New Pro Plan will reduce article comments, which are the life blood of Seeking Alpha

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I am concerned that locking out the majority of investors with a high priced Pro plan to Seeking Alpha will destroy the main reason I go to this site.  And this is the comments under each article.  I find these comments more valuable at times than the article itself. With less people being able to participate in the comments, Seeking Alpha will be less valuable to me, and not worth the subscription cost.  If the same level of comments were there, I might consider a subscription, but the participation in the comments areas are now assured to wither away and die.


 I can't tell you how many great comments shot holes in the articles, or gave alternative stocks that ended up the real winners.  Don't discount the importance of the large group of non-subscribers that used to comment in the articles.  You need to go back to the non-subscription model to return this great content and participation.  I would not consider a subscription to Seeking Alpha with a depleted comments section.


This forcing a subscription will destroy the fabric of Seeking Alpha that we all learned to love.


Hope this note gets to the right people.  Seeking Alpha may not have realized the serious unintended consequences of a forced subscription model!


Anyone agree or disagree, please post here. 

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bsilverfox

The new rate for "Pro" will most likely seem modest for "Advisor" firms ( interesting that all 3 comments in "What our customers are saying" happen to be apparent advisors with some firm. The rates for individuals with modest portfolios @ $75 a month/$900 a year is steep. While I am sure your comment  "It takes money to operate & maintain Seeking Alpha" or words to that effect is valid---I'm sure a portion of all the fees by organizations and advisors who have joined your group of paid advisors finds it way to Seeking Alpha along with all the ad revenue.

Are all the users who have signed up with one of the paid advisor organizations also subject to this additional fee to be able to refer to articles 10 days old or more?  Disappointing to say the least and it will have an adverse impact on the little "do it yourself people" who are also contributors to the site.

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mtnbiker8

Is it possible that SA would consider a lower priced plan - i.e. maybe $35/mo to see 10 Pro articles / month? this might help individuals afford a paid service thanks!

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GriffeyJunior

I agree completely with the original post. I am a new investor and for over a year I have contributed to discussions and I recently noticed that basically, I cant read 99% of the articles now because there is a $75 per month charge. Ridiculous. Come on seeking alpha. You really priced it at $75 per month?  Everywhere you go someone reaches into your pocket and tries to take your money. Really disappointing. Basically, the rich can afford it, while the new investors or retail investors cant. Ridiculous. Bummer. Another great site ruined by greed.

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khanjar24

I'm a hobby investor, and the research should direct me towards passive index fund investment and maybe a tiny self-selected stable of buy and hold forever stocks... instead I enjoy reading about stocks and businesses, thus, SeekingAlpha falls into entertainment/leisure for me.


So, $5-10/month is what I'd be willing to pay to support this place, which is also in keeping with the asset management cost that typical individual investors are actually dealing with.

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blacklabsmatter

Youre new price plan is outrageous.. almost $1000.00 a year to read articles and comments? For the average retail investor? Thats nuts SA.. i hope you reconsider, or if not, suffer from it because i think you will come to regret it. I understand it costs money to run the site, but this is a money grab, nothing more nothing less

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shoozer

A limit of 10 PRO articles per month might be a good workaround. Just like how the New York Times does it. Another measure that might help is asking for open donations to help fund the site.

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morpheus3122

I am extremely disappointed with SeekingAlpha locking out individual investors from all analysis articles. The Pro Plan is outrageously expensive. The reason I first started visiting SeekingAlpha was that it seemed to be a forum for individual investors to discuss and share ideas. That is no longer the case. The recent move will prevent free exchange of ideas and thoughts and thereby ultimately destroy the SeekingAlpha platform. I for sure have considerably reduced the time I spend on SeekingAlpha and I do not have the financial muscle to join the Pro program.


I would ask SeekingAlpha management to reconsider their business model. Do you need to provide so many features? So many news briefs? We do not need stellar customer support too, if that means keeping the website free. Consider cutting costs and keep the forum accessible as much as possible. 

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dannompls

This change is horrible.  Especially for stocks that don't get a flood of articles.  Stocks that investors really need articles about.  For these, less loved stocks, the 10 day wall is extremely limiting.  It essentially locks ALL articles!  Please change the 10 day wall do something more reasonable like 6 months.  I've already started using Motley Fool at this point because I can no longer see any articles on SA.

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stocksman99
Quote from morpheus3122

I am extremely disappointed with SeekingAlpha locking out individual investors from all analysis articles. The Pro Plan is outrageously expensive. The reason I first started visiting SeekingAlpha was that it seemed to be a forum for individual investors to discuss and share ideas. That is no longer the case. The recent move will prevent free exchange of ideas and thoughts and thereby ultimately destroy the SeekingAlpha platform. I for sure have considerably reduced the time I spend on SeekingAlpha and I do not have the financial muscle to join the Pro program.


I would ask SeekingAlpha management to reconsider their business model. Do you need to provide so many features? So many news briefs? We do not need stellar customer support too, if that means keeping the website free. Consider cutting costs and keep the forum accessible as much as possible. 

They are going to lose some of their best minds.  And a lot of the free content (the comments) that we all love to read will go away, as there will be fewer people contributing.  So even if I was willing to pay the few, I get less for my money.   They need to come up with another model that is not locking out the majority of contributors.

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blacklabsmatter

Stocksman 99 i couldnt agree with you more,, i get more from the comments then i do from the article many times.. to think i would have to pay to read someones comments is so outrageous it is beyond belief.. it is incomprehensible that SA has done this.. in a nutshell, f them