phil ringnalda

I was already rather fond of the Star Tribune, since they’re the only major metro daily that’s ever asked me a question, when I saw a Romenesko aside saying that although they require registration, they let you read one article a day without registering. That’s a really nice idea, second only to not requiring registration at all, damn it, so I went over to take a look. Sure enough, follow a link to an individual article, you get to read it without registering, use any site navigation to get to another article, you get a register/log in screen.

That’s fine as far as it goes, but of course I had to think too much about it. It doesn’t take too much thinking to realize that they must be using cookies, and since Mozilla Firebird makes it easy to play with cookies, I deleted all the *.startribune.com cookies, and sure enough got to read one more article. Then I told Firebird not to reaccept the cookies I delete, and deleted them again. Presto. I now get to read all the Star Tribune articles I want, without needing to bother lying on the registration (I could have just turned cookies off, but I use a lot of sites that require cookies, so it’s simpler to just deny the ones that I really don’t want).

Here’s where the overthinking comes in. I don’t see popup ads, thanks to Firebird. If you don’t use a browser that blocks popups, or have a third-party add-on to block them, then you pay for the sites I use popup free. In fact, thanks to a big chunk of CSS, I very rarely see ads at all. Those I do download, and just don’t see, so at least there you aren’t carrying me (unless you actually click them: if so, thanks, you’re the salt of the earth, ‘preciate it, better you than me). Now I don’t have to register for the Star Tribune, and other people do. And I keep going back to Matt Webb saying:

That’s the worst kind of exclusionary tactics, isn’t it? Using equality as an excuse to not teach those less able? And hypocritical?: living an online life unharrassed by blocked adverts, but paid for by those same ads on the eyeballs of those we don’t let into our club? We use our knowledge for access to good, free software, but leave the rest to fend for themselves, having to put money into the hands of those we claim we’re against. If we say we’re pathfinding, exploring for the future, is that the same as dodging the responsibility to open these new abilities to everyone else? The people who have the knowledge have the best time; some people – inevitably – have less, and don’t have such a good time. That’s the way of the world, isn’t it. That’s the way it’s always been.

Yeah, except: this time we said it would be different. Remember?

And I do want it to be different, but if everyone blocks cookies that keep them out, and everyone blocks popups and ads in standard sizes, then the advertisers will find some other way that’s harder to block, and I’ll end up having to see them again. I want everyone to have an equal experience, sure, but I want it to be everyone having my experience, not me going to back to having everyone else’s experience.