17 ms·

Show me a 10ft paywall, I’ll show you a 12ft ladder

285 points by tommoor 5y ago

coolso 5y ago
As much as I hated AMP this is one thing I loved about it. Click an article, get paywalled… Google the article headline and it’d take you to a paywall-free AMP version of the full article.
- _zzaw 5y ago
  AMP’s one redeeming feature—a shit-free browsing experience—is, as expected, being eroded bit by bit. I’m seeing things like autoplaying videos and popovers in AMP pages now. My go-to is readability mode, Instapaper, and turning JS off.
fnord77 5y ago
dunno if the authors read this post, but it fails on https://www.autonews.com/sales/us-dec-sales-seen-falling-retail-stocks-continue-slow-rebound https://www.autonews.com/sales/us-dec-sales-seen-falling-ret...
techknight 5y ago
I tried it and got "12ft has been disabled for this site". I guess the paywall was taller than the ladder! :D
- josephcsible 5y ago
  For which site?
  - ajs256 5y ago
    I got it on nytimes.com
    - ian-bateman 5y ago
      Looks like some others beat me to it, and I just commented elsewhere on this thread - but I'd recommend checking out [redacted] - works on nytimes!
    - culi 5y ago
      Weird. There's browser addons that manage to overcome those for me. Pretty sure the outline.com trick works with nyt as well
- bardworx 5y ago
  Everyone’s gotta eat. Even ladder makers.
fib01123 5y ago
I know where you are coming from, but ultimately its another blow against quality journalism. It started with ad revenue moving from media to tech, and now the hacking community makes it harder for them to sell their products on the Internet. The deck is stacked against media - think about how much they need to to exactly right in order to survive the Internet era
- headsoup 5y ago
  Or, they could focus on actually doing quality journalism, picking their niche areas of expertise and producing interesting material, rather than trying to win at "most clicks first." Then, importantly, set expectations for reach and profits appropriately and use relevant advertising to their services/topics which also has value, not stupid algorithm/'targeted' advertising. It's not easy, but working to actually build trust and value is far better than joining the race to the bottom.
- int_19h 5y ago
  The mass media as it exists today was made possible by a combination of certain technological and societal advancement. If further evolution on either or both counts makes the business model underlying it non-viable - that's too bad, but there's no right to industry survival.
Beaver117 5y ago
Doesn't work on WSJ
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
mrVentures 5y ago
"You ought to be able to search something on Google and get an answer to your question without signing up for some newsletter." Call me a cynic but they probably just want you to pay for their journalism. Looks like a cool product, and it's also probably piracy.
- donkarma 5y ago
  Then it shouldn't appear in search results. I think that's fair
  - profmonocle 5y ago
    Isn't it actually against Google's policy to show different content to the crawler than to actual users? I might be misremembering, but I thought at one point this practice could get you delisted.
    - flemhans 5y ago
      They say Google is conducting internal deals with Pinterest that foster such behaviour. I suspect Medium.com and Quora to be in the same boat.
    - sokoloff 5y ago
      Google updated that policy (that used to require “first click [from Google SERP] to be free”) in 2017: https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2017/10/enabling-more-high-quality-content https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2017/10/enabling-m...
  - celdon25 5y ago
    People should be making new search engines then, not easier ways to access other parts of the same broken system.
    - brian-armstrong 5y ago
      Thankfully the options are not mutually exclusive!
efitz 5y ago
Thank you for building this. It still needs some work; a lot of links are broken on the displayed page. I'd also point out an alternative: https://github.com/iamadamdev/bypass-paywalls-chrome https://github.com/iamadamdev/bypass-paywalls-chrome
- ctlaltdefeat 5y ago
  > I'd also point out an alternative: https://github.com/iamadamdev/bypass-paywalls-chrome https://github.com/iamadamdev/bypass-paywalls-chrome And adding a fork that's been updated more consistently for some sites I use: https://gitlab.com/magnolia1234/bypass-paywalls-chrome-clean https://gitlab.com/magnolia1234/bypass-paywalls-chrome-clean
  - mkdirp 5y ago
    I've seen this multiple times in the past couple or so years. I still don't understand why it was forked, and what makes it the "clean" version.
    - gruez 5y ago
      >I still don't understand why it was forked, and what makes it the "clean" version. after some digging on the repo: https://gitlab.com/magnolia1234/bypass-paywalls-chrome-clean/-/issues/1 https://gitlab.com/magnolia1234/bypass-paywalls-chrome-clean...
tyingq 5y ago
Awesome, though I wouldn't have chosen to host it in Walnut, California. Pretty sure this will be a target for lawyers soon.
- apengwin 5y ago
  Go mustangs!
- kylehotchkiss 5y ago
  That’s just a virtualpostmail.com virtual address
  - arcticbull 5y ago
    I also have an address at 340 S Lemon Ave haha. I guess we're neighbors. Speaking of, I highly recommend virtualpostmail. I've used them as my personal mailing address for years now. I did a USPS change of address once, and now any time I move, I no longer have to update my address with anyone. Also, I get PDFs of my letters in my inbox, and can reship them to wherever I happen to be that week, even if I'm away from home.
    - kylehotchkiss 5y ago
      So happy to see other users. I was an expat for 3 years (including during Covid) and they sent me all my care packages at super reasonable rates. I’m keeping them now that I’m back at home so I don’t have to give my home address to everybody. Highly recommended for all! Extra protip - I’d you’re traveling, they can ship to any FedEx office store and “hold for pickup” and most full-service hotels will receive packages for you, even a day or two in advance.
  - ezequiel-garzon 5y ago
    How did you figure this out? I was expecting to see something under the whois records. Thanks.
    - 5y ago
efitz 5y ago
One more point: I predict in 2022 that sites stop allowing Google to index their content via bot. Paywall sites are going to ride that business model all the way down in flames.
- tyingq 5y ago
  You might see the other direction happen too. Surely Google understands the disappointment for their end users clicking a search result and landing on a teaser paywall article that has less content than the search snippet.
  - hakfoo 5y ago
    ISTR that was seen as huge leverage for a long time. If people were hitting a hard paywall, Google tended to penalize the result. A lot of sites ended up with a looseness in the paywall basically to ensure people landing from a search result got "first page free" style visibility. I feel like the key is to realize the difference between "news" and "editorial" content. A lot of "news" is begging for a race to the bottom-- I can get the latest Covid numbers, sportsball score, or the fact a water main burst on 12th street from 5 local TV channels or two or three newspaper-format sites. You can't really compete by providing a premium product for those things. On the other hand, the editorial content-- the op/eds, the bespoke columns-- that's where you can justify a paywall.
- BoiledCabbage 5y ago
  > Paywall sites are going to ride that business model all the way down in flames. What's the alternate business model they're supposed to use?
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - tshaddox 5y ago
    Why is it always the responsibility of everyone except the people running the business to come up with a business model for them?
marstall 5y ago
Sorry, hacking a paywall is just helping to kill the parts Adwords didn't kill.
- indianboy42 5y ago
  Exactly this, the "why?" section sounded weird to me. Paywalls (specifically subscriptions and paying for a service directly) are a way to not need AdWords, if those don't work then what can websites do to make back their hosting, dev, writing and all other costs than using Ads
- necovek 5y ago
  Nope, making a paywall not show content to Google bots is a (slow) way to get us out of our misery. Basically, as long as search traffic is more important to publishers, Google will have an upper hand. If paywalls are in our future, getting there through Google should not be. By working around paywalls, you are asking publishers to not mess the search results or not to give Google preferential treatment (depending on your angle).
u2077 5y ago
“Discussed” previously: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28784427 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28784427 It no longer works on some sites like nyt - The site was offline for a day because of a legal notice.
- civilized 5y ago
  (If anyone wants to know what works on NYT, try turning off JavaScript only on nytimes.com)
  - arcticbull 5y ago
    For folks with an Amex Platinum, consider using the new $240 digital entertainment credit for a free NYT subscription. [1] I got tired of trying to dodge it, and none of the other options were compelling. Plus I'm led to believe democracy dies in darkness. Or is that WaPo? [1] https://global.americanexpress.com/card-benefits/detail/digital-entertainment/platinum https://global.americanexpress.com/card-benefits/detail/digi...
    - rkk3 5y ago
      > For folks with an Amex Platinum, consider using the new $240 digital entertainment credit for a free NYT subscription sounds very not-free.
      - arcticbull 5y ago
        It's included in the annual fee of an Amex Platinum so it is no additional cost if you elect this option. It covers the cost of an NYT subscription completely. This is a new credit, and not one that factors into my cost-benefit analysis on keeping the card. Probably true of most folks. I mention it because I suspect many cardholders are in the same boat and do not know about this. You are correct that it is not "free" but rather "included at no additional charge" should you choose to elect it.
        5y ago
lettergram 5y ago
I just go to the way back machine when I want to view paywalled content.
Overtonwindow 5y ago
I love this. Paywalls and anti—adblock must be defeated.
- vosper 5y ago
  Why shouldn’t businesses be able to require people to pay for their content?
  - 6510 5y ago
    I will tell you for 10 euro
  - _zzaw 5y ago
    The more important question is why people feel the need to implement adblockers. If ads were less obnoxious and intrusive, people wouldn’t block them. In short: current site monetization tactics are objectionable and deserve to be thwarted. Rather than huffing about people who block ads, publishers and advertisers should consider that an incentive to come up with something better.
    - endisneigh 5y ago
      You’ve said a lot of words but ultimately you’re just trying to justify theft of content creators work. The very same people bypassing these paywalls will complain about clickbait and poor journalism.
      - _zzaw 5y ago
        That’s a valid point. I’ll admit I am concerned about the survival of competent journalism, and as far as paywalls go, I can’t consider them unreasonable or offensive. Ads/trackers are a different beast entirely. Sure, they also provide funding, but it’s a model that’s rooted in obnoxiousness, invasiveness, and disrespect. That approach needs to be punished, and I think loss of revenue is entirely justifiable; even beneficial, if it incentivizes more reasonable and respectful monetization strategies.
  - 5y ago
paulpauper 5y ago
archive.is is good too
errantmind 5y ago
Or just use this plugin to bypass most paywalls. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/bypass-paywalls-clean/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/bypass-paywal...
sumthinprofound 5y ago
I think the background image of breaking chains of bondage is a bit melodramatic and off-putting for a site used to circumvent paywalls.
PaulDavisThe1st 5y ago
Can god build a paywall so high that even god can't read the pages behind it?
40four 5y ago
I’ve not tried this service yet, I’m curious though. However, the easiest trick to bypass paywalls in my opinion is to switch to ‘reader’ mode in your browser. This works for most news sites I visit, including NYT. There are exceptions, but I reader mode should be your go to first attempt if you ask me. It’s built into every browser now, and if it doesn’t work, then check archive.org. Using these two methods alone will get you most anything you want to read.
- X6S1x6Okd1st 5y ago
  Doesn't work for economist which was their demo
petarb 5y ago
Couldn’t get it to work on Bloomberg, it takes me to “Are you a bot?” page
- annecruz1996 5y ago
  Try https://incoggo.com https://incoggo.com. No issues with Bloomberg thus far
hartem_ 5y ago
I built a Bardeen playbook that bypasses paywalls by redirecting to an archived version of the paywalled page https://www.bardeen.ai/posts/how-to-bypass-a-paywall#bardeen https://www.bardeen.ai/posts/how-to-bypass-a-paywall#bardeen. Disclaimer: I’m the co-founder of Bardeen.
nofunsir 5y ago
What about 11ft 8in? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norfolk_Southern–Gregson_Street_Overpass https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norfolk_Southern–Gregson_Stree...
tromp 5y ago
The "paywall free" version https://12ft.io/12ft.io/ https://12ft.io/12ft.io/ looks odd... Would be cool if it returned a simple text page saying "I see what you did there."
geysersam 5y ago
"I believe Google Adwords killed the web because it incentives SEO optimized garbage", then proceeds stripping publishers of their ability to get paid for quality non ads-financed content. The motivation makes little sense to me.
- kazinator 5y ago
  It's 100% their own fault. They could block the Google spider from getting the full content for free just like any other non-paying rando, and just serve it the same teaser content.
  - janaagaard 5y ago
    So the argument is, that ‘because Google Bot can read the content for free, then I should be allowed to do so too’? This seems like a pretty week excuse for bypassing a paywall. I think the reason we have annoyances like ‘please sign up for our news letters’ is that news sites are struggling to make money. A service like 12ft.io is only making the situation worse.
    - helen___keller 5y ago
      It’s not my job as an individual to solve systemic issues. I’m not willing to pay for news. Usually I don’t bypass paywalls, but when I do I don’t feel bad about it
      - deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
    - austinjp 5y ago
      I see it in reverse: the reason some news sites struggle to make money is their belief in a broken business model that's perpetuated by mega-corps like Google. The rules of the game are rigged; house always wins. The only way to win is to not play. I wouldn't say this "justifies" a service like 12ft.io, but such services are inevitable.
ian-bateman 5y ago
Shameless plug (Founder here), but I’d highly recommend checking out [redacted] as an alternative! We work on a number of major publications that 12ft does not, including NYT, WSJ, and several others. We have a full list of supported publications here: [link redacted]
- watermelon0 5y ago
  It's not immediately clear from the page, but this app performs MITM on your local machine, requires sudo, and also updates automatically using super user privileges. I don't really like that Apple has such privileges on my machine, but trusting paywall blocker with them seems absurd.
  - ian-bateman 5y ago
    That's all true - we mention these directly on our FAQ ([redacted]) -- many are issues we plan to address as soon as possible -- the application 100% works in terms of functionality, but is definitely still under heavy development!
    - smsm42 5y ago
      > Note that the first time you run Incoggo, you will need to enter your computer password. That's a very understated way to say "we run stuff on your computer that require root privileges". It is explained later but there's no such thing as too many warnings about running 3rd party code under root on my computer. > If you’re a very security-minded individual (or you use your computer for very sensitive tasks), Who doesn't? Like, accessing my bank account? Accessing my email, where my bank account would sent 2FA/password reset? Uploading my ID photo to one of the dozens sites now that require that? I'm not sure we know each other well enough so I'd entrust you access to all that. Not even if that allows me to read Vanity Fair. I guess I'm one of those "very" individuals? > Incoggo adds a file to your system’s sudoers.d folder that whitelists specific commands from requiring a sudo password to perform Erm, does that mean any other tool would be free to use those commands under root now? Probably not the best idea. > Incoggo also installs a trusted root certificate in your system keystore Do I understand right that this gives it full untraceable MITM capability to any site I visit? I remember the government of Kazakhstan tried to do that to their citizens. They did it in a stupid way. They should have promised all citizens free access to Wall Street Journal. > If these are show-stopper issues for you Unfortunately, they kind of are.
genoveffo 5y ago
Tried on NYT and does not work…
- throwaway829 5y ago
  uBlock Origin + Anti-paywall filter works well. https://filterlists.com/lists/anti-paywall-filters https://filterlists.com/lists/anti-paywall-filters
aembleton 5y ago
Doesn't work for https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thetimes.co.uk%2Farticle%2Fpriti-patel-blocked-sajid-javid-s-plan-to-force-councils-to-take-in-afghan-refugees-5n7pjbwlf https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thetimes.co.uk%2Fa... Probably means that I won't use it as everything else gets bypassed with this addon https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/bypass-paywalls-clean/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/bypass-paywal... That addon actually gives me an archive.org link to read the times article in full.
alkonaut 5y ago
Do sites still show google the full articles? Why would they want that, they should be relevant enough with just the first few paragraphs and not need the complexity.
whatever1 5y ago
It’s inconvenient but why do we have the expectation that people will give away their work for free? Journalism is not easy and journalists currently don’t have any other way to collect income other than publishing their work through a medium. For some of us we afford to give away work for free because our universities (work=scientific publications) or our employer (work=open source software) pay for for it to be free for their own reasons and because they have the funding to do so. We don’t want journalism to have questionable sources of funding, just so that we click open the stories more easily. We want journalism to be profitable by direct funding from the consumers. Ads was the unfortunate middle ground. But taking Ads away will only push media towards getting funded by forces that exclusively want to control the media. TLDR: pay your content creators even if it seems tedious to you
- andy_ppp 5y ago
  I pay for the content I think is important that it exists, but the web working is also important. If they are giving Google the content I see no issue with using that against them. It's up to them, either the content is private or public it can't be both.
  - whatever1 5y ago
    They are not giving to Google the content. Google does not consume the content, it advertises it. Google (or any search engine) don’t give an F about the work of a journalist. We do.
- luckylion 5y ago
  > But taking Ads away will only push media towards getting funded by forces that exclusively want to control the media. Don't you think it's a little late for that with Corporate Media?
paulnpace 5y ago
This is great, because when I search something, can see a sentence in the search results relevant to my search, then click the link and cannot see the portion of the page relevant to the search, I can go to 12ft.io. The showing of a special site to the search bot to add noise to search results and waste my time, I happily bypass with a clear conscience.
godelski 5y ago
This doesn't seem to work on Firefox mobile for me. I was trying with nyt. Similar services like outline.com also have a difficult time with nyt, so unsurprising but would love a workaround.
raxi 5y ago
There are many paywalls not so easy to bypass as removing a hovering modal, spoofing User-Agent and Referrer or redirecting to Wayback Machine or Google Cache. There is a wellknown paywall-cleaning browser extension and it fails to bypass a lot. Issue list here: https://gitlab.com/magnolia1234/bypass-paywalls-firefox-clean/-/issues?scope=all&state=all https://gitlab.com/magnolia1234/bypass-paywalls-firefox-clea...
pseingatl 5y ago
text.fish is still down. :(
rvalue 5y ago
Would you like to opensource this?
terrycody 5y ago
* Not working for CNBC pro content.

285 points by tommoor 5y ago

As much as I hated AMP this is one thing I loved about it. Click an article, get paywalled… Google the article headline and it’d take you to a paywall-free AMP version of the full article.

_zzaw 5y ago
AMP’s one redeeming feature—a shit-free browsing experience—is, as expected, being eroded bit by bit. I’m seeing things like autoplaying videos and popovers in AMP pages now. My go-to is readability mode, Instapaper, and turning JS off.

fnord77 5y ago

dunno if the authors read this post, but it fails on https://www.autonews.com/sales/us-dec-sales-seen-falling-retail-stocks-continue-slow-rebound https://www.autonews.com/sales/us-dec-sales-seen-falling-ret...

techknight 5y ago

I tried it and got "12ft has been disabled for this site". I guess the paywall was taller than the ladder! :D

josephcsible 5y ago
For which site?
- ajs256 5y ago
  I got it on nytimes.com
  - ian-bateman 5y ago
    Looks like some others beat me to it, and I just commented elsewhere on this thread - but I'd recommend checking out [redacted] - works on nytimes!
  - culi 5y ago
    Weird. There's browser addons that manage to overcome those for me. Pretty sure the outline.com trick works with nyt as well
bardworx 5y ago
Everyone’s gotta eat. Even ladder makers.

fib01123 5y ago

I know where you are coming from, but ultimately its another blow against quality journalism. It started with ad revenue moving from media to tech, and now the hacking community makes it harder for them to sell their products on the Internet. The deck is stacked against media - think about how much they need to to exactly right in order to survive the Internet era

headsoup 5y ago
Or, they could focus on actually doing quality journalism, picking their niche areas of expertise and producing interesting material, rather than trying to win at "most clicks first." Then, importantly, set expectations for reach and profits appropriately and use relevant advertising to their services/topics which also has value, not stupid algorithm/'targeted' advertising. It's not easy, but working to actually build trust and value is far better than joining the race to the bottom.
int_19h 5y ago
The mass media as it exists today was made possible by a combination of certain technological and societal advancement. If further evolution on either or both counts makes the business model underlying it non-viable - that's too bad, but there's no right to industry survival.

Beaver117 5y ago

Doesn't work on WSJ

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

mrVentures 5y ago

"You ought to be able to search something on Google and get an answer to your question without signing up for some newsletter." Call me a cynic but they probably just want you to pay for their journalism. Looks like a cool product, and it's also probably piracy.

donkarma 5y ago
Then it shouldn't appear in search results. I think that's fair
- profmonocle 5y ago
  Isn't it actually against Google's policy to show different content to the crawler than to actual users? I might be misremembering, but I thought at one point this practice could get you delisted.
  - flemhans 5y ago
    They say Google is conducting internal deals with Pinterest that foster such behaviour. I suspect Medium.com and Quora to be in the same boat.
  - sokoloff 5y ago
    Google updated that policy (that used to require “first click [from Google SERP] to be free”) in 2017: https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2017/10/enabling-more-high-quality-content https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2017/10/enabling-m...
- celdon25 5y ago
  People should be making new search engines then, not easier ways to access other parts of the same broken system.
  - brian-armstrong 5y ago
    Thankfully the options are not mutually exclusive!

efitz 5y ago

Thank you for building this. It still needs some work; a lot of links are broken on the displayed page. I'd also point out an alternative: https://github.com/iamadamdev/bypass-paywalls-chrome https://github.com/iamadamdev/bypass-paywalls-chrome

ctlaltdefeat 5y ago
> I'd also point out an alternative: https://github.com/iamadamdev/bypass-paywalls-chrome https://github.com/iamadamdev/bypass-paywalls-chrome And adding a fork that's been updated more consistently for some sites I use: https://gitlab.com/magnolia1234/bypass-paywalls-chrome-clean https://gitlab.com/magnolia1234/bypass-paywalls-chrome-clean
- mkdirp 5y ago
  I've seen this multiple times in the past couple or so years. I still don't understand why it was forked, and what makes it the "clean" version.
  - gruez 5y ago
    >I still don't understand why it was forked, and what makes it the "clean" version. after some digging on the repo: https://gitlab.com/magnolia1234/bypass-paywalls-chrome-clean/-/issues/1 https://gitlab.com/magnolia1234/bypass-paywalls-chrome-clean...

tyingq 5y ago

Awesome, though I wouldn't have chosen to host it in Walnut, California. Pretty sure this will be a target for lawyers soon.

apengwin 5y ago
Go mustangs!
kylehotchkiss 5y ago
That’s just a virtualpostmail.com virtual address
- arcticbull 5y ago
  I also have an address at 340 S Lemon Ave haha. I guess we're neighbors. Speaking of, I highly recommend virtualpostmail. I've used them as my personal mailing address for years now. I did a USPS change of address once, and now any time I move, I no longer have to update my address with anyone. Also, I get PDFs of my letters in my inbox, and can reship them to wherever I happen to be that week, even if I'm away from home.
  - kylehotchkiss 5y ago
    So happy to see other users. I was an expat for 3 years (including during Covid) and they sent me all my care packages at super reasonable rates. I’m keeping them now that I’m back at home so I don’t have to give my home address to everybody. Highly recommended for all! Extra protip - I’d you’re traveling, they can ship to any FedEx office store and “hold for pickup” and most full-service hotels will receive packages for you, even a day or two in advance.
- ezequiel-garzon 5y ago
  How did you figure this out? I was expecting to see something under the whois records. Thanks.
  - 5y ago

efitz 5y ago

One more point: I predict in 2022 that sites stop allowing Google to index their content via bot. Paywall sites are going to ride that business model all the way down in flames.

tyingq 5y ago
You might see the other direction happen too. Surely Google understands the disappointment for their end users clicking a search result and landing on a teaser paywall article that has less content than the search snippet.
- hakfoo 5y ago
  ISTR that was seen as huge leverage for a long time. If people were hitting a hard paywall, Google tended to penalize the result. A lot of sites ended up with a looseness in the paywall basically to ensure people landing from a search result got "first page free" style visibility. I feel like the key is to realize the difference between "news" and "editorial" content. A lot of "news" is begging for a race to the bottom-- I can get the latest Covid numbers, sportsball score, or the fact a water main burst on 12th street from 5 local TV channels or two or three newspaper-format sites. You can't really compete by providing a premium product for those things. On the other hand, the editorial content-- the op/eds, the bespoke columns-- that's where you can justify a paywall.
BoiledCabbage 5y ago
> Paywall sites are going to ride that business model all the way down in flames. What's the alternate business model they're supposed to use?
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- tshaddox 5y ago
  Why is it always the responsibility of everyone except the people running the business to come up with a business model for them?

marstall 5y ago

Sorry, hacking a paywall is just helping to kill the parts Adwords didn't kill.

indianboy42 5y ago
Exactly this, the "why?" section sounded weird to me. Paywalls (specifically subscriptions and paying for a service directly) are a way to not need AdWords, if those don't work then what can websites do to make back their hosting, dev, writing and all other costs than using Ads
necovek 5y ago
Nope, making a paywall not show content to Google bots is a (slow) way to get us out of our misery. Basically, as long as search traffic is more important to publishers, Google will have an upper hand. If paywalls are in our future, getting there through Google should not be. By working around paywalls, you are asking publishers to not mess the search results or not to give Google preferential treatment (depending on your angle).

u2077 5y ago

“Discussed” previously: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28784427 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28784427 It no longer works on some sites like nyt - The site was offline for a day because of a legal notice.

civilized 5y ago
(If anyone wants to know what works on NYT, try turning off JavaScript only on nytimes.com)
- arcticbull 5y ago
  For folks with an Amex Platinum, consider using the new $240 digital entertainment credit for a free NYT subscription. [1] I got tired of trying to dodge it, and none of the other options were compelling. Plus I'm led to believe democracy dies in darkness. Or is that WaPo? [1] https://global.americanexpress.com/card-benefits/detail/digital-entertainment/platinum https://global.americanexpress.com/card-benefits/detail/digi...
  - rkk3 5y ago
    > For folks with an Amex Platinum, consider using the new $240 digital entertainment credit for a free NYT subscription sounds very not-free.
    - arcticbull 5y ago
      It's included in the annual fee of an Amex Platinum so it is no additional cost if you elect this option. It covers the cost of an NYT subscription completely. This is a new credit, and not one that factors into my cost-benefit analysis on keeping the card. Probably true of most folks. I mention it because I suspect many cardholders are in the same boat and do not know about this. You are correct that it is not "free" but rather "included at no additional charge" should you choose to elect it.
      - 5y ago

lettergram 5y ago

I just go to the way back machine when I want to view paywalled content.

Overtonwindow 5y ago

I love this. Paywalls and anti—adblock must be defeated.

vosper 5y ago
Why shouldn’t businesses be able to require people to pay for their content?
- 6510 5y ago
  I will tell you for 10 euro
- _zzaw 5y ago
  The more important question is why people feel the need to implement adblockers. If ads were less obnoxious and intrusive, people wouldn’t block them. In short: current site monetization tactics are objectionable and deserve to be thwarted. Rather than huffing about people who block ads, publishers and advertisers should consider that an incentive to come up with something better.
  - endisneigh 5y ago
    You’ve said a lot of words but ultimately you’re just trying to justify theft of content creators work. The very same people bypassing these paywalls will complain about clickbait and poor journalism.
    - _zzaw 5y ago
      That’s a valid point. I’ll admit I am concerned about the survival of competent journalism, and as far as paywalls go, I can’t consider them unreasonable or offensive. Ads/trackers are a different beast entirely. Sure, they also provide funding, but it’s a model that’s rooted in obnoxiousness, invasiveness, and disrespect. That approach needs to be punished, and I think loss of revenue is entirely justifiable; even beneficial, if it incentivizes more reasonable and respectful monetization strategies.
- 5y ago

paulpauper 5y ago

archive.is is good too

errantmind 5y ago

Or just use this plugin to bypass most paywalls. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/bypass-paywalls-clean/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/bypass-paywal...

sumthinprofound 5y ago

I think the background image of breaking chains of bondage is a bit melodramatic and off-putting for a site used to circumvent paywalls.

PaulDavisThe1st 5y ago

Can god build a paywall so high that even god can't read the pages behind it?

40four 5y ago

I’ve not tried this service yet, I’m curious though. However, the easiest trick to bypass paywalls in my opinion is to switch to ‘reader’ mode in your browser. This works for most news sites I visit, including NYT. There are exceptions, but I reader mode should be your go to first attempt if you ask me. It’s built into every browser now, and if it doesn’t work, then check archive.org. Using these two methods alone will get you most anything you want to read.

X6S1x6Okd1st 5y ago
Doesn't work for economist which was their demo

petarb 5y ago

Couldn’t get it to work on Bloomberg, it takes me to “Are you a bot?” page

annecruz1996 5y ago
Try https://incoggo.com https://incoggo.com. No issues with Bloomberg thus far

hartem_ 5y ago

I built a Bardeen playbook that bypasses paywalls by redirecting to an archived version of the paywalled page https://www.bardeen.ai/posts/how-to-bypass-a-paywall#bardeen https://www.bardeen.ai/posts/how-to-bypass-a-paywall#bardeen. Disclaimer: I’m the co-founder of Bardeen.

nofunsir 5y ago

What about 11ft 8in? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norfolk_Southern–Gregson_Street_Overpass https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norfolk_Southern–Gregson_Stree...

tromp 5y ago

The "paywall free" version https://12ft.io/12ft.io/ https://12ft.io/12ft.io/ looks odd... Would be cool if it returned a simple text page saying "I see what you did there."

geysersam 5y ago

"I believe Google Adwords killed the web because it incentives SEO optimized garbage", then proceeds stripping publishers of their ability to get paid for quality non ads-financed content. The motivation makes little sense to me.

kazinator 5y ago
It's 100% their own fault. They could block the Google spider from getting the full content for free just like any other non-paying rando, and just serve it the same teaser content.
- janaagaard 5y ago
  So the argument is, that ‘because Google Bot can read the content for free, then I should be allowed to do so too’? This seems like a pretty week excuse for bypassing a paywall. I think the reason we have annoyances like ‘please sign up for our news letters’ is that news sites are struggling to make money. A service like 12ft.io is only making the situation worse.
  - helen___keller 5y ago
    It’s not my job as an individual to solve systemic issues. I’m not willing to pay for news. Usually I don’t bypass paywalls, but when I do I don’t feel bad about it
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - austinjp 5y ago
    I see it in reverse: the reason some news sites struggle to make money is their belief in a broken business model that's perpetuated by mega-corps like Google. The rules of the game are rigged; house always wins. The only way to win is to not play. I wouldn't say this "justifies" a service like 12ft.io, but such services are inevitable.

ian-bateman 5y ago

Shameless plug (Founder here), but I’d highly recommend checking out [redacted] as an alternative! We work on a number of major publications that 12ft does not, including NYT, WSJ, and several others. We have a full list of supported publications here: [link redacted]

watermelon0 5y ago
It's not immediately clear from the page, but this app performs MITM on your local machine, requires sudo, and also updates automatically using super user privileges. I don't really like that Apple has such privileges on my machine, but trusting paywall blocker with them seems absurd.
- ian-bateman 5y ago
  That's all true - we mention these directly on our FAQ ([redacted]) -- many are issues we plan to address as soon as possible -- the application 100% works in terms of functionality, but is definitely still under heavy development!
  - smsm42 5y ago
    > Note that the first time you run Incoggo, you will need to enter your computer password. That's a very understated way to say "we run stuff on your computer that require root privileges". It is explained later but there's no such thing as too many warnings about running 3rd party code under root on my computer. > If you’re a very security-minded individual (or you use your computer for very sensitive tasks), Who doesn't? Like, accessing my bank account? Accessing my email, where my bank account would sent 2FA/password reset? Uploading my ID photo to one of the dozens sites now that require that? I'm not sure we know each other well enough so I'd entrust you access to all that. Not even if that allows me to read Vanity Fair. I guess I'm one of those "very" individuals? > Incoggo adds a file to your system’s sudoers.d folder that whitelists specific commands from requiring a sudo password to perform Erm, does that mean any other tool would be free to use those commands under root now? Probably not the best idea. > Incoggo also installs a trusted root certificate in your system keystore Do I understand right that this gives it full untraceable MITM capability to any site I visit? I remember the government of Kazakhstan tried to do that to their citizens. They did it in a stupid way. They should have promised all citizens free access to Wall Street Journal. > If these are show-stopper issues for you Unfortunately, they kind of are.

genoveffo 5y ago

Tried on NYT and does not work…

throwaway829 5y ago
uBlock Origin + Anti-paywall filter works well. https://filterlists.com/lists/anti-paywall-filters https://filterlists.com/lists/anti-paywall-filters

aembleton 5y ago

Doesn't work for https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thetimes.co.uk%2Farticle%2Fpriti-patel-blocked-sajid-javid-s-plan-to-force-councils-to-take-in-afghan-refugees-5n7pjbwlf https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thetimes.co.uk%2Fa... Probably means that I won't use it as everything else gets bypassed with this addon https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/bypass-paywalls-clean/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/bypass-paywal... That addon actually gives me an archive.org link to read the times article in full.

alkonaut 5y ago

Do sites still show google the full articles? Why would they want that, they should be relevant enough with just the first few paragraphs and not need the complexity.

whatever1 5y ago

It’s inconvenient but why do we have the expectation that people will give away their work for free? Journalism is not easy and journalists currently don’t have any other way to collect income other than publishing their work through a medium. For some of us we afford to give away work for free because our universities (work=scientific publications) or our employer (work=open source software) pay for for it to be free for their own reasons and because they have the funding to do so. We don’t want journalism to have questionable sources of funding, just so that we click open the stories more easily. We want journalism to be profitable by direct funding from the consumers. Ads was the unfortunate middle ground. But taking Ads away will only push media towards getting funded by forces that exclusively want to control the media. TLDR: pay your content creators even if it seems tedious to you

andy_ppp 5y ago
I pay for the content I think is important that it exists, but the web working is also important. If they are giving Google the content I see no issue with using that against them. It's up to them, either the content is private or public it can't be both.
- whatever1 5y ago
  They are not giving to Google the content. Google does not consume the content, it advertises it. Google (or any search engine) don’t give an F about the work of a journalist. We do.
luckylion 5y ago
> But taking Ads away will only push media towards getting funded by forces that exclusively want to control the media. Don't you think it's a little late for that with Corporate Media?

paulnpace 5y ago

This is great, because when I search something, can see a sentence in the search results relevant to my search, then click the link and cannot see the portion of the page relevant to the search, I can go to 12ft.io. The showing of a special site to the search bot to add noise to search results and waste my time, I happily bypass with a clear conscience.

godelski 5y ago

This doesn't seem to work on Firefox mobile for me. I was trying with nyt. Similar services like outline.com also have a difficult time with nyt, so unsurprising but would love a workaround.

raxi 5y ago

There are many paywalls not so easy to bypass as removing a hovering modal, spoofing User-Agent and Referrer or redirecting to Wayback Machine or Google Cache. There is a wellknown paywall-cleaning browser extension and it fails to bypass a lot. Issue list here: https://gitlab.com/magnolia1234/bypass-paywalls-firefox-clean/-/issues?scope=all&state=all https://gitlab.com/magnolia1234/bypass-paywalls-firefox-clea...

pseingatl 5y ago

text.fish is still down. :(

rvalue 5y ago

Would you like to opensource this?

terrycody 5y ago

* Not working for CNBC pro content.