Apologies for the link - requires a subscription if you don't hit it from a Google search for "Wal-Mart Expands Cheap No-Contract Wireless Plan". Thanks Rupert.

You mean: "thanks", Rupert.

But a sincere thanks to you for explaining to get there via a google search.

Which raises questions (besides the 'why am i out of loop'?):

  • How did you know about the "via google" phenomenon for this article?

  • Is that true for all/many wsj articles?

  • Why does Rupert love Google referrals?

"Cloaking" is a naughty SEO tactic of showing one thing (like an article) to search engines and a different thing (like a login screen) to humans. Google bans cloaking; their punishment is de-indexing. But there is a loophole: showing the same thing to Googlebot and regular browsers with a Google referer isn't considered cloaking. The NY Times also uses this technique.

I can't tell you why you're out of the loop, though.

Silly newspapers. They want to charge for content but can't bear the thought of losing traffic. So they keep the door open to non-subscribers through Google, and hope subscribers (or potential subscribers) won't find out.