Could this be the thin end of the wedge?

With the Times and now Telegraph going behind a paywall how long before the Daily Mail does?

Can you imagine being unable to click on Dally's links because you aren't a subscriber?

Not half as bad for normal people as it would be for the aforementioned poster, can you imagine the frustration of not being able to link his febrile posts to a [iWail[/i page?

I guess that, rather than being able to depend on the [iWail[/i, we'll just have to imagine that red wine and coffee cause (or protect against) cancer, heart disease and ingrowing toenails and that Bulgarian benefits tourists are going to flood our shores with foreign red wine and coffee, spreading cancer and ingrown toenails across our sceptred isle whilst refusing to sing the national anthem in the dole queue.

Have no fear, the chances of the [iMail[/i going behind a paywall are remote – it's the website that makes vast amount of money. And do you really think people would want to pay (and be seen to do that) for their regular dose of paedo-lite stories?

Shame really. It has proved quite useful being able to link to the Torygraph just to show the Guardian isn't posting biased rubbish which is the usual accusation from certain posters whenever a link to a Guardian article is posted.

Hope the Guardian and Indy remain free and can make some money from their web sites now the competition is dwindling.

I only link to the Mail because it is clearly set out and as The Times is subsciber only. I will never pay fo an online newspaper as long as you can buy an actual paper or as long as the BBC provides news. The latter could, of course, be in doubt given the Toroes' beloved Rupert's representations on the matter.

Dally, it's okay. We understand why you're so dedicated to peado-lite.

Not sure I understand that reference. They have a thing about women wearing few clothes - but they're normally well over 18.

Why would you?
I think she meant paedo-lite.
Could be wrong of course, it's a strange world.

It's easy to see the confusion. Dally helps boost the Mail's hits. Which includes loads of ones around children being described sexually.

Of course Dally doesn't do that. Oh no.

I think it would be difficult for the Guardian and Independent to use the paywall model. Most of their readers are lefties that would balk at the idea at being forced to pay for news. The Times and Torygraph do have readers that are well off and more ideologically comfortable with the idea that you should pay for a product you regard as being quality.

The real threat to all newspapers is blogs, some political blogs have well written content and it is free from an editorial agenda. If you want to read articles on the economy for instance you can access far better blogposts from the various economics academic bloggers, all for free, easily accessible if you follow links from Twitter, than the economics commentary in the newspapers.