Are basic news alerts now subject to monthly paywall limits?

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saltynostrils
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The paywall limit only appeared for me today 10/13/21 for the first time. I only read news alerts, not analysis. Why is this being implemented now without warning or clarification? Is there a distinction between "news" and "analysis" articles? Do earnings release stories count as news, analysis or other? Earnings call transcripts? How many news stories are available per month? If news is really under the paywall, will there a basic newsfeed subscription offering? Any kind of color would be useful here because this is sorely lacking in detail.

If you are going to charge for service, there needs to be a lot more customer service than telling long time site users to "read the manual."

How would you rate the customer service you received?

Satisfaction mark by saltynostrils 3 years ago

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SA Admin Shubham Shresth
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Hi,

For non -premium users, the article limit is dynamic based on multiple factors. Also, w.r.to news, since it is also content, it is paywalled. My suggestion would be to start a free trial to access all articles for a limited time period. Get unlimited access to all Premium articles and news, as well as exclusive Quant Ratings. users will have 14 days to try Seeking Alpha Premium. Cancel anytime before the free trial ends to avoid being charged.

Hope this helps! Feel free to reach out in case further assistance is required.

Regards,
Shubham Shresth
Data QA Analyst, Seeking Alpha

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-6
SA Admin Shubham Shresth
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Hi,

For non -premium users, the article limit is dynamic based on multiple factors. Also, w.r.to news, since it is also content, it is paywalled. My suggestion would be to start a free trial to access all articles for a limited time period. Get unlimited access to all Premium articles and news, as well as exclusive Quant Ratings. users will have 14 days to try Seeking Alpha Premium. Cancel anytime before the free trial ends to avoid being charged.

Hope this helps! Feel free to reach out in case further assistance is required.

Regards,
Shubham Shresth
Data QA Analyst, Seeking Alpha

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4
saltynostrils

Further assistance is required.

This is extremely bad customer service. Telling longtime users to try the free trial to test out your offering makes absolutely no sense. I know what services you offer. I am not a prospect. I only want to view portfolios and news alerts. Trying to sell me on other offerings that I already don't want isn't helping.

Also, there was no clarity on how many news alerts are allowed per month.

Pitching your longtime users into a one-size-fits-all offering is a take it or leave it scenario. I'm happy to pay for the services I want. But the lack of clarity about what is and is not available is a big problem. And again, the complete lack of warning that this change was coming is a major problem. I realize the post from last December said this was coming in January. But as a user that did not access the bells and whistles, the change did not seem to affect me until yesterday.

While I'm sure you are good at the data side, is there anyone from the business side of the company that can address these issues?

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2
Blue Hat Club

I also ran into the paywall on roughly the same date.  There's no way that I viewed a high number of articles, SA just chose to block me.  No idea how many articles are allowed.  Last month there were problems with my password, now this. 


Upvoting the original comment has been blocked.  

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2
jjseo

Why can't SA provide more details on the "multiple factors" that drive the number of free articles a user can access? This lack of transparency instills distrust and discontent within its community and provides an opening for competitors. Please don't sacrifice long-term growth for short-term profits. 

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2
rchiesa11

Advertisements + paywall:  Shove it

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2
grocourt
Quote from SA Admin Shubham Shresth

Hi,

For non -premium users, the article limit is dynamic based on multiple factors. Also, w.r.to news, since it is also content, it is paywalled. My suggestion would be to start a free trial to access all articles for a limited time period. Get unlimited access to all Premium articles and news, as well as exclusive Quant Ratings. users will have 14 days to try Seeking Alpha Premium. Cancel anytime before the free trial ends to avoid being charged.

Hope this helps! Feel free to reach out in case further assistance is required.

Regards,
Shubham Shresth
Data QA Analyst, Seeking Alpha

I add my voice to the others in the comment section below,  After 5 years of being a Seeking Alpha reader, you have imposed these new conditions on me without warning?  Really?  If you truly think this action will coerce me into the premium service as a way to read daily news items  - about the articles you freely send me links to - then I conclude you are not paying sufficient attention to your readers.  Lacking sufficient transparency from you, perhaps it is time to move on?

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1
GumbySFG

This is totally unlike SA - all of a sudden there's some article count limit that can't be found in the TOU (Terms of Use), abrupt cancellation, and just general rudeness from 'Shubham Shresth
Data QA Analyst, Seeking Alpha' (a pip-squeek data analyst?)???  No, me thinks SA has been hacked and isn't aware of it yet, or they're working on it (and hopefully fixing it soon!).