If you knew about any of the four reporters that founded 404 Media, or the incredibly high quality journalism they produce, this thought wouldn’t have even crossed your mind.
If one could ever actually read anything on 404 Media in the first place, maybe one would know that. But as somebody who doesn’t have the preexisting knowledge of who founded the org or what sort of reporting they do, it’s hard to glean anything useful when the articles are cut off by a paywall.
That’s totally fair and understandable. I hate the login too. But it’s a small annoyance to get to read their free articles imo, since you still have to pay to read everything. But that’s their entire business model. It’s expensive to do the shit they do independently, but I totally get that not everyone can pay or can glean the values of an organization without already being familiar with their work.
I realize I came on a bit strong, I just see a lot of people dismiss 404’s reasoning for adding that extra friction for their free stuff.
If one could ever actually read anything on 404 Media in the first place, maybe one would know that. But as somebody who doesn’t have the preexisting knowledge of who founded the org or what sort of reporting they do, it’s hard to glean anything useful when the articles are cut off by a paywall.
Not a paywall. Free.
You’re paying with your data.
oh no, they know that someone somewhere exists with a throwaway protonmail account. muh privacy.
How? 404 only asks for email as an AI deterent, and you can opt out of anything up front.
Good journalism costs money, and ad impressions to humans pays while AI traffic costs.
Maybe you do your job for free?
That’s totally fair and understandable. I hate the login too. But it’s a small annoyance to get to read their free articles imo, since you still have to pay to read everything. But that’s their entire business model. It’s expensive to do the shit they do independently, but I totally get that not everyone can pay or can glean the values of an organization without already being familiar with their work.
I realize I came on a bit strong, I just see a lot of people dismiss 404’s reasoning for adding that extra friction for their free stuff.