Comments on: Why Does AJATT Plus Cost Money? What Happened To Love Of the People?

By: アメド

アメド — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 15:03:00 +0000

I see you’re using tkyosam’s well known phrase “Hookers and blow”.
Interesting use of advertisement phrases

By: Brianna

Brianna — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 14:55:00 +0000

PLUSのフォーラムはこのブログやコメントみたいに、全部英語になるんでしょうか？それだったら、あまりお金を払っても意味がないんじゃないかと、私は思ってます。けど、もし日本語の勉強について日本語でお互いに聞いたりできる環境だったら絶対お金を払う価値があると思います。

By: Eldon

Eldon — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 13:54:52 +0000

@ Steffen

You just said everything I was about to 🙂 totally agree, it’s not like anything’s being taken away from anyone. The only thing is comments – but people have already have had a chance to have their say, and they’re not losing anything. It’d be no different than if the AJATT blog was never again updated (not that I want that at all!).

Mega-kudos to Khatz for going out on a limb with this 😉

By: icamonkey

icamonkey — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 20:29:37 +0000

Premium site looks promising. You shouldn’t have ads on it though. Leave that for the plebs, just saying.

By: UnholyBurger

UnholyBurger — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 17:32:25 +0000

No point in complaining about the price. If one wants to truly have a constructive place to talk about AJATT there is going to be a price, or else it will be full of spammers and trolls. I personally cant wait until I can get some of those delicious japanese (with audio!) AJATT articles!

By: Infrequent commentator

Infrequent commentator — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 17:27:51 +0000

Just putting this out there, cause there might be some other people like me thinking the same thing.

I enjoy this site, I come and read the articles and occasionally stumble upon something interesting (although perhaps less frequently than from your tweeting). However, I do not really pay all that much attention to the comments section, as a good portion of it consists of replies like “nice article”.

Which is great and all, everyone showing their support. And sometimes there are some really cool links in the comments.

But personally, a forum on the site isn’t a very big draw for me. What is~ however, is your promised translated articles.
I would really enjoy reading your articles in Japanese, as I’ve enjoyed the rare few you wrote in Japanese before.

And this is where I get to my point, you might want to consider eventually releasing an e-book of those translated articles when you’ve amassed a sufficient quantity.

Because while I probably won’t (although I’m still on the fence) subscribe to AJATT plus, I would definitely buy that book.

By: people

people — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 02:15:57 +0000

Wow, reading all these comment makes it look like it’s such a great and supported move for AJATT.
But if you take the time to read the non-biased comments:
forum.koohii.com/viewtopic.php?id=5576

By: Unholyburger

Unholyburger — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 00:23:35 +0000

Im surprised this post exists really, since there were almost no complaints (when I looked) on the first AJATT plus launch page. But yeah, I like the whole barrier idea, and I really want to be in the barrier but I want to buy other stuff in japanese ;_; I feel like a dirty unwanted child (笑)

The only thing im worried about is that there will be less free AJATT since more attention will be on the plus site. Hopefully that wont be the case

By: Katrin

Katrin — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 21:58:10 +0000

I’m confused. Are the comments closed or not? I mean, it seems like I still can write one…
And that’s the only thing I would complain about.
I will try AJATT Plus for one month to see what it’s all about and then I’ll see if it’s worth it.

By: Lilian

Lilian — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 17:49:40 +0000

Khatz, I’m glad you posted this. It really bothers me that people think everything should be free for them. What they’re saying is ¨gimme, gimme, gimme… but I don’t want to give you anything¨ and it reflects poorly on how they were raised. I think that after all the time, effort, and money you’ve spent to run this site people should really double check themselves before being so demanding and accusatory. When someone gives us something, it’s common to give something back; Such is the nature of not only capitalism but human relationships in general. I’d really hate to date one of these cheapskates who just wants you to give them everything and gets all upset the day you ask for something for yourself. That being said, no one is pushing people to sign up for this if they don’t want it and if they don’t like it they’ll get all their money back, so I’d say it’s fair.

As for deleting comments, why would you go to someone’s own website and annoy them? Deleting comments is the equivalent of telling someone who’s being rude at your party to go home. If people have so much to share with the world they can start their own website and say everything they want.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 17:49:03 +0000

Nice article here 🙂

By: Daniel

Daniel — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 15:58:14 +0000

Man I am so getting in on this goodness once my visa arrives in the post.

By: steffen

steffen — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 14:43:32 +0000

Hey everyone.
I have been reading and profiting from this website for some time now. I think we should not forget one thing: Khatz did not lure anyone on this free site and then (once people were addicted 😉 ) suddenly capitalized it (does this word exist??? anyway…). Instead this features you have to pay for are NEW extra features (you might almost say “plus” features…oh no, wait that is exactly what they are called 😉 ). Ok you could discuss about closing the comments…but besides that…
Me, personally I won’t sign up at the moment, since I am not even studying Japanese, so for me the extravalue is not enough to justify the emptying of my poor student’s budget ;). But I think if I ever seriously start with Japanese I might just as seriously consider it :).

By: Saru Sponge

Saru Sponge — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 13:55:04 +0000

I’m not quite sure what there is to disagree with here. No one is forcing you to sign up. In fact, all the information required to get better results in language learning is contained on this very site which is still free. I’m not signing up, I can’t afford it, but please let us not cheapen the discourse here by implying Mr. Khatzumoto is somehow wrong to capitalize on his experience. Also, Khatz has always been upfront about his moderation on the site. My suggestion is: chillax and read a book.

By: Shea

Shea — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 11:57:06 +0000

Yeah I already had a comment deleted once. I mean, I fully support the method and all but just voicing a slightly different opinion gets it deleted. It is his comment section on his blog so I can’t complain, just a bit disappointed. Still gonna keep on reading and employing though.

By: Saru Sponge

Saru Sponge — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 00:08:52 +0000

It costs money?????? I thought all that sweet cocaine I sent you would be enough. Good day to you, sir.

By: Kay

Kay — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 21:45:00 +0000

Great post!!!!!!

I joined AJATT Plus because of two main reasons:

1.) SUPPORT this site and all the awesomeness that comes out or it (both what is written by you, Khatz, AND the people who Comment).

2.) MEET others, like myself, who can help me in my Japanese learning journey, both in resources and advise/criticism.

I had actually been looking for a forum dedicated to nothing but AJATT, so AJATT Plus came at the right time 🙂

Kay

By: Ex blog commentator

Ex blog commentator — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 20:52:20 +0000

Disagreeing comments deleted in 3… 2… 1…

By: Raziken

Raziken — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 18:39:51 +0000

I love the “Hookers and Blow” nod in your ad for AJATT Plus. I’ll be sure to grab a subscription, not because I need it, but because I want to continue support for what you’ve already shown me.

By: gurkenkralle

gurkenkralle — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 17:12:57 +0000

i’m so envious dude -,.-
Cool article by the way. I do think that this AJATT plus thing will let the people grew together
even closer and build up one strong community. Concerning the barrier you mentioned by paying for your account, I would agree. It’s a good way to keep people away from that, who have better things to do than learning japanese ( or other languages ).
I would pay for it,too. Since it’s not possible, i wait here jumping on my chair and congratulate you Kathz. Really,… I mean see what you did? So many people get so much from this site. I hope this project will run well 🙂

宜しく
亜っちゃん