5 ms·

These content paywalls are killing me. I can't even read the story. Even one of my local newspapers decided to put up a paywall. They're losing a lot of reade

by kwestro 13y ago

These content paywalls are killing me. I can't even read the story. Even one of my local newspapers decided to put up a paywall. They're losing a lot of readers because of it.

evan_ 13y ago
So pay the subscription fee.
- dave5104 13y ago
  Except it's a sucky paywall for new readers/people who don't frequent the Financial Times. I don't recall ever reading anything on the Financial Times before; in fact, it's not even a familiar news source for me. And their paywall just prevented me from even reading one article. My reaction was to hit the back button and go check out the comments on HN for a summary/discussion. I'm not going to pay for something before becoming familiar with what I'm going to be buying. Their paywall just isn't a friendly experience for new readers.
- krakensden 13y ago
  I have a subscription to a couple of news sources. I'm not super willing to just subscribe to things that show up on HN. I know FT is highly regarded, but the only articles I've ever successfully read on it are those bizarre fetishistic lunch interview things. There is some sort of balance you need to strike between porous and impenetrable with a paywall. FT is too closed to be compelling to me, and probably a lot of other people. More broadly, if you're putting a link on HN, it's your responsibility to make sure people can read it. If they can't, don't post it, please.
  - jurjenh 13y ago
    Micro-payments. Quick, easy, one-time. Then you don't need to worry about a thousand subscriptions to rarely-read sources. Sounds easy, but I don't believe anyone has something that works?
    - AnthonyMouse 13y ago
      Micro-payments have two fundamental problems: The first problem is inertia. You need a critical mass of users before anyone will bother to accept a particular payment processor, but users don't sign up if no one accepts the payment service. This is the reason why people still use Paypal. The second problem is fraud. If someone commits fraud over a matter of $0.20, what amount of resources can you really afford to spend investigating it? A micropayment processor that thoroughly investigates fraud will have to charge the sellers a large chunk of the payments they process, but one that doesn't will be bankrupted by fraudsters. Crypto currencies have some potential to break this by changing who eats the loss in the case of fraud. If it isn't the payment processor (or there is no payment processor) then micro-payments become viable. You still have problems with e.g. malicious software stealing bitcoins, but they're different problems that don't break micro-payments.
- toomuchtodo 13y ago
  Or they could accept micropayments. I'd pay 50 cents to read the article.
zt 13y ago
I'm the OP. FT seems better at the paywall thing than NYT, for example. I couldn't quite figure out a way to link to the article that didn't bring up the paywall. (Admittedly I didn't try that hard).
- dave5104 13y ago
  Here's a Google link: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CC8QqQIwAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fcms%2Fs%2F0%2Fbc70c9fe-4e1d-11e3-8fa5-00144feabdc0.html&ei=pQOlUueiMJLloASS_IGwCA&usg=AFQjCNFV8AIF-xvjuNa6ejhKOziCfUs_Uw&sig2=u0YEb-XEoCH_ZB6KGbSLVQ&bvm=bv.57752919,d.cGU https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&c... If Google is the referrer, FT drops the paywall.
  - travoltaj 13y ago
    That link didn't work for me, but google cache did. https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/bc70c9fe-4e1d-11e3-8fa5-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2mvWDIBZk https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http:/...
- argumentum 13y ago
  search for the text of the link on google, that will get you past the paywall .. https://www.google.com/search?q=Banks+need+to+take+on+Amazon+and+Google+or+die https://www.google.com/search?q=Banks+need+to+take+on+Amazon...
argumentum 13y ago
Do something like the following: right click on the link, click "search with Google" in the context menu and navigate to the first link on the search results page. It's not that hard ..
bladegash 13y ago
Gannett has been trying an interesting concept on some of their web publications (Military Times, Army Times, Etc.). They have certain content that is marked "premium" that requires a subscription. You have three options to view the article: Subscribe on a monthly basis, subscribe for the day, or watch a 15 second advertisement. Watching the 15 second advertisement will give you 24 hours of access to any premium article. I'm sure this is done on other publications as well, but I thought it was pretty smart.

by kwestro 13y ago

These content paywalls are killing me. I can't even read the story. Even one of my local newspapers decided to put up a paywall. They're losing a lot of readers because of it.

evan_ 13y ago

So pay the subscription fee.

dave5104 13y ago
Except it's a sucky paywall for new readers/people who don't frequent the Financial Times. I don't recall ever reading anything on the Financial Times before; in fact, it's not even a familiar news source for me. And their paywall just prevented me from even reading one article. My reaction was to hit the back button and go check out the comments on HN for a summary/discussion. I'm not going to pay for something before becoming familiar with what I'm going to be buying. Their paywall just isn't a friendly experience for new readers.
krakensden 13y ago
I have a subscription to a couple of news sources. I'm not super willing to just subscribe to things that show up on HN. I know FT is highly regarded, but the only articles I've ever successfully read on it are those bizarre fetishistic lunch interview things. There is some sort of balance you need to strike between porous and impenetrable with a paywall. FT is too closed to be compelling to me, and probably a lot of other people. More broadly, if you're putting a link on HN, it's your responsibility to make sure people can read it. If they can't, don't post it, please.
- jurjenh 13y ago
  Micro-payments. Quick, easy, one-time. Then you don't need to worry about a thousand subscriptions to rarely-read sources. Sounds easy, but I don't believe anyone has something that works?
  - AnthonyMouse 13y ago
    Micro-payments have two fundamental problems: The first problem is inertia. You need a critical mass of users before anyone will bother to accept a particular payment processor, but users don't sign up if no one accepts the payment service. This is the reason why people still use Paypal. The second problem is fraud. If someone commits fraud over a matter of $0.20, what amount of resources can you really afford to spend investigating it? A micropayment processor that thoroughly investigates fraud will have to charge the sellers a large chunk of the payments they process, but one that doesn't will be bankrupted by fraudsters. Crypto currencies have some potential to break this by changing who eats the loss in the case of fraud. If it isn't the payment processor (or there is no payment processor) then micro-payments become viable. You still have problems with e.g. malicious software stealing bitcoins, but they're different problems that don't break micro-payments.
toomuchtodo 13y ago
Or they could accept micropayments. I'd pay 50 cents to read the article.

zt 13y ago

I'm the OP. FT seems better at the paywall thing than NYT, for example. I couldn't quite figure out a way to link to the article that didn't bring up the paywall. (Admittedly I didn't try that hard).

dave5104 13y ago
Here's a Google link: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CC8QqQIwAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fcms%2Fs%2F0%2Fbc70c9fe-4e1d-11e3-8fa5-00144feabdc0.html&ei=pQOlUueiMJLloASS_IGwCA&usg=AFQjCNFV8AIF-xvjuNa6ejhKOziCfUs_Uw&sig2=u0YEb-XEoCH_ZB6KGbSLVQ&bvm=bv.57752919,d.cGU https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&c... If Google is the referrer, FT drops the paywall.
- travoltaj 13y ago
  That link didn't work for me, but google cache did. https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/bc70c9fe-4e1d-11e3-8fa5-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2mvWDIBZk https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http:/...
argumentum 13y ago
search for the text of the link on google, that will get you past the paywall .. https://www.google.com/search?q=Banks+need+to+take+on+Amazon+and+Google+or+die https://www.google.com/search?q=Banks+need+to+take+on+Amazon...

argumentum 13y ago

Do something like the following: right click on the link, click "search with Google" in the context menu and navigate to the first link on the search results page. It's not that hard ..

bladegash 13y ago

Gannett has been trying an interesting concept on some of their web publications (Military Times, Army Times, Etc.). They have certain content that is marked "premium" that requires a subscription. You have three options to view the article: Subscribe on a monthly basis, subscribe for the day, or watch a 15 second advertisement. Watching the 15 second advertisement will give you 24 hours of access to any premium article. I'm sure this is done on other publications as well, but I thought it was pretty smart.