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The Rise Of Reg-Only Media

Posted by timothy on from the it's-easy-and-it's-the-law dept.

cswiii writes "Following up his article a few weeks ago about the NY Times' loss of prominence across the online medium (previously discussed on /.), Adam Penenberg returns with a much wider assault on the lurch towards reg-only content by Big Media as a whole. I just wonder what Margaret Thatcher would think about purportedly living in Beverly Hills..."

14 of 478 comments (clear)

  1. Cue theme... by los+furtive · · Score: 5, Funny

    I just wonder what Margaret Thatcher would think about purportedly living in Beverly Hills...

    So I'm not the only non-beverly hills type who enters 90210 as a zip code? Heck I don't even live in the USA.

    --

    I'm a writer, a poet, a genius, I know it. I don't buy software, I grow it.

    1. Re:Cue theme... by RWerp · · Score: 4, Funny

      Curiously enough, I vaguely remember reading a news about a guy from Akron, OH who won 2 million bucks in an Internet lottery... He was very surprised when they sent him a letter.

      --
      "Long run is a misleading guide to current affairs. In the long run we are all dead." (John Maynard Keynes)
  2. Register name... by hadesan · · Score: 2, Funny
    Doesn't everyone register as bill.gates@microsoft.com when going to these sites?

    Also, won't they lose a majority of their traffic which Slashdot and Google users send to them if no one can index their data for search engines or link to the content...

    Stupidity is not a crime so you're free to go

  3. Registration by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    This would be ok if they had some sort of universal "passport" where I can just type in an ID# and It'll take my information straight out of this "passport" type thing and make my life much much easier.

    It would also be great if said "passport" can hold all my other info, like an address book, my social security number, all credit card information, and every password I'd ever need.

    This passport should also be widely available to everyone, as that's the only way it'll be convenient. It should also be trustworthy and buzzwordy at the same time.

    All I'm saying is that if I gotta register, might as well make it easy for me. If I gotta buy something, may as well be a half-click away. I mean if the interweb is supposed to be for everyone, it better be easy, right? Right? Security? Identity theft? Why the hell would anyone ever do that? I mean we're not terrorists or anything, are we?

  4. Re:Conclusion is a bit weak by David+McBride · · Score: 4, Funny

    stop the computer from broadcasting its IP address everywhere


    Proof that banner adverts pretending to be system messages can work!
  5. Does this really apply to us? by LGagnon · · Score: 3, Funny

    Slashdotters don't often RTFA anyways. :P

  6. Real address info that works. by RLW · · Score: 4, Funny

    I've heard that the following makes for a good fake name and address to use:
    Alan Ralsky
    6747 Minnow Pond Drive
    West Bloomfield, MI 48322

    1. Re:Real address info that works. by Fulcrum+of+Evil · · Score: 4, Funny

      I prefer the old stand by:
      Jake Blues
      1060 W Addison St
      Chicago, IL 60613-4566

      --
      "We returned the General to El Salvador, or maybe Guatemala, it's difficult to tell from 10,000 feet"
    2. Re:Real address info that works. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      He lives *in* Wrigley Field? That would give me the blues, too, with all that concrete falling on ya.

  7. 1313 Mockingbird Lane by IOOOOOI · · Score: 2, Funny

    Scares most junk mail off.

  8. Re:So what? by Saeed+al-Sahaf · · Score: 4, Funny
    And use up more trees, and create more waste, and consume more gasoline and pollute more air on your way there?

    I'm an American. It is my duty.

    --
    "Who are in control, they are not in control of anything - they don't even control themselves!" - Glen Beck
  9. Re:An alternative to registering... by fatray · · Score: 2, Funny

    Does Bug Me Not require registration?

  10. Re:So what? by red+floyd · · Score: 2, Funny

    The reason for the information collection is to determine general audience demographic. As long as they have something they can go to the advertiser and sell it doesn't really matter to NYT or their equivalences.

    I gave the NYT a spambucket addr, so I don't know what kind of ads they send to me, but now I'm curious....

    Exactly what *do* they market to 70 year old female CEOs living in Afghanistan who make less than $20K per year?

    --
    The only reason we have the rights we have is that people just like us died to gain those rights. -- Cheerio Boy
  11. Re:A junk email address by NaugaHunter · · Score: 2, Funny

    Okay, when you think you just read the phrase "interested in underwater breastfeeding" it's time to step away from the monitor and just lie down for a bit.

    --
    R: That voice. Where have I heard that voice before? B: In about 365 other episodes. But I don't know who it is either.