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Old January 29th 04, 06:59 PM
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Andrew Gideon wrote:
: Economically, it would make more sense for the listings to be free and the
: site to be available only to subscribers (or with a "value added" section
: available only to subscribers). Those that accrue the most value are
: paying for the site in that situation. More, there's no economic incentive
: that reduces the site's quality.

I sure hope not. It's pretty difficult to find good aviation information without
paying a nominal but extremely annoying "subscription fee." From the cheap-******* user's
point of view, I *despise* having to pay for nominal services for nominal costs... it's a
matter of principle. If they start charging a user subscription fee, then there will
immediately be 5-10 copycat sites vying for the $20/year users. It nominalizes the
system.

I'd venture to say that airnav is the de-factor standard for cross-country
fuel-stop planning. Having a nominal listing fee for fuel price makes good sense for
FBO's... provided it's reasonable. If there's 10 sites like it, they'll all suck. Darwin
takes care, and airnav has "won."

-Cory

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