6 ms·

I agree in theory. However, I haven't noticed the slowness in their website and the ads are well done and blend in with the webpage. They may have to redesign/r

I agree in theory. However, I haven't noticed the slowness in their website and the ads are well done and blend in with the webpage. They may have to redesign/rearchitect their whole website to get what you are asking for. It should be noted that traditional newspapers include ads alongside news content and no one complains. In fact people used to sift through the Sunday NYT simply for the ads.

komali2 8y ago
Tbh they could email me articles plaintext and I'd happily hand over my money.
- cheezymoogle 8y ago
  Imagine that, a digital newspaper in your digital mailbox!
  - TeMPOraL 8y ago
    You mean sending you news in a digital letter?
    - cheezymoogle 8y ago
      How intriguing! I would like to subscribe to your... how do you say... letter of news.
      - itronitron 8y ago
        but a letter of news may be too small, maybe we can remove that size constraint and call it 'a paper of news' that would be delivered
        flukus 8y ago
        Maybe they could send multiple letters and I could have some kind of client that shows me the headlines and allows me to open the articles I'm interested in.
        ealhad 8y ago
        That would be amazing. How come Google hasn't invented something like that yet?
- Papirola 8y ago
  we used to have usenet...
  - derekp7 8y ago
    And when I first got online in the early 90's, my ISP had an additional subscription option to get real newspaper-type articles delivered in a special usenet newsgroup hierarchy (can't remember the name of the news service itself though).
  - Endy 8y ago
    What do you mean "used to"? Usenet still exists.
    - TuringTest 8y ago
      And how good is it?
      - Endy 8y ago
        Like any community, that's defined by the people in it. Some groups are excellent, some groups are mostly dead, some display varying levels of toxicity. Overall my experience hasn't been a bad one.
        TuringTest 8y ago
        What kinds of groups are there? Given the lack of popularity and commercial support, combined with the complexity to connect a client with an available server (compared with downloading an app from the store), I'd expect that they are populated mostly by old tech people or passers-by from universities; and any special interest group would have small user base coming from that demographic profile. Are my assumptions correct?
- viaken 8y ago
  It would be trivial to write a script to scrape text.npr.org and send it to you. Or you can just visit it, I suppose.
  - MaxBarraclough 8y ago
    Firefox and Safari each have a 'Reader Mode' which does exactly what you want: presenting a web-page in the absence of any web design. It's really the ultimate condemnation of modern web design that this feature is so useful. Edit: won't help the data-consumption though, as I believe it can only be enabled after the page has loaded
    - setzer22 8y ago
      In reply to your edit. You can use something like umatrix to block almost everything (even css) and reader mode will still work, I do this for most newspapers and works quite well.
- DrScump 8y ago
  Over 20 years ago, the San Jose Mercury-News offered exactly such a service. Called Newshound, it let you set up to face sets of keywords (in the basic $5/month subscription), and it would email you the plain text of every article that matched the criteria, whether generated within the publisher network or from wire services.
- MaxBarraclough 8y ago
  Reader Mode, my friend.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
LeoNatan25 8y ago
There is no such thing as "the ads are well done and blend in with the webpage". Especially on a website where you pay for a subscription.
- Aeolun 8y ago
  That's no different from paying for a real newspaper subscription though. But I guess you could say that you are paying for delivery instead.
- TeMPOraL 8y ago
  Moreover, there is a tipping point, beyond which the ad blends too well and becomes plain deception. This is even more of a problem for journalistic publications. See also: native advertising.
  - LeoNatan25 8y ago
    Indeed. In print, you had dedicated pages to advertisement. Not optimal, but much easier to ignore. Nowadays, you never know if an “article” is simply a marketing agenda.
    - thegayngler 8y ago
      Yes because the signs people put around the "native ads" literally stating that it's an "ad" or "sponsored content" are easily ignorable. Get real. People pay for a newspaper with ads in it. You still have to sift through it. Ignore it? You literally have to turn the page or spend 5 minutes pulling the ads out of the newspaper if you don't want them and in some cases there isn't a way to escape the ad with print because part of the article is there with the ad. Ad block won't save you then.
rootlocus 8y ago
> the ads are well done and blend in with the webpage That's called "native advertisement" and it's supposed to trick you into thinking you're reading a genuine article instead of an ad. I actively avoid sites that do this. > In fact people used to sift through the Sunday NYT simply for the ads. Back when people couldn't google for stuff, and the ads were useful because they mostly came from local businesses you actually needed once in a while.

komali2 8y ago

Tbh they could email me articles plaintext and I'd happily hand over my money.

cheezymoogle 8y ago
Imagine that, a digital newspaper in your digital mailbox!
- TeMPOraL 8y ago
  You mean sending you news in a digital letter?
  - cheezymoogle 8y ago
    How intriguing! I would like to subscribe to your... how do you say... letter of news.
    - itronitron 8y ago
      but a letter of news may be too small, maybe we can remove that size constraint and call it 'a paper of news' that would be delivered
      - flukus 8y ago
        Maybe they could send multiple letters and I could have some kind of client that shows me the headlines and allows me to open the articles I'm interested in.
        ealhad 8y ago
        That would be amazing. How come Google hasn't invented something like that yet?
Papirola 8y ago
we used to have usenet...
- derekp7 8y ago
  And when I first got online in the early 90's, my ISP had an additional subscription option to get real newspaper-type articles delivered in a special usenet newsgroup hierarchy (can't remember the name of the news service itself though).
- Endy 8y ago
  What do you mean "used to"? Usenet still exists.
  - TuringTest 8y ago
    And how good is it?
    - Endy 8y ago
      Like any community, that's defined by the people in it. Some groups are excellent, some groups are mostly dead, some display varying levels of toxicity. Overall my experience hasn't been a bad one.
      - TuringTest 8y ago
        What kinds of groups are there? Given the lack of popularity and commercial support, combined with the complexity to connect a client with an available server (compared with downloading an app from the store), I'd expect that they are populated mostly by old tech people or passers-by from universities; and any special interest group would have small user base coming from that demographic profile. Are my assumptions correct?
viaken 8y ago
It would be trivial to write a script to scrape text.npr.org and send it to you. Or you can just visit it, I suppose.
- MaxBarraclough 8y ago
  Firefox and Safari each have a 'Reader Mode' which does exactly what you want: presenting a web-page in the absence of any web design. It's really the ultimate condemnation of modern web design that this feature is so useful. Edit: won't help the data-consumption though, as I believe it can only be enabled after the page has loaded
  - setzer22 8y ago
    In reply to your edit. You can use something like umatrix to block almost everything (even css) and reader mode will still work, I do this for most newspapers and works quite well.
DrScump 8y ago
Over 20 years ago, the San Jose Mercury-News offered exactly such a service. Called Newshound, it let you set up to face sets of keywords (in the basic $5/month subscription), and it would email you the plain text of every article that matched the criteria, whether generated within the publisher network or from wire services.
MaxBarraclough 8y ago
Reader Mode, my friend.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]

LeoNatan25 8y ago

There is no such thing as "the ads are well done and blend in with the webpage". Especially on a website where you pay for a subscription.

Aeolun 8y ago
That's no different from paying for a real newspaper subscription though. But I guess you could say that you are paying for delivery instead.
TeMPOraL 8y ago
Moreover, there is a tipping point, beyond which the ad blends too well and becomes plain deception. This is even more of a problem for journalistic publications. See also: native advertising.
- LeoNatan25 8y ago
  Indeed. In print, you had dedicated pages to advertisement. Not optimal, but much easier to ignore. Nowadays, you never know if an “article” is simply a marketing agenda.
  - thegayngler 8y ago
    Yes because the signs people put around the "native ads" literally stating that it's an "ad" or "sponsored content" are easily ignorable. Get real. People pay for a newspaper with ads in it. You still have to sift through it. Ignore it? You literally have to turn the page or spend 5 minutes pulling the ads out of the newspaper if you don't want them and in some cases there isn't a way to escape the ad with print because part of the article is there with the ad. Ad block won't save you then.

rootlocus 8y ago

> the ads are well done and blend in with the webpage That's called "native advertisement" and it's supposed to trick you into thinking you're reading a genuine article instead of an ad. I actively avoid sites that do this. > In fact people used to sift through the Sunday NYT simply for the ads. Back when people couldn't google for stuff, and the ads were useful because they mostly came from local businesses you actually needed once in a while.