6 ms·

Why do people link to basic stories like this behind a paywall? If WSJ has an original piece out, fine, but this could've come from any one of a thousand source

• downandout 10y ago
  WSJ subscribers probably don't even think about the paywall when they share it here, since they are already logged in. But that is what the "web" link is for. If you see a known paywall site, always just click on the web link.
  • phodo 10y ago
    You can always google the title and get around the paywall.
    • draw_down 10y ago
      No, that doesn't work anymore. edit: the /amp trick mentioned below works beautifully, however.
      • deleted 10y ago
        [deleted]
      • eclipxe 10y ago
        Googling for the title works for me.
        • draw_down 10y ago
          I just saw that too. Now I don't know what to believe.
          • wmorein 10y ago
            It stopped working for a while but the re-implemented it recently.
        • dredmorbius 10y ago
          Not here.
• chmaynard 10y ago
  WSJ subscribers may not be aware of this, but if you share an article via email, WSJ generates a shortened link to the same article that works for non-subscribers. Try this: http://on.wsj.com/1SNz3dT http://on.wsj.com/1SNz3dT
  • justinhj 10y ago
    That didn't work for me, I see the paywall.
    • lostsock 10y ago
      As do I
    • devriesp 10y ago
      It's probably limited to some number of click throughs...
  • draw_down 10y ago
    Nope.
• badloginagain 10y ago
  The latest trick for wsj articles is to append /amp before /article More readable, less ads, and no-paywall.
  • arca_vorago 10y ago
    This was the only of the above "tricks" that worked for me without having to allow too much crazy javascript junk. Side note: I hate any website that try to load more than 5 js scripts.
  • fabrice_d 10y ago
    And it's even available in the page as a link: <link rel="amphtml" href="http://www.wsj.com/amp/articles/amazon-reports-surge-in-profit-1461874333"> http://www.wsj.com/amp/articles/amazon-reports-surge-in-prof... That's a call for a browser extension!
    • _lce0 10y ago
      No need for a browser extension, just throw this into your ~/.js var ampLink = document.querySelector('link[rel="amphtml"]'); if (ampLink) { var href = ampLink.getAttribute('href'); if (href) { location.replace(href, false); } } EDIT: woa! this works really wall ;)
      • MicroBerto 10y ago
        Interesting - What browser / OS is that file meant for?
        • _lce0 10y ago
          Firefox: https://github.com/rlr/dotjs-addon https://github.com/rlr/dotjs-addon Chrome: https://github.com/defunkt/dotjs https://github.com/defunkt/dotjs
• nxzero 10y ago
  This is something HN should just do anyway; that is high rep users flag a source as paywalled, and going forward the submitting user gets an alert with suggested alt links. No idea why HN isn't open source with an open source API to insert data too.
  • logn 10y ago
    A variation of it is open source. The anti-spam features are guarded secrets. They take a pretty conservative approach to adding features.
    • nxzero 10y ago
      By variation, do you mean a clone. If so, that's not what I mean, I mean that the site is open source, community is able to make pull requests, and it's a community driven resource, that driven by content, code and community, not an singular interface.
      • logn 10y ago
        By variation I mean HN is based on http://arclanguage.org/install http://arclanguage.org/install ... I don't know how much the code bases have diverged. They do have an API: http://blog.ycombinator.com/hacker-news-api http://blog.ycombinator.com/hacker-news-api
        • nxzero 10y ago
          Yes, ARC is a great example of how a PG project should be open sourced and run by the community. __ API is read-only; API should be "full service" and the first interface to HN, not a supplement. ___ Yeah, whole ARC (aka PG) thing is an issue too; FYI, those install direction are dated, here's the info: http://arclanguage.org/user?id=akkartik http://arclanguage.org/user?id=akkartik PG doesn't even appear to be actively involved in ARC anymore: http://arclanguage.org/user?id=pg http://arclanguage.org/user?id=pg Find it hard to believe if YC funded a startup like HN that they wouldn't require an explanation of why ARC made sense as the language of choice.
• paulddraper 10y ago
  So....block ad blockers and HN screams. "I will pay for content", they say. "I just don't like your 25MB flash ads." Link to crap, and HN screams. "Is journalism dead? This stuff is just click bait. I appreciate good writing and quality content." Put up a paywall and HN screams. "Why u make me pay?!?!?!?"
  • ChristianBundy 10y ago
    Solution: don't do shitty things (e.g. block ad-blockers, write awful content, or use paywalls). Easy.
    • dredmorbius 10y ago
      To be fair, this doesn't address publishing's revenue problem, though it does the public good element. See my earlier comment.
      • tracker1 10y ago
        Serve first-party ads that integrate well with your content, and establish direct relationships with your advertisers... same as print has done for over a century.
        • manigandham 10y ago
          This does not scale and has been proven over and over again. Print never made much money and they had both subscriptions and advertising together to help.
          • tracker1 10y ago
            That's pretty much bullocks... Print media costs massively more for publishing costs vs. online publishing. Same wrt television, both of which handle upwards of millions of customers every day just fine.
• dredmorbius 10y ago
  I've submitted that as an alternate. Vote that up and flag this if that's the way you feel: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11592904 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11592904 (I'm well aware that HN doesn't condone flagging paywalled content. I disagree strongly with that stance, particularly as the paywall repeatedly becomes the primary topic of discussion.) I'm also more than happy for you to be credited with the submission, though it didn't happen to be submitted already at the time I posted it (I strongly suspected it would have been).
  • smegel 10y ago
    > if that's the way you feel Everyone who feels good about paywall articles, raise your hand. crickets
• awqrre 10y ago
  maybe HN could auto-correct...
• deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]