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Economist.com slipping behind the paywall

2 points by jamie ↗ HN
There's no permalink, but this just showed up in my inbox:

Dear Reader,

I'd like to inform you about important changes at Economist.com.

Beginning October 13th, we will be limiting access to certain sections of our site to subscribers only. Over the past few years, Economist.com has become a hub for intelligent discussion, with news commentary, blogs and an award-winning debate series. We will continue to encourage both subscribers and non-subscribers to participate in those conversations. We will also enhance the experience we offer our most loyal readers by expanding our subscribers-only features.

Currently, all content published within the last year is free of charge. Soon, only articles and commentary published prior to the last 90 days will be accessible without a subscription. The print edition contents page, which offers a convenient way to browse articles and features from the latest issue of The Economist, will also be limited to subscribers only.

Through these complementary aspects of Economist.com, we will continue to foster intelligent discussion and debate, while enhancing the value we bring to our community of subscribers.

I hope you'll continue to visit the site and enjoy all it has to offer.

Sincerely,

Ben Edwards, Publisher Economist.com

2 comments

[ 2.9 ms ] story [ 17.4 ms ] thread
jamie
This is at least interesting; articles from the last 90 days are for-pay, but once that window closes, it will be available for free.

How long until there's a reverse auction or minimum clearing level for articles? It seems the future of publishing news should be: pay for immediate access, as soon as the value (utility) drops to zero, make it free. "Free after 90 days or the first 10,000 subscribers see it"

yan
Can you blame them? They offer extremely insightful analysis and great discussion; I think my print+web subscription is very much worth it.

At least give them credit for not completely closing up or charging for old material. They do honestly seem that they are trying to keep as much content available as possible.