dr_max

https://strava.app.link/vzFD9AOMN7

so much anger against strava for charging $5 monthly.

why people these days think they should not have to pay for other people’s work but if they don’t pay and have their data used scream scandal?

would people have preferred a British Analytica scandal like Facebook did with private users data?

roadCruiser76

I tend to agree. I think if you use Strava a lot and like it, then you should be more than willing to pay $6 a month. That is equivalent to one fast food meal a month for one person. A lot of people probably have that much money in their couches. If, on the other hand, you rarely use it and just check in once in a while, then the free tier is probably fine for you.

A lot of people are real cheapskates when it comes to intellectual property. They want software to be free, movies to be free, songs to be free, etc. All of those things take a lot of time and effort to produce so the idea that they should be free is simply not realistic or just. Someone said in another thread that they don't like "renting software", but Strava runs on AWS servers that the Strava company must continually pay for. There is also a team which provides customer support, and one to fix bugs, etc. It seems fair to have a monthly fee for something like this.

Yes, Strava has bugs, as does almost every other large software application. I'm a software developer myself so I've noticed a few, but I don't think Strava is noticeably worse than any other commercial software I've used. I log on to it almost every day to check my own stats and the stats of my friends, and am happy to be a subscriber.

Bah Humbug

Ah, finally a fresh take on a fresh topic.

Velo Vol 

Can confirm.

datlas 

The gripe is because Strava took away features that had been free all along and now you have to pay for them.

I understand their rationale but people’s anger is also understandable.

datlas 

Interesting that the OP is not paying for Bike Forums.

Bah Humbug

The problem is that Strava is bad at business and suddenly had to actually turn a profit. I'm quite interested to see how it plays out. I only deleted my account; over on ST a number of people first deleted all the segments they created.

base2 

The truth is Strava has been burning through venture capital cash at an alarming rate for a long time. If they can't or don't stop the bleeding, then we won't have Strava at all.

I for one, run every ad blocker in the world. Not to stymie the little guy or to thwart the free advertizing supported services I use, but to cut down on the clutter on the PAY services I subscribe to. I do not pay for Youtube or Facebook, ads are fine there. I do pay for Netflix & Hulu, (& Bike Forums) therefore ads are not acceptable.

Maybe the cheapskates would prefer a more Facebook type experience? Strava tried that model. The free market decided that was not the proper business model if Strava was to be viable. So they switched.

Strava has done the honorable thing & gone the pay subscription model & avoided advertismants in the feed. This adds value to my experience & as such I will continue to be a paying member for a long time to come.

rubiksoval

Ha. How pointless. As if they can't be remade (and then renamed!).

I'd love it if a bunch of people deleted all of the ridiculously duplicated segments around here.

Seattle Forrest

I don't really use Strava, so I don't have a horse in this race. But I think it's important to remember that they've always given their service away for free because it makes the service better. People aren't doing anything immoral by taking them up on it, people are contributing their efforts to make segments more competitive, to fill in the global heatmap, etc.

spelger

I don't mind them charging $5/mo. But i won't pay for it. I get all i need out of the free side. I still think if they lowered their rate they would get more buyers. i also think they gave away too much for free in the first place. and i really don't care what they do with my ride record.

kissTheApex

Not entirely true. They did not accept outside advertisements, but every time I started the app, I had to click away their own summit or <insert flavor of the month name they cooked up> paid service ads multiple times that i realized I hardly checked the app for weeks.

Bah Humbug

I regret that web developers cooked up popups, modals, banners, and now notifications. All have legitimate uses; all are abused by most websites.

kissTheApex

Well, they gotta eat too

surak

It wasn't just to make it better, it was deliberately to get more users. Classic Internet startup business plan: Step 1) burn a lot of cash by giving something away for free to get lots of users, Step 2) ???, Step 3) Profit!

It's incredible that people defend Strava. The platform has value, but it's not like Strava started with the intention of being run as a charity. They were always trying to figure out how to convert their captive audience into cash. Do you go around shaming Uber users for not paying the full cost of their rides, which Uber's VC money subsidizes to the tune of losing billions every year? Or people who buy Black Friday doorbusters that are cheaper than what it cost stores to stock them?

base2 

A rose by any other name...Call it "Partner integrations," if you'd like. In any case, every ride anyone ever did that was from a "sponsor" was prioritized boldly & plainly at the top of the news feed & prominantly throughout.

I know my friend, in real life, rode with a Wahoo! on his ZWIFT VIRTUAL! in his living room last weekend. The only thing missing was a full motion confetti overlay & kazoo sound effects. The real life ride we did yesterday is the one that should be showing.

Perhaps you didn't notice the way the feed is/was aggregated? It has changed now & is so much better for it.

Really though, those that are sad about the $5/monthly fee aren't the ones they were ever going to break even with, so it really is no big loss. They weren't customers anyway.

Grouperdawg

I’ve been a premium member for a while; my gripe is that they don’t take my power meter data from my power meter except for segments. Makes zero sense , there is no formula that can know if I have wind in the face or downwind ; am drafting etc It’s never within 40 watts of my actual power so all the training ftp feature paying for are worthless

kissTheApex

In all honesty, I did not. Like I said, a) there’d be weeks and weeks when I didn’t even start the app, b) all my uploads were private by default and did not follow anybody either, so all the “feed” showed were my uploads.

I basically used Strava as a backup storage in exchange of my data, thus, wasn’t even their target “athlete” (and I’m using the term loosely).

WhyFi

What? I don't understand half of what you're trying to say, but power data is recorded for the entire ride.

Grouperdawg

I ride my bike on a ride , my Garmin then uploads that ride to strava. Strava uses a formula to calculate my average power based on speed and elevation which is significantly different then the actual power Garmin records from my power meter

However, on strava segments (this is where KOMs etc are recorded) Strava will use the actual data from my power meter when you analyze the segment

sfrider 

Do you mean their phone app doesn't?

When I sync from my computer via Garmin Connect or Wahoo, they definitely use PM data. I've had the battery in a PM die a third into a ride and it's definitely reflected on Strava.

dr_max

interesting in 2008 when I created my account they were not asking a membership subscription for it. Now that I become active after 12 years you ask me to pay for something I didn’t even know we could pay?

I will gladly pay for a subscription membership if I have the option to block members like you from following my threads. Implement this and I will gladly pay $30 monthly.

WhyFi

Either you're mistaken or you have something really wonky with your set-up. If you have power data, Strava uses it and doesn't bother with the estimates -

WhyFi

Oooooh - your Garmin isn't including zeros, is it?

Grouperdawg

I’ve never checked on the web but assume it’s the same all I usually look at is the app on my phone

Garmin average power number is usually off by 40 watts to strava. I thought maybe strava weighted power would match Garmin but it doesn’t either. I sent strava a support ticket they said there may be discrepancies in the way my file is being formatted by Garmin so maybe it is being recorded and they use their own way to analyze it, I’m not sure but I would rather strava just use the actual data from my Garmin . Speed is often different too by plus or minus a mph but I don’t care as much about that