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Author Topic: How to Build a 'Paywall' That Doesn't Break the Web  (Read 3081 times)

justice

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How to Build a 'Paywall' That Doesn't Break the Web
« on: August 04, 2011, 06:10 AM »
Thought it would be interesting to people on this forum that one of the directions publishing seems to try out is 'DonationPublishing':
Sharing will turn off the nag wall for 1 year, or until you clear your browser cache, view the article in a different browser or on a different computer. Donating some money lets you register an account - if you're logged in, the nag wall never appears. You also get some extra features on the site if you have an account.
Like the New York Times paywall, people who poke around in the source code should be able to figure out how to turn it off without interacting with it at all. For the adventurous, there are also a couple of easter eggs that defeat the paywall in amusing ways (but I'm not giving them away here).
By doing all this, we turn the paywall into a game instead of an obligation, because what we're really after is engagement, not your money.

Example story with paywall
Link: The Atlantic, via Hacker News