Our commenting access is changing

Economy / news

To keep our content free we are making some changes to access to our email newsletters, and to our commenting process

24th Feb 25, 4:07pm by David Chaston

Although our readership is still growing fast (see chart below), we need to make some changes to be able to deliver all our resources free for everyone. This full free access to our content is something we want to keep.

But 'free' is a tough path to be on. So we have made some changes.

From Saturday, March 1, you will need to be a qualified supporter to comment.

(Because everyone commenting from now on is a supporter, the green tick will be retired).

And you will need to be a qualified supporter to receive our daily and weekly email newsletters.

Most of our daily or weekly email newsletters include valuable data summaries along with links to the latest news articles that are relevant to that newsletter. This is a very convenient way to stay updated.

You will still have the option to read those stories free, and get that data free, by going to the site directly. But to get the email in your inbox, you will need to be a qualified supporter.

The standards for being a "qualified supporter" are not changing. They remain being a supporter in Press Patron at either a $10/month or $100/year level. And as a supporter, you can also participate as a commenter. Further, you can get an ad-free reading experience.

For those benefits, you must sign in using the same email address you use for your Press Patron support.

We love our supporters. They enable us to build and extend our service in a truly independent way.

What we are not changing is everyone's free access to all our online content*. That is still there. Long may it stay that way.

If you are not already a supporter, you can sign up here.

* _{Like in the real world, there is an exception. Some content we develop and produce for our subscription Banking & Finance Daily Newsletter will still be exclusive for those subscribers, even if we do post the headlines to our main website. Details of that specialised service aimed at senior financial industry executives is here. It is an email-only service, and does not offer special access on the website.}

We welcome your comments below. If you are not already registered, please register to comment

Remember we welcome robust, respectful and insightful debate. We don't welcome abusive or defamatory comments and will de-register those repeatedly making such comments. Our current comment policy is here.

157 Comments

by MediumPangolin | 24th Feb 25, 4:21pm 1740367303

I’m still unclear about how you've assessed the additional value created by non-subscriber comments. For example, the feedback on bank interest rate offers has been insightful, but it will disappear along with other valuable contributions from non-subscribers - insights that were benefiting you at no cost.

What’s the underlying reason for this change? Was moderating comments from non-subscribers becoming too challenging or costly, and you believe that restricting comments to paying subscribers will offset the lost value? As I've mentioned before, this seems like a poor decision from a value standpoint.

by rastus1 | 24th Feb 25, 4:25pm 1740367501

Maybe any one registered for more than XX years should be granted a freeeebeee?

by Kate | 24th Feb 25, 4:32pm 1740367926

Wow - you're only a year younger than me here :-).

by Uninterested | 24th Feb 25, 7:05pm 1740377118

XX is 100 yrs. So assuming that you started reading 'Interest' at birth, are you 101 yrs old Kate?

by Kate | 24th Feb 25, 7:27pm 1740378477

You're 12 years and 8 months old :-)!

I wonder how old interest.co.nz is?

Anyone know?

by CN - new | 24th Feb 25, 7:59pm 1740380399

I wonder how old interest.co.nz is?

Anyone know?

Approaching 17 years I think.

Earliest article I can find is dated 26 June 2008 by Bernard Hickie:

https://www.interest.co.nz/news/51774/5-survivability-factors-finance-c…

by We Are Stuffed | 24th Feb 25, 9:52pm 1740387124

I remember winning a book from Bernard back then.

by Getting it right. | 24th Feb 25, 11:11pm 1740391916

Started early than that with doom and gloom Hickey.

by Gareth Vaughan | 25th Feb 25, 9:41am 1740429703

David C and his daughter Jess launched interest.co.nz in late 1999 as an interest rate comparison site, with some news. They had returned from overseas and couldn't find such a NZ site. The news side ramped up from 2008.

by powerdownkiwi | 24th Feb 25, 7:55pm 1740380150

I think I'm the longest-attending poster left

started about 06

by meh | 24th Feb 25, 9:04pm 1740384258

The member date must've come in later. There's only 4 months separating us and I'm pretty sure I was here reading and commenting during the GFC and Bernard's era.

I've learned a lot from you and have enjoyed reading your articles. We've been pretty aligned in many ways.

Thank you for your contribution.

by We Are Stuffed | 24th Feb 25, 9:47pm 1740386865

I've been registered much longer than 14y 6m. It must just show that by default.

by Getting it right. | 24th Feb 25, 11:14pm 1740392055

After nearly 20 years of sometimes extreme comments, how were you not banned?

by Palmtree08 | 25th Feb 25, 11:31am 1740436291

Wouldn't really want the site to be an echo chamber for masters of the universe clones, would you?

by meh | 24th Feb 25, 5:13pm 1740370423

Maybe 14+ years is an ideal reward timeframe, loyalty bonus :)

Sort of also feels like a time warp loop too. A ton of evidence that the status quo, certain economic and financial thinking, causes more problems than it solves. Yet house prices and interest rates still the no.1 topic.

The politics and division is worse and the quality of commenting has definitely gone downhill. It's become a lot like the social media pages.

by Yvil | 24th Feb 25, 5:25pm 1740371159

Or just pay up, like everyone else ? It's 33cts/day

by meh | 24th Feb 25, 8:54pm 1740383680

Lol you really don't get it do you.

It was a tongue in cheek reply to rastus.

But you've proved my point again re the quality of some the commenting.

What are you gonna do when you don't have the green tick to highlight your status in here.

by We Are Stuffed | 25th Feb 25, 8:38am 1740425932

And those who don't pay have long left for greener pastures and no longer even read his drivel.

by Halfway To Paradise | 25th Feb 25, 9:26am 1740428803

Or maybe I just cut it out of my life with the coffee so I can afford my next rental property. This will be my last post.

by Foxglove. | 24th Feb 25, 4:34pm 1740368060

Sometimes, likely too often, the commenting not only goes off thread but also off colour. Reducing the number of participants obviously reduces the time the editors and staff have to screen comments and provide more time for more productive work. If the unwanted type of comment remains too prevalent then perhaps the editors might introduce a three strikes and you are suspended discipline. At the end of the day this site is the livelihood of the staff and thus they have the right to decide on the content. Like it or lump it.

by Brocky | 24th Feb 25, 5:14pm 1740370486

Why on earth would an organisation not being using AI to automate the flagging of "problematic" comments in 2025?

by Zachary Smith | 24th Feb 25, 5:34pm 1740371694

That would be awful Brocky, like YouTube, and commenters would resort to using special characters and cryptic words to bypass the AI. Innocuous comments would get deleted, seemingly randomly, and need to be rewritten until they stuck.

by Speedmax | 24th Feb 25, 5:51pm 1740372707

Because automated moderation doesn’t work well. For evidence just see X, FB, etc, etc…. I appreciate the efforts made at this site

by HistoryRepeats | 24th Feb 25, 8:36pm 1740382599

Unfortunately since the US elections, quite often the editorial goes off-colour too!

by Hans Brink | 24th Feb 25, 8:31pm 1740382289

Come on the sub for this site is nothing compared to other media. Don't be so damn tight, this is a good forum.

by rastus1 | 24th Feb 25, 4:23pm 1740367427

I've been making a token payment for years - but cant change it because my original email address had a dot in the wrong place. Any request for new password etc went into cyber space.

The Help responded but were help less. I was wanting to up it to the full amount.

Good luck with-the new approach.

by Hans Brink | 24th Feb 25, 8:36pm 1740382591

Oh rastus I am sure you will find a way to stay on board.

by Kate | 24th Feb 25, 4:29pm 1740367797

The standards for being a "qualified supporter" are not changing. They remain being a supporter in Press Patron at either a $10/month or $100/year level.

Hmm. That's been my contribution for quite a few years now but I don't get the email newsletters.

That's okay, no big deal - as the commercial free aspect of my supporter benefits are perfect for me.

by Kate | 24th Feb 25, 5:09pm 1740370172

Oh, I see I have to tick the boxes of the add-on materials I want - lol.

My mistake!

by Hans Brink | 24th Feb 25, 8:39pm 1740382791

Exactly Kate, I thought the same awhile back. But it can be a blessing as the mail box is over flowing anyway!

by Blackbeard | 24th Feb 25, 5:11pm 1740370296

Bye then.

I can't afford it, because I've been forced to take out a very large mortgage to put a roof over my families head.

Most of your comments will now come from wealthy sectors of society, giving an uneven sway.

by JohnTrz | 24th Feb 25, 5:00pm 1740369621

Does $10 a month really restrict commenting to the wealthy?

by Yvil | 24th Feb 25, 5:32pm 1740371535

Of course not, it's just an excuse by the stingy.

by profile | 24th Feb 25, 9:53pm 1740387194

Isn't everyone paid by Big Oil to comment?!

by nigelh | 24th Feb 25, 10:23pm 1740389039

I think some are paid by a climate alarmist society or institution of some description

by Speedmax | 24th Feb 25, 5:56pm 1740372972

It’s only 2 coffees a month so definitely not restricted to the wealthy. But perhaps highlights who is willing to support decent journalism and who doesn’t care….

by Yvil | 24th Feb 25, 5:58pm 1740373128

Well said !

by JimboJones | 24th Feb 25, 6:22pm 1740374550

If you’ve got young kids and a mortgage then $100 a year isn’t insignificant. Especially if you are trying to convince the missus to keep her spending down!

(not an excuse for me, but it may have been 8 years ago).

by Hans Brink | 24th Feb 25, 8:42pm 1740382970

Jimbo! really.

by Uninterested | 25th Feb 25, 8:55am 1740426935

I don't buy 2 coffees a month...

by GV 27 | 25th Feb 25, 9:05am 1740427527

I drink free coffee from the machine at work that goes brrr. Not like the machine that the RBNZ has that goes brrr. That machine is why I'm using this machine for coffee. So in theory, I would have to give up an infinite undefinable number of coffees to afford a subscription per month.

But yes, refixing at 6.69% from 2.89% on close to $650K meant things like cafe coffees went by the wayside a long time ago. I'm told $15 for a beer and $10 for a non-alcoholic beer in a pub is common. I wouldn't know for sure, going out and about isn't something I do much of these days.

I feel some Kiwis don't appreciate the massive long-term liquidity trap that recent home buyers are going to be stuck in until they can roll over into a new mortgage cycle, and how little some of us have left to slash out of our lifestyles.

by noponies | 25th Feb 25, 10:52am 1740433929

The journalism here is mostly great. But, like many have posted $100 per year is too much for me to keep posting. Got a mortgage to pay. Equating paying with coffee is facile, I don't have spare $ for coffee anymore.

by WellingtonInvestor | 24th Feb 25, 10:11pm 1740388309

It depends on how often someone uses the site compared to how much value they place on it. But imo paywalling the ability to comment reduces the amount and potentially quality of content produced by comments and I actually read the comments before reading the article, if I read the article at all.

by Yvil | 24th Feb 25, 5:42pm 1740372163

"I can't afford it, because I've been forced to take out a very large mortgage"

Sounds like a lot of blaming and a lack of taking responsibility.

by powerdownkiwi | 24th Feb 25, 7:57pm 1740380256

Blackbeard - oh, no they won't

by nickb | 24th Feb 25, 4:56pm 1740369366

Fun fact: drop political bias and get twice as much business.

Thanks for the free content which is valuable. Hate speech against orange people less so.

by Kate | 24th Feb 25, 5:12pm 1740370376

I don't hate orange people at all. Folks can spray tan to their hearts content, as far as I'm concerned!

But there is one US spray tan fanatic that's awful - he lives in the White House.

Is that hate speech?

by Speedmax | 24th Feb 25, 5:59pm 1740373192

What - someone who claims Ukraine started the invasion against themselves? Tries to totally change facts? Thank God someone still calls this dangerous shit out

by linklater01 | 25th Feb 25, 9:28am 1740428932

nickb,

"Hate speech against orange people less so". I only know of one orange person and I believe him to be a loathsome,narcissistic, abusive, congenital liar, so if that's hate speech, i am happy to be guilty of it.

by interesting1234 | 25th Feb 25, 4:07pm 1740452845

Not a nice thing to say about Ernie from Sesame Street - although there are certain dark memes involving him out there.....

by Yvil | 24th Feb 25, 5:29pm 1740371377

Wonderful news ! I hope many current commenters will support Interest to keep commenting.

by Thats All Folks | 24th Feb 25, 8:19pm 1740381553

Wow dude, why don’t you just give the team the old reach around while you’re at it.

Yes, surely many will subscribe and support interest, stop embarrassing yourself you don’t even work there….

by Yvil | 24th Feb 25, 8:26pm 1740381962

By not contributing to Interest, you are effectively saying to David Chaston, Greg Niness, David Hargreaves, and the rest of the team "I don't think your work is good enough for me to pay you 33 cents a day" You can be proud of that if you like, up to you.

by FOTC | 24th Feb 25, 8:49pm 1740383341

So if Chrome (or whatever browser you use) implemented a tip function where you could pay the content creators of any content you found valuable you'd be using it every time? That would get expensive pretty quickly unless you're barely online. Also, if you compare what else you can get for 33 cents a day the value doesn't really add up so it's basically just a donation.

by PineTreez | 24th Feb 25, 5:35pm 1740371716

Personally, I find the comments to be of equal or even greater value than the articles themselves. I really like getting the feedback from the wider audience... but that doesn't justify getting these benefits for free. I've been a happy supporter for some years, and hope the articles and the comments continue to give me the value I seek.

If placing a payment barrier suppresses the opinionated but ill informed or commercially biased, then great.

Time will tell. I don't contribute much, but I'll still be reading your comments.

by Eschaton | 24th Feb 25, 5:52pm 1740372747

Same here, this is the only place I comment, its my 'social media'.

by HouseMouse | 24th Feb 25, 7:22pm 1740378126

A certain % of commenters make really good comments, usually far more insightful than the articles. Dan’s are really good, but generally the articles are quite average. Couple that with sone quite misinformed commentary at times, childish political bias at times, and an editorial stubborness to reconsider things, and it’s a no from me.

But as I said the other day, I might miss the dopamine hit of commenting too much

by Kate | 24th Feb 25, 7:30pm 1740378653

I'll miss you, HouseMouse, as you've always got good comments about the RMA/planning - I assume that's 'cause you have a development background?

by WellingtonInvestor | 24th Feb 25, 10:17pm 1740388660

IMO it does indicate in a way that people who comment that don’t pay aren’t appreciated for their comments as much as those that do pay. But I can’t see it resulting in a lot of those people suddenly paying just to be able to comment. IMO they would be better to paywall certain articles.

by Speedmax | 25th Feb 25, 12:20am 1740396025

You’ll be back….

by We Are Stuffed | 25th Feb 25, 1:57pm 1740445026

Hope not but he's left for good and returned so many times I get giddy.

by Mr Ed | 25th Feb 25, 2:10pm 1740445859

@HouseMouse

continual I reckon predictions and making a point of reiterating them when you get one out of 10 right wont be missed. Try talkback.Its also free

by CN - new | 24th Feb 25, 5:55pm 1740372949

Fully understand the need for the revenue model change in light of the current economic environment where advertising has likely fallen significantly and the need for business survival.

I'm assuming the subscriptions auto renew / automatically charges at the end of each period - i.e monthly, annually.

Subscription services make it easy to get in, difficult to get out.

Already have many existing subscriptions where the subscription service makes it difficult to cease / cancel - even cancelling the credit card number and getting a new one issued has not worked in several circumstances. Reluctant to sign up for more subscriptions for this reason. However happy to make one off donations as I have previously done with interest.co.nz.

Also for a non business consumer households, subscriptions to many subscription based services can add up very quickly. Already paying several thousand in subscription based services annually.

by Kate | 24th Feb 25, 7:32pm 1740378741

Yikes, that's a lot of subs.

by E46 | 24th Feb 25, 9:44pm 1740386670

I think mine last year added up to slightly over $1000, and I don’t even have any streaming services.

To be fair most of that was Adobe, Squarespace, google/Apple cloud storage etc which was mostly work related but I can see how it can add up to be a lot.

by Hans Brink | 24th Feb 25, 8:53pm 1740383594

Paying several thousands in subs CN. Is that for real? and if it is then $100nz is chips. What's the problem bro.

by legrandsoir | 24th Feb 25, 6:05pm 1740373512

A big call considering there are many other places where it is free to comment online. I'm surprised it isn't that the articles are paywalled while the comments are open to all tbh. I'll still come here to read, though may lose interest if the comments drop away. I wonder how long an online community can exist when there is a financial barrier to entry.

by WellingtonInvestor | 25th Feb 25, 1:59am 1740401972

When Trademe message boards went, it caused a lot of people to stop using it . It is the online community and open discussion that makes some websites.

by Kate | 25th Feb 25, 7:19am 1740421184

I got banned from that one during the period of massive scam auctions on the site. They got that under control but never reinstated those of us who had been posting about scam auctions on the message board.

by WellingtonInvestor | 25th Feb 25, 3:03pm 1740449019

It was a good community and very useful after the earthquakes. I guess Facebook is where people now go for chatting and some great groups. A bit sad that will be lost here because a lot of people won’t want to pay a subscription to get that.

by cjmain | 24th Feb 25, 6:07pm 1740373654

Thanks for the memories

by Nzdan | 24th Feb 25, 6:17pm 1740374265

Sure it's $10 per month, I was on the fence but I'm not sure. A regular long standing commenter (10 years tenure) with a green tick was implying that because I haven't yet subscribed that I'm a thief and I'm stingy.

When it's free you don't mind a bit of toxicity, but I value every dollar I get and I don't think I want to subscribe to a website that allows such drivel to go unchecked for so long (ever since the green ticks first rolled out).

by CN - new | 24th Feb 25, 6:27pm 1740374822

"A regular long standing commenter (10 years tenure) with a green tick was implying that because I haven't yet subscribed that I'm a thief and I'm stingy. "

A commonly used sales tactic to intimidate / guilt a potential customer to buy by use of negative labels. Don't know if there is any undisclosed conflict of interest involved.

People are free to choose to entirely ignore the sales tactic being used.

by Nzdan | 24th Feb 25, 6:51pm 1740376269

It's called negging. Subtly insult people, frame their lack of a green tick as a moral failing and hope people cave in to the psychological pressure.

Yvil the interest.co resident street vendor.

If there's not a conflict of interest, then maybe he's trying to score brownie points incase one day David's looking for a site community moderator.

by IT GUY | 24th Feb 25, 6:56pm 1740376591

He could become the weather commentator

by Zachary Smith | 24th Feb 25, 6:58pm 1740376682

You can't let one commenter spoil the site. Also, he's Swiss, so will come across a little different. I like that diversity.

by Nzdan | 24th Feb 25, 7:35pm 1740378909

Wouldn't say the site is spoiled, the content is great. For that reason I was seriously considering subscribing come 1st March.

Just think if the site actually valued subscriber contributions they would've moderated the negging a while back, rather than have someone go around calling potential subscribers stingy thieves in the lead up to the new content access model.

by Yvil | 24th Feb 25, 8:06pm 1740380771

Guilty as charged and I'm not apologising for it. Here is my post from earlier:

by Yvil | 24th Feb 25, 3:35pm

OK NZDan, perhaps you will understand this point of view better: "Fairness". I think if I benefit from a service or product, I think it's fair that I pay something to enjoy that benefit. I suppose you don't.

by Thats All Folks | 24th Feb 25, 8:34pm 1740382495

You are acting like this is a one way street when it isn’t.

Interest have benefited from the commentaries on this site, grown their presence and authority in the search engines from the page views driven heavily off the back of comment refreshing and hyper engagement. (Dwell time)

Now I appreciate ad exchange revenue might be down and also lack stability, so it’s not a shock this is the outcome, but many people on this site use it for consensus via the commentary section

If the comment section takes major hit, they will be kneecapping the very thing that (possibly) gives interest the staying power it had in the first place and disregarding valuable people that got them where they are today.

I don’t personally have a bias either way, but the above is valid.

by HistoryRepeats | 24th Feb 25, 9:36pm 1740386212

Agree. I suspect most readers spend far more time in the comments section (reading and posting) than the articles themselves! Some great entertainment in there.

So yeah, risky move by DC.

Such a shame really - this site is one of few places in the media these days one can read mostly unfiltered opinion from the entire range of the political spectrum, which can be helpful in assessing where the public consensus on a given topic tends to be. This diversity of opinions (much as it got on DC's nerves) is healthy, as it can make us question our own views a bit.

by Nzdan | 24th Feb 25, 10:59pm 1740391191

Yes I saw that comment. We're all happy for you. Nobody is expecting you to apologize don't listen to the haters, just do you.

All I'm saying is I can't justify $10/m when people are free to make snide comments about non-subscribers. It's David's website, he's free to moderate as he sees fit and if he's happy for your comments to slide then I'll keep my $10, still read the articles and do my commenting elsewhere. There are relevant sub-Reddits with more maturity than a good chunk of the comments on here.

by CN - new | 24th Feb 25, 11:19pm 1740392353

"There are relevant sub-Reddits with more maturity than a good chunk of the comments on here."

Got a link?

by Nzdan | 24th Feb 25, 11:24pm 1740392676

https://www.reddit.com/r/PersonalFinanceNZ/ is one example.

Not really the same as Interest.co (it's Reddit, not a news content website) but still somewhere to comment about finance related stuff and read about other people's experiences etc.

by Zachary Smith | 24th Feb 25, 11:38pm 1740393493

With limited censorship and moderation we have to be able to take the good with the bad. Yvil may have been out of line but few of us wanted DC to be heavy handed.

by HouseMouse | 24th Feb 25, 7:23pm 1740378219

Yes, the drivel, including from the website’s most vocal fanboy, is a turnoff

by Yvil | 24th Feb 25, 8:07pm 1740380876

Then don't subscribe form next week HM, but you know you will.

by IT GUY | 24th Feb 25, 6:25pm 1740374754

The big positive is that Interest will at least know what entity is paying behind a userid....

if you want to be anon best get a disposable payment card...

by CN - new | 24th Feb 25, 6:30pm 1740375006

"The big positive is that Interest will at least know what entity is paying behind a userid...."

Does Patreon share the name and subscriber details with interest.co.nz?

Are there any privacy issues involved?

by Hans Brink | 24th Feb 25, 8:58pm 1740383919

And when you think about it, under the trumpster , everything will be user pays.

by Zachary Smith | 24th Feb 25, 7:05pm 1740377118

Interest.co is a unique website where you can establish an online personality that is New Zealand centric. We should have more sympathy for the site owners because of this. I doubt they are getting rich off it and more advertisers are likely to be cutting back. The minimum payment is very low per day although I know some will have partners that might resist. The payment says INTERESTCONZ so it may get overlooked as some sort of bank fee.

I beg of you to consider helping out your fellow Kiwi content creators. You may even get a personal service. More than once I have been called into the office (virtually) to get a telling off and once was sent to the naughty room for a month or so. Yet I still pay my dues.

by MikeM | 24th Feb 25, 7:10pm 1740377453

I've been a member since the Bernard Hickey days. Does that get me a discount? 😁

by Kate | 24th Feb 25, 7:35pm 1740378901

Same age as me :-).

by False economies | 24th Feb 25, 8:59pm 1740383948

Me too. But it only shows me as a member for 4 years...

The Bernard days were classic and i think that's where the DGM term originated wasn't it?

by We Are Stuffed | 24th Feb 25, 9:58pm 1740387535

It was better back then. I stopped coming to the site a few years back when Housemouse commented on just about every comment. I think he probably lost more site clicks than any other cause.

by DTRH | 24th Feb 25, 7:40pm 1740379228

For a interesting read some articles are great but a large amount of the comments are nonsense also some people have many accounts and sometimes are arguing with themselves, not sure if it’s wise to ask people to fund this site it could easily just be a interesting read for no cost. Other place’s on Facebook are also available for people who like to comment.

by AN Other | 25th Feb 25, 12:45pm 1740440730

Much though others may disagree, Interest.co.nz has a wide variety of commenters from several sides of the spectrum (political or otherwise).

Facebook moves you into your own echo chamber where you end up with everyone agreeing with you.

by HughJorgan | 24th Feb 25, 7:47pm 1740379631

TBH I am undecided. I get a lot of value from reading the comments so its kind of a numbers game to me. If there are enough people commenting then I'll probably pay but if it drops significantly then its not going to be worth it.

Its all the anecdotal stuff that I enjoy.

Mr. Hugh Jorgan.

by HistoryRepeats | 24th Feb 25, 9:41pm 1740386514

I would have subscribed if it wasn't for DC expressing his hatred of certain government figures in the US at every opportunity, instead of simply reporting financial facts without heavily biased political commentary.

I was also put off during the covid debacle when he meekly supported every highly questionable decision by those running the show, and threw around the term "conspiracy theory" with abandon.

Oh well, will stop by every now and then to see how things are going.

by Zachary Smith | 24th Feb 25, 10:08pm 1740388139

The covid years were dark, crazy times.

by Toye | 24th Feb 25, 10:16pm 1740388594

This is exactly how I feel

by DTRH | 24th Feb 25, 8:40pm 1740382811

With this many views per day maybe linking it with YouTube would bring in much more than a small amount of cash from subscription with AI it would be easy to create content.

by Small Kev | 24th Feb 25, 8:40pm 1740382839

Hard to believe it’s been 14 years for me. Gotta say this site has been very entertaining.

by False economies | 24th Feb 25, 8:57pm 1740383847

I've mentioned it before but i started paying when i realised how much money i had saved (many thousands) after reading the articles/comments on this site. Factor that in if youre undecided

by Yvil | 24th Feb 25, 9:05pm 1740384314

Very well said!

by Hans Brink | 24th Feb 25, 9:17pm 1740385060

I would have to say Fe, that I am in reverse. Because of the negative comments I have lost thousands by pre-emptive selling. But hey, in the end it was my decision.

by Zachary Smith | 24th Feb 25, 9:29pm 1740385764

Me too!

We have commenters calling the NZ property market a ponzi yet still buying property. They abuse real estate agents yet still use their services. Everything must be taken with a pinch of salt.

by iliketobike | 24th Feb 25, 9:30pm 1740385811

DC, when you present this data to advertisers, can you / do you subtract off the page views from paying subscribers?

I wonder what the delta is.

by The Man3 | 24th Feb 25, 9:52pm 1740387145

Wish everyone all the best for their future.

Hopefully the site continues and there remains some pro property people left to comment!

I have personally decided not to subscribe as I feel that any advice I would in the future offer will be wasted on so many people.

i will probably read the articles and read the comments from the same people and it will be the same old same old!

What I will say is that you will have more chance of becoming a multi millionaire by investing in property than by not investing in it!

Plenty of opportunities to make money on property each and every day but maybe just maybe you need to broaden your horizons and buy in ChCh where the true money is being made!

by CN - new | 24th Feb 25, 10:34pm 1740389695

"I have personally decided not to subscribe"

Perhaps you'll subscribe when some commenter raises questions on the creditworthiness of Williams Corp?

by agnostium | 24th Feb 25, 10:53pm 1740390792

🤣🤣🤣

by We Are Stuffed | 24th Feb 25, 9:53pm 1740387195

I just came back to say goodbye.

by Toye | 24th Feb 25, 10:07pm 1740388069

I find some value in the articles but it's mostly the comments where the real gems (and crazy crap) comes from. I do think that this change may cut the legs off this place (the comments section will die out) but I would prefer being wrong there.

See you... maybe?

by Murray Falconer | 24th Feb 25, 11:45pm 1740393944

I'd like to thank everyone for the interactions over these past few years since I began commenting. That certainly includes those that argued with me on topics dear to my heart such as housing affordability, LVT, immigration, TOP etc. It has been a valuable place to test my ideas because of the varied opinions (many from 'freeloading/yet value-add' commenters depending on your perspective).

As others have mentioned, for me the value is in the comments. It's been disappointing that int.co appear not to have acknowledged that. I've suggested a pay for platform approach (blue tick) so as not to be seen supporting what I believe hasn't been independent reporting. If managing the sheer number of comments is a problem, my suggestion is a limit per article/day - maybe those that receive 10 thumbs up don't go to that count. Another thing I'd have liked was the ability to pay for individual articles (e.g. Keith's) and/or a pay per comment model e.g. I could have tipped these commenters for sometimes quite different reasons: dumbthoughts, NZDan, Jfoe, Kate, Pa1nter when he'd not just picking pin sized holes for the sake of it, Dale, E46, IO, Brock, IT GUY, rastus, meh, actually just so many that listing them is futile.

I would however single out PDK as the one that challenged and changed my thinking the most - from "what are you on" to "you might be onto something"! If cannot disprove the argument presented, I'll keep an open mind that it is correct.

Best wishes to the int.co team too, it's your site to do with as you please and I absolutely hope I'm wrong and it flourishes for many years to come.

Yours faithfully,

Murray Falconer

by Kate | 25th Feb 25, 7:24am 1740421444

And best wishes to you, Murray! Will miss your contributions!

by Beanie | 25th Feb 25, 8:16am 1740424618

I suspect like many others I come here mainly for the comments. Especially ear on the ground anecdotes which I will occasionally put forward myself, or where the comments cover new ground. I try to skip over the repetitive comments from the prolific posters.

I appreciate the Interest.co team are trying to increase revenue, but I wonder about actually how many new subscribers will be flushed out just to obtain commenting rights. It will mainly be those prolific and repetitive posters that will see value in it. I am guessing well less than 100 people fit this demographic. That's under $10k p.a. which is not enough considering the risk to quality of comments that will flow through to site traffic. I hope I am proven wrong.

As mentioned above it would be good to be able to sponsor another commenter, I have tried but there is no facility for this. Ideally something as simple as a bank account number that you can deposit $100 into with their username in the reference.

by RookieInvestor | 25th Feb 25, 8:16am 1740424576

10K they were not receiving before, my guess is there are other reasons involved also.

by Beanie | 25th Feb 25, 9:23am 1740428612

It's common to tidy things up prior to listing a business for sale and that would include tying as many customers as possible into contracts. Jeez I hope this isn't the case here because they risk throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

I had a physio business we occasionally used send the corporate I was working for an exclusivity contract to sign. It duly ended up on my desk so I rang them to see what the deal was. There was no advantage to us being offered, it was them tying up as many customers as possible prior to listing the business for sale.

by CN - new | 25th Feb 25, 12:19pm 1740439142

"It's common to tidy things up prior to listing a business for sale and that would include tying as many customers as possible into contracts"

That is an interesting perspective. DC isn't getting any younger and I was wondering about management succession and ownership succession.

Very common for a startup founder to start a business and their adult children don't want to get involved with the business. These businesses get sold to employees, a strategic buyer or financial buyer who makes changes to the business.

DC could already have sold and now be working for a period post sale for management transition. We don’t know who currently owns the business.

A certain commenter rounding up subscribers could even be a owner with a undisclosed vested self interest.

We don’t know what we don't know.

by Pragmatist | 25th Feb 25, 2:01pm 1740445274

If managing the sheer number of comments is a problem, my suggestion is a limit per article/day - maybe those that receive 10 thumbs up don't go to that count.

You'd have to limit the number of thumbs up per day too, possibly to just a couple a day. If a thumbs up costs nothing you'd end up with a massive circle-jerk of a select group of posters saying something popular, getting 10 upvotes, and posting again endlessly swamping anything that goes against the popular.

by GV 27 | 25th Feb 25, 6:34am 1740418480

I'll add my outro here: I'm not in a position to continue with this (at the moment anyway) but I'd also like to see how the new system goes and what the comments are like once it's implemented.

As far as the cost goes, I'm stuck on some hefty mortgage rates for the foreseeable while we are down to one income. It sucks and I've already taken a knife to a lot of my expenses. The same money will buy me an F1 TV subscription for a year and for my own mental health, it's a passion I don't want to let go of and one I share with my son. At the moment I feel it wouldn't be responsible given the other cutbacks my partner and I are both making to get our family through this patch.

Hopefully something will change soon enough but I wish everyone all the best and I will no doubt still be reading the content, which on the whole I have enjoyed very muchly for the last several years.

by Kate | 25th Feb 25, 7:26am 1740421595

Yes, hoping things improve for you! Best wishes!

by Pa1nter | 25th Feb 25, 7:54am 1740423277

I've made voluntary contribution to the site, but I don't like subscriptions, and the concept of paying to comment doesn't sit well with me.

This is really the only online outlet I make comment on, don't do social media etc. So I'll just revert to having real time, free conversations in the physical realm.

All the best to the sites new direction, and community.

by RookieInvestor | 25th Feb 25, 8:11am 1740424315

and the concept of paying to comment doesn't sit well with me

Definitely not "free speech" :D

This is where I stand also.

by Yvil | 25th Feb 25, 8:57am 1740427067

Keep commenting, your posts are most valuable !

by Pa1nter | 25th Feb 25, 9:05am 1740427500

My time's worth money, and posting here detracts from that, if I'm active here it costs me a lot more than 33 cents a day.

Requiring me to pay to do so, makes it a double whammy. Not a great investment.

The comments are as much content as the article, and charging users to generate extra content, not ideal. Fair play to the site owners for wanting to increase monetisation though.

by HughJorgan | 25th Feb 25, 8:14am 1740424489

Jeepers. This comment page is exactly why I visits. Always such a range of views.

It does feel like the end of an era!

by RookieInvestor | 25th Feb 25, 8:19am 1740424771

Always such a range of views.

That's it! I can see a few subscribers who I think will provide value still, with differing view points.

I wonder if they will bother commenting once all us poor folk aren't filling the comment section.

by huttman | 25th Feb 25, 8:58am 1740427108

well, once you closed up the comment, we will know who's actually paying you, and it'll be hard for you open up again.

by Bayview | 25th Feb 25, 8:59am 1740427146

The 3rd Scroll has been released. And now the work of The Prophet is Finally Finished !

This is good timing because a Paid To Say system does not work well with Free Speech.

We all know what happened to Stuff.co.nz when it stopped its comment section and sold shortly after for $1.

Hope you all stay safe . And never forget what comes next. 3rd Scroll can be found below.

https://www.interest.co.nz/economy/131907/us-ppi-stays-high-us-househol…

The Prophet.

by IT GUY | 25th Feb 25, 9:19am 1740428356

False Prophet

by interesting1234 | 25th Feb 25, 4:29pm 1740454199

Might be a few cracks in that crystal ball of the Prophet

by Here.for.the.c… | 25th Feb 25, 9:10am 1740427859

Quick someone gift JFoe a subscription or set up a substack for them.

by IT GUY | 25th Feb 25, 9:24am 1740428678

Page impressions will fall massively , how many times do 1000 people come back and re read the same page?

as they fall away so will the ability to charge the banks for there interest rates to be displayed.

(yeah its not free)

by huttman | 25th Feb 25, 9:27am 1740428848

sometimes I don't really read their article, but I do come back to check people's comments, to find what and how people are thinking.

now no point of it any longer.

by Pa1nter | 25th Feb 25, 9:29am 1740428946

Page impressions will fall massively , how many times do 1000 people come back and re read the same page?

An interesting metric would be page views by volume of comments. I suspect the pages with few to no comments aren't getting anywhere near the number of views.

by meh | 25th Feb 25, 11:51am 1740437488

And some of those articles offer real insights and eye opening perspectives of many pertinent matters.

The lack of comments does sort of highlight the limits to understanding by many.

by Pa1nter | 25th Feb 25, 1:25pm 1740443152

People are inclined to comment when they either feel very strongly about something, or have an understanding they want to share.

From observation, the bulk of the comments seem heavily weighted towards wanting to talk about housing, wider matters regarding business and active commerce often an afterthought.

by nzlegofan | 25th Feb 25, 9:35am 1740429356

Given that comments add much (I would argue most) of the value of this site, surely a pay to access rather than a pay to contribute type model makes more sense? Or even have a 1-day delay on articles for non-subscribers.

by huttman | 25th Feb 25, 10:03am 1740430988

Interest used be like a bar, people come and chat, then get a beer when they find friends here.

now pay-to-comment is switching the bar model to country club model. not saying it won't work, but it won't be like it was.

by IT GUY | 25th Feb 25, 10:21am 1740432114

always a few fights just like a public bar

Too much weights, not enough speed work

by Calaverite | 25th Feb 25, 10:22am 1740432133

Just charge 50c per comment, would encourage more considered comments and remove the barriers to commenting if you post infrequently.

by Nifty1 | 25th Feb 25, 12:13pm 1740438801

Alot of toys thrown out the cot here...

by Yvil | 25th Feb 25, 2:50pm 1740448201

Haha, exactly what I was thinking, but didn't dare to say. Toddlers having a hissy fit because they cant complain about everything for free anymore! LOL

by kiwichas | 25th Feb 25, 12:27pm 1740439654

If all readers paid $10 monthly that would be $4,000,000 per month....??

by Yvil | 25th Feb 25, 2:50pm 1740448256

But readers are not asked to pay. Would be nice though!

by WestieAJ | 25th Feb 25, 1:08pm 1740442105

This is what the chatty oracle says.

"According to an article from August 2024, interest.co.nz receives about 40,000 unique readers daily, with over 100,000 pages of content read. Despite this substantial readership, only about 150 readers engage in commenting. This suggests that the number of unique commenters over the past year is relatively small compared to the overall audience."

So how many of the 40K read the comments? Are the comments in some respects "the content"?

Or is it a circle jerk of 150 that's not worth the effort to administer?

by Yvil | 25th Feb 25, 2:53pm 1740448409

It's a small circle of jerks that are taking themselves far too seriously.

by Escander | 25th Feb 25, 4:47pm 1740455241

Some people want to pay to hate on landlords and property speculators.

Don't we call that sport in NZ?

by The_Golem | 25th Feb 25, 1:31pm 1740443501

A lot of people here with no ticks who say they value the ability to comment - but are not prepared to pay to support the business: a very Kiwi attitude :-(

by Yvil | 25th Feb 25, 2:54pm 1740448473

A very sad, selfish and short sighted attitude.

by Small Kev | 25th Feb 25, 2:24pm 1740446669

At the end of the day

it is a comment section on the internet

not a life achievement.

Relax …no one is handing out trophies.🏆

by AaronTaitoko8327 | 25th Feb 25, 2:36pm 1740447379

I will continue as a paying contributor because this site is an antibiotic against the ticket clippers, reckless over-lenders, corporate welfare bludgers and ravenous speculators. I pay 33c per day because I don't have any other means to fight it or even keep score.

(Yes you are right, the comments are also fun, sometimes educational too)

Society needs this site, and more like it.

by Foxglove. | 25th Feb 25, 3:35pm 1740450945

The site is still offering columns and articles for free and that includes the relative comments made. The ability to comment from next month will no longer be free but those that consider their comments are worthy can continue for a modest cost. It is valuable to remember though, that what you still get for free here, is a hell of a lot freer than what’s on tap in many other parts of the world.

by unaha-closp | 25th Feb 25, 4:53pm 1740455637

One big reason for paying $10/month has been the openness your comments section.

by The_Golem | 26th Feb 25, 9:06am 1740513976

My biggest reason for subscribing is understanding that there is a need to pay for reportage that's far more numerate and credible than much of the legacy media actually seems to be able to manage - or possibly wants to: examination of the facts and data generates a lot fewer clicks than sensationalism.

Just waiting for the next trust in media survey our of Massey, but an indicator might be the large survey conducted for several Auckland Councils, on quality of life, that places trust in media at 27%...

by solardb | 25th Feb 25, 5:01pm 1740456078

It's a no thanks from me, main reason would be what oi consider outright racist posts not been moderated. In some cases from paying members , and I think it will get worst as paying members expect to be able to post what they think is OK.

Other reasons would be most the articles I enjoy and comment on come from an open source, like the conversation, trotter etc. I should really be supporting them first. Exceptions would be some good articles from Dan and Juha, which may make me think again.

As someone else said time is money, and I really need to spend less time on the internet in general. And the wife gets jealous.

by Pa1nter | 25th Feb 25, 6:25pm 1740461135

And the wife gets jealous.

Wife: Baby, come to bed

Husband: Just a moment, someone is being wrong on the internet again