Tempus Fugit

I’m sick and tired of news sites that require registration to read their articles. Many times I’ve clicked links to news articles from blogs and been dismayed to see a “Register now!” page.

Yes, there is a way to get around it, like BugMeNot, by using a public user or login, but that’s not much less of a hassle than registering.

So here’s my new policy:

I will not post any links that require registration to view. Ever.

I don’t care if the story of the month is only availible through a subscription site. I’ll sit on that story.

Now, what can I do to find alternative ways of putting up links to articles that require subscription? Well, many articles you see in newspapers are not original articles. They often come from Reuters or AP. These stories can always be found in other locations. My favorite is MyWay which doesn’t have any ads or require registration.

What about articles in the New York Times that might be in-house articles? There are ways around the New York Times’ registration. The easiest method is to go to the New York Times Link Generator and paste in the URI of the article. You will get back a modified URI that will work without registration.

Please notify me in the comments of the entry if I accidentally post a link that requires registration (sometimes, if you access it via Google, they let you pass via registration).

I have no problem with websites using advertising to offset the cost of their site. But requiring registration is invasive, and I don’t want to support it in any way.