[misterparker]

> Try to think like the site operator. They know they don't have anything interesting to offer you ...

Remind me never to sign up for anything you create. It seems you have a hard time getting your head around the fact that many "site operators" try to solve real problems by building services to do so. And I might venture to say they believe their site is even more than just "something interesting to offer" - but something valuable or useful to make your life/work easier or more efficient.

[lutusp]

> Remind me never to sign up for anything you create.

My site is completely free, no ads, no promotions, and no signups (http://arachnoid.com/). And believe me when I tell you, many people find my site useful. People regularly send me unsolicited checks, which I tear up. You were saying?

> It seems you have a hard time getting your head around the fact that many "site operators" try to solve real problems by building services to do so.

The topic under discussion is sites that require you to sign up before showing you what they have to offer. For those sites, my doubts are fully justified.

> ... but something valuable or useful to make your life/work easier or more efficient.

If they believed that, they would show you what they have to offer before encouraging a signup. But that's not the topic of this thread.

[briandear]

So what's your business model? Do you actually sell anything? No ads, no signup, no promotions.. Does it actually make any money? The entire point of a business is to make money, so I wonder how you do that.

[lutusp]

> So what's your business model?

What? Do you really think the entire Internet is a business, or that the Internet is defined by its similarity to a business?

Your reasoning is circular: My site isn't a business, but everything is a business, and the entire point of a business is to make money, but my site doesn't make money.

You're trying to to offer the fact that I don't have signups as proof that my site isn't real. To a hammer, everything is judged by its similarity to a nail.

I saw this coming years ago, at a time when people designed Websites for any number of reasons -- before the Internet had become a virtual strip mall.

> The entire point of a business is to make money, so I wonder how you do that.

This may be futile, but just for the record, you need to examine your assumptions. Not all racehorses are platypuses.

[woah]

Your site is a blog

[lutusp]

Because I don't have anything for sale or require a signup? That's circular reasoning. If someone creates a site that isn't commercial, doesn't advertise anything, and doesn't require a signup, it's inevitably dismissed as a mere comment forum, regardless of its content. It's not defined by what it is, it's defined by what it isn't.

Bloggers don't offer popular -- not to say famous (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arachnophilia) -- programs for download. My site does. Bloggers don't offer online applications with wide acceptance (http://arachnoid.com/latex). My site does.

My site, online since 1996, had its present form before the term "blog" had its present meaning. All that has changed is it has more content people find useful.

[briandear]

The design certainly looks like it started in 1996. I visited the site and still have no idea how it's any different than a Tumblr blog.. Other than decreased organization and usability of course. Also we're talking about the topic of gradual engagement. Your site has pretty much no engagement other than hundreds of blog posts and a sidebar full of unorganized links. The OP was discussing businesses-- meaning the sales of a product or service. Your site doesn't qualify as such, or if it does, the value proposition is so horribly obscured as to make it undetectable. I'm not knocking your site, but it's hardly a relevant example in this discussion. If it is selling a product or a service, then it's a great case study on what not to do in terms of selling your product.

[lutusp]

> I visited the site and still have no idea how it's any different than a Tumblr blog.

Yes, it's clear you have no idea.

> The OP was discussing businesses ...

It seems, as has often been said, to a hammer everything looks like a nail. If it's not a business, in the modern Internet, it has no right to exist, because in the modern Internet, everything is a business. As I already said, it's circular reasoning.

You may be surprised to learn that the internet was once a gathering place for intelligent people, not a perpetual electronic strip mall.

> Also we're talking about the topic of gradual engagement.

To which "we" does that refer? The topic is sites that require signups before revealing content.

> I'm not knocking your site ...

No, of course not. Who would think that?

> ... but it's hardly a relevant example in this discussion.

No, because I don't require people to sign up. Do you have any idea how you sound?

> If it is selling a product or a service, then it's a great case study on what not to do in terms of selling your product.

You just made my argument for me. There's nothing I need to add. With a little more effort, you could make racism respectable.

For the record, my site gets a huge amount of daily traffic and has an enviable pagerank of 6/10.