeekingAlpha has done audience analyses with income segmentation, possibly surveying specific segments, and produced projections of what people will pay for the product.


Management then looked at the cost-demand curve and set the cost ($900 per year) at a point where revenues would be maximized despite some loss of readership. It's not a charity, it's a business.


Reading complaints is a low-cost consequence of making this change, sudden or otherwise.


If the projections are not accurate and revenues do not meet expectation, SeekingAlpha may occasionally have reduced-rate specials to boost sales.


SeekingAlpha is a business first. The nurturing of so-called community with free content and social media aspects built site participation and popularity. That phase is over.


If, as an investor, you are knowledgeable about how businesses work, you already know this.


The lack of notice for the change, however, was inelegantly handled. But maybe SeekingAlpha management saw no reason for it, giving notice would only prolong the complaint period, which will unwind in time. I hope whoever among the staff is assigned to read the complaints and comment sympathetically gets a bonus for it.

Time will tell if you're right, but I think this will be a net negative for the business overall. Here's what I think will happen. It will take time, but people will eventually leave when it becomes clear that they're not getting anywhere near $900 per year of value out of the site. As many people have said before, the value in SA comes from the community, and as the community shrinks, so will the intrinsic value of the business. The snowball will begin to roll.


You can talk about analysis you want, but the analysis was done before the paywall. Post-paywall Seeking Alpha will prove to be a completely different thing than it is right now.