I believe that there used to be a much bigger limit when I joined, but as Tris said, people were abusing the draft/article limits so WA reduced them. I think they are still very small and limit how much worldbuilding a person can do. And it doesn't give them enough of a taste to commit to WA to begin with. It did leave a bad taste in my mouth when the limits were reduced, and if I hadn't already committed, I probably wouldn't have bought a subscription in the first place
I know the site has to make money, but the slow stripping away of free features kind of leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Plus, if WA is going to thrive, it needs to give new users motivation to join!
It used to be unlimited but had to be public. People used to abuse drafts to keep their articles private instead. Drafts got reduced, then articles got reduced to 100 and then even less to what we have now. I think it was because people would just make massive articles to get around that. But I fully agree with this proposal - there is no real reason for newbies to stay here. You cannot use the site, you cannot really worldbuild with that little articles or participate long term in the community. Instead of being able to use this as a creative outlet (even with severe limitations) and get better before you commit to paying - you get a free trial. That's all it is nowadays. Plus there is no longer a lower tier journeyman option. If you do want to use WA, you have to pay quite a lot. Back when I started here, all I could afford was the lowest tier on patreon (as I was a student) and I upgraded later on, because I loved it here. Now, the barrier to entry is just too huge.
I think 100 would be good. That allows enough articles for 2 Summer Camps and some WorldEmber. Also, probably should increase the number that can be draft a bit. I think it's 5 so maybe to 10.
I remember when the limit used to be over 100. Can't quite remember why number was decreased so drastically, but I think it's a bit silly. 42 is barely more than the number of prompts you get per Summer Camp, so if someone who's been freeman for long enough to create more than 10 articles, they can't go for diamond without deleting existing content. 100 articles seems perfectly reasonable to me.
I fully agree, hitting that wall when you're only a small percentage of the way into your project is much less likely to draw new users to pay for the rest of the site. If they can get further into what they want to do, they'll get more of an opportunity to see what paying for WA can offer, and also give them time to get to know the community!