This is a bit of a humblebrag, but I am proud of paying for content. As a journalist who loves – capital ‘L’ loves – journalism, I’m proud to pay for content from several sites both local and national. TBH, I want to pay for more.
Even if I don’t consume all of it.
That’s not the point. The point is to support my industry, one I strongly believe in.
However, the point of this blog post is the frustration, the deep frustration I feel anytime I click a link to a story from Facebook that takes me to one of these sites and forces me to log in. This is despite me clicking from a familiar machine or even my phone. This is despite me telling the site to remember me and my login.
The offenders in this case are The Oklahoman, The Athletic, New York Times and Washington Post.
I might understand if this only happened on my laptop or only on my phone. It happens on both, however, and it doesn’t matter whether I’ve visited a site yesterday or a month ago. Danged thing doesn’t recognize me. What makes it especially frustrating is that it’s only content sites like these.
With ‘The Athletic,’ if I click the link on a story, I have to log in. Every time, and every time I click whatever box there is to ‘remember me.’ And then I have to find the story again because ‘The Athletic’ can’t remember what story I clicked on from Facebook.
I get around it, and I’ll survive.
But as somebody who supports capital ‘J’ journalism and backs it up, this is a pain point that will cause weaker-willed content consumers to churn.
Anybody with a solution, comment below and I’ll put it to the test!
