See this email and my previous post.

Half price is still too much. $5 is still too much. And what about the ads? Are you going to remove them from the paid subscription?

I don’t see why STI has to go “paid” mode in the first place.

I mean, if it’s because of decreasing ad revenue, I think you are missing the whole point. Every netizen can vouch for this, STI is badly designed and not taking full advantage of available ad placement strategies.

(Free, no subscription needed) Suggestions to SPH

1) Clean up your design. The online edition is a wacky world of ad splashes, scrolling news ticker and gaudy colours. Take a lookie at BBC News. Granted that BBC News has no ads, how about LATimes and New York Times? Both are featuring ads elegantly with clean designs. And, PLEASE, you don’t have to use Flash for everywhere right?

2) Display relevant ads. Google’s AdSense says it all - Put a PDA ad beside your PDA review, place a health supplement ad beside the latest lab release of Vitamin A effects on the human body. Hardly groundbreaking techniques, simply common sense. If your software can’t do it, get a human being to. Think $2k would pay that guy well. I’ll do it for the same amount of peanuts, eagerly.

3) Get the classifieds back. Imagine how useful the Classifieds will be if they are online and searchable. You can jack up the costs of advertising and I think advertisers will pay quite willingly. I mean, it’s a dream come true for both advertisers and users alike. Think you can have profits so many times more than the current subcriptions charges.

4) Combine (2) and (3). Voila. Display relevant Classifieds ads besides your news/editorial/forum/extra contents. Think about it, the relevancy of the ad placement will definetly earn you so much more. How come no one has ever thought of that before? Makes mental note to patent it.

In conclusion, stop this subscription drive. It has earned you so much bad PR, and it’s a senseless business idea. Suppose you don’t get the minimum subscriber base, which advertiser will give a *tweep* about STI? Stay free, regain your lost corperate goodwill, refine your site, return us our online, searchable Classifieds and make your ads relevant. I think that will keep you, STI, afloat and profitable for a long time.