Seasons greetings to our readers

Locked articles are a distant memory for Eureka Street readers. And we can say with confidence that our decision to make content free of charge has been a resounding success. Traffic to our website has more than doubled. Until late last year, the majority of our articles was accessible only to paying subscribers. But in common with many other publications, we discovered that while readers were willing to make the shift from print to online, not enough were prepared to pay. Advertising is also problematic for publications with large amounts of locked content. The other big development this year has been the switch from fortnightly to daily publication. Previously we published around 15 articles every two weeks as an online 'magazine'. Since January this year, we have published two articles each weekday. The daily 'rolling' publication has allowed us to reflect on events as they occur, and many readers have told us that they prefer to have the articles presented to them two — rather than 15 — at a time. We have received only a few expressions of misgiving from readers who would prefer to pay for the content. Of course we would not expect to receive too many complaints, but we do know that some, and perhaps many, readers would be prepared to make a donation towards our production costs. Our publisher Jesuit Communications has had two raffle fundraisers this year. There has been some increase in advertising revenue, but essentially our benefactors have carried the cost burden of our move to free access.

To this end, we will be establishing an online donation facility early in the new year. Those who prefer more traditional means of making a donation may send a cheque to Jesuit Communications at PO Box 553, Richmond 3121. Until our office closes for the break on Tuesday afternoon, you may also phone us with your credit card details on 1300 72 88 46. Meanwhile, we hope you have a happy Christmas and a prosperous new year. We will be back early January with 'best of' articles from 2008, and new content from mid-January.

But you don't need to take a break from Eureka Street, you are welcome to browse our archive at any time. Just click the 'Archive' tab at the top of the page, or the set of thumbnail cover images above.