Two weeks ago there was a post on techdirt titled More Newspapers Sending Readers Elsewhere Via Registrations. The article noted that barriers (Registration) push potential readers to other sources for news and even if they do register, oftentimes it’s done with dirty data. It also referenced an article from The Detroit News which had an informal survey about requiring registration. The survey said, 1.5% would give them the information they wanted, 7.5% said it depended on how much information they wanted, and 91% said they would go elsewhere.
Then, late week there was a second post on techdirt titled There Are Alternatives To User Registration. Pretty much the same premise and there was also a link to a very good piece written by Steve Outing for the Editor and Publisher.
So, if 91% would go elsewhere, I wonder how my newspaper’s web site, Star-Telegram.com would respond to the mounting evidence that maybe registration wasn’t such a good idea. They require registration after viewing one article. I sent an email to their “Customer Advocate” who in turn sent it along to Craig Diebel the General Manager, Online. His response was predictably disappointing.
“It is very unlikely we will change our current policy to require registration…. There are pros and cons to registration as Steve Outing points out in the link you sent, but for us it is simple. In order to remain a free advertising supported website we have to do it. …advertisers buy from sites that know who their users are."
By the way, I registered. I figured since I was a print subscriber they already knew about me so it really didn’t matter.
