TidBITS Needs Your Continued Support in 2022

Originally published at: TidBITS Needs Your Continued Support in 2022 - TidBITS

TidBITS has been bringing you the Apple news, advice, and technical details you need for over 31 years, but the only way we can keep it up is if you chip in a few bucks to make it happen. Join the TidBITS membership program today!

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Last year my contribution was dated December 15th, so I guess I will get a renewal notice before then this year. But, seeing your article, I figured I would just go and renew now and not wait. Going to the site I can see my contribution level, and there are options to change it, but I can’t find any way to actually send you money! I can wait for the “bill” to arrive, but that seems like an odd omission.

David

Thanks so much for the support! But yes, just wait. Renewing early could confuse all sorts of things on the back end between Paid Memberships Pro and Stripe, so it’s just easiest to wait a few more days and let it notify you. Or take advantage of the automatic renewal so you don’t have to fuss with it unless you wish to cancel or change levels.

I’m happy to chip in to support TidBITS, the news coverage alone makes that great value, the membership perks are just a nice bonus for me. (And I’ve used those a few times over the years.)

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Thank you! Yes, the membership perks are really just that—small bonuses. That’s why they’re the same regardless of how much someone contributes.

Thanks, as always, for all the work you and the TidBITS team do. The quality of your journalism is truly outstanding.

One part of the TidBITS ethos that the article didn’t explicitly mention, but I feel is hugely important, is your commitment to providing all of TidBITS for free to everyone. Maybe perversely, I would feel much less inclined to pay for membership if the articles were locked away from non-members. There is a dearth of high quality information and journalism, and it’s important that it’s available to all, regardless of ability to pay.

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You’re very welcome, and thanks for the kind words! I’m really pleased to hear that you appreciate the fact that we keep TidBITS entirely free. Despite this being an age of paywalls and premium content, we don’t want to restrict our content to just those who can pay. Information does want to be free, and as long as the membership program allows us to pay our authors and infrastructure bills, we see no reason to limit TidBITS.

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That’s really the concept of “unlocking the commons” even before it has a name, isn’t it?

It has ads, although those are a very small part of the site and a shrinking part of the revenue. It has members, but very, very little is directed only to them… The site, the tweets, the RSS feed, and everything else the site’s produced or ever will produce is available to everyone whether they’re a member or not.

I call this “unlocking the commons”… Fans support the person and the work. But it’s not a transaction, a fee for service. It’s a contribution that benefits everyone. Free-riders aren’t just welcome; free-riding is the point. This, I think, is key to understanding the psychology of patronage. …

The most economically powerful thing you can do is to buy something for your own enjoyment that also improves the world. This has always been the value proposition of journalism and art. It’s a nonexclusive good that’s best enjoyed nonexclusively.

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Whoa, that’s a great piece and an insightful way of thinking about what we’ve been doing for a decade. Thanks for pointing us there!

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I just sent an additional donation because TidBITS is the most valuable resource I know of and have subscribed to it for years. Thank you Adam and your staff for consistently providing me with a great resource for information and guidance for my devices. Great service!

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Adam and staff! You are the best! I believe I just contributed. I check out info every day and I would be lost without people who are in the know and they actually communicate person to person.

Happy Holidays to all

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TidBITS and Talk are must reads for me just about every day. It’s the most trustworthy, and consistently well written source of news, information and opinions about Apple products and services, as well as technology in general.

Keep up the great work!

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Hi Adam,

A big part of staying relevant and up-to-date whist trying to avoid the gremlins, is learning who knows what! As the old saying often repeated says, “It’s not just what you know but who you know”; ie. those whom you’ve learned to trust. That’s where you and your team make such a difference. It’s your sifting of the authors and their sources which makes TidBITS such a valuable resource. Please keep it going!

Cheers & Best Wishes from Kiwi Country!

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