Exciting news for who? Only the site owner is excited that a free resource now requires a subscription
“Yay! Now I have to pay another subscription! I’m so excited! Let’s celebrate with them!” - nobody
Why is it called “OpenSubtitles” if you have to pay for it to use it in any capacity?
Probably because anyone can contribute to it. But you have to pay to use them.
Kinda like another website that recently made this change…
Monetizing the goodwill efforts of passionate people is so gross.
Why we need comuity run sites again lemmy is just the start
It’s “Open” in the same way that OpenAI is “Open”.
“Open” ≠ “Open Source” or “Open Access”. It’s more like: “Open for Business”.
Is OpenAI a regular business too?
According to Wikipedia, it’s a non profit with a for profit subsidiary. Interpret that how you will. Nothing shady or deceptive here.
Anything involving software that uses the word “open” in its title should be legally required to be open source.
Because they’re openly dissing their userbase?
well it has been deprecated for a few years, and they’re basically asking you to play for continued support.
they have a new REST api, but you still need the old one, pay up because otherwise there’s no motivation to keep it around.So what pisses me off in these cases is this: they didn’t contribute with the data. They’re a convenient aggregator, I give them that, but the data came from third parties. If you want to start charging for convenient access to the data you should at least make all data before you started charging available in a bulk download for free.
Don’t call yourself open ffs
They aren’t charging for convenient access to the data though, they are charging for bulk access. The limitations of the new API should not impact people casually pulling in subtitles with VLC when they watch a movie, which is the purpose the API was intended to fulfill.
They’re just doing what discogs did with music. They’ll create contracts with media companies to allow them to claim that all the info in their DB is copyrighted. Eventhough most of it was user created, it is technically mostly copyrighted data. And then they’ll start the legal campaigns to eliminate any competition. They’ll progressively make it more difficult to access and more difficult to update or get things corrected and it will become frustratingly bad but the only game in town.
So… They’re following the Reddit business model? Let’s see how that works out.
Oh, are chocolate rations up to 60 grams now?
No, they’re up to 20 grams now! Isn’t that great!?
Lol gotta pay for “adfree subtitles”
“Luke, I am [over the moon for these Sobeys™️ rebates!]”
Reminds me of The Truman Show
contribute to a greater cause
For the greater good, that is their pockets.
I am your wife! I am the greatest good you are ever gonna get!
lol I got that emaik and read that exactly the same.
Someone should hire that author for a large corporation’s pr department
Same here. I didn’t understand why I was euphoric after reading the email until I went back and read the words.
Image Transcription: Email
OpenSubtitles
Dear Redacted,
Exciting news! OpenSubtitles.org is undergoing a transformation, retiring the original API by the end of 2023. Fear not, as this paves the way for the advanced OpenSubtitles.com REST API. We also understand, in some scenarios there is no way to use new API yet, so original API will be avaliable from New Year only for VIP Users.
Change is Good: Introducing the 20% Black Friday Treat!
Celebrate with us! Enjoy a 20% discount on a one-year VIP subscription until November 24th, 2023, so you can use original API. Elevate your VIP experience on both www.opensubtitles.org and www.opensubtitles.com. Instead of 15 USD per year you can get this deal for 12 USD.
VIP Advantage: Unlock Exclusive Benefits
- Usage opensubtitles.org API
- Ad-Free Web Experience
- Direct Download Links
- Higher Download Limits
- Ad-Free Subtitles
- User Profile Visibility
- Contribute to a Greater Cause
Seize this limited-time offer and become a VIP member today. Enhance your subtitle experience - ad-free, seamless, and with higher download limit access.
You should tip them too!
Like your landlord
Site owner and whomever in marketing wrote that. Pure psychopathy, IMO.
They should rename the site to PaywalledSubtitles.
Except there isn’t a paywall and you can access a limited amount for free
A proper REST API sounds like exciting news to me, and I’m sure anyone who needs to interact with their APIs…
Will the new API be free?
No idea, not using the website via API
I’m not irritated by the switch but by the phrasing. You can’t start an email like this with “exciting news”
It’s exciting news for them 😀, money money money
It’s exciting for someone. And it’s not the end user.
Must be funny
Sorry my dude, you are stoking outrage over something you do not use and apparently do not understand. Look at some of the posts that explain it does not mean the whole page is now for profit, it is not.
Yes, for up to 20 calls per day.
Why is the title so misleading then?
Anger is a form of excitement.
If nobody gives them money, they’ll revert back… But people will give them money, so they won’t.
People were already giving money before this change…
