Instructables – FAIL

Instructables has decided to force users to pay a monthly fee to continue using basic features of the site. They’re removing a long time features of “View all steps on one page” and added no improvements.

Pay for additions to the site are :

  • now the ability to format the entire Instructable as a PDF, something that any “Print to PDF” driver has supported for years
  • Send other users virtual patches, which are good for absolutely nothing
  • Have the “PRO” icon next to your name, which some users are already uncomfortable with
  • Pay $3 monthly???

    • Clearly some MIT thinking hard at work here, thinking with your finances and not with the mindset of “what your users want and are willing to pay for”. Hell, had they come out with some innovate tools to getting Instructables up quicker or anything

    I’m waiting for the return fire of the open-source collaborative true community solution to the problem, aka someone returning fire in much the way Xiaonei has to Facebook.