peterg22 wrote:
] noteworthy wrote:
] ] When it comes to online news, consumers are happy to read
]
] ] it but loath to pay for it.
] ]
] ] At NYT, the number of people who read the paper online now
] ] surpasses the number who buy the print edition. This
] ] migration of readers is beginning to transform the newspaper
]
] ] industry.
] ]
]
] When I'm presented via the NYT (or other newspaper) login page
] from a link I just don't bother: I don't want to register
] because I feel that more than enough people know my details
] already :-) However I did read an article in an online
] UK newspaper last week and happily paid the $2 needed to read
] deeper into the article. The payment was through a trusted
] intermediary that I'd used before, so I didn't have a problem
] with that.
]
] Maybe the NYT and similar publications need to have a rethink
] about what they ask for up front !

This is precisely why online content providers will be FORCED to charge for content, as opposed to offering it for near free (ie. time cost of you filling out a ridiculously terse survey). The point of filling out the survey is to better target you for ads. Sure. We all hate them. But they can be useful if they are targetted to you and your specific profile, and oh yeah, it helps to defray the costs of providing the content in the first place, keeping the internet a place that is not simply about commerce transactions. Give a few minutes of your time and get back a universe of free information. What a concept.

Considering that the surveys for online content are usually LESS than what you provide when you sign up for a subscription to a print magazine or God Forbid, order something from Pottery Barn, then I'd say that it does everyone a little good to go ahead and fill out the survey. Particularly for the NYT, you are helping to support one of the premier content sites in the world and helping the entire content industry prove that their online properties are just as capable of a vehicle for their advertisers as print. Remember that print takes credit for papers used as fish wrap the same as papers poured over by an idiot savant.

Or you could do what most people have opted to do. Ignore the surveys. Or lie on them. Or hack them with fake accounts. Dragging down the entire effort of trying to provide valuable content online for free to the consumer and forcing everyone to start charging $2+ a pop for every damn article you read. Hell, you could just click on one banner ad and probably pay for 10 articles.

Sorry for the rant, but I just fear we're becoming a culture of short sighted gluttons.

RE: Can Papers End the Free Ride Online?