While the digital edition of the Great Falls Gazette has been a useful tool for people who enjoy online content, the method we have used to make it available has not been without its faults. Not the least of which is the sharing of the URLS by people trying to avoid paying for the paper and the high bandwidth costs we incur due to said password/link sharing. To help combat theft, and to replace some parts of the system that are causing issues, there will be a complete overhaul on the digital/electronic editions of the paper.
On September 11th, all current digital subscriptions which were created by signing up on the website will be canceled at the end of their term. This means if you have an automatic subscription, after 9-11, that subscription will NOT auto renew. You will either need to sign up for a new subscription, or your login and subscription will no longer work. But even then, you’ll start seeing changes almost immediately.
Subscribers will get download links which are specific to themselves, this means we can tell if URLs are shared, additionally, those URLS will expire and have a limited lifetime. Almost all content on the website, except for PDFs of the actual paper, will become publicly available. This story, as well as the post we’re making on Facebook pointing back to the story serves as notice that we intend to email you the link for your file. You may opt out of the email, however it is the only way you will receive your paper. If there is an issue with your email, you should contact us right away. Generally, within a few days, it becomes more difficult to generate a working download link.
With the new system, all subscribers should receive their digital editions by noon on the day of publication. If you do not, please feel free to give us a call, and we can look into why you didn’t get your email. The new emails will start with our Tuesday, September 9th edition of the paper. The Emails will look quite similar, however, at the top of the email, where the download link is, there will be a note that the link expires in about 2 days. That is your clue that the new system is in use. Additionally, the notifications emails may include non-specific information that affects our digital subscribers. In some cases, this may be the only notice you receive about issues that may affect all digital subscribers. We do this to limit the number of emails you receive from us. We certainly do not want to be spammy and email you multiple times when one email would suffice.
There will be no direct online links anymore as well. You MUST get the email to get the link to download your digital edition of the paper. While archives will be available in the future, you will pay 50 cents per paper to get a 1 time download link. Note, the archive will be down for a few weeks while we clean up the mess from the current system and set up the new one. The download fees will help offset the bandwidth charges we currently experience, as well as the time it takes to clean out a lot of files and get things organized better. Additionally, the changes we are making should help limit the amount of theft we are experiencing.
Key points about the changes:
- Stories will be available to all in a timely manner, you do not need a subscription to read stories. You are welcome to keep your login to comment, however it will not be required to read stories. Please contact support if you wish to remove your website account.
- Digital will no longer be free with the print edition. Digital will be available with a 50% discount for print subscribers (About $2.50/month). The free 50% represents the license you have to use our creative products (stories), the other 50% pays for storing and distributing the digital product, which is the part you will be paying for. NOTE: Stories on the website will be available to all, but may not be printed.
- There will be a couple of different subscription options, monthly for $5 per month, quarterly for $12.50/quarter, or yearly for $50.
- Digital will include all current papers. (Tue, Thurs, Sun)
- Downloads will be available until about when the next issue comes out, once issues become archives, they will be 50 cents to download. Once downloads are replaced, they can not be downloaded from the emails.
- You will be automatically signed up for email notifications, these emails automatically send you the download link for each issue. If you opt out of those emails, you will NOT receive your link as you have refused delivery. Your email will only ever be used for account related purposes, and sending your download link. We do NOT sell email addresses. Your download email MAY include ads, and the PDF for the paper contains ads, that is the only marketing that will be sent to you. We feel very strongly about this!
- You will still be able to download the PDF and print a hard copy. However pages on the site are resistant to copying or printing. Remember, you are licensed to print a copy for you and your families personal use only.
- Web ads will no longer be free with print ads, they will continue to be a very economical $10 per month at this time.
- New archive download system will only allow a file to be downloaded once. People have been sharing the download links, and this has cost several thousands of dollars in bandwidth and server capacity. This is one of the reasons for the changes to our digital edition. It’s like getting your paycheck and finding out that rather than $20 per hour, you received only 20 cents per hour.
Author: Andy Anderson
Andy is publisher of Foxys Publishing Co, as well as pressman, ad sales, distribution and sometime janitor. He occasionally makes a wild attempt at writing but quite often is seen running around our offices trying to "Get 39 million things done today..."
