Pay Or Else, News Site Threatens 549
WED Fan writes "The North Country Gazette, a news blog, says users who read beyond a single page of an article must pay up or they will be tracked down. They don't have a pay wall. If you go beyond page 1, you owe them. From the article: 'A subscription is required at North Country Gazette. We allow only one free read per visitor. We are currently gathering IPs and computer info on persistent intruders who refuse to buy subscription and are engaging in a theft of services. We have engaged an attorney who will be doing a bulk subpoena demand on each ISP involved, particularly Verizon Droids, Frontier and Road Runner, and will then pursue individual legal actions.'"
Declining Subscriptions (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Clueless (Score:5, Funny)
Fastest. Slashdoting. EVER. (Score:4, Funny)
0 Comments when I hit reply, and the site is already down.
Why do I suspect that somewhere in "upstate New York" there's a DSL modem sitting on a static IP that just got reduced to a molten pile of slag?
Sticking it to Starbucks... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Clueless (Score:2, Funny)
there was some dirt on my screen so I read "I doubt they have the mopey to prosecute..." and I never saw that before, but I thought "cool word, I doubt they have the mopey too"
Good thing they got money (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Clueless (Score:3, Funny)
Or, is this like picking up a discarded paper on the ferry and the guy at the news stand demanding you pay him for it?
Don't you yank peoples have an equivalent of the metro [metro.co.uk]? A paper that knows what it's worth?
What a welcoming website (Score:5, Funny)
All the new articles seem to be password protected. Furthermore, I do not see a "purchase access" link anywhere on the front page. With that kind of usability, I'm sure tens of people will subscribe to them!
How Much? (Score:5, Funny)
How much does a page that reads "Error establishing a database connection" cost? I mean, I think local news is good, but if that's your only headline...
Re:Clueless (Score:5, Funny)
"Just the slashdot effect alone will likely bankrupt them."
That's horrid! Time to alert 4chan to help save them!
Re:Well, there's nothing to see now... (Score:3, Funny)
Yeah, I didn't even get a chance to look at it.
I'll set my computers to refresh the page every couple of minutes until it comes back.....
Re:Clueless (Score:5, Funny)
Oh, Slashdot...didn't you sillies read their "do not 403 this website" warning?
SUED!
Re:Clueless (Score:4, Funny)
I just read 2 articles. I invite them to hire a Canadian lawyer to come after me.
Re:Clueless (Score:2, Funny)
Your full name:
Bank Account#:
PIN:
SSN:
Favorite Dog Food:
Phone Number:
To protect all parties involved, please have at least $2,000 in the account so we can verify it's really yours.
Re:Clueless (Score:1, Funny)
You would not survive the attempt.
Re:Clueless (Score:4, Funny)
I just read about 100 articles.
Any letters I receive from lawyers will be used to keep warm this winter. Thanks in advance.
Re:How Much? (Score:3, Funny)
Wow, I didn't even get that far. I only got as far as the "Unable to connect. Firefox can't establish a connection to the server at www.northcountrygazette.org." So I bet I only owe them half as much.
Re:Clueless (Score:3, Funny)
Re:I think their site is back up, TIME TO HACK! (Score:3, Funny)
Or just use wget --mirror --delete-after?
Re:Apparently lawyers are dirt-cheap now... (Score:5, Funny)
I don't think FrontPage has a paywall button.
Re:Clueless (Score:3, Funny)
Is this like you go into the grocery store and eat a few twinkies and the manager bum rushes you and makes you gay?
Only in your dreams, mate.
Re:Clueless (Score:5, Funny)
"Look, that woman says a lot of things, yeah she's a real talker, but it comes down to a lonely old lady with something screwy upstairs sitting in front of a computer, with few friends, making enemies."
Dear God, someone get that woman a Slashdot account.
Re:Clueless (Score:5, Funny)
Oh, Slashdot...didn't you sillies read their "do not 403 this website" warning?
What "do not 403 this website" warning? I couldn't see anything; the page 403'd on me.
Car analogy? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Clueless (Score:3, Funny)
Don't you yank peoples have an equivalent of the metro? A paper that knows what it's worth?
Yes, it's called (wait for it) Metro [metro.us].
No Poetry? (Score:3, Funny)
The North Country Gazette welcomes letters of up to 300 words. The editor reserves the right to reject letters or edit for clarity, brevity, good taste and accuracy, and to prevent libel. No poetry or letter writing campaigns will be accepted. Submissions are limited to one every 30 days. All letters must include the writer’s name, address and phone number. We will not publish street address, e-mail address or phone number.
Letters can be submitted at news@northcountrygazette.org [mailto]. All letters become the property of The North Country Gazette.
So...a letter writing campaign consisting of an anonymous 301 word bad-taste poem sent every 29 days would not be well received? Interesting...
Re:Clueless (Score:5, Funny)
Does the 403 page count as my one freebie?
Re:Clueless (Score:2, Funny)
Brilliant advertisment ploy. (Score:3, Funny)
How many hits did they sucker you guys into giving them?
Re:Clueless (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Clueless (Score:4, Funny)
I hear the Juan Williams dartboard is bringing in the scratch!
Re:Car analogy? (Score:5, Funny)
You missed the part where the bus driver lets repeated free riders in, but does a drive-by at their house with his homies at midnight.
Re:Clueless (Score:4, Funny)
Surely you could do better...
Mozilla/5.0 (EULA; For the privilege of replying to this HTTP request, you agree to remit $10,000 to me within 10 days per HTTP request you answered. Responding with a 200 OK, 302 or 303 REDIRECT HTTP status code constitutes your acceptance of this agreement. Payment is to be made in funds drawn from a US bank, by valid cashier's check or postal money order payable to XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX mailed to XXXXX address)
Re:Clueless (Score:2, Funny)
I will be happy to pay the $100, in fact, I will read it again and pay you $200. However, I will need your assistance in handling some fees on my end in order for the transaction to work. For various reasons, I cannot make these payments directly. Please wire $100 to the specified account as soon as you get my $300 money order from Nigeria.
I would normally just ask one of my many rich uncles to pay it (they're all Generals), but they keep dying on me, and I'm just having the darndest time trying to retrieve the funds.
Re:Clueless (Score:3, Funny)
Hmmm, Tab Mix Plus has a fun "Reload every x seconds" option... maybe I should just leave that on for a day or two, set to reload the North Country Gazette every second. Who's with me? :p