Salon Premium -- now available by the month: "You can now subscribe to Salon on a monthly basis if you prefer. For $6 a month you'll get all the benefits of a Salon Premium subscription: full access to our award-winning news coverage; the option to turn off nearly all banner and popup advertising; useful services like our daily download edition; and more."

A reader named Monica pointed me to this alternative to the yearly subscription, introduced on December 5th. After the bad rap given by dotcomscoop, Monica wonders whether people are afraid that Salon will go belly up any time soon and don't want to commit to a year they might not enjoy to its end. It seems a sensible observation to me.

For instance, do you feel at ease committing $50 for BookmarkSynch service "for life"? What if the site, which is obviously depending on a successful transition to a paying model, won't make it and stops service three months after you coughed up the money? Shorter lengths and lower fees will help consumers feel at ease and make the switch to paying. By asking for a long commitment - while there's still a climate of economic uncertainty - sites are adding another barrier to entry for users that were not used to pay.