This is not exclusive to Sig Forum but pervades almost all discussion sites and social media.

People constantly link to articles from sources that require a paid subscription to read the article. Why they do this I have no idea. Perhaps they don't remember paying to read the Washington Post, New York Times, or their other favorite far left rag? Perhaps they are shills trying to churn subscriptions?

Some of these offer access to a limited number of articles before requiring a subscriptions. Many say "try for free" or "all you need to do it register" or "one month only a $1". Any "free" or discounted registration comes with an auto renewing subscription for a lot more money.

I for one, am not going to buy subscriptions to every (or for that matter just about any) news site to see their poorly written and researched politically biased stories. I would consider only those that have some semblance of journalistic integrity, perhaps the Wall Street Journal, but that's about it for the MSM.

Is there another way to see this stuff that I don't know about? A subscription to something like AppleNews+ appears to provide access to various sources, but it's $10 a month.

Yep, annoying.

The generally accepted method is to copy and paste the article content into your post with a link to the article, therefore it can be read either way.

Imagine it's either being lazy, time constrained when posting, or perhaps simply not learned in the ways of cut-n-paste.

It is amusing that the MSM is using subscription sign-up tactics adapted from the online porn industry.

If it's inside facebook, you can usually google the article separately and see the contents.

Or worse ... like getting hit with a 50 cal spam burst of site ads.

To be fair, it's not always apparent that a site has a limit on free articles, until you've actually exceeded that limit.

For example, Person #1 might click on a link and go directly to a news story, which they read with zero interference because this is the first time they've gone to that particular news site lately. They then decide to share the link to the news story. When Person #2 clicks said shared link, if their browser cookies show that they've already read X number of articles previously at that website, then they get blocked with a message telling them they've exceeded the limit of free articles and have to subscribe.

Person #2 is then frustrated at Person #1, but Person #1 honestly had no idea that this would occur, because there was no indication on their end of an article limit.

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:
The generally accepted method is to copy and paste the article content into your post with a link to the article, therefore it can be read either way.

This is the way. It circumvents all the other issues.

And there is scam that lets you scroll about halfway through the article and then a pop-up appears informing you that you "have reached your limit on free articles".
You are right, I sure have! No $$$ for you!

quote:

Originally posted by Lefty Sig:

It is amusing that the MSM is using subscription sign-up tactics adapted from the online porn industry.

SIGforum has experts on any given topic.

It’s cluelessness I suspect.

I read the Wall Street Journal. I know they are behind a paywall. So, if there is an article I want to share with friends/family, I always cut/paste because I know most don’t have an online subscription.

It’s not that difficult.