WSJ.com Beware: Digg Users Plot Paywall Hack
Kevin Rose proudly commands his Digg troops to “Digg On,” now at Wall Street Journal, and they are trying their darndest to live up to their leader’s expectations!
Rose’s blog exhortation (dutifully ‘dugg’ with 968 ‘diggs’ and counting) to “view Wall Street Journal Online articles from Digg” is short, AND short on clarity. Nevertheless, his legion’s of faithful Diggers are stepping in, and stepping up, for Digg.
A Digg user wants to know “How can we create a bot to submit every WSJ article to Digg automatically? I want access!” A fellow Digger offers “Try Ruby or PHP.”
BUT, why must Rose’s Diggers seek to “hack” WSJ.com to get what they want, free? After all, Rose declares:
The WSJ Online is adding Digg buttons across the entire site, and you’ll now have full (free) access to the articles submitted to Digg. The Digg buttons have started appearing on WSJ.com articles tonight.
How is an average, non-WSJ paying subscriber, Digger to get access to the WSJ stories for Digging, though, if they are stubbornly behind the WSJ paywall? Does Rose and/or WSJ want the world to believe that the entire WSJ Online is now available free, via Digg, thanks to a convoluted paid subscriber Digger scheme?
Moreover, a good, popular chunk of the WSJ Online is already largely free, directly at WSJ.com, no thanks to Digg.
The “big” Digg announcement reads as more than it really is, i.e.; WSJ is the latest mainstream media publication to add Digg buttons in the hopes of gaining more ‘free’ traffic.
And the great Digg drive to “democratize” digital media powers on.
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