03-23-2011, 06:10 PM | #31 | |
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In fact, the initial way the NY Times tried to implement a paywall was a sign of trust. Everything but the crossword and editorials were free. The paper trusted that people who liked the newspaper enough would pay for a subscription for the editorials and crossword. Apparently, readers didn't value them enough to do that. So this paywall was an attempt at a "Screw you" that failed. Just to be clear: I'm not against people charging for content. I'd like people to pay for the things I write, too. But a) the NY Times was free for a long time, so people feel a bit cheated (whether that's justified or not) and b) if you're going to do it, at least do it well. It's really not hard to create a paywall. |
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03-23-2011, 06:15 PM | #32 | ||
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And they want to be paid per reader. Or per reader who reads over a certain amount. They strike me as wanting to put up a toll lane for people turning left on a busy intersection, and then being surprised when people go a few blocks farther and double back instead of paying it. |
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03-23-2011, 06:28 PM | #33 | |
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03-23-2011, 06:39 PM | #34 | |
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But what if you were in the other lanes to begin with? If you were someone who had javascript turned off by default, for security purposes, you'd never knew there was a paywall. Are they dishonest? Many people access news sites while at work, and I know of many companies that have javascript disabled, to cut down on security risks. It isn't an uncommon thing, and their dev team should have taken it into account. |
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03-23-2011, 06:44 PM | #35 | |
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03-23-2011, 06:50 PM | #36 | |
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As I noted before, it is obvious to *me*..in *my* opinion, that the NY Times coders in fact did understand the limitations and workarounds, and proceeded with what they thought was the best balance they could find, given the realities of the web. And some people will drive around the barriers, intentionally or not. And some will actually pay the toll, not knowing how to go around the barriers. And some people will pay, because they understand the whole subscription idea, and find value in it. Even if they don't see the barriers at all. (FWIW, I think the cost barrier is too high, at least for an iPad user who doesn't currently subscribe to the paper edition. But I'm not turning off Javascript. ) |
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03-23-2011, 07:17 PM | #37 | |
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And yeah... the problem isn't "we can't afford to provide this info for free;" it's "we want them to buy it from us instead of getting similar info for free somewhere else." They have to somehow keep showing that their info is better, or people will forget about them, while simultaneously preventing people from getting it for free. I did see a nice article that said the point of the paywall wouldn't be to keep out everyone, but to keep out the casual, non-geeky majority; a certain amount of leakage was probably wanted. Just probably not the amount of leakage that goes with "turn off javascript to see everything for free." |
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03-23-2011, 07:24 PM | #38 |
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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.
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03-23-2011, 07:28 PM | #39 |
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Most places have you log in, then they have a cookie to keep track of you after you're logged in, kind of like a name tag.
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03-23-2011, 07:32 PM | #40 |
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03-23-2011, 08:02 PM | #41 |
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I've said it before, but the NY Times is not so interested in keeping people out as they are in collecting first from those who are interested in paying.
The wall will become tighter and less porous as time goes on if they need it to. |
03-23-2011, 08:32 PM | #42 |
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03-23-2011, 08:58 PM | #43 |
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I'm certainly willing to try it out ... I love the New York Times and might consider subscribing given access to the paper via Kindle / Kobo / archives ... on a phone is nice ... but that's such small potatoes
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03-23-2011, 09:53 PM | #44 | |
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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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03-23-2011, 09:55 PM | #45 | |
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