When I clicked on a link that directed me to a page on Salon.com
I was just hoping that the site won’t ask me to register myself before
I was allowed access to the article. What I found there was
interesting.

One option was to register and get access to information (which most
people avoid – how many username/passwords can we remember anyways) but
the other option (termed as sitepass) was to watch a sponsored
advertisement for a few seconds to get a day pass to access content on
salon.com. That was the option I chose and in the process also
discovered some other cool articles over there.

There are several approaches to this problem and San Jose Mercury News
at our backyard follows a sliced approach – meaning a small percentage
of articles are free for all but most others need registration.

There is no one right solution but Salon.com approach was definitely
different than many I had seen. I think everyone (salon.com, sponsor
and the reader) wins with this approach. I wish them the very best.