As you know if you received an e-mail from its publisher, or if you read nyceve's plaintive lamentation yesterday of trying to deal with NYT customer service of the phone, the New York Times is going "pay to read" next Monday. If you don't subscribe in one or another way, you can "window shop" the front page of the paper and of the various sections, but if you want to peek inside more than 20 times in a calendar month, you gotta pay. ("Pinch" Sulzberger's e-mail is reproduced at the bottom of this diary for those who want details.)
There is an exception. From the e-mail:
Readers who come to Times articles through links from search, blogs and social media like Facebook and Twitter will be able to read those articles, even if they have reached their monthly reading limit.
Well, OK, then! They know that this policy may not work, so they've built in an escape hatch. They wouldn't build it if they didn't want people to use it. So: let's use it.
This diary introduces the New York Times Link Club. (It will also be abbreviated "NY Times Link Club" and the official name in your group list will be "NYT Link Club.") The basic idea is this:
Every day, starting tomorrow at 12:01 a.m. Eastern Time , this group will publish an almost-empty shell diary. Group editors will then fill it up with links to everything we think is interesting to read in the new day's New York Times.
People who follow the group can read the NYT's stories from here for free. If there's a story you want to read, put in a request and someone will post a link. If we need to go there to get the link, well, 20 articles per month times thousands of active Kosters should take care even of the peak election season.
Is this legal? Is this madness? Is it going to ruin the Times? The answers are "I think so," "I don't think so," and "if it is, they'll change their policy."
First, as to the legalities:
So far as I can tell, (1) this is legal (and if they object, Markos will let us know when he gets a cease and desist -- and then we -- or at least he -- will decide what to do) and (2) this is what they want us to do given their expressed exception, which will save the Gray Lady from the obscurity under which their columnists once languished behind a previous pay wall. (Search on "Free Paul Krugman!" to remember those unhappy days.)
The Times wants people to pay if they can pay -- but they don't want irrelevance. So we will do the volunteer work of indexing their content and they will benefit from our spreading the word when there's something worth seeing. By thinking about Twitter and Facebook, they may not have realized how well we can organize ourselves when we want to -- but we'll just let that be a happy surprise for them. (I honestly suspect that no other political group could pull this off; maybe reddit or boingboing could, but we're set up really well to do a great job of this.)
Second, how will it work? Well, I'm going to need a little cooperation on this one. This happens as a group effort or not at all.
I (or other editors, please!) will set up automatic diary postings for 12:01 a.m. daily. At first, they may just have a title: "NY Times Link Club, 3/28/11." Maybe they'll have some section headers. As usual, our customs will evolve before long.
People will then post links to stories -- ideally with a headline, perhaps we'll even choose to include very short summaries -- appearing in the newly published New York Times. The top two sections (I don't know in which order) will almost surely have to be "columnists" and "updates" (because we don't want to wait until midnight to read the news as it breaks!) If the NYT's policies on links from blogs and social networking sites as advertised, the diary page for "NYT Link Club" may well end up being my new home page, replacing the NYT itself.
I want to start this tonight because it (1) it gives us a chance to practice and refine our approach and (2) this policy is already in effect in Canada and that means our Canadian readers can give us feedback as to how this workaround works.
So: sign up for the group ASAP if you're inclined. (I'll make some people I trust into Administrators ASAP, so they can help with the inviting and responding to invitations.)
Even if you don't sign up to help administer the group and produce and edit diaries, please do follow the group if you want your daily fix of NYT but can't afford the $15/month to pay for it. And if you can pay, by all means do -- we want the NYT to continue to be a successful news outlet. We just don't want it to be only a rich persons' plaything.
Appendix:
For those of you who haven't read the news, here's Sulzberger's announcement from last Thursday (all emphasis mine):
An important announcement from the publisher of The New York Times
Dear New York Times Reader,
Today marks a significant transition for The New York Times as we introduce digital subscriptions. It’s an important step that we hope you will see as an investment in The Times, one that will strengthen our ability to provide high-quality journalism to readers around the world and on any platform. The change will primarily affect those who are heavy consumers of the content on our Web site and on mobile applications.
This change comes in two stages. Today, we are rolling out digital subscriptions to our readers in Canada, which will enable us to fine-tune the customer experience before our global launch. On March 28, we will begin offering digital subscriptions in the U.S. and the rest of the world.
If you are a home delivery subscriber of The New York Times, you will continue to have full and free access to our news, information, opinion and the rest of our rich offerings on your computer, smartphone and tablet. International Herald Tribune subscribers will also receive free access to NYTimes.com.
If you are not a home delivery subscriber, you will have free access up to a defined reading limit. If you exceed that limit, you will be asked to become a digital subscriber.
This is how it will work, and what it means for you:
On NYTimes.com, you can view 20 articles each month at no charge (including slide shows, videos and other features). After 20 articles, we will ask you to become a digital subscriber, with full access to our site.
On our smartphone and tablet apps, the Top News section will remain free of charge. For access to all other sections within the apps, we will ask you to become a digital subscriber.
The Times is offering three digital subscription packages that allow you to choose from a variety of devices (computer, smartphone, tablet). More information about these plans is available at nytimes.com/access.
Again, all New York Times home delivery subscribers will receive free access to NYTimes.com and to all content on our apps. If you are a home delivery subscriber, go to homedelivery.nytimes.com to sign up for free access.
Readers who come to Times articles through links from search, blogs and social media like Facebook and Twitter will be able to read those articles, even if they have reached their monthly reading limit. For some search engines, users will have a daily limit of free links to Times articles.
The home page at NYTimes.com and all section fronts will remain free to browse for all users at all times. For more information, go to nytimes.com/digitalfaq.
Thank you for reading The New York Times, in all its forms.
Sincerely,
Arthur Sulzberger Jr.
Publisher, The New York Times
Chairman, The New York Times Company