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I wish HN would just ban links to paywalled sites altogether. I am so frustrated I no longer read NYT, WashPost, the frigg'n LA Times, even my local newspaper.

I wish HN would just ban links to paywalled sites altogether. I am so frustrated I no longer read NYT, WashPost, the frigg'n LA Times, even my local newspaper. The content web is seriously broken. Even Medium is paywalled now. I hope Wired stays open. Otherwise we will be down to BBC, NPR, and TV News sites, which are so plastered with ads you have to grit your teeth before clicking on a link.

rco8786 7y ago
Serious question - how do you expect news sites to deliver their content without you either paying them directly or them showing you ads?
- code_biologist 7y ago
  I think it's reasonable to ask with respect to HN policy. It's hard to have a meaningful discussion when only a small percentage of the people on HN can read the full article. What percentage of HN visitors do you think can read the full text of this article? 1% seems like a high estimate.
  - sealthedeal 7y ago
    I beg to differ. HN’ers can always find something so abstracted from the article to debate about. This thread now, “Should news sites have paywalls?” “Should we ban pay walled news sources from HN?”. HN’ers are always down for a good debate!
- randomchars 7y ago
  No the parent, but... I think there's nothing wrong with paywalls. But this is not an ordinary one: I can't even pay, because their overpriced subscription is not available in my country.
- Xelbair 7y ago
  I wouldn't mind paying if that meant i was free from all forms of tracking, selling my data, and ads. Which isn't the case as folks paying for such services are the most valuable to advertisers.
kareemm 7y ago
I’m not sure why this is downvoted. It’s not straight up complaining about pay walled articles. Proposing a solution (ban then from HN) is worth considering. If most HNers can’t read enough of an article to discuss it with some degree of depth, what is the point of allowing them here?
- agustif 7y ago
  You can always try the extensions available to open those paywalls. I've considered a service which I sent a link to, and retrieves the text and saves it for later reading or something of sorts
edf13 7y ago
It should at least be flagged in the title as paywalled, to save me the time clicking/half reading before giving up at the wall

rco8786 7y ago

Serious question - how do you expect news sites to deliver their content without you either paying them directly or them showing you ads?

code_biologist 7y ago
I think it's reasonable to ask with respect to HN policy. It's hard to have a meaningful discussion when only a small percentage of the people on HN can read the full article. What percentage of HN visitors do you think can read the full text of this article? 1% seems like a high estimate.
- sealthedeal 7y ago
  I beg to differ. HN’ers can always find something so abstracted from the article to debate about. This thread now, “Should news sites have paywalls?” “Should we ban pay walled news sources from HN?”. HN’ers are always down for a good debate!
randomchars 7y ago
No the parent, but... I think there's nothing wrong with paywalls. But this is not an ordinary one: I can't even pay, because their overpriced subscription is not available in my country.
Xelbair 7y ago
I wouldn't mind paying if that meant i was free from all forms of tracking, selling my data, and ads. Which isn't the case as folks paying for such services are the most valuable to advertisers.

kareemm 7y ago

I’m not sure why this is downvoted. It’s not straight up complaining about pay walled articles. Proposing a solution (ban then from HN) is worth considering. If most HNers can’t read enough of an article to discuss it with some degree of depth, what is the point of allowing them here?

agustif 7y ago
You can always try the extensions available to open those paywalls. I've considered a service which I sent a link to, and retrieves the text and saves it for later reading or something of sorts

edf13 7y ago

It should at least be flagged in the title as paywalled, to save me the time clicking/half reading before giving up at the wall