this post was submitted on 25 Mar 2024
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Unpopular Opinion

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Basically, if all I can read is a headline how can I consider it informative? A news headline has as much evidence as your average Tweet, and can be deeply incorrect through the use of clickbait.

I do use methods to get around paywalls, but knowing that some/most people won't, it seems counter-informative to solely use the clickbait headline to keep people informed.

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[–] IphtashuFitz 29 points 8 months ago

Counterpoint: such articles should automatically be processed through https://archive.is when submitted and only accepted if successfully bypassed.

[–] madeinthebackseat 26 points 8 months ago (2 children)

An even more unpopular opinion: we should pay for good journalism.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Where is the good journalism at? I’ll pay for it if it actually is good journalism.

[–] Just_Pizza_Crust 7 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I agree with that, but am also limited to being able to afford just a few news subscriptions. Assuming I'm not the exception, it just seems to be counterproductive towards generating discussion in a community for discussing news.

People who can only view a clickbait headline also end up not knowing the context of what others are discussing that may have paid for the subscription, and could further be counterproductive in generating meaningful discussion.

[–] madeinthebackseat 8 points 8 months ago

Maybe the community should tag paywalled articles, such that those posts can be wholly filtered by users not wanting to see them?

[–] [email protected] 16 points 8 months ago

Sounds like a popular opinion

[–] [email protected] 16 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

This is an interesting take. What about a summary bot that can post article contents, cleaned up, from behind the wall?

Or: a bot that would post a web archive link, instead, to preserve privacy? Some instances take a similar approach to YouTube links by having a bot post Piped links.

[–] arin 14 points 8 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (4 children)

Which techniques are out there to avoid the paywall?

[–] Zugyuk 7 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Archive.ph is my go-to 😁

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago
[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I use the Bypass Paywalls addon in Firefox. That takes care of a lot of sites. Switching to reader view in Firefox can also get around some paywalls. Archiving sites can also be used to get around some paywalls.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

Thx for the info mate 👍👍

[–] Okokimup 6 points 8 months ago (2 children)
[–] Just_Pizza_Crust 2 points 8 months ago

This is also what I tend to use

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago
[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

If you use the Ublock Origin Extension, you can paste in custom filter lists that block the loading of paywalls I use this one.

[–] yamanii 2 points 8 months ago

To be fair, I don't actually know if the article has a paywall or not anymore since I started using Bypass Paywalls on Firefox.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago (2 children)

It's really not hard to get around them, and paywalls differ geographically.

Using archive / bypass links as the post links make things worse: they allow shitty tabloid headlines to carry the same weight as those from legitimate sources by obfuscating the source. As most people only read the headline, it should be obvious why that's worse.

[–] Just_Pizza_Crust 9 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

I hadn't considered the second part, but couldn't bundling the source with the bypass solve that issue?

Being that news communities are there to facilitate discussion, it seems counterproductive to keep people from viewing the article in question. If someone just wanted to read the headlines and not have any discussion, an RSS feed would probably be better.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I always prefer the archive link in the post body. That way you have the benefit of it if you need it, and the source for the headline is prominently displayed close by.

[–] Just_Pizza_Crust 5 points 8 months ago

With the archive link posted in the body, that's not really a paywall anymore. I do appreciate you doing that though!

[–] jelloeater85 2 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

I tend to get most of my news from https://ground.news these days.