How to Build a 'Paywall' That Doesn't Break the Web

Any site that asks me to share <i>before</i> I've viewed gets a big fuck you from me and I'll just leave. It's ridiculous and completely ignores the point of sharing. I don't see the cover of a film and say "Hey friend, you should watch [film], it's awesome!"... because how can I know it's Awesome? I haven't seen it. The same goes for any sort of web content, I am not sharing content unless I <i>enjoy</i> it and I can't know that before I have viewed it.

We tried to make this fun. Some of the hidden features that I think are pretty cool include the way you can bypass the nagwall with the Konami code, and, of course, the nagwhal: <a href="http://two.longshotmag.com/404" rel="nofollow">http://two.longshotmag.com/404</a>

Or you can just turn javascript off and you don't get the nagwall either.

Will be interesting to see what the percentage of visitors is that end up paying to not see this wall. I see a lot of parallels with donationware, and all evidence from that indicates it's not possible to live off just donations.<p>So I hope there will be a followup.

I disagree with the title. You are breaking the web. Or you're not. Either way, it would have to be an odd definition of <i>breaking the web</i> if going from a standard paywall to your paywall changed the status of whether or not it's breaking the web.

Internet accessible.