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> One criticism of New York Times that I've read online is that they won't allow you to cancel your digital subscription through their website. They force you t

> One criticism of New York Times that I've read online is that they won't allow you to cancel your digital subscription through their website. They force you to call them. I'm not sure if that has changed recently, but that's a pretty questionable dark pattern. This is illegal in Europe. By law, it has to be at least as easy to cancel subscriptions, as it is to buy them. I love Europe. :)

dazc 8y ago
I don't know of the legality but it is a common practice in Europe too.
- undreren 8y ago
  Really? Where?
  - dazc 8y ago
    From my personal experience, just about everywhere. Just yesterday I wanted to cancel my AA membership (the motoring organisation, that is) and there was no other option but to phone. Pertinent to this thread I had a subscription with The Times and the only cancellation option was by phone. Anecdotally, it's very common with phone and utility providers too.
zoidb 8y ago
I recently tried to cancel my mcfit gym membership in Germany which was much more difficult than signing up. In this case you actually had to mail them a letter by post to cancel, where signing up was done on-site in 10minutes. Maybe you are referring to online subscriptions?
anarazel 8y ago
>> One criticism of New York Times that I've read online is that they won't allow you to cancel your digital subscription through their website. They force you to call them. I'm not sure if that has changed recently, but that's a pretty questionable dark pattern. FWIW, I have a "cancel subscription" link in my profile.
- dmix 8y ago
  Same, I canceled easily via the web app recently when they decided to doubled down on being another partisan rag like WaPo, feeding off the outrage culture which does well on social media these days. I see it's paid off commercially, no doubt, as it's seemed to have attracted a new wider user base as the lower quality comment sections now reflects on every political article. Including the NYT selected preferred comments which I used to find held a basic level of neutrality and civililty. Business is business though, and it's always hard to balance scale with quality.
  - cm2187 8y ago
    Even the Financial Time is starting to drift in that direction...
    - madza 8y ago
      I’m not alone then. I moved my subscription from the NYT to FT looking for a less politically slanted product but the tone at the FT is definitely going in the same direction. Any suggestions? P.s I have to phone the FT to cancel my subscription apparently.
      - cm2187 8y ago
        Well it is only starting to move in that direction, they are clearly running campaigns on certain topics (like feminism), and I skip any article on Trump, Brexit or Boris Johnson. But outside of that it’s still OK. I’d say the most neutral news will come from news agencies (reuters, afp, etc). There you get the raw material (what happened) without the comments. For business news bloomberg is the (expensive) equivalent. But occasionally there is important original content in the FT so I am not contemplating cancelling my subscription for the time being.
      - nebolo 8y ago
        Yes, perhaps partially, but would you not agree that the amount of outrage-worthy news has also increased? Perhaps the issue is not the lens, but the reality...
Niten 8y ago
It's also illegal in California, too, so I expect NYTimes will ultimately have to change their behavior: http://www.niemanlab.org/2018/07/thanks-to-california-a-news-site-or-other-business-now-has-to-let-you-cancel-your-subscription-online/ http://www.niemanlab.org/2018/07/thanks-to-california-a-news...
dspillett 8y ago
I don't know about the legality, but it is certainly common place over here even with periodicals that seem reputable (I recently cancelled New Scientist: sign-up was done easily any time online, cancellation has to be done by phone call inside office hours).

dazc 8y ago

I don't know of the legality but it is a common practice in Europe too.

undreren 8y ago
Really? Where?
- dazc 8y ago
  From my personal experience, just about everywhere. Just yesterday I wanted to cancel my AA membership (the motoring organisation, that is) and there was no other option but to phone. Pertinent to this thread I had a subscription with The Times and the only cancellation option was by phone. Anecdotally, it's very common with phone and utility providers too.

zoidb 8y ago

I recently tried to cancel my mcfit gym membership in Germany which was much more difficult than signing up. In this case you actually had to mail them a letter by post to cancel, where signing up was done on-site in 10minutes. Maybe you are referring to online subscriptions?

anarazel 8y ago

>> One criticism of New York Times that I've read online is that they won't allow you to cancel your digital subscription through their website. They force you to call them. I'm not sure if that has changed recently, but that's a pretty questionable dark pattern. FWIW, I have a "cancel subscription" link in my profile.

dmix 8y ago
Same, I canceled easily via the web app recently when they decided to doubled down on being another partisan rag like WaPo, feeding off the outrage culture which does well on social media these days. I see it's paid off commercially, no doubt, as it's seemed to have attracted a new wider user base as the lower quality comment sections now reflects on every political article. Including the NYT selected preferred comments which I used to find held a basic level of neutrality and civililty. Business is business though, and it's always hard to balance scale with quality.
- cm2187 8y ago
  Even the Financial Time is starting to drift in that direction...
  - madza 8y ago
    I’m not alone then. I moved my subscription from the NYT to FT looking for a less politically slanted product but the tone at the FT is definitely going in the same direction. Any suggestions? P.s I have to phone the FT to cancel my subscription apparently.
    - cm2187 8y ago
      Well it is only starting to move in that direction, they are clearly running campaigns on certain topics (like feminism), and I skip any article on Trump, Brexit or Boris Johnson. But outside of that it’s still OK. I’d say the most neutral news will come from news agencies (reuters, afp, etc). There you get the raw material (what happened) without the comments. For business news bloomberg is the (expensive) equivalent. But occasionally there is important original content in the FT so I am not contemplating cancelling my subscription for the time being.
    - nebolo 8y ago
      Yes, perhaps partially, but would you not agree that the amount of outrage-worthy news has also increased? Perhaps the issue is not the lens, but the reality...

Niten 8y ago

It's also illegal in California, too, so I expect NYTimes will ultimately have to change their behavior: http://www.niemanlab.org/2018/07/thanks-to-california-a-news-site-or-other-business-now-has-to-let-you-cancel-your-subscription-online/ http://www.niemanlab.org/2018/07/thanks-to-california-a-news...

dspillett 8y ago

I don't know about the legality, but it is certainly common place over here even with periodicals that seem reputable (I recently cancelled New Scientist: sign-up was done easily any time online, cancellation has to be done by phone call inside office hours).