Omaha.com premium content

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FrontlineOmaha
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Omaha.com premium content

Post by FrontlineOmaha »

I got a little bit excited last week, because of all the things I hate about the Omaha.com website, premium content, the thing I hate the most, was gone.  I thought OWH was on the right track.

...then, I clicked on a story this morning only to learn that I have used my 25 stories for the month.  

Really OWH?  Now all of your content is "premium"?  Maybe if the site was better constructed and didnt take forever to load stories, or if it was ad free, this would make sense.  Looks like Ill be sticking to other sites for my online omaha news content.
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Linkin5
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Post by Linkin5 »

Can't you just delete your cookies to refresh the amount of articles you have read?
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BRoss
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Post by BRoss »

Here's what I do: I wait until the story shows up and then immediately keep pressing ESC about 5-10 times to stop the page from loading. If you do this, that pesky notice won't show up. Sometimes I don't always catch it in time, so I have to refresh (F5) and try again.

You may also be able to disable Javascript to stop it too (although I haven't tried).
ThatGuy
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Post by ThatGuy »

Linkin5 wrote:Can't you just delete your cookies to refresh the amount of articles you have read?
Yes, you can. It's some real 1995 cutting edge |expletive| they are running down there.
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Linkin5
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Post by Linkin5 »

ThatGuy wrote:
Linkin5 wrote:Can't you just delete your cookies to refresh the amount of articles you have read?
Yes, you can. It's some real 1995 cutting edge |expletive| they are running down there.
lol.  I heard OWH has now upgraded to Windows 97.
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FrontlineOmaha
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Post by FrontlineOmaha »

how did they win an award?
TechnicalDisaster
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Post by TechnicalDisaster »

I'm mostly frustrated by the site's search capability.    Results  tend to only return articles based by a keyword search in the title only - never the content.
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TitosBuritoBarn
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Post by TitosBuritoBarn »

You can still scroll down on the premium content pages despite the big yellow box. I'm lazy and just read the story in the darkened area behind the box.
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BRoss
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Post by BRoss »

TitosBuritoBarn wrote:You can still scroll down on the premium content pages despite the big yellow box. I'm lazy and just read the story in the darkened area behind the box.
For me, it follows as I scroll.
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Omaha_Gabe
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Post by Omaha_Gabe »

I have never gotten the pop-up, im not a subscriber.... and i read more than 25 premium articles..... :what:  :y
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Brad
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Post by Brad »

Omaha_Gabe wrote:I have never gotten the pop-up, im not a subscriber.... and i read more than 25 premium articles..... :what:  :y
You probably use an Apple then.
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Uffda
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Post by Uffda »

I haven't tried it Omaha.com but on a couple of other newspaper sites I switch my safari browser to private browsing and the block doesn't show up
laserdisque
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Post by laserdisque »

If you start private browsing that will not happen.
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fugazme
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Post by fugazme »

Costco gave me a sample of this yogurt I liked but then they made me PAY for the yogurt I wanted to take home with me! Can you believe it?!?
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Linkin5
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Post by Linkin5 »

fugazme wrote:Costco gave me a sample of this yogurt I liked but then they made me PAY for the yogurt I wanted to take home with me! Can you believe it?!?
Pics or it didn't happen.
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FrontlineOmaha
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Post by FrontlineOmaha »

fugazme wrote:Costco gave me a sample of this yogurt I liked but then they made me PAY for the yogurt I wanted to take home with me! Can you believe it?!?
...free yogurt right next door at wowt.com, ketv.com, and kmtv.com

even http://www.journalstar.com has pretty good yogurt (completely free).

Also, did the yogurt you had to buy at costco look like the side of a NASCAR race car and did the lid keep popping on while you were trying to eat it?

All in good fun guys  :D   My point was, it used to be just the premium content, now its the whole site.
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S33
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Post by S33 »

Hey, if they want to be the only Omaha media source charging for content you can get elsewhere, so be it. Nothing kills web traffic and advertising revenue than charging your users.

In other premium content: they can still shove their food express ads right up their |expletive|.
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jessep28
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Post by jessep28 »

TechnicalDisaster wrote:I'm mostly frustrated by the site's search capability.    Results  tend to only return articles based by a keyword search in the title only - never the content.
Google (and any other competent search engine) is better at searching Omaha.com than Omaha.com's search tool. Just run a site specific search query.
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TitosBuritoBarn
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Post by TitosBuritoBarn »

OSILayer8Support wrote:
TitosBuritoBarn wrote:You can still scroll down on the premium content pages despite the big yellow box. I'm lazy and just read the story in the darkened area behind the box.
For me, it follows as I scroll.
Yes but there's still the space above the top of the box where you can read the article.

--------

I just tried viewing the site with incognito browsing in Google Chrome as laserdisque suggests and it works like a charm. Omaha.com's tech guy must be really behind the times.
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BRoss
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Post by BRoss »

TitosBuritoBarn wrote:
OSILayer8Support wrote:
TitosBuritoBarn wrote:You can still scroll down on the premium content pages despite the big yellow box. I'm lazy and just read the story in the darkened area behind the box.
For me, it follows as I scroll.
Yes but there's still the space above the top of the box where you can read the article.

-- ------

I just tried viewing the site with incognito browsing in Google Chrome as laserdisque suggests and it works like a charm. Omaha.com's tech guy must be really behind the times.
That's what I've been doing ever since that suggestion too. I always thought they did it by MAC address or something else more sophisticated. Never thought they'd do it so stupidly.
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jessep28
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Post by jessep28 »

I like how there are always headlines cut off on their sidebar.

Image
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jessep28
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Post by jessep28 »

I started running into that paywall tonight. Deleting the Omaha.com cookies didn't seem to solve the issue. After doing some investigation, it seems that the OWH outsources their paywall services to a company called Press Plus. The cookies they install are labeled PPJOL. I deleted any PPJOL cookies on my browser and the paywall disappeared.

If you wanted, I guess you might be able to install a browser extension like NoScript (Firefox) or ScriptNo (Chrome) to block Press Plus.

I haven't tried this guy's suggestion, but this might be a permanent solution based on another news site that uses the same service as OWH: http://dailyheraldpaywall.wordpress.com ... d-paywall/
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BRoss
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Post by BRoss »

I personally find using Chrome's Incognito or IE's InPrivate mode to be the easiest. These modes stop sites from accessing/storing cookies altogether.

Thanks again laserdisque for that suggestion!
bigredmed
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Post by bigredmed »

I am a subscriber.  I hit the paywall.
I called the OWH and gave them my name and address and they found my account.

I asked how I would get the online access and they told me that because we are on a special, we can't have online access.  We have to pay full price for that.  Oh well.
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