Calling this 85% off is a bit deceptive. Those ā$199ā courses are only $38 at the source store. I expect better from Boing Boing.
Well, itās not really BoingBoing, itās StackSocial. But this is par for the course, the ādiscountsā are almost always on vastly inflated MSRPs. I was all excited, I thought it was going to be 85% off just the Pi 2 and quick starter kit, which would have been awesome. Alas, no, of course itās not - this is the BB store!
I hardly visit/participate here anymore. BoingBoing just feels icky now. Waaay more ads, placed tastelessly, for crappy products with huge mark-ups and then big āsalesā, and super skanky looking āreviewsā. I really only originally came to BoingBoing for the community anyways, but Iāve even noticed that seems to be in decline lately (could also be confirmation bias there or my imagination).
Iāll work harder 
But in all seriousness, would you prefer a subscription fee? Patreon? Something else? Or perhaps just a better store with cooler stuff?
Iām simply curious, and the staff do read what we write.
This. But Iām aware that this requires either running it themselves (which is a pain in the ASS) or finding a store that perhaps offers lower payouts, resulting in MORE store posts (although I wouldnāt mind more store posts, if they were actually for good stuff at a good price). So Iām happy as long as they let us come in here and talk about why itās not worth buying (which is the case, most of the time). Iām guessing very few of their sales result from BBS regulars any way.
They seemed to be getting along just fine for quite some time, recent changes seemed rather abrupt. I am ok with advertising, affiliate links, whatever, just as long as editorial/advertising are clearly demarcated and, moreso, I feel that I can trust the contributors. I (and Iāve heard others echo this sentiment) no longer feel like I can trust the staff when they post links like āCheck out this really cool X that totally changed the way I do Xā or āAmazon has these great Xās on sale that are totally great for Xā. I get that people need to make money. The questions important to me are āWhat is the balance, how MUCH money do you need to make, and how far are you willing to go to make it?ā
P.S. I would also support a subscription fee, if I believed editorial wasnāt already compromised. I had hoped that by mid 2010ās we would have had an acceptable micro-payment paradigm established so we would have that option, instead of advertising, which seems to be turning into a much more techy ethical issue now that so many people get their ānewsā from bloggers instead of professional journalists.
IMO, Pi starter kits should include the licenses for MPEG-2 and VC-1. This enables the Pi 2 to play recorded TV and DVD/BR rips. That makes the Pi 2 an extremely capable Kodi-based set-top box that can be controlled directly from your TV remote using HDMI-CEC.
It does blow me away that we havenāt figured out micropayments yet.
We havenāt?
Why isnāt there a BB patreon that gives you access to an advertorial free version of the site?
No,we havenāt. CC fees are still a quarter at best, and while batching transactions lowers that fixed fee it isnāt great for both sides of the transaction.
How about a Kickstarter campaign for an advert/advertorial-free BB for a year?
Not to get too off the rails, but I think structural changes are warranted. No charge backs on transactions less than a buck, no more than a thousand microtransactions a year per payer, transaction fees are a nickel.
This would be an entirely new revenue stream for visa/mc/amex. I canāt figure out why they donāt do it. Transaction volume would double, but accounting would be simpler.
Hmmmmā¦ Since all of the ācoursesā can be replaced by excellent online equivalents, Iād say itās more like
- Raspberry Pi 2 Model B: $39.50
- Quick Starter Kit for Raspberry Pi 2 Model B: $39
- Intro to Raspberry Pi: Free
- Hardware Projects Using Raspberry Pi: Free
- Python Programming for Beginners: Free
- PiBot: Build Your Own Raspberry Pi-Powered Robot: Free
- Introduction to Internet of Things Using Raspberry Pi 2: Free
Total value: $78.50
Price: $115
You save: -$36.50
To be fair, Iām sure all the content is very nice, and obviously it takes money to produce hours of content, so I donāt begrudge them that, I just struggle to understand who would pay for it when there is so much free content out there.
I guess if I were a school I might buy some of it, assuming the license allows me to show it to multiple students.
Did that Affirm thing ever get going? Might Square do something here?
Thereās some noise dated 2012-2013 that the codec keys were cracked and that e.g. RaspBMC is including them for free.
May be worth looking into the problematics.
This went over my head. 
Although, if it were an insult, I sort of imagined myself standing on that road, ready for a gunfight, with the Morricone gunfighter whistle, getting all serious and my posse was back at the seated deli section of the Whole Foods with my opponent having pizza and Chia seed drinks and laughing at me.
re: ācommunity ā¦ in declineā
I think thereās more and more going on in this community.
They announced that on April 1st.
