AUTOSPORT asks me to subscribe to watch their site? really?

[Cam]

Only 10? I get 50/month and i used those within half a month, pissed me off big time so i moved to totalf1.com

It is quite a strange move to isolate readers who are not prepared to pay for content. I still use Autosport and when my time is up, I don't go back until it's reset. It's a shame for Autosport though as during that blackout time, I no longer see their ads that I normally would and the traffic of my clicks drops away - as would everyone else's. Will they change? Maybe. Who knows.

Online resources, such as news sites, still don't 'get' what the internet is and consider anyone reading their media without paying is akin to stealing a newspaper from a shop. It's not. I can pick up a newspaper left behind in a cafe and read it free of charge. I have accessed all that content without paying and seen the ads and other biased reporting trying to steer my opinion this way and that - so it's still had it's effect, and I'm not a thief. The internet and digital content as a whole must be seen in a similar way. As more and more people become tech savvy, the battle will continue to fall away from them.

Re-think the problem and reward us for visiting - not punishing.

Out of interest, which are the best F1 news sites online (paid or otherwise)?

[Kiril Varbanov]

Re-think the problem and reward us for visiting - not punishing.

Out of interest, which are the best F1 news sites online (paid or otherwise)?

Ditto. Sites should be usually hungry for traffic, ads display, impressions, etc ...

Personally I'm avid Twitter user and this is where the news stream gets updated very quickly, especially if you follow reputable sources.
I also read YallaF1.com (looks good, articles are sensible), GPUpdate.net (Greg, very open to communication, lots of onstie info), f1fanatic.co.uk (Keith K, large and nice community), formula1blog.com (dear friends and overall nice chaps from US) and local sites in Bulgaria such as f1.f-e-n.net (priceless aggregated info).

P.S. I don't mind paying, in fact, I do it for other online sources, but there has got to be a good reason.

[Mysticf1]

I like using Autosport as a quick one stop shop especially when away from the PC. I agree twitter is the future and present best place for up to date news.

Dunno why you guys have had no luck with clearing cookies, worked fine for me.

[turbof1]

I have the autosport app on my iphone, on which the restriction is not counting. You have to pay for the app though; 3 pounds, but after that you are off the hook.

[Cam]

Out of curiosity, I have just used TOR when my limit was reached. Works no problem. Can continue to browse all stories.

[Nando]

It is quite a strange move to isolate readers who are not prepared to pay for content. I still use Autosport and when my time is up, I don't go back until it's reset. It's a shame for Autosport though as during that blackout time, I no longer see their ads that I normally would and the traffic of my clicks drops away - as would everyone else's. Will they change? Maybe. Who knows.

Online resources, such as news sites, still don't 'get' what the internet is and consider anyone reading their media without paying is akin to stealing a newspaper from a shop. It's not. I can pick up a newspaper left behind in a cafe and read it free of charge. I have accessed all that content without paying and seen the ads and other biased reporting trying to steer my opinion this way and that - so it's still had it's effect, and I'm not a thief. The internet and digital content as a whole must be seen in a similar way. As more and more people become tech savvy, the battle will continue to fall away from them.

Re-think the problem and reward us for visiting - not punishing.

Out of interest, which are the best F1 news sites online (paid or otherwise)?

Agree fully.

I think they need some reality check also on their prices. Reading an opinion for 1 Euro is absolutely ridiculous.
I hope they revert back to the normal one, regular news are free while more in-depth stuff are not.
That´s a nice balance in my opinion.

With this new way i won´t even read half the news i used to because i want the "subscription" to last through the month.
I think i went through 50 articles in one third of a month or something.

It´s a shame because to me it´s the best news-site for F1 that i´ve come across.
No bullshit articles like "Webber has signed with Ferrari" or some other crap you read sometimes.

[Nando]

I have the autosport app on my iphone, on which the restriction is not counting. You have to pay for the app though; 3 pounds, but after that you are off the hook.

that´s a great way of handling things. A one time cost. But it´s not optimal when sitting by the computer to stare on a mini-screen just to read some F1 news.

If they had the same option for PC users then i would take it in a heartbeat. 3 pounds as a one time cost i can accept.

[Caito]

I just quitted using the website. There are similar and as good webpages out there.

[mzivtins]

I've seen before on sky sports f1, that the news stories have appeared after ones on autosport and the text reads almost identically to the story published on autosport, in some cases the annotation has been almost identical.

I think maybe autosport have made this change to stop a bit of screen snatching maybe?

I love autosport, to me it seems like subscribing to my performance bike magazines

[Nando]

This is strange. I have used up all my 50 views on the computer but if i take my iphone and visit the site i can still read articles.

It´s using the same wi-fi and i haven´t been able to do this before. Wonder why ?

Maybe someone can do a check as well.

[Kiril Varbanov]

Their visiting scheme relies on combination of cookies (+ browser cache ) and IP address. We have been discussing this very same topic a while ago - the free views plan has been in place for at least two months already.

Yes, Plus subs are not affected. Similar handling exists on dozens of web sites, such as ft.com, wsj.com, etc.

You can always look for alternatives, again, the topic was covered.

[Nando]

That was the thread i was looking for, as you can see i have replied in that one.

And you miss my point If my views were up on my PC they were also up on my Iphone.

However not now, i have two separate now despite running the same WiFi.

[Richard]

Their visiting scheme relies on combination of cookies (+ browser cache ) and IP address. We have been discussing this very same topic a while ago - the free views plan has been in place for at least two months already.

Yes, Plus subs are not affected. Similar handling exists on dozens of web sites, such as ft.com, wsj.com, etc.

You can always look for alternatives, again, the topic was covered.

Thanks for spotting that Kiril - I've merged them.

[Wrighty]

There is NO NEED to subscribe! The ANSWER IS VERY SIMPLE I have set up additional user accounts on my PC, so when Autosport blocks me after 50 page views all I do is log into a different user account to get another 50 views. Autosport is tracking users NOT computers so just set up some extra accounts and use them when needed. Likewise you can get access by using different PCs or devices provided that you dont use identical account names and settings.

[Caito]

ctrl+shift+n seems to work(for those using Chrome)

try your incognito mode.