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Old 03-23-2011, 09:53 PM   #44
Elfwreck
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bhartman36 View Post
They don't even have to keep track of it on the client side, though. Once a person logs in, they can keep track of it on the server side, can't they? The easiest thing for them to do would be require a login for access, and just keep track of things that way.
Requiring a login for the free articles would cut down traffic more than they want. Most people, if they follow a link and it says "create an account & login to read the rest," won't bother. NYTimes plans on letting people read 20 articles/month for free--or as many as they care to, if they come from Twitter referrals.

Free login limits would be easy to get around by having multiple logins.

NYT is trying to figure out how to maintain their current popularity/activity level and charge for access. It's a nice thought, and I'm sympathetic to the need to figure out how to make more money than ad clicks are providing, but I don't think it's going to work--either the paywall will be too easy to get around, and they won't make money, or it'll be strict, and people will stop using their articles as reference points on blogs, and they'll lose traffic.
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