| IIRC white and switch are the same company, and they | both are paid sites. | | Did you actually read my request, or are you just | sending me the paid sites I already tried?
Why would you think that? I just described my results. Two out of three responders are telling you that we don't get asked to pay. Before you just assume we're idiots wouldn't it make sense to look into it?
I don't see ads and I don't see anything asking for money. I'm guessing, assuming that you don't have some sort of malware trying to scam you, that the difference is probably related to cookies and/or script. (For instance, you may be allowing a permanent cookie that's identifying you as a multiple repeat visitor. That's how the NYT works. If you allow session cookies at the NYT you can read as much as you like. The cookie is deleted when you close your browser, which restarts the count of allowed articles. If you allow no cookies you can't read anything. If you allow permanent cookies you can only read something like 20 articles per month.)
You might experiment with disabling script and cookies, perhaps in a secondary browser. If you normally enable them you should also know that you're allowing extensive spying and accepting a great deal of risk. Nearly all online attacks require script. (Even the common attacks using Flash or Java usually also require script.) I normally use Firefox with medium restrictions and the NoScript extension when I *really* have to enable script and interaction. For other sites I use Pale Moon, disabling all of it and blocking
3rd-party files. I don't have Flash or Java installed in the first place. Most sites work fine that way.
A quick look at switchboard.com shows ads from Amazon, OpenX, Yieldmanager and Google, tracking from Google, Scorecardresearch and Quantcast, as well as at least one cookie being set. And that's just the first level of sleaze. It's hard to know how many other players are getting in on the action. Just using a decent HOSTS file would save you from all of that junk. ....On the other hand, aren't you the guy who likes to celebrate capitalism, which you define as an Edenic state of affairs where companies all provide wonderful products at the lowest possible price. In that case, wouldn't you really prefer to pay up rather than act like a scummy socialist? :)