Seattle Times to begin charging for online access

<deletes seattletimes.com bookmark>  See ya later!

I did enjoy talking crap in the Seahawks Blog.  Danny O'Neil is nothing short (pun intended) of the worst sports writer i've ever seen.

I stopped paying for the print version decades ago...why would I start now paying for their online version?  Makes no sense.  At least the print version was useful if you had a birdcage.

No sleep lost here! "Real" journalism is non-existent anyways. Nobody reports "just the facts" news anymore.

who cares?  LOL.  I mean local news is just so boring anyway.  I will read the news somewhere but I have no concern they will charge.  Just mean they will be in worse shape then they are today

Advertisers Take Note:  one more reason that I have to NEVER read The Seattle Times.

So the 'Times' doesn't generate enough advertisement to cover the cost?

Why do ya spose that is?

Are you going to use some of the money from this ill-fated plan to maybe hire a copy editor for KOMO? I used to wish you had at least one reporter with a journalism degree. Now I would be happy with one who speaks English as a first language. It is difficult to find a single story without typos, misspellings, grammatical errors and just plain non sequiturs. I do not plan to subscribe to the Times in any case - I dropped my 30 year subscription last year.

The Seattle Times is really no worse than the rest of Seattle's local media outlets. Constant sensationalistic reporting. And KOMO leads the way.

Having come from a city that still has a decent newspaper, when I moved to Seattle,what struck me was how bad The Seattle Times is. It was pretty surprising that it held on while the PI folded, since the old PI was a slightly better paper. 

The Times is the mouthpiece of one man, really. If he likes you this week, The Times likes you. If he's angry with you, The Times will do a critical piece. The paper also has a dysfunctional, over-the-top unconditional love for real estate and real estate developers that encourages and endorses Seattle's over-inflated real estate prices, making the cost of living and doing business in Seattle so painful. The Times is an organ clearly aimed at Seattle's business community, although it has one of the laziest business columnists in the US (maybe an old friend of the family?). 

I'm amused that people see the paper as Liberal and left-leaning. Maybe that's because it endorses candidates from the Democratric party. But let's be real, the candidates the Republicans generally put up in this State are a pretty sorry option. They have little statewide appeal when it comes to higher level offices. Really, that's the fault of state Republicans, not The Seattle Times.

I wish The Times luck in charging for online access. After all  people's jobs at stake in its survival. But I won't be signing up for a subscription. I don't think it's worth the money.

Good luck with this one.

And then the Seattle Times will just be another paper I no longer peruse.  Sorry, but I don't believe the public access to online copy should be quelled, but they can do whatever they feel necessary to survive, I just won't be utilizing them as a resource or morning coffee buddy...

People who don't subscribe at all will still have some access to www.seattletimes.com, but if they visit too many times, they'll be required to pay.

And that would be why they aren't going survive. Plent of good, free content out there...

Who would mourn the loss of the Democratic Party's Parrot Cage Liner?

It is one of the props that holds up the corrupt, dysfunctional Leftist Status Quo in this State.

...Just like the Tacoma News Tribune just started....which means I don't read it anymore...which means I don't read their restaurant reviews....which means I won't be patronizing any of their new restaurants, which are also their advertisers...which pay their bills.  It's not rocket science. Better to shut the doors now with a little grace. They're alienating all those who would mourn their loss.  

And the traditional newspapers are collectively gasping their final breath.

I guess I won't read the Times anymore.... not that I did that often anyway... and, if I were an advertiser, I'd pull my account right now.

Well, the reason I stopped using their paper version was due to the fact that they liked to over charge my account OR not give me my paper and when I complained they got snippy.

IF I got my paper, it was rained on, torn up or mis delivered to the bushes (I live on the third story of my apartment building).

Well, THIS looks like a hint to stop reading them at all. Buh-by.

What, I have to PAY to waste time at work now??!!!  What's up with THAT???!!!!!   :b

I seem to remember I would have had to sign in to go there anyway.Go ahead and die for all I care.Never went there anyway.

I only use the on-line Seattle Times to check on what movies are playing and where and when they are playing.  But they need an easier way to get to the listings without going thru a bunch of fluff.

Bad move.  People will just read something else.

Hey with FAUX news who needs a newspaper?

So long Seattle Times it was good while it lasted. I jettisoned the Seattle Times newspaper some years ago and I will let this go as well. 

with news aggregates, no need to get your news from one source only. comments are more informative than news stories anyway. 

That is stupid. Screw you Seattle Times... more visits to Komonews now- idiots! They need to realize that times are hard for people and stop padding your pockets. 

Wonder why the Wall Street Journal is doing fine and all the old liberal rags are dying?

Maybe I just answered my own question.

They have ignored the 49% for way too long. What business can afford to spit on 1/2 of the customers?

LMAO, I remember KING 5 News trying to do this to their website several years back. 

Sure didn't last long!

One more nail in their coffin.

Why would I pay to read a slanted, liberal-backed, consolidated AP news wire that mimics all the news on t.v., newspapers, radio with the same topics?  Real journalists are dead.

The NY Times isn't news. Most of its stories come from the AP news wire, and all the news sites give us the same crap. It's not even news. So no to the NY Times, and no to the Seattle Times, and no to WSJ. No. Good luck with that. If they really had news I might pay for one, but all of these rags have long ago ceased to be news. Half the the articles are sponsored, which means they're infomercials, and they should be paying me to read them. 

If they start producing news, and they start proof reading their spelling, I might consider it. In the mean time all the news sites spew the same garbage, and any alternative stories can be found for free on Al Jazeera and the BBC.

lol comment thread at seattle times has been closed for hours! someone doesn't like the feedback they are getting.

Neither Seattle nor Komo is news.  Its mere entertainment, and I already have a netflix account if I want to spend my hard earned money.  Thanks anyways. 

I'll pay for NYT and WSJ, but no way I'll subscribe to that pathetic rag--Seattle Times. 

Free isn't free. Komo site is full of ads, spam, viruses, etc.

Lol.  Good luck with that Newspapers!!!  Y'all tried it in 2009, and failed miserably. It doesn't work. We won't pay to view your news. It's not crucial. Period.   It's not our fault that you are unable to sell the value of advertising on your site, to the business community.  Perhaps new sales people would be helpful.   All the newspaper sites are jumping in right now, because the majority are owned by a handful of CORPORATIONS.   

But you're just going to find yourself screwed out of "eyeballs" on the internet, instead. The money you will gain by charging for access for info we can get free elsewhere, would not cover what you've lost in ad revenue.  What idiot would spent a cent advertising on a newspaper site, or as a "digital package" which is what you've been trying to sell, if your viewer base has dropped by over 60% (which is what happens whenever the corporate bean counters come up with this brilliant scheme.)  

There have been a few papers that I've read, that have gone to the pay model. I don't go there anymore. i can get free news through Patch.com, through the TV stations (who would be even bigger idiots to charge,) or just around the web.  Newspapers are not a necessity, that's where you're messed up.  Your poor business decisions in that industry, have created your own demise.   Again, who would even advertise on your sites anymore? THAT is where the money should be, not charging people to read things they can find elsewhere. 

I am a daily & Sunday subscriber. I like to read the paper at lunch. This doesn't sit too well with me...I might have to cancel my subscription. Which by the way now you have to pay an entire year in advance...I remember the good old days when the paper boy/girl would knock on the door to collect.

I don't access the Times anyway;but with all the free information on the internet and radio, I doubt I'll be paying for the Times to find out what's happening.

Well it's a good thing that the Seattle PI still exists (online for free) then. :-)

Hey KOMO wake up. There's no way I would pay you for access to this site