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
Quote from 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.

So How do you rate The Fool? Is it worth the $100/yr or is it more for everything once you get in. I think their current ads and then using Google, Amazon, as examples of their picks is a little bit much which has kept me at Bay.

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pjorgy

I will no longer participate or use this service.  I also use SA for the comments more so than the article.  So goodbye. If you decide this was the bad idea it is please send an email and I will come back.  Good luck.

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petektf

If SA had a stock it would be down today, lol.

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punchjoel

Wow, a pretty major change with no warning. Looks Like I need to go elsewhere. Not worth $900 per year. Can't do any research except most recent articles. 

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bobbybb101

As a recently retired self-directed investor there is no way I will spend $900 to access articles and comments older than 10 days.  This site as provided a wealth of information to me for the last 5 years, but I agree with most of the comments in this thread.  Too bad Seeking Alpha is beginning a downward spiral.  Hopefully, you will undo this mess, otherwise I'll look for investing information other places.  Any recommendations?

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khanjar24

I clicked an article and saw comments I disagreed with. I thought about posting my own perspective, then I thought I had better things to do with my time.

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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

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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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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.

Avatar
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.