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103 comments
Koutsie :unverified:

@textfiles Alt text:
Screenshot of the New York Times being unreadable because of a "Thank you for reading The Times" popup that states you must create an account or log-in to continue reading.

Laukidh :ablobcool:

@k @textfiles Additionally, the headline of the article being obscured begins “The dream was universal access to knowledge.”

Matunos

@k @Laukidh @textfiles fyi to the OP, you can edit your post just to add alt text to an image

ev_rider_j

@Laukidh @k @textfiles .

Me: climbs a Himalayan mountain in 2023 to seek wisdom from a wise man/guru.

Guru: Paywall first, sorry.

Sören

@k @textfiles yes, but part of the joke here is that the headline starts, “The Dream Was Universal Access to Knowledge”

Brat O'Matic

@chucker @k @textfiles

Which makes the lack of alt text on the image even more ironic.

LambdaDuck

@k @textfiles you missed the most important part: it’s covering up a headline starting with “The dream was universal access to knowledge. The” before being cut off by the paywall

Nik0 :coolified:

@k @textfiles We should really have community alt texts here.

Koutsie :unverified:

@ashiisbest @textfiles or people should just add alt text's to their images by default :D

Nik0 :coolified:

@k @textfiles Yeah or we could use that energy to insure that potientially almost every major post in the future can have alt. text. Mastodon is getting bigger and we can't just police alt text all the time. The best thing we can do is just have a feature that allows users (who are trusted of course) to add the alt text

Koutsie :unverified:

@ashiisbest @textfiles doing that in federation seems like a funny implementation problem 😄

Nik0 :coolified:

@k @textfiles it would be and it is rather complicated but potientially (if possible) we could add a vote system for the better alt text. Or the easier solution would be how the mastodon app im using does it where a red highlight just shows up on a picture without alt text (it would just bother people really)

Porquerias | 1312 🏴🌵G@K

@k @textfiles no alt text makes it especially ironic, thanks for providing it

@polarisera reposted your post
@textfiles New York Times is not, and never has been, Universal Knowledge.
Technokrat :mastodon:

@textfiles
I know the NYT is so poor, so monstrously poor.
:/

Veedems

@textfiles please for the love of all that is good….plug your phone in.

Tom Bellin :picardfacepalm:

@veedems @textfiles The last thing that phone did was toot this screenshot. We salute its bravery.

James Dreben :mw:

@textfiles This is quite a sad story in a single image.

Jer Warren

@textfiles@mastodon.archive.org alt text:

A screenshot of an article in the New York Times.

Headline: "The Dream Was Universal Access to Knowledge. The"

The page is then cut off by a large banner that says: "Thanks for reading The Times. Create your free account or log in to continue reading."

They couldn't even display the entire headline before cutting off non-subscribers.

RhetRx

@textfiles I’ve been a subscriber for decades, and now they want me to accept binding arbitration as part of reading their newspaper. No.

iAmAnEngarneer

@RhetRx @textfiles yeah, this is absurd to think a website dialog is a binding agreement. No way im clicking that.

Digital Panopticon

@engarneering @RhetRx @textfiles The worst thing is that I'm 99% certain that everything gets tracked either way...
Aaand I hate "functional/necessary cookies".

Kristen

@textfiles Typical 2023 horseshit to keep us all in the dark. #GreedWillKillUsAll

Al Sweigart

@textfiles If you pitched the idea for Wikipedia today, they'd accuse you of being a communist.

goedelchen

@AlSweigart @textfiles
Actually, it is somehow a communist idea - and so is open-source software. The problem is, that being a communist is an accusation instead of an acknowledgment of someones values and convictions. It feels like the McCarthy era is still not over.

IronCladLou

@textfiles sometimes the comedy writes itself! 😂

peachfront

@textfiles

Ha, if that's not a true story, it should be!

Aura, Lady of a Thousand Names

@textfiles (an image description:)

A screenshot of the New York Times website as seen from a smartphone. The article on screen has a headline that reads, “The Dream Was Universal Access To Knowledge. The—“, but it is ironically cut by the Times log-in user interface asking the user to log in and subscribe to read the article.

Beeks

@textfiles so you stole this toot, but stripped it of alt text thus making it worse.

Wow, very archival of you...

Edit: shocker of shocks, the thief decided to block instead of man up. 🤡

ohai.social/@lutoma/1108825040

Alaric

@Beeks @textfiles ah it’s beginning to feel more like dead bird here every day!

DELETED

@textfiles is contradiction better than the construction of contradiction?

Marlinspike

@textfiles Liked this, but serious question. What alternatives are there for news orgs to make money and pay their staff other than instituting paywalls? Back in the day, I never begrudged newspapers or magazines for charging for subscriptions.

Annelies Kamran

@marlinspike @textfiles either have subscriptions OR have ads. Not both. Furthermore, serve your own damn ads. No third parties.

Marlinspike

@akamran @textfiles OK, Agreed. In theory, I wouldn't care about ads one way or the other, but they're currently so incredibly intrusive, and the invasion of privacy with the "user as the product" advertising mechanics should not be something a paying subscriber is subjected to.

Digital Panopticon

@marlinspike @textfiles Do it like the old times. Take payment for todays articles so that paying members se them "a day early".

Jonathan Huffman

@textfiles I know the point of this is to point out the irony … but for anyone wanting a way around some paywalls you can often paste the URL into a web browser that can block JavaScript

Cmdr_Halo_Jones

@jonhuffman @textfiles

There's more ironic ways to view this story than simply blocking JavaScript.

archive.ph/aZFWh

AlexanderMars

@textfiles I think you won the category for “most Alt text suggestions for a mastodon post” for the weekend, congratulations.

wobweger :verified:

@textfiles
🤨 living on the edge is yours ...

notice battery status bar 🤪

MaybeMyMonkeys

@textfiles if they got together and had a universal login to track us and sell ads is one thing, but a login for every news outlet is a deal breaker.

(it/its) The Frog ™️

@textfiles this should remove the paywall
You can paste the URL of the website onto this website or just add 12ft.io/ to the beginning of the articles URL
12ft.io/
Sure it sucks we have to do this but for most bigger websites it works

username

@Six_Creates 12ft.io started out great but turned into a shakedown, they accept requests (and allegedly payment in some cases) to disable their services on sites.

Bypass Paywalls Clean is my go-to gitlab.com/magnolia1234/bypass

KDHofAvalon :HeartNonbinary:

@Six_Creates @textfiles
You would think, but no. Looks like 12ft.io is excluding certain sites now. Either they're getting paid or they're getting sued...

A screenshot of a mostly blank webpage reading only "12ft has been disabled for this site". The URL is the article from this thread's OP.
(it/its) The Frog ™️

@KDHofAvalon @textfiles well that sucks
I didn't realise they'd sold out like that

THiNKTaNK🇺🇦🇹🇼🇪🇹🇭🇹☪

@textfiles My Friends:

Universal Access to Knowledge BEGINS WITH good judgment & intel.

That's why smart people STAY AHEAD of the curve with #iTHiNKLabs🔴rb.gy/g5zcy

Got #Paywall problems?

Get better intel:

#Browser #VPN #Extension; smart #Tech #InfoSec #CyberSecurity friend; hire, follow, or buy me lunch. 😋Appetizers include #Solutions y'all missed:

❶ archive.today

allaboutcookies.org/how-to-byp

lifehacker.com/how-to-get-past

wikihow.com/Access-News-Articl

sportskeeda.com/gaming-tech/ho #News

@textfiles My Friends:

Universal Access to Knowledge BEGINS WITH good judgment & intel.

That's why smart people STAY AHEAD of the curve with #iTHiNKLabs🔴rb.gy/g5zcy

Got #Paywall problems?

Get better intel:

#Browser #VPN #Extension; smart #Tech #InfoSec #CyberSecurity friend; hire, follow, or buy me lunch. 😋Appetizers include #Solutions y'all missed:

Nicole Parsons

@textfiles

Do you have a public library card?

If you do, most public libraries provide access to most paywalled material. Mine uses PressReader on its web site.

And this is why Republicans are attacking libraries...

Information asymmetry is needed when billionaires are funding a growing fascist movement.

Keeping access to information is mandatory for pro-democracy advocacy.

Gordon J Holtslander

@Npars01 @textfiles Canadian Libraries also use Proquest’s Newstream service, a text only replica of newspapers. proquest.com/

Nicole Parsons

@textfiles
@serge

I doubt I'm the only one who knows his achievements but doesn't know his name. Thank you for adding to my knowledge.

A wide dispersion of caches of information, as billionaires fund a fascist future, is laudable.

You're missing my point; that there are a number of methods to read high-end newspapers that use paywalls.

The Internet Archive's wayback machine is only one of many methods.

All of these methods are under an orchestrated attack by anti-democracy elites.

@textfiles
@serge

I doubt I'm the only one who knows his achievements but doesn't know his name. Thank you for adding to my knowledge.

A wide dispersion of caches of information, as billionaires fund a fascist future, is laudable.

You're missing my point; that there are a number of methods to read high-end newspapers that use paywalls.

Piousunyn

@Npars01 @textfiles @serge
Stealing from a billionaire would be ethical to a poor person, though not to the billionaire..
So as billionaires steal from everyone who is not a billionaire, and poor in their mind, this is hard work.

☄️~Stardust Diving~🌌

@textfiles that's okay, i keep the beautiful dream alive by plugging this article's URL into the wayback machine or archive.today and thus denying anti-knowledge institutions like the Times one of my clicks :)

katrintheresa

@textfiles I have a gift subscription — would you like me to share the link? I’m interested in this topic.

GhostOnTheHalfShell

@textfiles that's what they always say, then it's bait and switch. We ate fortunate that people arr slowly getting the message

★ blue-caller ☆

@textfiles me in the comments looking to see if anyone else is bothered by the battery indicator :kon_LookingAround:

Alonely0 🦀

@textfiles Even though I do think that paywalls are a necessary evil (especially with the Times, they usually do great stuff), that's hilarious. I do think that articles covering that kind of topic should not have paywalls, though.

OCRbot

@dodoandthebrawn
15:15 I." A

9

4 Ice Cubes

07119 New flork @​imes

The Dream Was Universal
Access to Knowledge. The

Thanks for reading The Times.

Create your free account or log in
to continue reading.

Email Address

Jennifer Slack

@textfiles
You could always read someone's discarded newspaper after they were finished with it. That access is gone.

Kernic

@textfiles Universal access isn't the same as free access tbh. You can access every information out there, but you also have to pay the people providing it. And ofc the access to the medium itself (provider fee).

woolie

@textfiles this is why I pay for a subscription to the New York Times, and also, because my wife likes Wordle.

Damon C. Jones

@textfiles yep. I only read paywall sites on archive sites these days. Fuck em.

michaelvcooper1

@textfiles The problem with "universal access to knowledge" is that there is no longer a decent profit to be made for the labor of gathering that knowledge or ensuring its accuracy.

Inkstainedmags

@textfiles #Alt4You Screenshot of a New York Times headline that begins "The Dream Was Universal Access to Knowledge. The" with the rest of the headline cut off by a paywall notice.

Very

@textfiles uBlock Zapper go BRRRR :blobfoxhyper2:

TerrorBite :veripawed3:

@textfiles 1. Charge your damn phone. 2. I miss Sockington.

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