Free of Charge

Here's some good news. Starting Wednesday morning at midnight, lights went out, and The New York Times firewall came tumbling down. Although the Times claims that it was doing as well as they'd expected over the last two years with paid subscriptions for their columnists and archives, but the potential for advertising profits from their various visitors was far greater. One interesting observation a Times spokesperson made, proving that they don't really understand the dynamic of the Web, was that they were surprised at the number of visitors to the Times site who came from search engines or links on other sites. They apparently saw their site as a destination site, independent of whatever else was happening online.

Although I've reliably had a good Sunday post by pointing out where Frank Rich's column could be read by nonsubscribers, I'm glad to see the Times return to mass accessibility. Beyond Frank Rich, there are a number of good writers worth your time, and an awful lot of great material. I don't know whether it's intentional or just a coincidence, but Paul Krugman has started a blog (which is addition to his normal twice-weekly column). At one post on Tuesday, two yesterday, and one today, he's doing better than I am.