Star Tribune (& other local media)

[Nick]

Anyone else feel like the Strib website has gotten noticably crappier in the past six months or so?

[MNdible]

In what way? I mean, beyond general crappiness? Content, performance, graphic layout?

[fehler]

Well, I can't read articles free using the "stop" button on my browser as well as I did before.

[EOst]

Well, I can't read articles free using the "stop" button on my browser as well as I did before.

You can, you just have to keep hitting it over and over for a while to make sure it works.

[Anondson]

The "Reader" button in Safari has also stopped working as a way to bypass the pay block. It was a good long run that trick worked.

Multiple devices, with multiple browsers each. Does the trick!

[ECtransplant]

Just open it in an incognito window.

[Didier]

Or pay the .99 cents per week.

[Anondson]

[mullen]

the pioneer press website has sucked since it's inception.

[Nick]

I do pay them some kind of money...like $10-$15 a month? Feels like a nice investment for journalism/etc. But I hate hate HATE (bomb emoji knife emoji gun emoji) accounts and so I never log in to anything.

Anyway, now they're doing these turrible full page ads, and I always get unresponsive scripts (idk what that is) and also those terrible audio ads that start playing like three minutes after you open a window. Obv the journalism is still pretty good (though the #millennial shit is going crazy overboard) but the website is slowly sliding into Pioneer Press territory.

[MNdible]

I guess I've grown to get used to the full page ads (seems like they're pretty ubiquitous these days), but I do agree that the pop-up audio is a sin that shall not be forgiven.

[Anondson]

Recent website ads have inspired me for the first time ever to install adblocking plugins on my computer, I was philosophically against them but so much awfulness was happening, and those taboola sections put me over the edge I couldn't stand it. I still feel bad about putting the ad blocker on, but the abusive pop ups, pop overs, redirects, became too much.

For a while on the Washington Post (and a few scattered others) I was getting unavoidable redirects to a crappy "brain" ad at securebean.com. The adblocking on my computer helped fight the securebean.com blight, but on the iPad I was going in circles for days. Only way I stopped it was to completely clear cookies then change it to only allow cookies from the websites I visit, not even third parties.

I've been leaning towards subscribing to the Strib online lately because I've noticed how much I'm trying to get around the pay wall. I know it won't stop the ad abuse, but I am reading it a bit more.

[Didier]

The Strib does itself no favors as far as customer service/ease of use. My comment was about people who complain about not getting the content for free.

[uptown067]

I just counted no less that 16 ads on the home page. Completely ridiculous.

[Nick]

And I mean to be clear (and I think I was) I completely support paying money for things I value, like the StarTribune and MinnPost (and streets.mn!) and so on, I just wish they were less tacky about it.

[mattaudio]

Paying the rack rate for the Strib is ridiculous. I just renewed for another year of online access for $20. I would have paid up to $60-80, but that's what they offered me. After an initial renewal invoice for ~$140 for a year.

Paying for journalism is important, but so is getting a good deal.

[xandrex]

It's all about margins. They're so thin in the media business that you need every bit of revenue generation that you can.

That said, full-page ads are ubiquitous but a sin, especially for subscribers. I really wish it would go.

Best way to help prevent more of that crap? Subscribe to the news you use. I'd love to have the extra $12/month that a digital subscription costs me, but I'm very happen to be supporting what really is a pretty damn good journalism enterprise.

[Nick]

Half serious: what media companies should do is voluntarily turn off ads for people not using IE, because how many people are in the overlapping part of the "people who click banner ads" / "people who use Firefox/Chrome" Venn diagram? Three?

[Anondson]

I like the cut of your jib.

[Andrew_F]

Paying the rack rate for the Strib is ridiculous. I just renewed for another year of online access for $20. I would have paid up to $60-80, but that's what they offered me. After an initial renewal invoice for ~$140 for a year.

Paying for journalism is important, but so is getting a good deal.

Curious, where did you find this offer? I attempted to purchase an online-only subscription last week, and the salesperson I spoke to over the phone was convinced that they didn't sell online-only for periods longer than four weeks (without the e-edition that costs nearly as much as getting a physical paper).