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Does the average person here actually have a NYT subscription? Their paywalls are awful and I’m not sure why they end up here.

by rzz3 6y ago

ratsmack 6y ago
It seems that a large number of posts here are from the NYT. This always makes me wonder if they, and others, post on sites like this to drive up their page views.
- podiki 6y ago
  While I'm sure plenty of sites do, a huge venue like NYT has so many readers there is bound to be HN users among them that will post anything remotely relevant. Most times I see something on a major site that I think would be worthwhile for HN, it has been posted long before I saw it.
  - ratsmack 6y ago
    I know there are "services" that can post your site on various social media, but I don't know how prevalent they are or if it can be easily detected.
- pottertheotter 6y ago
  It's never stuck out to me as being overrepresented in posts here, but I've never thought about it either. Full disclosure: it's one of the main news sources I follow.
- VideoHomeSystem 6y ago
  (Opinions are my own) They don't. A site like HN isn't in the top 10,000 referrers and no one has ever heard of it; traffic from this exact post is barely a blip. There's no business value. Teams responsible for backlinks would post on established social media in a very transparent way (from official accounts, etc.) Besides everyone here has JS disabled, four ad blockers installed and uses a text-based browser. If I personally made the call they would never have employees (or paid contractors) post here of all places.
frosted-flakes 6y ago
It's trivial to bypass. I just hit the Stop button before the JavaScript finishes loading, but private tabs, reader mode, etc. should also work.
- ratsmack 6y ago
  Reader mode doesn't seem to work any more on NYT articles.
  - Jiocus 6y ago
    Seems to work fine on Firefox
  - kalleboo 6y ago
    It works for me in Safari. Sometimes the trick is to tell Safari to always use reader mode for this domain, and then it kicks in before the JavaScript messes with the content
- akalsz 6y ago
  uBlock Origin also has a "disable JavaScript" button - I simply press that and reload.
ThePadawan 6y ago
I'm not in the US, and this article isn't paywalled for me (I checked).
podiki 6y ago
You may also get access through a local library (or via university). But as others mentioned, the paywall is easily avoided through blockers (no special config for ones I've used), reader mode, (or even certain links, feeds?)
tzs 6y ago
You can usually get a lot of useful and interesting information from the comments on HN submissions even if you don't or can't read the article. Often, top level comments aren't even really about anything in the article. The article reminds the commentator of some tangent and they comment on that tangent. That top level comment and its comment subthread are in effect a separate article and its comments. It's often these tangents that make HN comment threads worth reading.
- sep_field 6y ago
  I actually rarely read the actual article and only read comments, lol.
tasty_freeze 6y ago
> Does the average person here actually have a NYT subscription? I'm not sure what kind of answer you expect, unless there happens to be someone on HN who has already surveyed the readership of HN to know their subscription habits. If you are actually polling, then I'll answer that yes, I do have a subscription. Also, I have never submitted a link.
cik 6y ago
NYT is the only news outlet I subscribe to - and I'm not American, not in the US, and have never lived there. Frankly, I love their business, finance, and international coverage. Also at $3 per month it's well worth it - and least for me.
- Filligree 6y ago
  After their ridiculous article on Scott Alexander, it's become hard to trust anything they write.
  - NateEag 6y ago
    Just get yourself a case of Gellman Amnesia. Problem solved. :P
blancNoir 6y ago
https://github.com/iamadamdev/bypass-paywalls-chrome https://github.com/iamadamdev/bypass-paywalls-chrome
ufmace 6y ago
archive.is is nice for seeing paywalled legacy media content

Does the average person here actually have a NYT subscription? Their paywalls are awful and I’m not sure why they end up here.

by rzz3 6y ago

Does the average person here actually have a NYT subscription? Their paywalls are awful and I’m not sure why they end up here.

ratsmack 6y ago

It seems that a large number of posts here are from the NYT. This always makes me wonder if they, and others, post on sites like this to drive up their page views.

podiki 6y ago
While I'm sure plenty of sites do, a huge venue like NYT has so many readers there is bound to be HN users among them that will post anything remotely relevant. Most times I see something on a major site that I think would be worthwhile for HN, it has been posted long before I saw it.
- ratsmack 6y ago
  I know there are "services" that can post your site on various social media, but I don't know how prevalent they are or if it can be easily detected.
pottertheotter 6y ago
It's never stuck out to me as being overrepresented in posts here, but I've never thought about it either. Full disclosure: it's one of the main news sources I follow.
VideoHomeSystem 6y ago
(Opinions are my own) They don't. A site like HN isn't in the top 10,000 referrers and no one has ever heard of it; traffic from this exact post is barely a blip. There's no business value. Teams responsible for backlinks would post on established social media in a very transparent way (from official accounts, etc.) Besides everyone here has JS disabled, four ad blockers installed and uses a text-based browser. If I personally made the call they would never have employees (or paid contractors) post here of all places.

frosted-flakes 6y ago

It's trivial to bypass. I just hit the Stop button before the JavaScript finishes loading, but private tabs, reader mode, etc. should also work.

ratsmack 6y ago
Reader mode doesn't seem to work any more on NYT articles.
- Jiocus 6y ago
  Seems to work fine on Firefox
- kalleboo 6y ago
  It works for me in Safari. Sometimes the trick is to tell Safari to always use reader mode for this domain, and then it kicks in before the JavaScript messes with the content
akalsz 6y ago
uBlock Origin also has a "disable JavaScript" button - I simply press that and reload.

ThePadawan 6y ago

I'm not in the US, and this article isn't paywalled for me (I checked).

podiki 6y ago

You may also get access through a local library (or via university). But as others mentioned, the paywall is easily avoided through blockers (no special config for ones I've used), reader mode, (or even certain links, feeds?)

tzs 6y ago

You can usually get a lot of useful and interesting information from the comments on HN submissions even if you don't or can't read the article. Often, top level comments aren't even really about anything in the article. The article reminds the commentator of some tangent and they comment on that tangent. That top level comment and its comment subthread are in effect a separate article and its comments. It's often these tangents that make HN comment threads worth reading.

sep_field 6y ago
I actually rarely read the actual article and only read comments, lol.

tasty_freeze 6y ago

> Does the average person here actually have a NYT subscription? I'm not sure what kind of answer you expect, unless there happens to be someone on HN who has already surveyed the readership of HN to know their subscription habits. If you are actually polling, then I'll answer that yes, I do have a subscription. Also, I have never submitted a link.

cik 6y ago

NYT is the only news outlet I subscribe to - and I'm not American, not in the US, and have never lived there. Frankly, I love their business, finance, and international coverage. Also at $3 per month it's well worth it - and least for me.

Filligree 6y ago
After their ridiculous article on Scott Alexander, it's become hard to trust anything they write.
- NateEag 6y ago
  Just get yourself a case of Gellman Amnesia. Problem solved. :P

blancNoir 6y ago

https://github.com/iamadamdev/bypass-paywalls-chrome https://github.com/iamadamdev/bypass-paywalls-chrome

ufmace 6y ago

archive.is is nice for seeing paywalled legacy media content