Post not paywalled

December 13, 2012 4:37 AM

This post is not paywalled, so why was it deleted for being so?
posted by marienbad to MetaFilter-Related at 4:37 AM (112 comments total)

It popped up a sign-in page for me. It may not be technically PAY walled, but it was sign-up-with-Facebook or give-us-your-personal-info walled. I asked if there was some other way in and nobody responded.
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 4:40 AM on December 13, 2012 [2 favorites]

It's paywalled for me, and for Harvey Kilobit who commented in the thread. I wonder if it's a location thing?
posted by taz (staff) at 4:40 AM on December 13, 2012

Probably location - I am in the UK - it is fine for me.
posted by marienbad at 4:45 AM on December 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

Opens fine for me, too.
posted by zarq at 4:46 AM on December 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

Sorry, Registration-only, I should have said. I asked Joakim Ziegler, who was able to view it, and he said that he was able to get past the first popup window to read the article, but it never let me do that; it always reverted to the sign-up page.

So zarq, and marienbad, did you guys see a popup window like Joakim Ziegler? And were able to close that to read the article? Since zarq is in the US, and Harvey Kilobit is as well (I think?), maybe it's not a location thing but a browser thing?
posted by taz (staff) at 4:50 AM on December 13, 2012

OK! I just figured out that you can sneak your way into the article -- if you wait for the page to darken and the horizontal striped loading bar to appear, then click the X next to it quickly before the paywall pop-up appears.
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 4:51 AM on December 13, 2012

Still, I don't think it makes a good FPP unless we can come up with a simpler method. Sorry, marienbad!
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 4:52 AM on December 13, 2012

The pop-up appears for me in Australia.
posted by pompomtom at 4:53 AM on December 13, 2012

For me in Florida there is a pop-up, but it's just this: http://imgur.com/jnYs3 which I closed by clicking the X at the top and could then read the article. This is with Firefox 17.0.1 on Windows. The same thing happens with Google Chrome 23.0.1271.97 m on Windows.
posted by empyrean at 4:53 AM on December 13, 2012 [4 favorites]

No popup here, I get the page.
posted by marienbad at 4:55 AM on December 13, 2012 [2 favorites]

Hm. Using Chrome here. I can't get your method to work for me, Harvey... but maybe because I've tried to do it about 100 times in different ways, including just going to the regular front page and clicking the article from the sidebar. Let me just give it a shot in Firefox...
posted by taz (staff) at 4:57 AM on December 13, 2012

No popup here, I get the page.

But did you wait a few seconds afterwards?
posted by John Cohen at 4:57 AM on December 13, 2012

What is the Metafilter policy on links to unauthorized rips of articles deposited into Scribd?
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 4:57 AM on December 13, 2012

I got the article too with and without Noscript. Using the latest Firefox in the UK.
posted by ersatz at 5:00 AM on December 13, 2012

"What is the Metafilter policy on links to unauthorized rips of articles deposited into Scribd?"

Information wants to be free? uh, no, wait..
posted by marienbad at 5:01 AM on December 13, 2012 [2 favorites]

paywalled for me, no way around it, in NY, using IE.
posted by Blake at 5:03 AM on December 13, 2012

I got the same result as empyrean the first time I looked, the second time I got the signup window.
posted by MartinWisse at 5:03 AM on December 13, 2012

I just tried the page in both Chrome and Firefox on another laptop, and it worked in Firefox, but not in Chrome.
posted by taz (staff) at 5:04 AM on December 13, 2012

Sounds pretty inconsistent and wonky, then.
posted by empyrean at 5:05 AM on December 13, 2012

In the UK, got the paywall thing in Chrome the first time. But hitting X to stop it loading worked next time.
posted by cincinnatus c at 5:10 AM on December 13, 2012

I have a dummy Facebook account for those. A annoying solution but not worse than having to use a proxy to enjoy "This video is not available in your country because the copyright gods are busy shooting themselves in the foot"-based FPPs (though there has been less of those lately to be fair).
posted by elgilito at 5:12 AM on December 13, 2012

... aaand didn't work for me in Safari on iPad or Dolphin on android phone. So for me, the only way is Firefox. My connection is also a little laggy today, so I seem not able to catch the X.
posted by taz (staff) at 5:13 AM on December 13, 2012

It opened instantly in my Android phone's browser, Taz. No popup. Full article.
posted by zarq at 5:15 AM on December 13, 2012

I just checked. Opens fine in both cell and WiFi service. I cleared history/cache between tries.
posted by zarq at 5:17 AM on December 13, 2012

No go in a variety of iPad browsers for me in the U.S. I can close the initial popup, read for a few seconds, then the login page overlays and there's no way past it.
posted by donnagirl at 5:22 AM on December 13, 2012

Does the URL to the printer-friendly version work for those of you behind the wall?
posted by Terminal Verbosity at 5:23 AM on December 13, 2012

Thanks, Zarq. I just tried the default browser in Android, and I still get the log-in pop-up, but not the first little pop up that has preceded it in other browsers.

If most people can see it, I don't have a problem undeleting, but if it's going to be a lot of complaining because it's inaccessible for a lot of people, that's a problem, obviously. I'm fairly baffled what the parameters for access are. For me, it's not viewable in four out five browsers I've tried.
posted by taz (staff) at 5:23 AM on December 13, 2012

Does the URL to the printer-friendly version work for those of you behind the wall?

Nope.
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 5:27 AM on December 13, 2012

wow, people are being surprisingly civilized for MeTa.
posted by Tarumba at 5:28 AM on December 13, 2012 [4 favorites]

the printer-friendly works somewhat from chrome, USA
it goes to the paywall pop up and then the print thing appears over that and I can increase the size to readability.

complicated.
posted by sciencegeek at 5:30 AM on December 13, 2012

Does the URL to the printer-friendly version work for those of you behind the wall?

I still get the popup, and can't read the article.... until I 'print' it to PDF, and then it's fine.

So, yeah, the popup is really annoying, without being effective. Nice work, that site.
posted by pompomtom at 5:30 AM on December 13, 2012

I also get the paywall/registration wall screen with no option to X out. Chrome on Win7, from CT, USA: http://i.imgur.com/elKbU.png
posted by reptile at 5:30 AM on December 13, 2012

(Chrome on OSX, FWIW)
posted by pompomtom at 5:31 AM on December 13, 2012

The printer-friendly doesn't work for me. Also, just to add one more browser to my mix, I tried it in Opera, and it didn't work there.
posted by taz (staff) at 5:32 AM on December 13, 2012

I turned on my desktop computer and tried to open the link. I'm running Vista Service Pack 2

Firefox: Loads article. Popup asks me to buy a subscription. "Your all access pass to FP. $17.95" I closed the popup and can read the article. About a minute in my browser froze, and a warning appeared:

A script on this page may be busy, or it may have stopped responding. 
You can stop the script now, or you can continue to see if the script will complete.

Script: http://static.chartbeat.com/js/chartbeat.js:7

Close the warning window, can read the article.

Chrome: Same popup appeared. But when I closed it, there was a window asking me to log in or sign up. I can't close it or get around it.

So weird.
posted by zarq at 5:40 AM on December 13, 2012

Probably location - I am in the UK - it is fine for me.

I am in the UK. I get the popup - no X that I can see. This is Chrome and Safari on OS X.
posted by vacapinta at 5:40 AM on December 13, 2012

Good God, you would think a site like that could afford a decent web designer.

Can anyone see these FoPo1 FoPo2?
posted by marienbad at 5:41 AM on December 13, 2012

I get the register popup on both of those, marienbad.

I'm going to let homunculus know what's up here, and suggest he repost if he can find another version to add as an option for those who can't view the article from the original source.
posted by taz (staff) at 5:44 AM on December 13, 2012

I get no paywall, no registration popup, nothing but the article.

I'm in the U.S., on FF; I have noscript, flashblock, and adblock running, so maybe one of those helped? Or maybe they just randomly let some people read it without jumping through hoops.
posted by rtha at 5:48 AM on December 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

Wow, that's so weird. I can read the article just fine in Firefox, but not in Chrome. And the pop-up behaves kinda wonkily in Chrome too. For instance, when I click on the FP blogs I can read them just fine (example 1, example 2) but when I click on any of the post it gives me the pop-up. I wonder if their bloggers know about this.
posted by Kattullus at 5:49 AM on December 13, 2012

Opened in Safari, in the UK. No obvious way of removing the pop up without signing up.
posted by MuffinMan at 5:50 AM on December 13, 2012

I'm running Chrome with Adblock, and I can't get to either of those articles you linked, marienbad. One had a popup ad that was easily closed, the other did not. Both of them had the registration block that I couldn't get around.
posted by alynnk at 5:59 AM on December 13, 2012

UK - windows 7 - chrome and safari

got the pop up ("Your all access pass to FP. $17.95") and the registration link on chrome and safari.

The printer friendly version worked in chrome (printing to pdf) but not safari.

It's an interesting article, and a stupid site registration system.
posted by Gilgongo at 6:03 AM on December 13, 2012

rtha writes "I'm in the U.S., on FF; I have noscript, flashblock, and adblock running, so maybe one of those helped? Or maybe they just randomly let some people read it without jumping through hoops."

This is what all the NY Times postings tot he front page are like for me. There seems to be no actual rhyme or reason to what I can see vs what gets the login.
posted by Mitheral at 6:06 AM on December 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

No problems accessing it. Got the benign, closeable popup only. (Using Tor Browser; in, functionally, Switzerland.)

It looks like a really neat article; thanks, marienbad.
posted by kengraham at 6:07 AM on December 13, 2012

Istanbul chiming in here; Safari on a Mac. Popup ($17.95) and then the login page.
posted by Skot at 6:09 AM on December 13, 2012

Yep, another USian running Firefox and it loaded fine. What a shame -- it's a terrific article.
posted by mochapickle at 6:09 AM on December 13, 2012

Weirdly, this link worked fine, although in the first case I clicked on a bit.ly link in Twitter and the second time via Google News. I know the referrer can make a difference with some websites Google News indexes, in that some publishers allow 1 or a few reads before they pop the paywall up (First Click Free).

@mathowie: to the BusinessModelMobile!
posted by MuffinMan at 6:18 AM on December 13, 2012

Just in case it's not obvious - there are too many Xs going round - the X I used to see this was the
"stop loading page" X, which becomes the Refresh icon when the page is loaded in Chrome.
posted by cincinnatus c at 6:21 AM on December 13, 2012

I get this in Chrome, can't get around it.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 6:27 AM on December 13, 2012

paywalled and not interested in figuring out a workaround.

Find interesting links, check those links with a second browser (that is not laced with your user accounts) and post those if they work.

When you want to share something it really helps to make it an easy shot for people to get to the data, not some treasure hunt.
posted by lampshade at 6:30 AM on December 13, 2012

Every single link posted thus far goes to a paywall / registration wall for me, I'm using Chrome on a Mac in the US and too lazy to try other browsers.
posted by insectosaurus at 6:32 AM on December 13, 2012

US and Firefoxed my way to easy access.
posted by Atreides at 6:38 AM on December 13, 2012

Got in once in a bout 8 tries on iOS 6.
So it's a mo go for me.
posted by SLC Mom at 6:47 AM on December 13, 2012

Click here: http://www.readability.com/articles/yrknqrl7
Then click Switch To Readability View at the top. Does that work?
posted by Potomac Avenue at 6:49 AM on December 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

You know, with a TEN minute editing window my comments would not look like that.
posted by SLC Mom at 7:02 AM on December 13, 2012

Not paywalled, not registration-walled, not silently logging me in with a saved Facebook password because I have no FB account. Location US, browser Firefor 16.0.2.
posted by jfuller at 7:03 AM on December 13, 2012

Looks fine for me, although there's a little popup advertisement that you can X out of: "Your all access pass to FP. $17.95" (Canada/Firefox/no popup blockers, I think).

I guess the X isn't showing up for everyone?
posted by randomnity at 7:10 AM on December 13, 2012

randomnity: I guess the X isn't showing up for everyone?

No it's a different popup. Mathowie has a screenshot of it.
posted by Rock Steady at 7:25 AM on December 13, 2012

I was able to get it to load by having noscript running. I'm not sure that's a great solution, though.
posted by Karmakaze at 7:25 AM on December 13, 2012

I'm in the US, on Win 7 in Chrome, and I get the "$17.95 all access pass" popup. Weird that this doesn't seem to have anything to do with country.
posted by koeselitz at 7:36 AM on December 13, 2012

Yeah, I run Noscript and can see read the article. Temporarily turn it off for that page and I get a pop-up with a close button.
posted by urbanwhaleshark at 7:42 AM on December 13, 2012

Actually, that's a lie. I get it on the first example marienbad linked, but not on the second. I also have adblock and ghostery running so it might have something to do with them.
posted by urbanwhaleshark at 7:46 AM on December 13, 2012

I get the pop-up in Australia, which is odd since I'm in the US.
posted by mullacc at 8:05 AM on December 13, 2012 [2 favorites]

Canada, Firefox and nothing adblockish running, and it works fine. When I first visited the site, there was a pop-up telling me about the price for a subscription to the magazine. I closed it. Subsequent visits do not even get the pop-up.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 8:07 AM on December 13, 2012

Paywalled in Chrome. Just right-click, inspect element, and delete the TB_window and TB_overlay nodes. EASY.
posted by Monsieur Caution at 8:08 AM on December 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

I get what mathowie got, using Safari in NY. But now I've learned about Readability. Thanks, Potomac!
posted by brina at 8:09 AM on December 13, 2012

I think this is the same thing on a different site. It's a very powerful piece of writing.
posted by knapah at 8:16 AM on December 13, 2012 [4 favorites]

I get the popup, but Readability seems to get around it. Thanks PA and brina.
posted by Kevin Street at 8:24 AM on December 13, 2012

I'm in the US on a train.
posted by item at 8:44 AM on December 13, 2012 [4 favorites]

I haven't tried reading the article.
posted by item at 8:45 AM on December 13, 2012 [11 favorites]

I just hit stop before the pop up loaded and i could read it. this also works on the nyt, fwiw.
posted by empath at 8:52 AM on December 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

UK, working fine in Firefox (get the pop-up with the x, can close it). Fine in IE, except after I close the pop-up, the text is grey (but readable).

Could be silent FB authentication as I was logged-in at the time.
posted by Infinite Jest at 8:53 AM on December 13, 2012

Ha-HA! IPhone 4, US, got the pay wall pop-up, clicked on the readability thing that came with the phone, success!
posted by Weeping_angel at 8:54 AM on December 13, 2012

No problem for me. Firefox and Adblock.
posted by Splunge at 9:17 AM on December 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

Oh that's just Foreign Policy...
posted by infini at 9:17 AM on December 13, 2012

I'm in the US on a train.

I'm in a box with a fox.
posted by Jahaza at 9:28 AM on December 13, 2012 [2 favorites]

Got paywalled, sent it to Pocket from Chrome. If I open the Pocket link in Chrome, it gets paywalled; however if I open it on my Android tablet in Pocket, then I can read. Lots of hassle, recommend repost once there is an easily readable link.
posted by arcticseal at 9:55 AM on December 13, 2012

Well dagnabit. It works fine for me in Firefox, but I get the login page in Safari. WTF, FP?

I found the article at another site (warning: main site has gore, possibly nsfw), but it seems to have some stability issues and doesn't always work. The only thing I can suggest is to make the "A Requiem for Syria." part of the post link there and hope that between the two links people can get to the article. The post could look like this:

The Land of Topless Minarets and Headless Little Girls: A Requiem for Syria. [Via. Note: both links are the same article]

Could folks here try out this other link to see if it works for them? Here it is again: Link.

Is it's too unreliable, then I guess the post is a bust, which is really a pity because it's an excellent piece.
posted by homunculus at 9:58 AM on December 13, 2012 [2 favorites]

Canada. I don't see any pop-ups on the original link. NoScript FTW.

Disabling NoScript, I get a pop-up that is quickly and easily closed down by clicking the X in the corner. It's not a "You must log in to read this" pop-up; it's a "subscribe to this site if you're a sucker" pop-up.

It's a bit sad that they're effectively blocking US readers. What the fuck.
posted by Sys Rq at 10:01 AM on December 13, 2012

NoScript FTW

I always, always read 'FTW' as 'FUCK THE WORLD', maybe because if I think of everyone who writes it as a cynical jerk I might look nicer by comparison.
posted by item at 10:19 AM on December 13, 2012

> For me in Florida there is a pop-up, but it's just this: http://imgur.com/jnYs3 which I closed by clicking the X at the top and could then read the article.

Same here (Massachusetts, Firefox). I hope the article can go back up; it's really powerful. (I have spent a week in Aleppo and have been upset to see what's happened to it.)
posted by languagehat at 10:25 AM on December 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

No paywall and no pop-up either. United States. Firefox with NoScript, Ghostery and ABP.

Excellent post which I hope you will reinstate.
posted by Pudhoho at 10:56 AM on December 13, 2012

I can't believe nobody's mentioned the obvious work-around for this: Hit F11 and read the article three lines at a time as it scrolls by behind the popup. Sheesh, easy!
posted by carsonb at 11:06 AM on December 13, 2012

I do hope there's a better way to access this - I was disappointed to find it locked up (multiple browsers).
posted by batmonkey at 11:49 AM on December 13, 2012

I'm on Safari in Sweden. Moose and things pop up in front of me, and I'm getting cold feet (and no, it doesn't work for me either).
posted by Namlit at 11:55 AM on December 13, 2012 [2 favorites]

The link at therevoltingsyrian.com isn't working for me at all now, so unless the article shows up somewhere else I don't think I'll be reposting it tonight. If someone else finds a reliable link and feels like making a new FPP, be my guest.
posted by homunculus at 12:30 PM on December 13, 2012

Brings up a registration page for me too.
posted by maryr at 1:05 PM on December 13, 2012

Here it is for anyone who wants to read it
posted by adamvasco at 1:27 PM on December 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

Not only is Foreign Policy inaccessible, but so is their policy on foreign accessibility.
posted by El Sabor Asiatico at 1:42 PM on December 13, 2012 [3 favorites]

I should add that it didn´t work for me in Brazil. Seems to be US only. Well what a surprise. I mean no one important lives anywhere else do they? Do they?
posted by adamvasco at 1:50 PM on December 13, 2012

Canada, Firefox 17.0.1, pop-up, easily X'd out of it, read article. Tried again, no pop-up, could read article again (didn't).
posted by deborah at 1:51 PM on December 13, 2012

However, in other news:

mathowie: "I get this in Chrome, can't get around it."

404 Not Found

The requested URL /paywalled was not found on this server.

posted by deborah at 1:57 PM on December 13, 2012

> NoScript FTW
>
> I always, always read 'FTW' as 'FUCK THE WORLD',

Ever since pretty much the whole world went to script-based sites it means both. NoScript does a great job of doing it, too.
posted by jfuller at 2:16 PM on December 13, 2012

> Seems to be US only. Well what a surprise.

Seems like you didn't bother to read the thread, with many comments from non-US MeFites saying they can access it. Well what a surprise.

By the way, a minor point but one that I can't let slide: the idea that Aleppo's "complete name, Halab al-Shahba, refers to the milk of the prophet Ibrahim’s ashen cow" is nonsense. The name goes back to the second millennium BC (Halap, Halab, or Halpa in Hittite texts) and has nothing to do with milk or the prophet Ibrahim.
posted by languagehat at 2:16 PM on December 13, 2012 [3 favorites]

....So for me, the only way is Firefox. My connection is also a little laggy today, so I seem not able to catch the X.

My feeling is that most MeFites tend to be more tech savvy than I am, so apologies if I'm telling you something you already know, but in Chrome and Safari (well, I just did it in Safari, and I'm sure I could in Chrome as well but haven't tested it) you can right click on the pop-up, select "Inspect Element", then when it comes up delete the code that is generating the pop-up - even if, like me, you don't know enough html, css or whatever else to recognize by looking at it which code that is, because whenever you hover over a line of code in the Inspect Element window the corresponding part of the page is highlighted. (Obviously, that won't help if you're getting a 404.)
posted by solotoro at 2:32 PM on December 13, 2012 [2 favorites]

I'm in the U.S. Got a pop-up ad, exited it, and could read the article. This is on Firefox.
posted by Autumn at 2:47 PM on December 13, 2012

Works for me- US/FF/AB/no FB account. I get the popup with the X to close it.
posted by oneirodynia at 2:49 PM on December 13, 2012

I get the popup here in Australia, but the article is available on Syrian Assistance.
posted by unliteral at 3:37 PM on December 13, 2012 [3 favorites]

adamvasco: “I should add that it didn´t work for me in Brazil. Seems to be US only. Well what a surprise. I mean no one important lives anywhere else do they? Do they?”

Almost every single person who has said they can't access this article is actually inside the United States. If this is about American Exceptionalism, apparently Foreign Policy thinks nobody on Metafilter is actually an American.

I'm a New Mexican: it's not the first time somebody's made that mistake about me.
posted by koeselitz at 4:17 PM on December 13, 2012 [3 favorites]

I get the popup here in Australia, but the article is available on Syrian Assistance.

Oh good, thanks unliteral. I can't post again for another four hours, so if you want to post it yourself be my guest. Otherwise I'll just repost it tonight, unless the mods want to revive the old thread with the new link.
posted by homunculus at 4:49 PM on December 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

Canada. FF, Adblock Plus. Popup on initial load. Closed easily. No popup on subsequent loads.
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 5:26 PM on December 13, 2012

item: "NoScript FTW

I always, always read 'FTW' as 'FUCK THE WORLD', maybe because if I think of everyone who writes it as a cynical jerk I might look nicer by comparison."

That ship sailed long ago. ;-)
posted by Splunge at 7:39 PM on December 13, 2012

Splunge:

The Dream of the Nineties is Alive...
posted by roboton666 at 9:40 PM on December 13, 2012

Canada:
FF, pop-up with x on initial load. Reads fine.
Chrome, pop-up with x AND login pop. Can't read it.
posted by mayurasana at 10:11 PM on December 13, 2012

Reposted. Thanks, unliteral.
posted by homunculus at 10:48 PM on December 13, 2012 [2 favorites]

Glad this got reposted!

Original article failed for me in two browsers...
posted by lupus_yonderboy at 12:06 AM on December 14, 2012

Beautiful happiness.
posted by Pudhoho at 1:15 AM on December 14, 2012

Yay! MetaTalk works.
posted by unliteral at 2:48 AM on December 14, 2012 [1 favorite]

I get no paywall, no registration popup, nothing but the article.

I'm in the U.S., on FF; I have noscript, flashblock, and adblock running, so maybe one of those helped?

All my variables are exactly the same, except I'm in the UK.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 8:36 AM on December 14, 2012

I'M ON A BOAT
posted by en forme de poire at 9:50 AM on December 14, 2012

Emailed FP asking about it, will see if they respond.
posted by Wretch729 at 10:09 AM on December 14, 2012