First off, fuck paywalls.
I understand why the exist. I understand that content creators, media outlets, and individuals need to make money for their efforts. It’s a necessary evil to fund the many good things the internet provides.
That being said, fuck paywalls. They’re one of the most annoying things to manifest on the internet that don’t involve whiny trolls with too much free time.
With each passing year, it seems, more and more websites are resorting to paywalls to restrict or limit access to their content. This is especially common with news outlets, including major newspapers like the Washington Post and the New York Times. But I’m also seeing it on smaller outlets that aren’t major newspapers, especially those that cover sports, entertainment, or various genre news.
They’re all annoying as hell. They’re basically asking for a newspaper subscription that can range anywhere from a couple of dollars to the equivalent of a yearly Netflix subscription. At a time when most people are already annoyed by the amount of subscriptions they have to pay for, this is making a bad problem much worse. It’s essentially segmenting the internet in ways that run counter to how it began.
But rather than lament on this annoying trend, I’d like to offer some guidance to those who hate paywalls as much as I do. Even if you too understand why they exist, nobody will blame you for not wanting to purchase an entire subscription just to read one or two articles. For those instances, there are some ways to get around that.
For the sites that offer a handful of free articles before requiring a subscription, you could always use a VPN. These VPNs, also known as Virtual Private Networks, basically mask your IP address so that it always seems like you’re coming from a new location. While some sites are aware of this tactic, it’s very difficult for them to filter it out. VPNs offer many other uses aside from getting around paywalls. They do come at a cost, but you do get a lot out of them.
But if you don’t want to invest in a VPN, another way to get around paywalls is to use certain free sites. They don’t necessary get around the paywall. They just allow you to see the content in a more raw format. It’s like seeing copying the sheet music instead of the song and letting another program play it. All you do is put in the URL to an article or site section into the site and let it work.
There a number of sites that do this. Not all of them work on every site, but here are the ones that work best.
Please note that these don’t work for every site. For some media outlets, you will get errors or your browser will just freeze. But in most cases, you can usually expect to get around the paywall and at least read the main substance of an article.
It works for now. I don’t doubt for a second that many outlets are already looking for a way to block this sort of thing. And if there comes a day when all paywalls can be circumvented, then those same outlets will find another annoying way to fund their operations.
Again, I get why this happens. Before paywalls, there were all sorts of insufferable pop-up ads, banner ads, and mailing lists. Once those fell out of favor, site operators looked for another way to monetize their content. Paywalls are just the latest manifestation of that effort.
They’re annoying and most people still hate them. But, so long as they exist, we need to live with them and know how to get around them. I hope this helps.
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