Hating on Globe & Mail Unlocked
When I went over to the Globe and Mail today, I was greeted by a pop up announcing the paper had unlocked a bunch of its content. The ad itself was a slow-marquee-type-ad that reveals its message only if you sit there and watch it — the kind of ad they tell you to avoid in online marketing 101. But I was expecting it so I happily clicked through. Only to find that I had arrived at the Opinions page. Did I do something wrong? I quickly back-paged and the ad was gone. From the frontdoor I clicked through to the editor’s note about the unlocking to see what was what.
The columnists had been set free. Awesome. For 30 days only. No so awesome. Why would I ever link to a column that is going to break on me in a month?
I quickly searched for a story I had clipped from the paper in 2005. It was still locked.
I trotted over to my inbox and found an email from Roger Dunbar Vice President, Digital Media and Business Development at the Globe.
Subscribers to the paper have the chance to trial the new for-pay services at the Globe for 14 days. The new paid services include access to the archives. I thought maybe I will be able to find my clipping after all.
The FAQ at the bottom of the email said the trial was free with no strings.
Answers to questions you may have:
“Will I be charged for Globe Plus after the end of my free trial?”
No. You will only be charged if you decide to subscribe.
After clicking through, I was presented with a big button that made the free trial and the subscribe option sound very similar.
Did you need to subscribe to get the trial? Upon pressing the button I learned they charge your credit card.
Upon completion of this registration process, your GlobePlus membership will begin with a 14-day trial. When your trial ends, we will automatically bill the credit card we ask you to supply in the next step according to the subscription plan of your choice. If you are not completely satisfied, simply cancel your subscription before the end of the trial and pay absolutely nothing. To begin your trial, please enter or verify all the information below. Your trial gives you access to all features of GlobePlus (real-time quotes not included).
Where is my free trial Mr. Dunbar?
I back-paged and discovered there is limited trial to the e-edition of the paper (no archives). I clicked on that and was given access to the e-edition. It is one of those flash looking platforms that recreate the ads and all. No search. I looked closer. My limited trial was for yesterday’s paper. Arghh.
I was fed up at this point but I surfed over to the GlobePlus homepage to see what was there. No search box? Was I in the right place?
I tried to login using my Globe username/password. It didn’t work. I thought I had the wrong password so I clicked on the ‘forgot password’ option. The link was broken. Nice.
Thanks Mr. Dunbar. Three strikes you are out.
Dear Mr. Angus Frame, please hire a user-interface expert next time. Thanks, but no thanks.
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