As you probably know, in July 2020 we launched a paid subscription serviced called Trade Rumors Front Office. Today, I’m looking to gather some information and opinions from both subscribers and non-subscribers. If you can spare a few minutes, please take the survey below. Click here for a direct link to the survey. Thanks!
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Hope I did it right. It shows there are seven questions but I didn’t get that many (3 or 4) before it completed.
I’m sure you did…there’s some logic in there where if you say you are a subscriber, you’re going to skip over the “why haven’t you subscribed” question, stuff like that.
How do you sign in to front office on the mobile app?
On iOS, there’s a gears type icon in the upper right, and then there’s something that says “Log in to your existing account.”
I don’t remember if I am or not. How do I tell?
If you are, there’s a gold circle with TR in it below your name.
…but you’ll only see that if you’re accessing through a web browser. I don’t see it when accessing through the app.
You will also have money taken out of your bank account.
Thanks for having such a great website to read baseball news on! And also thanks for asking for our opinions!
I put this in the note and understand it isn’t so simple but I don’t think many would disagree on here about updating the app. The app is a mess to look through comments, you can’t ever tell who’s talking to who, you can’t mute, and the ads redirect me all the time to the App Store without touching them.(which I send info to for your guys help email as asked but it never changes if anything just the ad.) Frankly it’s about same app as it was 10 years ago it’s a dinosaur in terms of what’s available now. Love the app use it daily but using it from a pc to phone is night and day. I’ll pay a fee if it means a better experience on my primary device, my phone.
The mobile site is like this as well w/r/t the comments. On the desktop site, the comments are nested properly so you can tell who is talking to whom. On mobile, there’s only one ‘nest’ level beyond the main comment, so every reply to a comment is just in one column/’nest’.
@bravesIowafan- I echo this sentiment 100%. In previous comments with Tim he has stated that they are looking into it. I’m a daily app user (Android) as well and I would love the options you mentioned as well as the up-vote shtick. Us app users would like the full experience; I see a comprehensive update then I will join the FO!!
@Gwynning, I’m 100% an iOS app user. I like that MLBTR offers an app as it’s quick, and the settings alert me when there’s new stories. It was a very strong implementation when it debuted, but it does need some sprucing up all these years on.
I’m grateful MLBTR and Fangraphs have apps as not all content providers do. Baseball Prospectus doesn’t, which is perplexing. Baseball America has an app, but it’s horribly implemented.
Everything is shifting mobile, so it shouldn’t be a minor consideration. I do get development costs are associated so it has to be fit into budgets.
The app definitely needs some work this year. It’s a big goal of mine. I’ll have a separate survey soliciting feedback on what is needed.
Gracias amigo! Keep up the fine work.
@braveiowa…. In my experience, only the free app has ads. But they were annoying. If any audio streaming was on your phone while perusing the free app, the audio would stop as a result of the ad on the free MLBTR app. That was a motivating factor in paying a minuscule monthly fee for the better version of the MLBTR app.
I have no problems with ads especially if it brings more to the site, BUT that isn’t what I pointed out. The app glitches and redirects you to the App Store to download said ad. It happens constantly without me even moving the page after clicking an article. It ruins the experience having to constantly bounce back to the app after being redirected to App Store because of MLBTR glitched pages. If just seeing ads bothered me I’d pay the fee but it’s beyond that.
There are so many subscriptions services that we all pay for these days that mlb trade rumor simply doesn’t offer anything worth paying for comparatively speaking. I’ll sound like a jerk, but I’m shock anyone pays for any subscription with the current “added benefits.” If it was like 50 cents a month, ok.. maybe I’d sign up and forget about it. But unless y’all offer something that’s truly unique, like regular live chats with former mlb players, or behind the scene videos, I think y’all stick with your core business and most of us are perfectly fine with the ads.
And I should be clear. The live chats would mlb players would have to be players worth chatting with and it would have to be often. Cause I believe the membership already includes something like chats with players
I’m not sure “jerk” is the word I would use, but I see the benefit of being a front office member
To each their own gbs. To me, it’s mind boggling that people would pay for the current “benefits”…. Now I see some people suggesting they do it simply to support the site, in which case, I can respect that.
@bracesfan If memory serves, when you pay a year at a time the monthly cost is roughly $2.67/month. It’s pretty close to $30/year. Subscription costs do start to add up-I don’t disagree with that.
But $30? To me, that’s one less stop at a fast fresh food dinner for two. Or slightly more than the cost of two beers at an MLB game.
*braves*
On that note of my typo, if the edit function was on the app-that would rock.
I agree, the subscription is tough to justify compared to other apps. The way I see it is they don’t pull any fast ones to force you to subscribe like I’ve seen other apps do. I think the content alone and the effort they put into each article is worth paying for. I subscribed for a year just to support the site and whatever I get is icing on the cake. Not meaning to sound snarky if it comes across that way.
I’d prob pay for the content alone (at the current pricing) but think it would be a cheap move to do so when clearly they have been able to easily do this methodology for over a decade now. However, if they made me pay a lot for this, like more than a couple bucks, then I’d drop it so fast and never think twice about it. And I’d betcha most other readers would do the same :/
Just a thought, but would you pay for content if they allowed you, say, 5 free articles a day, and then subscribe to read more? Or perhaps only subscribers could comment? (In addition to current benefits).
Not saying I agree or disagree with these ideas, it’s just something your comment sparked on my head.
Also, edit button on mobile would be a dream! So many autocorrect typos!
I’m a subscriber, but not necessarily for the ‘benefits’, though no ads is nice. I subscribe because I’ve been using this site for like 8 years and just enjoy the news and I’m glad I can support it.
Same here rct. I wanted to do my part.
Same boat here, I find something I like and I stick with it. Always been happy with the baseball news on this site, so supporting it was an easy decision for me.
I can get that, want to support it. If that’s the case, maybe have tiers of something. I’ve been following the site since roughly 2010 I believe. I love it and religiously check in on it. The ads have never bothered me nor the speed. In fact, I’d be perfectly ok with more ads. I just have like 10 other subscription services and although I find MLB TradeRumors to be a fun and interesting feed, you can get most of the information on other “free” services on the market. I find trade rumors just does a better job of allowing me to pick my team and diving a bit deeper when appropriate
For me, the fact that Trade Rumors does a better job of allowing you to pick your team and dive deeper, is worth a couple of bucks a month. And you’re blessed to not mind the ads. I find them annoying.
I agree @rct. I’ve been with this website since nearly day one. The benefits are OK. Nothing special though I do like them.
I feel the same way. However, I would gladly be a subscriber if one of the benefits were team specific chats. I read the transcripts of every single chat if I’m not participating and only care about questions pertaining to my team. Do this and take my money!
I love this app, but can’t pull the trigger to subscribe yet. If comments were a little more like Reddit I think the flow of the app would be better since that’s about half the entertainment from this app/site. I also wish articles read tracked across devices when signed in. I switch from my phone to an iPad to read baseball at night and it’s a little harder to track when I go back to my phone (to read at work ha).
I am a cheapskate, and don’t mind seeing ads as long as I get mlb rumors. I don’t get to the chats at the right time, or when I do I don’t always get my question answered. That’s okay also, but like the interaction aspect.
I want to support the site bc I have read it for years and find a lot of value in it. I don’t mind spending $ on resources like MLBTR, FanGraphs, The Athletic, etc.
I agree though the Athletic is pricing itself out of what I’m willing to pay.
The Athletic’s pricing is all over the place. Quit and they’ll offer you half off within the week. Not sure if that will change under the NYT’s ownership. I’m in the minority, but I’d be fine if they implemented advertising for a lower fee. They probably will as the NYT properties are both subscription and advertising supported. I like their overall MLB content, although I find the Yankee beat reporter to be lacking.
As a non sub, I was happy to help.
A subscription is a contribution to the effort put forth by Dierkes and company. It’s an uncomplicated concept. I much prefer the MLBTR approach to the long-winded, circling-the-airport prose of The Athletic.
Couldn’t agree more. The Athletic takes itself very seriously and at a much higher subscription rate than Trade Rumors.
It appears to have dumped me out after the third or fourth question, which asked if I intended to renew. I answered yes, and gone I was. I suspect there may have been additional questions if I said no, but the ending came across as humorously abrupt. Ok, you’ll renew, so we have no more questions! I’m highlighting in case this wasn’t what you intended. I’ve implemented a number of SurveyMonkey questionnaires, and there’s usually a splash page at the end thanking customers for participating.
Tim answered that concern up above.
I’d like to see mlbtr get back to it’s abandoned YouTube channel. Nothing happening since Jeff Todd left.
Didn’t the app cost when it first came out? I could be misremembering but I thought I bought it years ago.
As a subscriber from the beginning my only complaints are that so many people are too cheap to support the site but will spend the cost of annual membership in one night buying beer at the ballpark or their local bar and that people really still expect sites like this to survive on as revenue. Shameful.