Ask HN: What paywalled content do you pay for?

Posted by octosphere on Friday October 26, 2018 @02:22PM
from the ask-hn dept.

I've been an avid reader of non-paywalled (free) content for a while now, but want to try paying to access content. I know the old maxim: "If you're not the customer, then you're the product". But it doesn't settle well with me. I would rather pay than be a datapoint. Any first-starters or recommendations, before I make a mistake and end up choosing the wrong sources to get my paid-for news/articles? What are the obvious choices?

( 16 comments | 7 points | on HN )

Re:Ask HN: What paywalled content do you pay for? by wilsonnb3 on Friday October 26, 2018 @07:42PM (#18313491)

Washington Post, New York Times, Economist, Wall Street Journal, Netflix. All worth it in my opinion.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: What paywalled content do you pay for? by PhantomGremlin on Friday October 26, 2018 @07:25PM (#18313411)

I think it depends on your interests. For example, Wall Street Journal articles seem quite popular on HN.

I used to pay for WSJ online. But I stopped many years ago. The WSJ, like most other publications, offers discounted or promotional subscriptions to various subgroups. At the same time they invariably increase prices for existing subscribers.

I hate price discrimination. I refuse to be the sucker paying hundreds of dollars a year while they offer cut rate subscriptions to everyone else. I hate it enough that I now don't pay them a nickel.

Consequently, when WSJ articles are posted here, I enjoy "free" access via the inevitable archive.is link that usually appears in the comments.

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Re:Ask HN: What paywalled content do you pay for? by WAthrowaway on Friday October 26, 2018 @04:43PM (#18312571)

Pornography and Lapham's Quarterly

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Re:Ask HN: What paywalled content do you pay for? by LinuxBender on Friday October 26, 2018 @03:18PM (#18312031)

I pay for LWN. [1]

[1] - https://lwn.net/

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Re:Ask HN: What paywalled content do you pay for? by antoineMoPa on Friday October 26, 2018 @06:23PM (#18313133)

I pay for a physical newspaper on saturday. I have access to the web version for the rest of the week, but I don't read it at all. It's slightly related, but I think that there is something deeply unaesthetic with reading news on a tablet.

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Re:Ask HN: What paywalled content do you pay for? by bediger4000 on Friday October 26, 2018 @02:28PM (#18311677)

I paid $8/month for a Washington Post digital subscription, but I screwed up and got cut off. I probably need to get back on, as I regularly want to read 3 or 4 of their articles a day.

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Re:Ask HN: What paywalled content do you pay for? by Rjevski on Friday October 26, 2018 @09:05PM (#18313792)

My problem with paying for paywalled content is that paying or not, they still ask you to agree to nonsensical privacy policies that allow them to stalk you by every means possible.

For example, see the Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/gdpr-consent/?destination=%2f...

> Premium EU Ad-Free Subscription > No on-site advertising or third-party ad tracking

And yet on the actual signup page you still get the following:

> By subscribing, you agree to the use by us and our third-party partners of technologies such as cookies to personalize content and perform analytics

Until this changes, my middle finger and ad blocker are the only things these idiots will get.

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Re:Ask HN: What paywalled content do you pay for? by pacuna on Sunday October 28, 2018 @11:16PM (#18324802)

Technology Review from MIT so I can read it on my Kindle

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Re:Ask HN: What paywalled content do you pay for? by jmousseau on Friday October 26, 2018 @11:58PM (#18314279)

Stratechery daily updates.

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Re:Ask HN: What paywalled content do you pay for? by amorphous on Tuesday October 30, 2018 @09:50AM (#18336413)

In the order of usefulness:

- Safaribooks

- Economist

- Technology Review

- Netflix

- Amazon Prime

On and off I pay for cloud.guru, pluralsight or udemy

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Re:Ask HN: What paywalled content do you pay for? by rayvy on Saturday October 27, 2018 @06:09PM (#18317974)

ProtonMail, NTFLX, VSCO, Photoshop

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Re:Ask HN: What paywalled content do you pay for? by orcs on Friday October 26, 2018 @04:48PM (#18312601)

Netflix, Amazon prime.

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Re:Ask HN: What paywalled content do you pay for? by kapilkaisare on Saturday October 27, 2018 @12:45AM (#18314398)

The Economist

The Diplomat

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Re:Ask HN: What paywalled content do you pay for? by IpV8 on Friday October 26, 2018 @04:37PM (#18312540)

None

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Re:Ask HN: What paywalled content do you pay for? by strychn9ne on Friday October 26, 2018 @02:29PM (#18311687)

economist

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Re:Ask HN: What paywalled content do you pay for? by zzo38computer on Friday October 26, 2018 @07:08PM (#18313354)

I do not read paywalled content.

[ Parent | on HN ]