[Site Functionality] Paywall Warning
It would be nice if Snapzu started to keep track of domains behind paywalls. When you submit an address, Snapzu could warn the user with a message like "the website you are about to snap is known be behind a paywall restriction. Users might not have access to it and might downvote it. Do you wish to continue?"
8 years ago by rti9
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The best way around paywalls is to just copy the URL (or the title, if URL doesnt work) and google it. It usually ends up as the top link anyways and it's not behind a paywall when coming from Google. Those news sites would be stupid to put a paywall for search engine traffic, that's why many don't do it as it would kill their business. Trust me, just try it.
The problem is that they are hard to spot because they only show up after a certain amount of free views.
Alternatively, block those domains. Paywalled content does not contribute to Snapzu at all, that's why it's a legitimate reason to downvote, so really they shouldn't be on Snapzu at all. It'd also be a lot easier to make a block system than a warning system, I believe, and could be used to block known serial self-promoting websites.
Paywalls vary, though. Many worthwhile pieces are seemingly behind a paywall, but effectively not until a certain threshold of visits in a month. Some paywalls you can ignore, bypassing with privacy or incognito mode. Still others effectively make any links to behind the wall useless, like the Wall Street Journal. Arbitrary blanket domain bans would be disappointing to see.
Problems with this can be resolved between submitters and readers. If a submitter makes a habit of posting articles nobody can read, they ought to at least put a tag on the post, or just stop posting things nobody can read. If a reader suspects everyone else can read things they can't, they ought to ask to get "in the loop" on how.. ..