Re Getting around paywalls ...

["Dave Farber" <dave () farber net>]

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Justin Maxwell <soc () code404 com>
Date: Mon, Apr 24, 2017 at 1:33 PM
Subject: Re: [IP] Getting around paywalls ...
To: dave () farber net <dave () farber net>
Cc: ip <ip () listbox com>


For what it's worth, I've been ambivalently using Blendle for a few months
now. The idea is great for the reasons Chuck cites, but the model is on its
head. I don't want to read the articles on Blendle, I want to read them by
clicking links my friends and peers share and using a
Blendle-like microtransaction to pay for my one-time access to that
article, right there, on the provider's website. The existing model where I
am linked to an article, I can't read it for whatever reason, and then I'm
supposed to go to Blendle and hope it exists there, is cumbersome and
inconvenient (which is why I rarely remember to do it).



On Apr 24 2017, at 10:17 am, Dave Farber <farber () gmail com> wrote:

> Begin forwarded message:
>
> *From:* Chuck McManis <chuck.mcmanis () gmail com>
> *Date:* April 24, 2017 at 1:01:45 PM EDT
> *To:* Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
> *Cc:* ip <ip () listbox com>
> *Subject:* *Getting around paywalls ...*
>
> Roger Bohn's recent post on monopoly power included this common bit of
> advice :
>
> "Suggestion: If a newspaper is refusing to let you read an article, you
> can often get it by searching for it (on Google - irony alert, see one of
> the stories below), and visiting from the search result."
>
> I am not picking on Roger, it is fairly common advice, but would like to
> point out some better solutions. Sites like blendle.com
> <http://blendle.com&r=aXBAbGlzdGJveC5jb20=> which will let you read (and
> pay for) single articles on the NY Times, Economist, WSJ, etc without
> having to subscribe to those publications. I have no association with
> Blendle other than as a satisfied customer. And unlike paywalled version of
> the articles, the articles on Blendle are scanned from the original
> publications and have no additional advertising or other distractions.
> Money is held in escrow until you buy permanent access to an article and
> doesn't evaporate if you don't use the service. There is a generous refund
> policy if you feel the .19 or .09 you payed to read an article wasn't worth
> it.
>
> I understand that people enjoy reading quality journalism for free.
> However, that is not sustainable and available internet advertising options
> do not provide the revenue that print advertising once did. As a result,
> market forces are pushing paywalls harder and harder to the point where it
> will is becoming an existential choice for a publication to either enforce
> a hard paywall or cease operation.
>
> My issue with that is that while I'm happy to pay for an article out of
> the NY Times (for example) I do not like to pay for access to the NY Times
> for a month where I hardly read it. And that is where alternatives like
> Blendle come in. They allow a publication to make sustainable amounts of
> revenue on their articles, they align the publication's revenue side of the
> house with the readership (we won't pay for bad articles) and editorial
> side.
>
> I encourage your readership to create an account with Blendle and throw $5
> or $10 into it and read the articles you want, guilt free, on these
> publications. See if it meets your needs and helps us move good journalism
> and 'real' news into a business model that works for the 21st century.
>
> --Chuck
>
> This message was sent to the list address and trashed, but can be found
> online.
> <https://www.listbox.com/login/messages/view/20170424133353:2D83F146-2914-11E7-BD2C-9D5ECC40ECE9/>



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